Indy Total Construction

One of the cheapest ways to redecorate a bedroom is to change the pillowcases or bedcover, which can revive a room quite surprisingly. The choice of bedcovers and pillowcases in bedding departments often makes one forget the opportunities for making them at home. Some pillowcases are made with a different pattern on each side so you can ring the changes by mixing and matching them. This is another idea that would be easy and cheap to do yourself.

Two Indian bedspreads can become an unusual duvet cover and there are many other interesting fabrics to use, perhaps to get away from the idea that bedrooms should be flowery and feminine. The important thing is to choose cotton which is fine and soft; you don’t want anything scratchy in bed.

Quilted comforters, which are not as bulky as duvets or eiderdowns, add extra warmth in winter without adding much weight. They fold away into next to nothing for storage and if the fabric is chosen carefully, will provide a different winter color for the room.

Traditional patchwork quilts were made of old pieces of fabric and clothes so that nothing was ever wasted. Modern quilts may be in traditional designs or very carefully chosen fabrics in modern designs. They are often works of art which are better hung on the wall than spread over a bed.

A canopy over the bed can be in almost any fabric because it will not suffer from wear and tear. Lace, voile, muslin, sprigged cotton or Indonesian batik will create a summery effect and brocade, velvet or woven fabrics will make you feel warm in winter.

The tiles on each side of the roof apex are sealed by ridge tiles. These span both upper courses and are bedded on mortar.

Replacement is carried out by chiseling out the old mortar and levering the old tile off. Then a new one is fitted on a fresh bed of mortar. Slate roofs are treated in the same way although sometimes they may have lead sheet wrapped over the ridge bar instead.

Gable tiles

To avoid there being a toothed pattern to the gable edge of the roof, special wide tiles and slates are made which are one-and-a-half times the normal width, allowing a square edge to be produced.

Eaves tiles

To ensure that the overlapping pattern of the roof continues at the eaves, a course of shorter tiles or slates is nailed in place so that their ends are flush with the course immediately above, but their joints are staggered by a half tile width.

Valley and hip tiles

Where two roofs meet there must be some means of joining the courses of tiles to ensure a watertight seal. It is usual to form a gutter along the angle of the join to carry water away. Use zinc sheet, or valley tiles which are nailed to the roof members and often interlock with the adjoining courses.

Directions:

1 Measuring the projection of the gable-end tiles; bed the undercloak tiles face down in mortar and tuck the inner edges under the felt.

2 Setting the end tiles into mortar on the undercloak; use alternate full-width and widthand-a-half tiles to level edge.

3 Repointing the verge after the mortar has hardened; a pigment added to the mortar will make the pointing less obtrusive.

4 Checking the size of a cut tile adjoining the valley; this must allow the valley tile to be firmly bedded down beside it.

5 Working from the bottom of the valley upwards, aligning the bottoms of the valley tiles with the adjacent cut tiles.

6 Bedding the first hip tile into mortar; this must be shaped to prevent it overhanging and is supported by a hip-iron.