'BulletRoof'

Bullet Roof indeed, with the many layers compiled and compacted on top of the waggon over time. The top layer a growing garden of moss, leaves, twigs, acorns and seeds (see blog - 'Can't stop the moss!'). Slowly peeled back and removed, this revealed a black mass of tough and aged roofing felt. Not one, not two but 3 layers, weathered and hardened and tacked down to death!

Whilst stripping the sides up top, the felt that had been tacked over the weatherboards was difficult to ignore - bit like a red button you're told not to touch. So armed with a set of pincers and small tub, I began to remove the tacks that had been placed every inch and then some. Slow and laborious but necessary. Chiseling away at the felt to get to more deeply embedded ones.

A Tack too Far

A tacking frenzy had obviously taken place when the felt was fitted. Not only overlapped & tacked along the weatherboards but tacked on top of the gutter aswell and then a little bit back from the gutter for good measure and once one layer was partially removed from the edge, another set of tacks on a second layer discovered, and so on. Then tacked a further foot up from the edge along the roof curve, and again another foot up which became a full stretch to reach from the top level of the platformed scaff. Only saving grace was the felt running along the top middle of the waggon like a mohican, which was mainly held down and in place by a daub of bitumen in the absolute center. Once loosened using a broom handle underneath it, the felt could be manipulated and pushed over the side of the waggon. ( see youtube clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uL6PS5SZnk ).

With the felt removed, the condition of the waggon's roof could now be finally and properly evaluated. To the front offside of the roof however, a large section of canvas was discovered - was this the original roof covering? Found underneath the felt it was certainly an earlier and more traditional covering, and looked to have many, many layers of paint on top of it.