GB2169933A

GB2169933A - A support strip for roofing elements

Info

Publication number: GB2169933A
Application number: GB08501396A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Keiron Robin Dey
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1985-01-19
Filing date: 1985-01-19
Publication date: 1986-07-23
Also published as: GB8501396D0; GB2169933B

Abstract

A support strip 11 (111, Fig. 4) for roof cladding elements 20, 23, 24 such as slates or tiles comprises an elongate laminar element of pierceable material such as plastics, aluminium or other light metal or metal alloy, having a transverse flange (12, 112) along one longitudinal edge, the transverse flange 12 (112, Fig. 4) having a lip 14 (114, Fig. 4) lying in a plane parallel to and offset from the main body of the strip 11 (111) to define a channel 15 (115, Fig. 4) for receiving the lower ends of a row of roof cladding elements 20, 23, 24 to support these in position on the roof. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A support strip for roofing elements The present invention relates to a support strip for roofing elements, and a roof when formed with roofing elements supported by such strips.

The present invention also comprehends a method of fixing roofing elements to underlying frame structure of rafters by means of such a strip.

Conventional rooves are built up by a support frame comprising inclined rafters meeting together at a ridge and supported at their lower ends on wall plates. The lower ends of the rafters are frequently tied together by cross beams to define an A frame or truss and adjacent trusses or A frames are spanned by transversely extending batons which constitute the immediate support for the roof cladding elements comprising slates or tiles secured to the batons by fixings, usually pins or nails, driven through the cladding elements into the baton.

The pattern of fixing roof cladding elements from the ridge to the eave comprises rows of staggered elements, offset by one half their width from adjacent and overlying and underlying rows, and each row overlapping the last by more than half their length so that the gap between adjacent roof cladding elements of a row is in register with the centre line of a roof cladding element of the underlying row and is covered, at least to a point below that corresponding to the upper edge of the underlying row by the lower portion of a roof cladding element of the overlying row. At the lower most edge or eaves a double row of roof cladding elements is provided, the underlying row being offset by one half the width of the elements from the overlying row but being longitudinally in register therewith.In order to fix the cladding elements in position it is usual to start at the eaves with the double row mentioned above, and then to work towards the ridge lining up each element of a row by eye. This operation, individually lining up and fixing each roof cladding element, is tedious and time consuming and contributes in large measure to the cost of fixing the roof cladding to the support structure.

In addition, particularly when using composite roof slates made from asbestos, it is necessary to apply additional fixings to the lower edges, the socalled tingles, to prevent the dehydration and heating effect of incidence solar radiation from causing the roof cladding elements to curl. Again, the fixing of tingles increases the time taken and therefore the cost of fixing roof cladding elements of this type.

The present invention seeks to provide means by which roof cladding elements can be secured in position on an underlying structure quickly and rapidly and, in the case of asbestos slates, in a manner which avoids the necessity for an additional fixing operation at the lower edge.

According to one aspect of the present invention, therefore, a support strip for roof cladding elements such as slates or tiles, comprises an elongate laminar element of pierceable material, having a transverse flange with a plurality of openings and a lip defining, with the flange, a channel for receiving in use, the lower ends of a row of roof cladding elements to supportthese in position on a roof.

The openings in a flange may be in the form of a row of apertures or alternatively the flange may be formed as a mesh. The necessity for these openings is to provide drainage for the lower edges of the roof cladding elements secured thereby. Obviously, roof cladding elements are made from a material resistant to water, but in the absence of drainage openings in the channel the lower edges of the elements would be in almost constant saturation conditior s and this could lead to deterioration as well as to a tendency for capillary attraction of water to draw this up between the slate and the fixing strip. It is invisaged that the strip will be made from plastics or a light metal such as aluminium (suitably anodised) since these materials are suitable for the production of indefinite lengths of strip material by extrusion or continuous casting.

In use the strip will be attached to a baton spanning adjacent rafters of a roof structure priorto fitting the lower edges of a row of slates into the channel.

If a previous row of slates has been fitted then the support strip will be fitted over the underlying row at a location determined by the underlying baton. In an alternative embodiment, provided to speed up the process for fixing roof cladding elements, the strip is provided with an upper inverted channel projecting from the opposite face from that of the first channel, the second channel defining a recess for receiving the upper edge of a row of slates beneath the row, the lower edges of which are supported by the said apertured channel.This enables the slates to be fitted to a rafter structure without requiring batons and consequently by omitting the baton-fixing operation, materially increases the speed at which a roof structure can be built and clad, and at the same time the cost of the additional strip can be offset, at least partly, by the saving in material by the omission of the batons.

The present invention also comprehends a method of fixing roof cladding elements to an underlying frame structure of rafters, in which the bottom edges of a row of slates are received in a channel formed in a longitudinal edge of a slatesupport strip and fixed to the roof structure by fixings passing through a slate-support strip for supporting the next higher row of slates.

Also comprehended within the scope of the present invention is a roof comprising a support structure of inclined rafters with batons spanning the rafters, a plurality of rows of roof cladding elements, and a plurality of elongate slate-support strips each having a perforated channel receiving the lower edges of an associated row of roof cladding elements and secured in place by fixings which secure the next row of roof cladding elements below the row in question.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a support strip for roof cladding elements, formed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view illustrating the manner of use of the strip illustrated in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line Ill-Ill of Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a perspective view similar to Figure 2 illustrating an alternative fixing strip for roof cladding elements.

Referring now to the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a fixing strip for roof cladding elements such as slates or tiles comprising a generally planar elongate main body portion 11 having a transverse flange 12 extending along the whole of the length of one longitudinal edge, the flange 12 having a plurality of apertures 13 occupying a major portion of the area thereof, and a lip 14 extending parallel to the main body portion 11 from the flange 12 to define a channel 15 adjacent the edge of the strip 11.

Figure 2 illustrates the manner in which the strip 11 illustrated in Figure 1 is utilised. Figure 2 shows a portion of a roof structure comprising parallel inclined rafters 16 spanned by transverse batons 17 individually identified from the lowermost baton by the sub-scripts at b, ct etc. To the lowermost baton 17a is fitted a slate-support strip 11a by means of fixings passing through apertures 19. The channel 15a of the slate-support strip 11 a receives two rows of slates 18, 20 which are secured in place by fixings passing through holes 21, 22 respectively.At the same time as fixing these slates through the holes 20, 21, 22, etc., a second slate-support strip 11 b is also secured in position to receive a second row of slates 23, the lowermost edges of which are introduced into the channel 1 sub and supported thereby. The slates 23 overlie the slates 20 and are offset by one half of their width.The operations for cladding a roof then continue with the cycle comprising positioning a slate-support 1 1c parallel to the strip 11 b at a predetermined distance from it, securing the slate-support strip 1 Ic by means of fixings passing through openings 24 which need need not be preliminarily provided but which can be formed in situ by driving a nail through the appropriate part of the body 11, through the underlying slate in the row 23 and into the baton 17c under that.Once the support strip 11 c has been fitted in position, the next row of slates, identified by the reference numeral 24, can ail be fitted in position simply by lowering them into the channel 1 5e where they are held accurately in alignment and ready to receive the fixings once an overlying slate-support strip 11d has been positioned at the appropriate distance above the strip 11c. It will be appreciated that the time spent previously in aligning each individual slate of a row has now been saved since the strips automatically position the slates without any need for adjustment.

The apertures 13 in the flange 12 which defines the channel 15 permit drainage from the channel 15 so that no collection of water along the bottom edges of the slates can arise, which may lead to deterioration of the material of the slates.

Figure 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment in which corresponding components have been identified with the same reference numerals raised by 100. In this embodiment the slate-support strip 111 is substantially wider and, in addition to the channel 115 defined by the transverse flange 112 and lip 114, has a second transverse flange 135 along the opposite edge, defining a second channel 136 in conjunction with a second lip 137. This arrangement makes it possible to do away with the necessity for transverse batons so that the strips 111 can be secured directly to the rafters 116 and provide adequate rigid supportforthe slates both at the top and bottom edges.In this case, the slatesupport strip 111 is fitted at the same time as the row of slates, being positioned by its channel 136 over the top edges of these slates as they are fitted into the channel 115 of the underlying slate-support strip. Of course, since the batons are no longer present fixings can only be made through the slates and the slate-support strip into rafters 116 at a wider spacing than was hithertofore possible but since each individual slate is held along the whole of its upper edge and the whole of its lower edge by the channels of adjacent support strips, and since adjacent slates will prevent lateral movement, any slate which is not fixed directly to a rafter will nevertheless by securely located against displacement. In fact, since standard regulations of building practice require rafters to be spaced by 16 inches, and since a standard dimension for slates is 20 inches long by 12 inches wide, relatively few slates in a row will be positioned so that they do not receive a fixing into a rafter.

Again, the lowermost channel 115 is provided with drainage holes so that no possibility of deterioration due to accumulation of water can occur. The material chosen must be one which can be pierced easily by a nail, and as described above anodised aluminium or plastics material is considered appropriate at this stage although other materials, particularly sheet steel or other sheet metal, may be found to be suitable.

Claims

1. A support strip for roof cladding elements such as slates or tiles, comprising an elongate laminar element of piercable material, having a transverse flange with a plurality of openings and a lip defining, with the flange, a channel for receiving, in use, the lower ends of a row of roof cladding elements to support these in position on a roof.

2. A support strip for roof cladding elements, as claimed in Claim 1, in which the openings in the flange are in the form of a row of apertures.

3. A support strip for roof cladding elements, as claimed in Claim 1, in which the openings in the flange are in the form of a mesh.

4. A support strip for roof cladding elements, as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 3, in which the elongate laminar element is made from plastics material.

5. A support strip for roof cladding elements, as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 3, in which the elongate laminar element is made from aluminium, aluminium alloy or other light metal or metal alloy.

6. A support strip for roof cladding elements, as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the elongate laminar element includes an upper channel, inverted with respect to the said channel and projecting from the opposite face from that of the first channel, the said upper channel defining a recess for receiving the upper edge of a row of slates underlying the said row the lower edges of which are supported by the said first channel.

7. A support strip for roof cladding elements, as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the said channel defined by the transverse flange and lip of the said elongate laminar element is provided with or incorporates means for retaining or restraining the lower edge of a roof cladding element positioned in said channel.

8. A support strip for roof cladding elements, as claimed in Claim 7, in which the said restraining or retaining means include,a resilient element housed in the said channel for engaging the lower edges of roof cladding elements located in the said channel.

9. A support strip for roof cladding elements, as claimed in any preceding Claim, in which the said channel defined by the said transverse flange of the said lip is convergent from its opening towards the bottom thereof whereby to provide secure engagement for roof cladding elements over a range of width from that of the mouth of the channel to that of the bottom of the channel when such roof cladding elements are introduced into the said channel.

10. A support strip for roof cladding elements, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

11. A ro',f structure comprising a plurality of roof cladding elements carried on a plurality of support strips as claimed in any preceding Claim and secured to an underlying framework of rafters to define a water resistant covering for the roof.

12. A roof structure as claimed in Claim 11, including a plurality of battens extending transversely of the rafters and supporting respective cladding element support strips.