ROOFING FEELING BLUE
Anecdotal evidence suggests that ungraded blue roofing battens are being passed off as graded. This could put lives at risk, as SR Timber Trading Director Shaun Revill, explains.
A
re your roofing battens fit for purpose and definitely a correct British Standard Grade? Roofing battens that are not graded correctly will cause problems with roof installation immediately but, more importantly, can be a real safety risk.
Roofing battens are an essential part of a pitched roof structure. They support the weight of the roof covering and any additional loads imposed on the roof by wind or snow, or by PV panels. Equally importantly, while the roof is under construction the battens must also be capable of providing a strong, secure foothold for the roofers carrying out the installation. This makes the news that counterfeit inferior roofing battens are finding their way on to UK construction sites all the more alarming. The presence of counterfeit battens will mean that contractors are inadvertently paying a premium for substandard roofing battens and potentially having to simply dispose of lengths of batten that are not fit for purpose, wasting time and money when both are at a premium and prices are rising. It also means that there is no guarantee of the batten’s load-bearing capability, or that that material has been properly treated with an approved chemical to prevent rot.
BS 5534 Code of practice for slating and tiling, provides the construction industry with guidance on best practice on the installation of a slate or tiled roof, including batten selection. It is not a legal requirement to install a roof in accordance with the British Standard. But, if the standard is included within a specification, and the installation does not meet the standard, the installer would be in a vulnerable position if there is a legal dispute. What’s more, most third-party
28
Above: An example of roof battens that are clearly substandard, despite being coloured blue. Right: S R Timber’s product brand “Gold batten” produced to BS5534.
warranty providers will only cover a building if it has been constructed in accordance with the relevant British standards.
For battens, the British Standard requires a minimum depth of 25mm and zero tolerance is allowed – so in simple terms it cannot be below 25mm in depth. For width, where the dimensions can be either 38mm or 50mm a tolerance of plus or minus 3mm is allowed (so the minimum width is either 35mm or 47mm).
The Standard requires all battens to be stamped with information identifying origin, size, supplier and conformance to BS 5534. Batten quality is further assured by third-party checks from a UKAS accredited assessor. When factory-graded battens became part of BS 5534, to make it easier to distinguish it from ungraded timber, many producers use a coloured dye in the chemical treating the batten. At the time when factory-graded was recommended, producers trademarked their own branded colour - for example, SR timber colours its premium graded battens gold. Blue roofing batten has become a “generic” product as no individual producer at the time trademarked this colour graded batten. Today many importers and agents are distributing this generic product into the UK merchant sector. Unfortunately for the companies producing correctly graded blue battens there is a volume of blue batten material within the
UK market which does not conform to the required British Standard.
It is also important to note that colour alone is not proof of compliance. The battens should have all of the correct stamps – it is recommended that they also have third party accreditation with a stamp mark confirming this accreditation.
The problem is that we are finding battens for sale in the UK which are blue coloured and stamped correctly but still do not meet the Standard grade. Large importers and legitimate producers such as SR Timber have secure supply chains and monitor quality constantly, but it would appear that not all suppliers have the same duty of care. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some battens being sold in the UK aren’t sizing up to the BS 5534.
Simon Dixon, Training Manager at (National Federation of Roofing Contractors) NFRC is rightly concerned: “Seeing ungraded batten being coloured blue and passed off as proper
__
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net August 2022
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
