Yes, it has.
harvesting rainwater from a lead roof
May 24, 2006
26 Replies
That will be why lead on a roof has such a *very* short life?
Tallow isn't a flux - quite the reverse. You use it on the wiping cloth to stop it sticking to the molten lead.
Indeed, hence the importance of properly patinating any freshly cleaned lead roofwork. Bare lead will pinhole if left untreated (actually it probably won't now - back in smoky '50s cities it was a different matter).
Once patinated though, it's a different story - the surface is no longer bare metallic lead. A lead storage cistern is an issue, but rain simply passing over a lead roof isn't going to collect any measurable lead content.
The message from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:
Dunno - I haven't listened for ages.
I was being sarcastic...
Actually loss of mediaeval lead flashing is usually down to thieves..
First time for everything - she is speechless! ;-)
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