AU735006B2

AU735006B2 - Rainwater products

Info

Publication number: AU735006B2
Application number: AU65951/98A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Cam Seccombe
Original assignee: BHP Steel JLA Pty Ltd
Current assignee: BlueScope Steel Ltd
Priority date: 1997-05-14
Filing date: 1998-05-14
Publication date: 2001-06-28
Anticipated expiration: 2018-05-14
Also published as: AU6595198A

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Applicant(s): BHP STEEL (JLA) PTY LTD A.C.N. 000 011 058 Invention Title: RAINWATER PRODUCTS The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: WIP/A-e/30901 .1 2 RAINWATER PRODUCTS BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates to rainwater products for buildings and particularly to guttering and to fascia and guttering assemblies.

While the invention is described in relation to rainwater products cold formed of coated sheet metal, the present invention is not limited thereto and is equally applicable to rainwater products formed of sheets of plastics or other material.

Traditionally, sheet metal fascia and guttering i assemblies comprises a fascia attached to the upper edge of a building below the edge margin of the roof tiles or roofing members to present a substantially vertical face extending along the periphery of the roof and a guttering of channel form having an open top, a rear wall, a front wall and a base, attached to the fascia with the rear wall of the guttering lying flat against the front face of the fascia and with the roofing members projecting over the rear wall of the guttering to direct rainwater from the roof into the guttering.

Typically, in order to prevent the ingress of driven rain into the roof cavity under the roofing members and to substantially conceal from view the aesthetically 25 obtrusive edges of the roofing members, the front wall of the guttering is higher than the rear wall.

Disadvantageously, in the event of guttering outlets becoming blocked or during periods of heavy rainfall guttering may overfill and water may overflow the rear wall of the guttering and enter the building.

To address this problem, it has been proposed to provide the front wall of the guttering with a multiplicity of overflow slots formed at a level below that of the top of the rear wall. However, besides being unsightly, the slots have generally proven to be of insufficient area to effectively discharge rainwater under high rainfall conditions and thus inadequate to prevent overflow.

G:\users\melb\spec\Gutter 13.5.97 3 An object of the present invention is to provide improved rainwater products, guttering, fascia .and combination fascia and guttering assemblies which will address, substantially overcome or alleviate one or more of the above mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention there is provided a rainwater guttering for use at a roof periphery of a building said guttering being adapted to mount to a fascia and comprising a channel having an open top, a base and two side walls, one of said two side walls being higher than the other of said two side walls, said other side wall being integrally provided with outwardly projecting spaced apart protrusions whereby in use said protrusions provide a gap between the other side wall and the fascia to direct overflow water flowing over a top edge of said other side wall substantially downwardly.

According to the invention there is also provided a S 20.rainwater fascia for use at a roof periphery of a building said fascia being adapted to provide mounting for guttering Sand comprising an elongate panel member having a longitudinally extending portion integrally provided with outwardly projecting spaced apart protrusions whereby in use said protrusions provide a gap between the guttering and the 25 fascia to direct water flowing therebetween substantially downwardly of the panel member.

The invention also provides a combination fascia and guttering assembly comprising a longitudinally extending guttering of channel cross-section having an open top, a S 30 base and two side walls with one side wall higher than the other, and a coextensive fascia comprising a panel presenting a substantially vertical face to said other side wall, wherein the guttering and fascia are fixedly disposed to extend along the periphery of a building roof with a top edge of said other wall below an upper edge margin of the fascia characterised in that spacing means is provided between said vertical face and said other side wall to define a gap through which in use overflow water flowing over the top edge of the other wall is directed downwardly and wherein the spacing means is in the form of a 4 multiplicity of outwardly projecting protrusions integral with the said other side wall or integral with the fascia panel.

Preferably the protrusions are longitudinally spaced apart.

More preferably the protrusions are transversely spaced apart.

Preferably the protrusions form a number of longitudinally extending substantially parallel equispaced arrays of longitudinally spaced apart substantially equispaced protrusions.

The protrusions may take the form of transverse ribs.

In relation to the guttering according to the invention, the transverse ribs may extend from a top edge of said other side wall to a bottom edge thereof. In relation to the fascia panel member according to the invention, the transverse ribs may extend from a position towards a top edge of the panel-member to a position towards a bottom edge thereof. The transverse ribs may for example take the form 20 of corrugations.

o It is preferred that the guttering and the panel are formed of cold rolled sheet metal. It is further preferred that the sheet metal is coated with a corrosion resistant material.

25 The protrusions may be formed by plastic deformation of the sheet metal by cold forming, cold rolling, stamping or other embossing operation.

Preferably the formation of the protrusions does not adversely affect the integrity of the sheet metal.

ee 30 The height of the protrusions may, for example, be 2 ::millimetres. This height is considered sufficient to •oo facilitate substantially obstruction free continuous overflow for most heavy rainfall application.

In assembly, it is preferred that a fascia of timber, metal or plastics material is secured to rafters of a building and subsequently a guttering according to the invention is secured externally of the fascia, the rear wall of the guttering is generally mounted-so that the crests of the protrusions abut against the fascia with the top edge of the rear wall disposed well below the top margin of the fascia. Additionally it is preferred that the bottom edge of the rear wall is disposed well above the bottom edge margin of the fascia.

The exposed portion of the fascia is intended to prevent entry of driven rain into the building.

In accordance with the present invention the present invention, where there is excessive heavy rain or blockage of guttering discharge outlets, the water will inherently flow directly over the top edge of the rear wall of the guttering and run down the outer face of the rear wall between the protrusions with little or minimal obstruction thereby continuous overflow is facilitated and a substantially obstruction-free overflow system is provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS By way of an example, an embodiment of the above described invention is described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view through a guttering according to one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a schematic view of a cross-section of the guttering according to one embodiment of the invention in situ with a conventional fascia panel; 25 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The guttering illustrated by figure 1 is a coated steel guttering 1 of channel cross-section having an open top, a base 2 and two side walls, one side wall being a front wall 3 having a longitudinally extending rolled edge sometimes called a scroll, the other side wall being a rear wall 4 having a longitudinally extending edge terminating in an inwardly extending lip 6. As is evident from figure 1, the junction between the base 2 and the front wall 3 is curved to the extent that there is no clear distinction between them. The height of the front wall 3 is greater than that of the rear wall 4.

In the illustrated example the rear wall 4 is provided with two substantially parallel longitudinally G:\users\melb\spec\Gutter 13.5.97 -6extending arrays of a multiplicity of equispaced apart outwardly projecting protrusions 7. The protrusions 7 project from the rear wall 4 by, for example 2mm.

As illustrated in figure 2, in assembly, the guttering 1 is secured to the building structure with its rear wall 4 abutting a conventional fascia panel 8. The fascia panel 8 is disposed so that its upper edge margin 9 is well above the level of the top edge 10 of the rear wall 4 so that excess water will not overflow into the roof cavity or building structure. Rainwater overfilling the guttering 1 flows over the top edge 10 of the rear wall 4 into the gap formed between the protrusions 7 to provide a continuous substantially obstruction free overflow. The crests 11 of the protrusions 7 in use abut 15 the surface of a fascia panel 8 thereby providing a continuous overflow passage 12 for water passing over the top edge 10 of the rear wall 4 of the guttering 1.

Advantageously the overflow passage 12 has an opening which extends substantially the length of the guttering 1 thereby excess water may egress the guttering 1 and enter the passage 12 at any position along the rear wall 4 of the guttering i.

The protrusions 7 provide a gap therebetween to direct overflow water flowing over the top edge 10 of the 25 rear wall 4 downwardly between the protrusions 7. This enables the overflow water to flow between the rear wall 4 and the panel 8 with minimal or at least without substantial obstruction.

In other embodiments the protrusions may be in the form of transverse ribs. The transverse ribs may, for example, extend continuously from a position towards the top edge of the rear wall to a position towards the bottom edge thereof or may extend from the top edge to the bottom edge. In other embodiments the ribs may extend intermittently therebetween.

The ribs may, for example, be in the form of corrugations.

In the above described embodiment the height of the G:\users\melb\spec\Gutter 13.5.97 7 front wall 3 is greater than that of the rear wall 4, hence if the guttering 1 overfills rainwater inherently flows over the top edge 10 of the rear wall 4 and drains through the overflow passage 12.

The guttering 1 is formed from strip of 0.42mm base metal thickness.

The guttering 1 and the protrusions 7 may be produced by roll forming. Other cold forming methods include stamping and pressing.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention not illustrated, the invention provides a rainwater fascia for use at a roof periphery of a building said fascia comprising an elongate panel member having a longitudinally extending portion provided with outwardly 15 projecting spaced apart protrusions whereby in use said protrusions provide a gap therebetween to direct water flowing therein substantially downwardly of the panel.

o. The panel protrusions are of the kind described above with reference to the guttering. The panel of the invention is intended to be used with conventional 00 *guttering.

The invention also provides a combination fascia and guttering assembly of the kind described above with reference to figure 2 comprising a longitudinally 25 extending guttering of channel cross-section having an open top, a base and two side walls with one side wall higher than the other, and a coextensive fascia comprising a panel presenting a substantially vertical face to said other side wall, wherein the guttering and fascia are fixedly disposed to extend along the periphery of a building roof with a top edge of said other wall below an upper edge margin of the fascia characterised in that spacing means is provided between said vertical face and said other side wall to define a gap through which in use overflow water flowing over the top edge of the other wall is directed downwardly. The spacing means is in the form of a multiplicity of outwardly projecting protrusions integral with the said other side wall.

G:\users\melb\spec\Gutter 13.5.97 8 In other embodiments the spacing means is in the form of a multiplicity of outwardly projecting protrusions integral with the fascia panel.

Accordingly the invention provides for guttering and fascia assemblies allowing substantially obstruction free overflow of water continuously between the fascia and the guttering with minimal risk that water will flow from the guttering into the building structure while preserving an aesthetic appearance which is particularly desirable when used on residential buildings having low roof lines.

It is preferred that the protrusions do not pierce the respective guttering wall nor respective panel and do not damage the integrity of the protective coating thereby minimising problems of corrosion.

15 The foregoing detailed description is indicative of one embodiment of the invention. Various modifications and improvements obvious to those skilled in the art may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the present invention is equally applicable to concealed guttering in which the guttering is disposed internally of the fascia and thus not generally exposed to view.

In the claims which follow and in the preceding summary of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprising" is used in the sense of "including", ie the features specified may be associated with further features in various embodiments of the invention.

G:\users\melb\spec\Gutter 13.5.97

Claims

3. A combination fascia and guttering assembly according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the protrusions are ooo S 25 transversely spaced apart. 25 4. A combination fascia and guttering assembly according 000* to any one of the preceding claims wherein the protrusions form a number of longitudinally extending substantially parallel equispaced arrays of longitudinally spaced apart 0000 *oo substantially equispaced protrusions.
5. A combination fascia and guttering assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the protrusions take the form of transverse ribs.
6. A combination fascia and guttering assembly according to claim 5 wherein in relation to the guttering according to the invention, the transverse ribs extend from a top edge of said other side wall to a bottom edge thereof and/or in relation to the fascia panel member the transverse ribs 10 extend from a position towards a top edge of the panel member to a position towards a bottom edge thereof.
7. A combination fascia and guttering assembly according to claim 5 or claim 6 wherein the transverse ribs take the form of corrugations.
8. A combination fascia and guttering assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the guttering and/or the panel are formed of cold rolled sheet metal.
9. A combination fascia and guttering assembly according to claim 8 wherein the sheet metal is coated with a corrosion resistant material. A combination fascia and guttering assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the protrusions are formed by plastic deformation of the sheet metal by cold forming, cold rolling, stamping or other embossing operation.
11. A combination fascia and guttering assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the height of the protrusions is 2 millimetres. g 20 12. Rainwater guttering for use at a roof periphery of a building said guttering being adapted to mount to a fascia and comprising a channel having an open top, a base and two side walls, one of said two side walls being higher than the "other of said two side walls, said other side wall being e 25 integrally provided with outwardly projecting spaced apart protrusions whereby in use said protrusions provide a gap e between the other side wall and the fascia to direct overflow water flowing over a top edge of said other side ••co o: wall substantially downwardly.
13. Rainwater guttering according to claim 12 wherein the protrusions form a number of longitudinally extending substantially parallel equispaced arrays of longitudinally spaced apart substantially equispaced protrusions.
14. Rainwater guttering according to claim 12 or claim 13 wherein the protrusions take the form of transverse ribs. Rainwater guttering according to claim 14 wherein the 0transverse ribs extend from a top edge of said other side 11 wall to a bottom edge thereof.
16. Rainwater guttering according to claims 14 or wherein the transverse ribs take the form of corrugations.
17. Rainwater guttering according to any one of claims 12 to 16 wherein the guttering is formed of cold rolled sheet metal.
18. Rainwater guttering according to claim 17 wherein the sheet metal is coated with a corrosion resistant material.
19. Rainwater guttering according to any one of claims 12 to 18 wherein the protrusions are formed by plastic deformation of the sheet metal by cold forming, cold rolling, stamping or other embossing operation. Rainwater guttering according to any one of claims 12 to 19 wherein the height of the protrusions is 2 millimetres.
21. Rainwater fascia for use at a roof periphery of a building said fascia being adapted to provide mounting for guttering and comprising an elongate panel member having a longitudinally extending portion integrally provided with 20 outwardly projecting spaced apart protrusions whereby in use said protrusions provide a gap between the guttering and the fascia to direct water flowing therebetween substantially downwardly of the panel member. S22. Rainwater fascia according to claim 21 wherein the 25 protrusions form a number of longitudinally extending substantially parallel equispaced arrays of longitudinally spaced apart substantially equispaced protrusions.
23. Rainwater fascia according to claim 21 or claim 22 e wherein the protrusions take the form of transverse ribs.
24. Rainwater fascia according to claim 23 wherein the transverse ribs extend from a position towards a top edge of the panel member to a position towards a bottom edge thereof. Rainwater fascia according to claim 23 or 24 wherein the transverse ribs take the form of corrugations.