AU719760B2

AU719760B2 - Valley sheet assemblies for roofs

Info

Publication number: AU719760B2
Application number: AU28453/97A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Richard Max Rosolen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-07-04
Filing date: 1997-07-04
Publication date: 2000-05-18
Anticipated expiration: 2017-07-04
Also published as: AU2845397A

Description

t, P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: "VALLEY SHEET ASSEMBLIES FOR ROOFS" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:

II

2 "VALLEY SHEET ASSEMBLIES FOR ROOFS" THIS INVENTION relates to an improved valley sheet assembly for use in roofs of houses, sheds, factories and other buildings.

Valleys are known in roofs as a depression or groove formed by the meeting or intersection of two inclined surfaces of a roof. A conventional "valley sheet" alternatively known as "valley iron" or "valley gutter" is known in roofing parlance as a sheet of iron which covers a roof valley which has a cross sectional profile in the shape of a shallow V and which usually includes a bottom vertex, a pair of triangular upwardly directed ribs in each arm of the V as well as an outer flange in each arm of the V which was inturned or possessed an inwardly directed C shaped curl. The valley sheet extended from a top end or apex of the valley to the 0000"roof gutter and was usually installed by attachment of each outer flange to an adjacent tiling batten by driving nails into an adjacent roof batten and bending the nails over each adjoining outer flange.

It was also usually necessary to instal "valley boards" or elongate timber planks of tapered cross section which underlie the valley sheet and which extended along the roof valley and which were supported by roof rafters as is known in conventional building practice.

In the conventional valley sheet assembly as described above, the valley sheet extended to the gutter and included an outer end portion which contacted an adjacent inner flange of the gutter in bearing relationship and extended into a gutter interior a relatively small extent.

I 3 It has now been found in practice that conventional valley sheet assemblies as described above are subject to a number of disadvantages which included the following: they had insufficient capacity to cope for torrential downpours of rainfall which occurred in storms as well as in cyclonic areas or tropical or sub-tropical areas which lead to flash flooding of the valley wherein water would flow over each outer flange of the valley sheet and thereby obtain access to a building interior causing damage to ceilings and walls; 0 .0 (ii) there was excessive build up of leaves and other detritus in areas located between the valley sheet and overlying roof tiles which necessitated manual removal or lifting of the roof tiles which detracted from the operational longevity of the roof tiles; (iii) the installation of the conventional valley sheet assembly was time consuming and complex owing to the necessity to utilize valley boards as described above which caused additional problems in that it was then necessary to: bend the valley sheet upwardly to contact the gutter which adversely affected water flow to the gutter from the valley sheet, or alternatively remove a part of the inner flange of the gutter which impaired effective gutter water capacity; (iv) the installation was also found to be insecure or faulty owing to the common practice of bending nails over the outer flanges so 4 as to attach the valley sheet to adjacent tiling battens; and access to an area between the valley sheet and overlying roof tiles was restricted which meant that maintenance or serviceability of the valley sheet assembly was limited due to this lack of access.

It is therefore is an object of the invention to provide a valley S•sheet assembly which may at least alleviate one or more of the above ;;-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.

•00. In a first aspect of the invention there is provided a valley sheet assembly of the invention includes a valley sheet and an apron V .0.o member which in use is at least partly supportable by a roof gutter and (ii) is located adjacent to and underlying a lower end of the valley sheet to 00 collect water run off from the valley sheet when required.

The valley sheet utilised in the valley sheet assembly of the invention may include a conventional valley sheet as described above which has its lower end shortened or otherwise modified to extend into the apron member. However, it is highly desirable that the valley sheet have a cross sectional profile in the shape of a shallow V and which may include one or more upwardly directed ribs in each arm of the V which are substantially trapezoidal or substantially rectangular in cross section. It is also preferred that there is provided a channel in an outer end of each arm of the V adjacent an adjoining upwardly directed rib and that there is also included a peripheral flange which extends outwardly to overlie an adjacent tiling batten in use.

The apron member suitably comprises a planar sheet of metal, plastics or other suitable material which is provided with a peripheral upwardly extending peripheral flange which is preferably integral with the planar sheet or otherwise attached thereto. The apron member may also be provided with a recess or cut out so as to engage with a corner section of gutter channel. In this particular arrangement part i of the corner section of gutter channel may be removed so as to accommodate or retain the apron member and in this particular embodiment, the apron member may be provided with an additional outer flange which extends downwardly from the plane of the planar sheet of the apron member to engage with an adjacent inner flange of the gutter channel in an appropriate manner so as to connect the apron member to the gutter channel.

The apron member may be any suitable shape but is preferably substantially rectangular or square with a corner removed so as to provide the above mentioned recess or cut out.

In a second aspect of the invention there is provided a valley sheet in the form of a shallow V having, in each arm thereof, one or more upwardly directed ribs as well as at least one outer channel in each arm and a peripheral flange which extends outwardly to overlie an adjacent tiling batten in use.

In a third aspect of the invention there is provided an apron member adapted to underlie a lower end of a valley sheet in use comprising a generally planar sheet having a peripheral upwardly directed flange, an additional outer flange which extends downwardly from the planar sheet to engage with an adjacent inner flange of a gutter channel in use and a recess or cut out to engage with an adjacent corner section of the gutter channel in use.

a. *a o Reference may now be made to a preferred embodiment as shown in the attached drawings wherein: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a valley sheet assembly of the invention; Fig. 1A is a detailed side view of an area marked in Fig.

1; a Fig. 2 is a cross section of the valley sheet utilised in the valley sheet assembly of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the apron member utilised in the valley sheet assembly of Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 there is shown valley sheet assembly 10 including valley sheet 11 and apron member 12. The valley sheet 11 is supported by rafters 13. There is also shown top plates 14 of a wall frame (not shown) located beneath roof frame 15. The apron member 12 is also supported by valley rafter 16 shown in phantom which is suitably utilised in roofs which do not employ roof trusses. The apron member 12 is provided with a peripheral upstanding flange 17 with outwardly turned or 7 bent sections 18 which engage with an adjacent gutter channel 19. The apron member 12 is also provided with a down turned outer flange Also shown is fascia 17A.

The valley sheet 11 is shown in Fig. 2 and has a cross sectional profile in the form of a shallow V having vertex 21 contained in central channel 21A, trapezoidal shaped upwardly directed ribs 22, adjacent channels 23 and outwardly extending flanges 24. The flanges 24 are adapted to overlie an adjacent tiling batten 25 shown in phantom and be attached thereto by suitable fasteners (not shown). It therefore will be 10 appreciated that valley sheet 11 will be securely attached to roofing frame 15 and thus the prior practice of bending nails over in turned outer flange :•ooo• of the conventional valley sheet will be avoided.

The position of ribs 22 are advantageous in that they will provide a barrier to water flow when directed outwardly from central 15 channel 21A. In this situation the presence of channels 23 form secondary water channels in the case of extreme flash flooding conditions. There may be provided a number of ribs 22 2-3) instead of the single rib 22 shown in each arm of the V. The generally trapezoidal shape of ribs 22 wherein each opposed side of ribs 22 extend generally outwardly from top to bottom is preferred because tiling battens 25 may fit snugly into recesses 26 located underneath ribs 22. Preferably to this end of the width of the ribs 22 is preferably at least 25mm and has a height of at least 25mm. In this context the height of the triangular ribs utilised in 8 conventional valley sheets is of the order of 15mm. Such dimensions of ribs 22 also facilitate appropriate support for tiles 26A which are shown in phantom in Fig. 2. Also by provision of spaces 23A which are of substantially increased capacity when compared to the prior art valley sheet removal of leaves and other detritus which occurs in spaces 23A is substantially facilitated. The generally trapezoidal shape of ribs 22 also facilitate nesting of adjacent valley sheets 11 together so as to provide a convenient stack of valley sheets when required.

The apron member 12 is shown in greater detail in Fig. 3 10 and the purpose of outer flange 20 is to provide a convenient means of attaching or bonding the apron member 12 to gutter channel 19. Flange :20 is bonded to an adjacent flange 27 of gutter channel 19 as shown in Fig. 1A and the provision of flanges 18 and 20 facilitate apron member 12 to provide a planar upper surface 28 for collection of water during flash 15 flooding or the like wherein surface 28 is located above web 29 of gutter channel 19 to facilitate run off of water from apron member 12 into gutter channel 19. The purpose of the upwardly extending peripheral flange 17 is to provide a barrier for water seepage into the interior of roofing frame The installation of the valley sheet assembly of the invention includes the removal of a section of gutter channel 19 so as to provide a shortened inner flange 27 wherein apron member 12 may then be securely attached to gutter channel 19 by mounting apron member 12 in 9 position with flanges 18 engaging adjacent flanges 30 of gutter channel 19 and flange 20 engaging shortened inner flange 27 of gutter channel 19.

It therefore will be appreciated from the foregoing that the valley sheet assembly of the invention at least insofar as the preferred embodiment is concerned overcomes or ameliorates to some extent the abovementioned disadvantages of the prior art.

It will also be appreciated from the above that the method of installation of the valley sheet assembly of the invention by removal of 10 part of the existing gutter channel as described above makes the presence of the conventional valley boards unnecessary and thus installation of the valley sheet is considerably simplified.

Also by deletion of the conventional valley boards and replacement thereof by the valley sheet assembly of the invention there is 15 now provided a much larger volume of water capacity when compared to the conventional valley iron assembly.

It will be also readily apparent that the valley sheet assembly of the invention by provision of at least the apron member and more preferably the provision of outer channels 23 has a substantially increased capacity to achieve surface run off water when flash flooding occurs when compared to the prior art.

Also the valley sheet when being installed can now be attached securely by appropriate fasteners to the tiling battens 25 which was not the case in the prior art.

In the preferred embodiment removal of leaves and other detritus which occurs beneath overlying roof tiles and the valley sheet is made considerably easier as described above. Also access to the areas beneath overlying roof tiles and the valley sheet is made considerably easier.

It also will be apparent that the value of a in the valley sheet of the invention as described in FIG. 2 will be approximately 140 and this oo compares favourably with the conventional valley sheet as described 10 above wherein the value of a in a corresponding situation will be approximately 80. Thus, an increase in the angle to horizontal if one utilises a valley sheet in accordance with the invention will be of the order of 75%. It also must be borne in mind that the conventional valley sheet must be supported by valley boards as described previously..

must be supported by valley boards as described previously.

o,:o

Claims

1. A valley sheet assembly including a valley sheet and an apron member which in use is at least partly supportable by a roof gutter and (ii) is located adjacent to and underlying a lower end of the valley sheet to collect water run off from the valley sheet when required.

2. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the valley sheet has a lower end shortened or otherwise modified to extend into the apron member.

3. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 wherein 10 the valley sheet has a cross sectional profile in the shape of a shallow V.

4. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in Claim 3 wherein there :is provided one or more upwardly directed ribs in each arm of the V.

5. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in Claim 4 wherein said one or more ribs are substantially trapezoidal or substantially rectangular 15 in cross section.

6. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in Claim 4 or 5 wherein there is also provided a channel in an outer end of each arm of the V adjacent an adjoining upwardly directed rib.

7. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in any one of Claims 3 to 6 having a peripheral flange which extends outwardly to overlie an adjacent tiling batten in use.

8. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the apron member comprises a planar sheet having a peripheral upwardly directed flange.

9. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in Claim 8 wherein the apron member has a recess or cut out so as to engage with an adjacent corner section of gutter channel in use.

10. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in Claim 8 or 9 wherein the apron member is provided with an additional outer flange which extends downwardly from the planar sheet to engage with an adjacent inner flange of the gutter channel in use.

11. A valley sheet assembly as claimed in Claim 9 or 10 which is of substantially rectangular or substantially square shape with a corner removed so as to provide the recess or cut out.

12. An apron member at least partly supportable by a roof gutter Scoo o* adapted to underlie a lower end of a valley sheet in use comprising a generally planar sheet having a peripheral upwardly directed flange, an additional outer flange which extends downwardly from the planar sheet to engage with an adjacent inner flange of a gutter channel in use and a recess or cut out to engage with an adjacent corner section of the gutter channel in use.

13. A method of installation of a valley sheet assembly comprising a valley sheet and apron member to a roof comprising the steps of: removing a top section of an inner flange of a corner gutter channel to provide a shortened inner flange; i i,' 13 (ii) attaching an apron member having a planar sheet portion and a peripheral upwardly directed flange to said shortened inner flange so that the apron member is at least partly supportable by the corner gutter channel; and (iii) locating a bottom end of a valley sheet on said planar sheet portion of the apron member whereby said valley sheet is located in a depression or groove formed by the meeting or intersection of two inclined surfaces of the roof.

.14. A method as claimed in Claim 17 wherein the apron member 0:@L is provided with an additional outer flange which is attached or bonded to ,said gutter channel. A method as claimed in Claim 14 wherein the valley sheet 15 has outwardly directed flanges that are attached to an associated tiling o.o batten of the roof. S 000;: DATED this Tenth day of March 2000 S RICHARD MAX ROSOLEN By his Patent Attorneys FISHER ADAMS KELLY