“If he were to join us, my grandfather would not be very disoriented, neither by our workstation nor by our equipment”explains Rémi Riccoboni with a smile, visiting the construction site on a Parisian roof in the 10th arrondissement, rue des Petites Écuries. Coming from a line of roofers, he took over the family business that bears his name almost 20 years ago, leaving his salaried job to take over from his retired father. The company, which has around sixty employees and works mainly in the capital, is the only Parisian company of this type labeled Living Heritage Company.
“We are always installed in a small shelter placed on the roofs to work the same zinc sheets of 2 meters by 65 centimeters, with the same folder, specifies the craftsman. The only thing that has changed is that this basic tool for folding paper sheets zinc is now made of aluminum for its lightness and no longer made of wood.” Moreover, the worktop boards are still made of wood and are over 80 years old. But why has this profession evolved so little and does it claim to be included in the intangible heritage of humanity? “It’s an age-old gesture that has evolved very little, underlines Rémi Riccoboni. In Paris, everything is more difficult: there is no space, no crane, access is complicated and the roofs are particularly overlapping. Everything is done on site with little equipment, as little weight as possible and raw material to facilitate its transportation and handling.”
English gutter and bull's eye
While for most sites outside the capital, a large majority of the work is carried out in the workshop with plates riveted together, we still practice “laying in sheets on strips” in Paris. The cleat is this trapezoidal piece of wood on which the junction of two sheets of zinc is made, allowing the metal to expand. And it is these famous battens which create these typical grooves that we see on Parisian zinc roofs. Another typical element of the City of Lights, despite its name: the English gutter. This large half-round zinc gutter with its reinforced hem on the outer edge should help prevent water from rising in the event of heavy rain on Haussmann roofs. Without forgetting the work of the ornamentalists, these craftsmen who make bull's-eye windows, dormer windows and other ridge decorations and whose know-how must also be classified by UNESCO.
But despite the aesthetics and poetry of the capital's 128,000 roofs covering a total surface area of 32 million m², including 21.4 million m² of traditional roofs made of zinc and other materials, according to the Parisian Urban Planning Workshop (Apur ), all is not rosy in the land of Parisian roofers and zinc workers. “It is a difficult job which is practiced on roofs all year round and which becomes even more difficult in the summer, admits Rémi Riccoboni. It is a difficult skill to acquire: it takes 5 to 7 years to work well and 10 to 12 years of practice to be fully operational. I even note that it is often out of reach for people retraining late in their twenties.” Result: the profession would have a permanent shortage of 500 roofers in Paris. And they are all the more difficult to recruit as the salary difference with the province has tended to diminish, unlike the differences in the cost of living.
Monitor zinc quality
It was also to boost the attractiveness of the profession that the profession tried without success to have the roofs of Paris classified last year before readjusting the situation this year by trying to have the profession classified more specifically. And if the bases of know-how are immutable, with for many craftsmen a journey of journeyman and the use of traditional materials such as zinc, slate and lead (irreplaceable in Paris for continuous balconies), the profession nevertheless undergoes some notable developments. Mainly the integration of insulation into the roof. “Ten years ago, we only intervened for wear and sealing problems, explains Rémi Riccoboni, now the question of insulation and energy performance is central.” Which further adds to the bill. Where the m² of finished roof already costs nearly 400 euros excluding tax, we can add 150 euros with good insulation because in addition to the material, major work is often required on the roof. On the current construction site, for a beautiful classic co-ownership of around twenty lots, the bill should amount to nearly 500,000 euros.
Latest development, zinc itself and this famous 0.65 mm thick sheet. “We must ensure the quality and origin of the zinc, Precise the patron de Riccoboni. The cleanliness of the lamination can make all the difference because it is the impurities which will create defects in the sheets leading to oxidation and ultimately micro-perforation.” Moreover, if the sheet always contains at least 98% zinc, the remaining 2% with copper and titanium plus a few secret ingredients according to the manufacturers can make the difference in prolonging the already remarkable longevity of this material.
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