06 July 2020

Dans le Cantal, la lauze règne sur les toits




Le dictionnaire que j'utilise donne les orthographes «lause» ou «lauze», dans cet ordre. Les deux mots riment avec «pause» ou «cause» en français — et plus ou moins avec les mots anglais «those» ou «doze».

Voici une maison que j'ai vue à Salers et qui a un toit (roof) de lauzes.



This is a different view of the same roof. From what I've read, it seems that lauzes are flat pieces of either sandstone (grès) or limestone (calcaire) in this region (le Cantal en Auvergne). They can be granite or other rock in other regions (Bourgogne, Franche-Comté).




And here's a close-up shot of the lauzes. They are the most common roofing material used in Cantal and other parts of the Auvergne region. Farther south in France, most of the roofs are red terra cotta tiles. In Brittany, the most common roofing material is slate. In between, as in Saint-Aignan, some are roofs are slate and others are terra cotta (terre cuite in French). You can see that these lauzes are pretty thick. They must be heavy.





Here's a typical house in Salers that built of the local black volcanic rock and has lauzes as its roofing material.



At the Château de Val, a few miles north of Salers, some of the "pepper-pot" towers are have lauze roofs and others are made of tiles.



Here's another typical cottage, this one in Tournemire, a few miles south of Saint-Chamant.


These lauzes are thinner than some I saw. I don't know what stone they made of. They almost look like they've been painted gray...



Finally, there's something pleasing about the plain and simple look of this old barn in Saint-Chamant, just south of Salers.


I found this YouTube video in French that shows how the lauze roofs in the Cantal are constructed, maintained, and repaired. The town featured is about 10 miles east of Aurillac.



Look what happens when a lauze roof is not well maintained.

16 comments:

  1. Intriguing roof information. I'd have called it all "slate", as a kind of generic, so it's nice to have the distinction explained.
    I am reading Salers in American as "sale-ers", but wondering if it's pronounced with a French "a", more like "sah-ler".
    That landscape is so beautiful, and the sweeping valleys look as if they might once have been glacial as well as volcanic.

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    1. Hi Emm! I think that Ken mentioned, once before, that Salers is pronounced more like your second option, though the final s is actually pronounced, so sort of like, sah-lairs.

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    2. Judy, the S is completely silent, sah-ler or sah-lair.

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    3. Ha! Welllll, chm and Emm... I knew I remembered hearing something about the pronunciation having the S at the end pronounced, and, sure enough, in this old blog post, Ken said that the (cheese?) man at the Saint Aignan market, pronounced the S during their conversation... but, Ken said that in Paris, they don't... but the Larousse dictionary of pronunciation says you DO pronounce it... but, when Ken asked the waiter at a Paris restaurant serving a dish from Salers, he said that, no, the S is not pronounced... ha! Read about it here, including the comments: Salers Pronunciation

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    4. Judy, I hope that what is said was that the final S of Salers is sometimes pronounced by French people who don't know that for the people of Salers that S is silent. The same is true of other place names, including Tournus and Juliénas. Another case: is the X in Bruxelles pronounced -KS- or just -S- as in English Brussels.

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    5. That's a great summary, Ken :) I guess we should always go with what the natives of a place say. Now, you've got me confused about how to pronounce Bruxelles!

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  2. Fascinating video. Thank Ken. It's a real art isn't it? Lauze, the stone, looks like limestone - kind of off-white and easy to shape before it patinates. I will now always remember the difference between lauzes and ardoises.

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  3. Thank you, Ken, for this very interesting and well research post. Even though, for personal reasons, I could not have the sound for the video, I found it very informative.

    At the bottom left of the map at the beginning of the video it is mentioned Polminhac. I'm wondering if it shows photos of the Château de Pesteils. It served as a backdrop for the acclaimed 1940s movie L'Éternel retour.

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    1. I can confirm that it is the Château de Pesteils that is shown at the beginning of the video I linked to. I just listened to it again.

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    2. Thank you, I wasn't sure I recognized it. There is another château in Polminhac across the Cère river, not as impressive, but not bad!

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  4. those roof tiles look like fish scales...I love them...have never seen before

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  5. Well, once again, I'm learning from Ken! I thought I was doing well to know what ardoise meant, but now you've thrown lause at us--ha! Great stuff! I loved the video... sacré accent on the younger son :) -- a pleasure to hear.

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  6. I really enjoyed the video! The roofs are a work of art. I think the barn is beautiful. Oh, how I wish I could be in France this year....

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  7. I, too, was enthralled by the family working side-by-side in their barn(?) cleaning and separating the lauzes so they would be prepared for their next roofing contract. Such thick lauzes would mean a very long life once a roof was completed, I believe! And their finished product was so attractive. Here, we are appreciative when the roofers adhere to good lines with their shingles and hope that the 30, 40 or longer guarantees actually come true. I have to clean the moss off my roof each year. Moss must not be a problem there. Merci, Ken!

    Mary in Oregon

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    1. We have moss on our roof here in Saint-Aignan, and there's moss on the roofs of other houses in the area — sometimes a lot of moss.

      Our roof tiles are what are called, improprement according to some sources, tuiles mécaniques. That term has always mystified me. How in the world can a roof tile be "mechanical"?

      Well, the more correct term is tuiles à emboîtement. Emboîter means "to fit together." The term is used to describe manufactured tiles that are shaped with ridges and grooves so that they fit together tightly and they have a lip on top so that they hang off the slats of the roof structure without having to be nailed down. The dictionary says: Tuile à emboîtement ou tuile mécanique. Tuile fabriquée à l'aide de machines et comportant des dispositifs en relief permettant de les emboîter les unes sur les autres. So the word mécanique for tiles here has to do with the tiles being machine-made. The French-English dictionary gives "interlocking tiles" for tuiles mécaniques. The tiles are very heavy and they are more wind-resistant than flat tiles, slate, or lauzes, apparently.

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  8. Are your tiles ceramic? They are quite popular here as they are more fire resistant and they have a longer life, too.
    But...and there is always a but (!) - they are quite expensive and usually found only in expensive subdivisions where they are part of the legal restrictions (CCR's, Covenants, conditions and restrictions). I have simple composite shingles but in the newer architectural style that are slightly different lengths and slight variations in color. I would enjoy seeing a photo of your roof, but I imagine that is not an easy option.
    Mary

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