KANJI –€“ Tsuglag-khang

Double Roof Construction

by John Harrison (JH)

The following winter there had been further water penetration at Kanji Tsuglagkhang, causing damage to the paintings on the east wall. When the painting conservators, together with Andreas Küng, reached Kanji in July they were able to inspect the damage, and also, as there was heavy rain at the time, to study the patterns of rainwater action on various parts of the earth structure.

Konchok Tinlas (KT) was not in Kanji at the time of the damage, but he examined the roof later and placed small plastic sheets over the junctions between the roof surface and the wooden water spouts. He suggested that the damage might have been caused by material such as debris or a bird’s nest blocking the water spout and causing water to overflow the sides of the spout within the tunnel through the wall. Mistri Sonam Wangchuk (SW) however, who was in the village at the time, said that after severe snow which was not cleared from the roof, the water spout was blocked by ice and overflow caused damage within the wall.

The village schoolteacher, Konchok Norbu, said he had been concerned about the snow on the roof and had asked KT’s brother Jeldan to clear it, but this had not been done.

Damage had occurred externally below the water spout, exposing the outer face of the timber skechsing and cutting into the plaster face of the wall and bricks below the skechsing. Internally the water had damaged an area of painting in the centre of the east wall, just to the right (south) of the main beam and bracket, 12in/30cm wide.

To date I have been unable to ascertain conclusively if the damage had been caused by surface runs from the very top of the wall. Heike Pfund thinks the water must have penetrated the plaster (from behind?) and caused damage inside the plaster, behind the paintings, but also penetrated the paint layer and damaged the surface of the paintings. This resulted in disintegration and loss of plaster fabric, detachment of paint layer and loss of paint layer.

If there had been no new damage to the painting at high level, it would suggest that the water had travelled down inside the wall thickness before penetrating the surface from behind. If the water penetration had occurred on the roof at the junction with the wooden water spout, which one might assume was the weakest point, or at the junction between roof and parapet wall, the internal damage would have occurred at the top of the wall paintings, with runs travelling down the surface, as had happened previously. The roof repairs undertaken to seal the shrinkage gap between the earth roof and the parapet wall appear to have been successful. Blocking of the waterspout tunnel had not then been considered a likely threat.

JH favoured reinstatement of a traditional upper roof, and this was agreed by other members of the association.

JH first considered draining the roof again to the east, but installing two water spouts instead of one, and with sheet metal flashings or trays in the parapet wall below the water spouts. Then in discussion with Mauro Bertagnin it was decided to drain both the new upper roof and the existing porch roof to the south without water spouts, to avoid the possibility of blockage. The new roof structure would have one main east-west beam resting on the existing parapet walls (without a centre post to avoid overloading the central pillar in the temple below) and secondary beams spanning to the north parapet wall and to a new south brick wall built over the temple entrance wall.

Further information on the original upper roof emerged from conversations with Konchok Tinlas, his elder brother Tashi Norfel, and Mistri SW. It appears that the roof was forcibly removed only twenty tears ago during a dispute between KT’s family and a powerful local monk who demanded building materials for the new temple he was building above the north side of the village. Another informant, Chimet Tonyot, played in the roof space as a child, and recalled the centre post and a slender east-west beam only 5in/12cm in diameter. It could not be established how much damage had occurred to the wall paintings before the upper roof had been removed.

KT obtained markalak and new earth bricks in the village, and JH bought the structural timbers and taloo sticks for the ceiling in Leh and had them trucked to Kanji road end for donkey transport to the village. The main beam, 8in/20cm dia x 16ft/4,90cm had to be carried by four men. The carriage of materials into the village was made more difficult by the recent flood and landslide damage to the path. KT had four Kashmiri labourers who had been working in the village.

With timber, taloo, markalak and bricks on site, work started on the new roof on 17 August. Earth, sand and yamang slates were brought by donkey from the usual sites around the village. Sockets were cut into the east and west parapet walls for the main beam, and a brick wall with small central doorway built over the south entrance wall. The seven secondary beams were seated in the sockets in the north parapet wall, and the beams adjusted to give a fall of 8in/20cm down to the new south wall.

Taloo sticks were laid uncut over the beams, then grass, then 3-4in/7-10cm earth with markalak, straw and yak dung. A layer of dissolved markalak was then spread over the earth in the traditional Kanji manner, and then a final topping of dry earth. A line of yamang was laid over the lower southern edge of the new upper roof, which projected 8in/20cm beyond the new wall face, to provide a continuous drip.

On the porch roof below, the earth roofing was shaped to a steep southerly fall to carry water away as quickly as possible, with a complete layer of yamang covering the surface. The southern edge of the porch roof was formed with a continuous yamang drip, like the main roof above, to discharge to the courtyard below.

A hatch was reopened in the porch roof to provide access to the roof, to prevent ladders being placed against the front roof edge and dislodging the yamang drips.

Yamang slates were relaid on the top of the parapet walls in a double layer to prevent water running between the slates and cutting the face of the parapet below. The slates were laid with a greater projection than before so that drips would fall outside the lower string course.

The new roof was completed in five days, with Mistri SW, the four Kashmiris for four days, Karma Yeshe, KT’s assistant Raju, JH, a village lady for one day, and KT for two days before he fell sick. KT and SW were to return to the roof when the harvest was completed and fill shrinkage cracks.