The Joys of a Metal Roof

We have a corregated iron roof on our house.
There is something about this material that is part of the Australian psyche. Early settlers with their bark huts and iron rooves, countless outback shearing sheds, iron-rooved country pubs and still in the landscape, timber and iron sheds neglected and leaning, grey timber and rusted iron a study in gentile decay.
A corregated iron roof will sing. The gentle' tic, tic, toing', as the roof expands in the sun and a similar song when the heat has gone. On 'in-out days' when the sun pops behind clouds they sing even more.
At night the local brushtail possums use our roof as a shortcut between the eucalypts. For such a small animal they have a very heavy tread - 'bomp, bomp,bomp' and, if they chose to run you can be forgiven for thinking there is a clydesdale horse on the roof! It always brings a smile to our faces.
The best thing of all is when it rains. It has been 2 months since we had any good rain and a few nights ago we were able to go to bed with the gentle sound of rain on the roof. Bliss.
I feel sorry for people who don't have an iron roof

1 comment:

  1. Every house we had in Australia had a tin roof. We loved it. We loved all the sounds that you describe.

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