Lead thieves at it again...

[KB7DQH]

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-section/church_left_vulnerable_by_lead_thieves_1_3567759

Church left 'vulnerable' by lead thieves


Published on Monday 11 July 2011 21:00

A "HUGE" amount of lead has been stolen from the roof of a historic Grade I listed church in Doncaster.

Wardens at St Lawrence Church in Hatfield noticed the damage when opening the church for last Sunday morning's service.

Although lead has been stolen from the church previously, this haul was the biggest yet and is said to have left the roof in a "very vulnerable" condition.

The vicar of Hatfield, the Rev Paul Wilson, said: "Many generous and supportive people have worked so hard to ensure that this wonderful church building is maintained and restored, and this kind of greed-driven, thoughtless attack is both disheartening and sickening.

"The recently-restored pipe organ, which cost almost £90,000 to refurbish, was left in a vulnerable position.

"If there had been any rain overnight then all of those six years of hard work would have been destroyed, as rain would have simply poured through the roof."

It is thought that the cost of repairing the roof will run to around £100,000. Although the church was insured, there is an annual limit of £5,000 for theft of metals.

Once that threshold is reached, church members have to cover the cost of repairs.

I recently checked... and the "commodity" price for Lead is a fourth that of Copper... at least in the USA...

Enamel-painted Steel roofing normally carries a 50 year warranty... and the oxide wouldn't poison the soil... and thieves wouldn't bother it.  Trick would be getting a manufacturer to form the sheets to have an identical appearance to the lead they would replace...

Eric
KB7DQH