Materials and Roofs
Lauze, tuile canal, tuffeau, lime render and solid-wall insulation — the materials that define the buildings and complicate the energy certificate.
6 pieces in this section
No mortar. The wall stands on friction and on the batter of its two skins.
Photo: Bob Jenkin / Pexels
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A Lauze Roof Weighs More Than the Walls It Sits On
Close account of the stone-slab roof found in the Causses, Auvergne and Périgord — the weight per square metre, the timber structure beneath it, the overlap system that sheds water without mortar, and why the Architectes des Bâtiments de France treat it as a protected element.
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The Tuile Canal Is Curved for a Reason; the Génoise Cornice Is the Shelf It Drains To
Describes the Roman-profile canal tile used across the Midi and the corbelled génoise (layered tile cornice) that carries water clear of the wall.
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Tuffeau Cuts Like Cheese and Lasts Centuries: the Loire's Building Stone
The creamy calcareous tuffeau quarried from the Loire valley — why it was easy to work, why it weathers to a distinctive white-gold, and which châteaux and troglodyte dwellings it built.
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What Happens When Cement Render Goes Onto a Lime-Mortar Wall
An argument about material incompatibility: cement render traps moisture in a lime-mortar stone wall, the wall saturates, and the DPE score falls further.
Materials and Roofs -
Internal Insulation on a Stone Wall: What It Does to the Room and the Rating
Describes what internal wall insulation does to the thermal mass, the moisture behaviour and the interior dimensions of a solid-stone building — and how the DPE calculation responds.
Materials and Roofs -
The Architectes des Bâtiments de France: What They Protect and What They Refuse
Explains the ABF's jurisdiction over protected zones around listed monuments — what categories of work require their approval, what they typically refuse (satellite dishes, velux windows, PVC frames, external insulation cladding), and how the system interacts with the DPE improvement agenda.
Materials and Roofs