This mortar and the process is called torching.
Roof torching mortar.
The torching on clay tile roofs contributed to securing them in the days before nibs were added to hold them on the wooden battens.
This may applied as either a repair to hold slipping slates or pre emptively on construction.
Instead a soft sticky mortar mix was used both to help secure the slates and also prevent draughts.
In the days before roofing felt torching or lime mortar was used on the underside of tiles or slates to keep them in place and to prevent strong winds from getting under the tiles and lifting them.
It is not uncommon to find that bats use a roof space.
Traditional buildings did not have bituminous underfelt beneath the slate or tile roofs.
Main office the forge brightling road robertsbridge tn32 5hd phone.
A mix of lime mortar mixed with horse hair is often used for this task.
This system was commonly known as torching and was used before the introduction.
Torching on pitched roofs is not to be confused with torch on felt used for flat roof construction.
A common repair to slate roofs is to apply torching a mortar fillet underneath the slates attaching them to the battens.
It is common for the torching to deteriorate and for pieces to fall away from the inside of the roof.
Where slates are particularly heavy the roof may begin to split apart along the roof line.
Originally the only recognised roof under coating was the application of sand lime mortar reinforced with animal hair applied to the headlaps of double lapped slates or tiles.