EP0750081A1

EP0750081A1 - Skylight packaging

Info

Publication number: EP0750081A1
Application number: EP96201626A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Bastiaan Maarten Verboom
Original assignee: Ubbink Nederland BV
Current assignee: Ubbink Nederland BV
Priority date: 1995-06-19
Filing date: 1996-06-13
Publication date: 1996-12-27
Also published as: NL1000590C2

Abstract

Assembly of skylight (3) and packaging (1) therefor, in which the packaging (1) comprises a covering, such as a cardboard box (2), and means (4) for filling at least a part of the space between the covering (2) and the skylight (3) and for protecting the skylight (3), in which the filling and protecting means (4) are made of form stable, heat insulating means to form a substantially continuous sealing and insulating belt connecting to the skylight (3) in the installed state.

Description

The invention relates to a skylight packaging as well as to a method for transporting and installing a skylight.
As the need for occupiable accommodation space in houses grows, skylights are increasingly being installed in slanting roofs to allow natural light and outside air to enter one or more spaces below the roof, such as attic rooms.
The skylights can be installed in a roof of a house in use or incorporated in the roof of a newly built house. In the first case an opening will have to be made in the correct place in the roof and in the second case the position of the skylight will have to be taken into consideration when building the roof structure.
The skylights are generally placed in or on the outside of the roof plane, to which, as seen in a direction from outside to inside, the tile covering, the tile battens and the laths with insulating plates can be counted. A such-like roof plane is supported by purlins, which are left out here. The skylight will be located with its surface facing to the inside approximately at a level with the outside of the roof battens. Covering transition parts can extend from the window frame to below the connecting roof tiles to allow trouble-free water drainage.
After installing the skylight there is a free space directly below the inwardly facing surfaces of the window j frame and possible covering parts, which communicates in an outward direction with the space between the roof battens and thus with the outside air. If the edge or end faces of the insulating plates are finished directly in a way which connects to the window frame, a circumferentially extending area connecting directly to the window frame will be created, where the R-value is much lower than that at the level of the insulating plates, a thermal bridge being created as a result. Practically speaking the thermal bridge cannot be prevented by sinking the window frame further into the skylight - if that is at all feasible in connection with the size adjustment - because then complicated provisions would be necessary as regards water drainage. Increase of the height of the window frame itself would cause the same difficulty and would, moreover, be expensive.
Usually the insulating plates will be cut off at some distance from the inner circumference or the clear of the window frame. If, for aesthetic reasons, the trimming is arranged flush with the inner circumference of the window frame, then said non-insulated area will also extend between the end faces of the insulating plates and the finishing, so that the surface of the thermal bridge is enlarged.
The resulting surrounding space can be filled with insulating material, usually PUR foam. The disadvantage of this is that for this purpose special staff has to be put on, but what is more important is that the PUR foam has the tendency to deform after application by swelling and it is not known exactly to which degree that will happen. Therefore there is no guarantee that the structure will remain intact as far as function and flawlessness are concerned.
In order to offer a solution for this, the trade offers separate frameworks of insulating material with a circumference which is comparable to that of the window frame of a skylight. Another well known solution is marketing separate packets of loose bands or strips of insulation foam material, which can be cut to size in situ.
A drawback of the first solution is that the framework is only suitable for one window size. The disadvantage of the second solution is that everything has to be made to size, which entails additional actions. A more important disadvantage attached to both solution is that use is made of additional material, that is packaged separately and therefore signifies an increase in the amount of waste which is produced in constructional work.
Building waste is an increasing source of worry. The rules concerning collection and processing are consequently becoming more and more stringent. Waste that only consists of rubble can, at present, be processed more cheaply than waste consisting of diverse materials that is treated as chemical waste. It is, therefore, desirable, not only for the benefit of the environment but also from the point of view of operational management in the construction field, that the component diverse waste is kept as small as possible. Both known solutions mentioned do not contribute to this, however, on the contrary they seem to aggravate this problem.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improvement for this and provides for this purpose an assembly of skylight and packaging therefor, in which the packaging comprises a covering, such as a cardboard box, and means for filling at least a part of the space between the covering and the skylight and for protecting the skylight, in which the filling and protecting means are made of heat insulating material and shaped and dimensioned so as to form in a circumferential sense a substantially continuous sealing and insulating belt connecting to the skylight in the installed state. In the assembly according to the invention the material, in which the skylight is packed among others during transport, fulfills a protecting function to prevent damage of the skylight, but does not have to be discarded after fulfilling that function, however.
On the contrary, for that material an additional function has indeed been provided, that is as sealing and insulating material in the roof, at the location of the connection area of the existing insulation and the skylight. In comparison with the prior art additional waste is not only prevented in this way but waste which would otherwise be produced when removing the skylight from the covering is also reduced.
Advantageous further developments of the assembly according to the invention are the subject of claims 2-5.
Preferably the filling and protecting means are formed by a number of strip or belt-shaped, form stable parts, which, seen in cross section parallel to the window frame of the skylight, are preferably L-shaped. In the packaging these parts can at least in part abut the outside of the window frame and be spaced with their ends from each other. This spacing is such that the L-shaped parts, if they are placed with the ends against each other, form a framework that has a circumference matching that of the window frame and can thus connect in an insulating way to the inwardly facing surfaces of the window frame.
The invention further provides a method as described in the claims 7, 8 and/or 9.
The invention will now be elucidated in more detail on the basis of an exemplary embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, in which

fig. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a skylight packaging according to the invention;
fig. 2 shows the skylight packaging of fig. 1, after removal of the covering at the building site;
fig. 3 schematically shows the combining of the protecting parts of the packaging of fig. 1 into a sealing and insulating framework;
fig. 4 schematically shows the obtained sealing and insulating framework and the skylight of the skylight packaging of fig. 1, in a state included in a roof;
fig. 5 shows a detail of the transition area between the skylight and the roof structure of a sloping roof; and
fig. 6 shows a cross section of the transition area of a skylight and roof structure, according to a plane perpendicular to the roof slope and parallel to the ridge of the roof, use being made of a skylight packaging according to the invention.

In figure 1 the skylight packaging 1 is shown, which consists of cardboard box 2, which is shown partially cut away, skylight 3 and filling and protecting material 4, which fills at least a part of the space between the cardboard box 2 and the skylight 3 to protect the skylight during transport.
The skylight 3 consists substantially of window frame 3a, leaf 3b and pane 3c. The leaf 3b can be hingedly attached in different ways to the window frame 3a, however, as for the invention that is of no importance.
The filling and protecting material 4 consists here of four L- shaped polystyrene strips 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d, with the thickness d, which are placed on the outer circumference of the window frame 3a. The L-shaped strips 4 engage about the corners of the window frame 3a, so as to provide sufficient protection there during transport of the skylight. The skylight 3 with the L-shaped strips 4a-4d are accomodated in a close-fitting way in the cardboard covering 2.
The L-shaped strips 4 a-d are of such a length that the adjacent ends 10-10 and 11-11, respectively, of the L-shaped protection strips 4a-4d end at distances a and b, respectively, from each other. In that way, the L-shaped protection strips 4a-4d define with their outermost corner lines a circumference of $2 x (g + h)$
, which corresponds substantially to the inner circumference of the cardboard covering 2.
In figure 2 the skylight packaging has arrived on the building site and the cardboard covering 2 has been removed. The L-shaped protection strips 4a-4d are assembled, whilst the skylight 3 is placed in the roof.
Figure 3 schematically shows that the skylight 3 with the outer dimensions c and d is placed in the roof and that the L-shaped protection strips 4a-4d are combined into a circumferential belt or framework 4', the end faces 10, 10 and 11, 11 of adjacent protection strips 4a, 4d and 4b, 4c, and 4a, 4b and 4c, 4d, respectively, are placed against each other. The outer circumference of the protection strips 4a-4d is then $2 x (e + f)$
, this size being such that the framework 4' can connect to the window frame 3a, lying against at least an outer portion of the inner faces of the window frame, as shown in figure 4. This is then accomplished by choosing the dimensions a and b, respectively, such that they are in the order of magnitude of g-c and h-d. In this example e and f, respectively, are equal to c+i and d+i, respectively, and a and b are approximately i.
In figure 5 an example is shown of the transition area at a skylight in a sloping roof. Along with window frame 3a, leaf 3b and double pane 3c, the skylight 3 consists of a covering part 3d slid in at the site, which projects sidewards in order to reach under the roof tiles so as to thus guarantee the discharge of rainwater without leakage occuring. In addition, a roof tile 13 and roof battens 12 are shown, which are attached to laths 14, which themselves again rest on purlins 18. Heat insulating plates 15, for example of glass wool, provided with finishing plate 16 are arranged between the laths 14. An opening is made in the roof so that the insulating plates 15 end at the edge face 19. The opening defined by the edge faces 19 is so dimensioned that the skylight can be installed in a correct and easy manner.
Moreover, an inner trimming or finishing 17 is shown, which is at least almost flush with the surface of the window frame 3a facing the clear. Between the finishing 17, the inner faces 22 of the window frame 3a and the edge faces 19 and the outer faces 23 of the insulating plates 15 a space 20, 21 is formed that is L-shaped in cross section and is in contact with the outside air via the spaces between the roof battens 12. In this way the cold outside air can penetrate up to the outside of the finishing 17 and cause a thermal bridge there in the direction A and possibly in the direction B.
It was common up to now to fill this space 20, 21 with PUR foam after it was screened off in the centrally directed inward direction by inner trimming or finishing 17 or, as has been possible for a short time now, with strips or frameworks of insulating material specifically intended for that purpose, which are separately available in the trade.
In figure 6 the transition area of figure 5 is shown in cross section, the thermal bridges having been prevented, however, because the insulating framework 4' is placed in the space 20, 21. The insulating framework 4' sealingly abuts the inner faces 22 of the window frame 3a and the edge faces 19 of the insulating plates 15. It can be seen that the R-value does not show a major fall anywhere in the transition area so that thermal bridges are prevented. After placing the insulating framework 4' it is finished in the usual way with plates 1, which connect to inner finishing 17.

Claims

Assembly of skylight and packaging therefor, in which the packaging comprises a covering, such as a cardboard box, and means for filling at least a part of the space between the covering and the skylight and for protecting the skylight, in which the filling and protecting means are made of heat insulating material and shaped and dimensioned so as to form in a circumferential sense a substantially continuous sealing and insulating belt connecting to the skylight in the installed state.
Assembly according to claim 1, in which the filling and protecting means are shaped and dimensioned to form a sealing and insulating belt which connects to the inside of the skylight.
Assembly according to claim 1 or 2, in which the filling and protecting means are shaped and dimensioned to form a sealing and insulating belt which falls, for at least approximately half of it, substantially within the circumference of the window frame of the skylight.
Assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the filling and protecting means are made of form stable material, such as expanded polystyrene.
Assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the filling and protecting means are shaped by a number of strip or belt-shaped form stable parts.
Assembly according to claim 5, in which at least a few, preferably four, of the strip or belt-shaped parts are L-shaped, seen in cross section parallel to the window frame of the skylight.
Method of transporting and installing a skylight, wherein the skylight is transported in a covering of, for example, cardboard, wherein filling and protecting material is arranged between the covering and the skylight, wherein the covering is removed at the site and the skylight is installed in an opening in the roof provided for that purpose, and the filling and protecting material is arranged between the window frame of the skylight and the heat insulating plates present in the roof.
Method according to claim 7, wherein the filling and protecting material is arranged against the side of the window frame of the skylight which faces the inner space of the roof.
Method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein use is made of substantially form stable filling and protecting material in the form of a number of separate parts which in the covering are at least partially located about the outside of the skylight and end at their ends facing each other at a distance spaced from each other and wherein the parts are positioned in situ with those ends at least almost adjacent each other in order to form a surrounding insulating belt, which performs a sealing function when cooperating with the window frame of the skylight.