Mobile Cranes – The Moulin Roof
One of the biggest projects on the Moulin was the roof, it needed the assistance of large mobile cranes, patience and dedication to come up with a solution to keep the original beams which are massive but yet deal with the rot at the ends.
Even with the decay at the beam ends it was amazing how the original Moulin roof managed to stay in such good condition after 50 years of neglect, the Timbers themselves were in reasonable order despite the slates being in really bad shape and for many years the water just ran underneath and down the Oak Timbers.
The mobile crane was a godsend because once the roof was stripped off we were able to raise the whole roof structure to enable access to the ends of each massive beam. Once the crane inched the structure up it was supported from below before our chosen restoration method was used.
To keep the timbers we decided we would have to either create unsightly bulwarks so once the decay was cut out the span was narrowed or an idea we had was to create huge Steel shoes to fit on the end of each timber, we opted for the shoes.
These were created and then they needed to be fitted and painted Matt Black, they looked magnificent and so the mobile crane was again hired and each timber was carefully lifted so the shoes could be fitted.
The result you can see is below in the pictures and we are absolutely delighted with the choice we made, in all there were 8 shoes created and fitted.
Here are the pictures of the roof from the inside before work was carried out.
old Moulin roof
Moulin Roof From Floor 2
Here we have the pictures of the shoes prior to mobile crane work
Here is the Beam Shoe made from Steel
The Beam and Shoe Sitting back on the Plate
Showing the Roof Beam from Below
Moulin Roof Beam Shoes
Now the mobile cranes can go home and the roof can be finished!
