Building record MHG55522 - Spey Cottage, Boat of Garten

Original Sleeper House, built c. 1930, which has been rendered. Two storey building with front porch, the full
height of the building is constructed from sleepers. The south-facing gable is partially covered by corrugated tin cladding to provide additional weather proofing. The roof is covered with roofing felt cut into the shape of tiles. The current roof is a replacement which was installed in around t994/95; the original roof covering was Cedar shingles. There are other examples of the use of roofing felt for the outer skin of the roof cover within the strath.
Original internal woodwork can be seen in the area of the front porch. The whole building is timberlined, with plasterboard installed on top of the timber. The walls were lined with danders (cinders/clinker) from the engine shed to provide insulation (the owner was the driver in charge of the engine shed!).
When the floor was replaced in the late 1990s, it was discovered that the joists underneath were tree trunks. Underneath the flooring the owners found an old cigarette packet - a legacy of some previous workmen!

This building is one of a number of 'sleeper' buildings built from railway sleepers, or on railway sleeper foundations, in Boat of Garten and Badenoch and Strathspey. See Jackie Wilson's report for the ARCH Community Timeline course, 2011. <1>