AU2009101276B4

AU2009101276B4 - A rooftop walkway system

Info

Publication number: AU2009101276B4
Application number: AU2009101276A
Authority: AU
Inventors: James Rorison
Original assignee: Cladding & Roofing Contractors
Current assignee: Cladding & Roofing Contractors Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2008-12-12
Filing date: 2009-12-11
Publication date: 2010-07-22
Anticipated expiration: 2017-12-11
Also published as: AU2009248442A1; AU2009101276A4

Description

1 A rooftop walkway system FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a rooftop walkway system and, in particular, to a system for installing a walkway above roof cladding having a plurality of parallel and longitudinally 5 extending rib formations. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Roofs of large commercial and industrial buildings, such as factories, warehouses and shopping centres often require long uninterrupted flat or slightly angled roofs. To provide additional structural support to the roof, the roof cladding includes corrugations or rib 0 formations. Typically concealed-fix roof cladding is used on large projects. This type of cladding includes a plurality of longitudinally extending substantially level troughs separated by straight sided parallel rib formations. Peripheral ridges on the edges of each sheet are able to connect to adjacent cladding sheets of the same configuration, thereby providing a concealed-fix arrangement. 5 Access to the roof of these types of buildings is necessary from time to time. For instance, the roof surface typically supports air-conditioning units which require sporadic maintenance and repair. Other equipment, and in fact the roof surface itself, may also require occasional maintenance. These areas pose various dangers to a person authorised to have access, and damage can 20 occur to the roof cladding due to foot traffic. As a result permanent walkways are installed onto the roof surface to provide a safe non-slip surface and to limit potential damage to the roof cladding from foot traffic. Typically, aluminium grating or lattice type material is used, as it is relatively lightweight, resistant to slip and durable. The grating is supported above a frame which is connected to the upper surface of the rib formations. The frame is held in place by 25 screws that are drilled into the roof sheeting. A problem with this type of walkway is that it disrupts the integrity of the cladding and results in a plurality of holes through which water can potentially pass. To minimise this leakage, the screws include rubber washers. In spite of these preventive measures, over time and as a result of foot traffic on the walkway, the washers eventually wear out allowing water 30 through.

2 Further problems associated with existing roof walkway systems known to the Applicant is that they generally comprise an excessive amount of components such as walkway frames and connecting members, and they are also deficient in terms of allowing for thermal expansion and contraction. 5 It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome at least some of the aforementioned problems or provide the public with a useful alternative. It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a roof walkway and method of attachment to a roof surface without penetrating the cladding sheets, and which allows for thermal expansion and contraction of the roofing system. 10 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore in one form of the invention there is proposed a support member for use in supporting a walkway relative to a surface having a plurality of substantially parallel, longitudinal profiles, said support member including: a first portion configured for removable engagement with one of said plurality of longitudinal 15 profiles; and a second portion including a substantially horizontal surface to which said walkway or walkway component is adapted to be adapted to be mounted, said second portion surface being vertically disposed from said first portion; and wherein said first and second portions are of a single-piece construction. 20 In preference said first portion is shaped to straddle said longitudinal profile and thereby prevent the support member from transverse movement relative to the profile longitudinal axis. Preferably said longitudinal profile is a substantially concave structure including a flat upper surface and two downwardly diverging side walls on opposed sides thereof, each side wall including an intermediate outward shoulder formation. 25 In preference said first portion includes two downwardly diverging side walls having outward shoulder formations of a dimension which enables snap fit engagement between said support member and said longitudinal profile when said support member is pushed down on said longitudinal profile.

3 Preferably said second portion is a hollow structure of substantially square cross section having a central axis extending parallel to said profile longitudinal axis, whereby said surface to which the walkway is connected constitutes an upper horizontal surface of said hollow structure. In preference said second portion upper horizontal surface includes at least one aperture 5 for receiving a bolt for connecting said walkway or walkway component to said support member, said bolt adapted to engage a corresponding nut inside said hollow second portion. Alternatively at least one rivet is used to connect said walkway or walkway component to said upper horizontal surface of said support member. Preferably said walkway is in the form of a metal or fibre glass lattice. 10 Preferably said support member being in the form of an extrusion that can be cut to required lengths. In preference said support member is constructed from a non-deforiable material. In preference a neoprene strip is used to separate the flat upper surface of the longitudinal profile from the second portion of the support member. 15 In a further form of the invention there is proposed a support member for use in supporting a walkway above a surface having parallel and longitudinally extending rib formations, each rib formation being of the type having opposed, downward and outwardly diverging side walls having outward shoulders, said support member including: a lower portion including downward and outwardly diverging ears having at least one outward 20 shoulder being shaped to engage said rib formation outward shoulders by a snap fit when said support member is pressed dowi on said rib formation; a hollow upper portion including a substantially horizontal upper surface to which said walkway or a walkway component is adapted to be directly mounted, said upper surface being vertically disposed from said lower portion to thereby define a region below said upper surface which 25 facilitates the direct fastening of the walkway or walkway component to the support member; and whereinsaid upper and lower portions are integrally formed. In a still further form of the invention there is proposed a stay arrangement for supporting a walkway relative to a surface having a plurality of substantially parallel, longitudinal profiles, 4 said stay arrangement including: a plurality of support members adapted to support said walkway above the profiled surface, whereby each support member includes a first portion configured for removable engagement with one of said plurality of longitudinal profiles; 5 a second portion including a surface to which said walkway or a walkway component is adapted to be directly mounted, said second portion surface being vertically disposed from said first portion to thereby define a region below said upper surface which facilitates the direct fastening of the walkway or walkway component to the support member; and wherein said first and second portions of each support member are integrally formed. 10 Preferably said first portion of each support member is shaped to straddle said longitudinal profile and thereby prevent the support member and said walkway from transverse movement relative to the profile longitudinal axis. In preference each longitudinal profile is a substantially concave structure including a flat upper surface and two downwardly diverging side walls on opposed sides thereof, each side wall 15 including an intermediate outward shoulder formation. Preferably said first portion of each support member includes two downwardly diverging side walls having outward shoulder formations of a dimension which enables snap fit engagement between each support member and said longitudinal profile when each support member is pushed down on said longitudinal profile. 20 In preference said second portion of each support member is a hollow structure of substantially square cross section having a central axis extending parallel to said profile longitudinal axis, whereby said surface to which the walkway is connected constitutes an upper horizontal surface of said hollow structure, In preference the upper horizontal surface of each support member includes at least one 25 aperture for receiving a bolt for connecting said walkway to said support member, said bolt adapted to engage a corresponding nut inside the hollow second portion of each support member. Alternatively rivets are used to connect the walkway to the upper horizontal surface of each support member. Preferably said walkway is in the form of a metal or fibre glass lattice.

5 In preference each support member is in the form of an extrusion that can be cut to required lengths. Preferably each support member is constructed from a non-deformable material. In a still further form of the invention there is proposed a walkway system including a 5 walkway and a plurality of support members for supporting said walkway as defined above. In a yet further form of the invention there is proposed a walkway system including a walkway and a stay arrangement for said walkway as defined above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this 10 specification, illustrate several implementations of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the advantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a single support member forming part of a rooftop walkway system in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 illustrates a perspective view of a rooftop walkway system including a walkway 15 mounted above plurality of the support members of Figure 1; Figures 3a-3b illustrate end views of the way in which a walkway support member is snap fit to, a roof cladding rib formation in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 4 illustrates a perspective view of a rooftop walkway system including a walkway mounted above support members in accordance with a second aspect of the 20 present invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. Although the description includes exemplary embodiments, other embodiments are possible, and changes may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the spirit and scope 25 of the invention. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same and like parts. Referring to Figure 1, there is illustrated a support member 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The support member 10 is intended to be used as demonstrated in Figure 2, which illustrates part of a walkway system 12 including four such 5a support members 10 supported above the parallel rib formations 14 of a roof cladding sheet 16, and a lattice type walkway 18 mounted thereabove, The walkway 18 can be made of any suitable material including metal or fibreglass, and could be configured in any other suitable style.

6 The type of cladding illustrated is typically used on the roofs of large buildings, such as factories, warehouses and shopping centres. The sheet 16 is made up of a series of parallel flat trough sections 20 which are each separated by a rib formation 14. Each rib formation 14 is of a substantially concave shape and includes diverging side walls 22 terminating in a flat upper 5 surface 24, each wall including an intermediate shoulder 26. To provide access to air-conditioning units and other equipment, walkways 18 are installed onto the surface of the roof. The configuration of the walkways varies depending upon the size of the roof and location of the equipment. Present methods for attaching walkways to this type of roof cladding using screws suffers from the limitation that the screws pierce through 0 the rib formations and in time leads to seepage of water into the roof cavity. The present invention provides a support member 10 which overcomes these problems because the rib formations are not penetrated. The support member 10 is an extruded structure including a lower portion 28 shaped to straddle the roof cladding rib formation 14, and an upper portion 30 of a substantially square 5 cross section to which the walkway 18 is adapted to be connected. The skilled addressee will realise that walkways 18 may either extend across the roof sheeting perpendicular to the rib formations 14, or along the same direction as the rib formations 14 as illustrated in Figure 2. The support member 10 may accommodate for both of these situations. The lower portion 28 of the support member 10, which is shaped to straddle the rib 0 formation 18, includes two leg or ear portions 32 which extend vertically downwardly a short distance from the bottom of the upper square portion 30 and then diverge outwardly at approximately the same angle as the diverging walls 22 of the roof cladding rip formations 14. Each leg portion 32 terminates in an edge 34 which is of a dimension to engage the rib formation shoulders 26 when the support member 10 is pressed down against the rib formation 14. Figures 25 3a-3b illustrate how a support member 10 is connected to a rib formation 14, and how the leg portion edges 34 engage the rib formation shoulders 26 by way of a snap fit when pressed down against it. The angle of the rib formations of typical roof cladding sheets of the type embodied are 75 to 90 degrees from horizontal. As shown in Figure 3b, when the support member 10 is 30 attached to the rib formation, there exists a narrow channel 36 between the upper surface 24 of the rib formation 14 and the upper square portion 30 of the support member 10. Although not 7 essential, a neoprene strip (not shown) could be placed in this channel in order to prevent any reaction between the bracket and the roof cladding material. The walkway 18 is preferably secured in place above the support members 10 using bolts 38, nuts 40 and retaining discs 42. In particular, when the walkway 18 is placed in its desired 5 position above the support members 10, each bolt 36 is inserted so that it extends through an aperture 44 in the retaining disc 42, then through an aperture 46 in the walkway 18, and finally through an aperture 48 in the upper surface of the support member square portion 30 and into the internal hollow region 50 defined by the upper square portion 30. The nut 40 may then be used to engage the threaded portion of the bolt 36 inside the hollow region 48. 0 It is to be understood that rivets (not shown), screws, or other suitable connection means between the walkway 18 and the support members 10 which do not require access to inside the internal hollow region 50 could equally well be used. This would be particularly useful in the embodiment shown in Figure 4 which illustrates a support member 52 being used in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention. Essentially, the support member 52 is configured the 5 same way as support member 10, except it is an elongated extruded member which extends along the entire length of the rib formations, or at least along predefined lengths. The reason rivets (not shown) and the like are more suitable here is obviously because one cannot access the internal hollow region 50 easily. It is to be further understood that the present invention is not intended to be limited to the 0 walkway being connected directly to the support member, but may include within its scope connection of other components, such as a walkway coupling component of some kind. For example, it may be desirable to have the walkway raised, in which case the component that is mounted above the support members will be a raiser component (not shown) of some kind, to which the walkway is then mounted. 25 The skilled addressee would therefore realise that the support member 10 of the present invention does away with the need to pierce through the actual roof cladding sheets and thereby cause seepage into the roof cavity, and further does away with the need for multiple connecting elements between the roof cladding and the walkway. A versatile and adaptable method of attaching a walkway to a corrugated surface is provided in that, irrespective of the distance 30 between the rib formations, the support members 10 can be used to attach the walkway to the roof surface. The configuration of the supporting members and the resulting walkway system are also advantageous in terms of allowing for thermal expansion and contraction.

8 The skilled addressee would further appreciate that the distance between rib formations for particular styles of roof cladding are typically constant. Accordingly, it may be possible to construct the walkway offsite. Alternatively, the walkway assembly can be constructed onsite by simply attaching the support members 10 to the roof cladding rib formations by way of a simple 5 press-fit as described above. Although it is envisaged that once the walkway is in place it will remain a permanent fixture, because the integrity of the roof sheeting is not damaged, the walkway can, if desired, be removed from the roof surface. Of course the present embodiment that discusses roof sheeting having rib formations, it is to be understood that the present invention can be applied to 0 alternately shaped roof sheeting. The support member 10 should be constructed from a non deformable material including, but not limited to, steel or aluminium. Further advantages and improvements may very well be made to the present invention without deviating from its scope. Although the invention has been shown and described in what 5 is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope and spirit of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus. In any claims that follow and in the summary of the invention, except where the context 20 requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprising" is used in the sense of "including", i.e. the features specified may be associated with further features in various embodiments of the invention.

Claims

1. A support member for use in supporting a walkway relative to a surface having a plurality of substantially parallel, longitudinal profiles, said support member including: a first portion configured for removable engagement with one of said plurality of 5 longitudinal profiles; and a second portion including a substantially horizontal surface to which said walkway or walkway component is adapted to be mounted, said second portion surface being vertically disposed from said first portion; and wherein said first and second portions are of a single-piece construction. 10

2. A support member according to claim 1 wherein said second portion includes a hollow cross section to thereby define a region below said second portion which facilitates second portion surface which facilitates fastening of the walkway or walkway component to the support member,

3. A support member according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said first portion is disposed 15 below said second portion and is shaped to straddle said longitudinal profile and thereby prevent the support member from transverse movement relative to the profile longitudinal axis.

4. A support member for use in supporting a walkway above a surface having parallel and longitudinally extending rib formations, each rib formation being of the type having 20 opposed, downward and outwardly diverging side walls having outward shoulders, said support member including: a lower portion including generally downward and outwardly diverging legs having outward shoulders being shaped to engage said rib formation outward shoulders by a snap fit when said support member is pressed down on said rib formation; 25 a hollow upper portion including a substantially horizontal upper surface to which said walkway or a walkway component is adapted to be mounted, said upper surface being vertically disposed from said lower portion to thereby define a region below said upper surface which facilitates fastening of the walkway or walkway component to the support member; and 30 wherein said upper and lower portions are of a single-piece construction. 9a

5, A walkway system including a plurality of support members as defined in any one of claims 1-4,