GB2123058A

GB2123058A - Roofing tiles

Info

Publication number: GB2123058A
Application number: GB08317939A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Richard Blake
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1982-07-01
Filing date: 1983-07-01
Publication date: 1984-01-25
Also published as: GB8317939D0; GB2123058B

Abstract

A roof is made from tiles 16 at least some of which have grooves 32 and front notches 34 which in use simulate a join between adjacent tiles. The lateral edges of the tiles have complimentary interlocking formations which are stopped short before the front edge of the tile, one front corner having a portion 28 which conceals the interlocking formations in use. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Roofing tiles This invention relates to roofing tiles.

Traditional slate roofing tiles have the advantage of being very attractive, and are often desirable for this reason, particularly for conservation reasons in areas where all buildings are built of traditional materials. However, traditional slate tiles have a number of disadvantages. One is that the material itself is difficult to obtain and therefore expensive.

A second is that since a traditional slate tile is essentially just a flat rectangle of slate, held on the roof by nails, it is necessary for the tiles to be overlapped in a complicated fashion to ensure that they are weatherproof. This results in the use of a much greater quantity of the expensive tiles and it means that the job of fixing the tiles in position is highly skilled in order for the tiles to be weatherproof.

The first of these disadvantages can be overcome to some extent by modern methods which enable one to manufacture slate-effect tiles by moulding techniques using cement, asbestos etc. However, the second disadvantage still remains.

In cheaper manufactured tiles, a type of tile known as an interlocking tile is very well known and greatly used. Such tiles have depending nibs on their undersides which engage with roof battens, so that the tiles can hang in position without the use of nails through them. The opposing lateral edges of the tiles also have complementary interlocking formations which provide a channel or channels down the edge of the tile for rain water, and make for a weatherproof mating arrangement between each tile and its lateral neighbour without the need for complicated overlapping formations of several tiles. It is thus only the interlocking parts of the two adjacent tiles which need to overlap with a minimum head lap.

Such interlocking tiles are much cheaper to manufacture than slate or slate-effect tiles, and fixing them on a roof in a weatherproof manner is also a much less skilled operation so that the tiles are easier and cheaper to install. However, it has so far not been possible to make an interlocking tile which gives a finished effect in the roof as if it were a traditional slate tile, because the tiles are necessarily very regular (unlike natural slate) and because the interlocking formations make the tile look unnatural.

One aspect of the present invention provides a roofing tile, opposed lateral edges of which have complementary interlocking formations so that the tile can interlock with similar tiles laterally adjacent thereto, wherein the interlocking formations are stopped short of the lower, front edge of the tile, one lower corner of the tile below the interlocking formation having a portion which in use covers and conceals the lower end of the interlocking formations of said tile and a tile adjacent thereto. In this manner, it is possible to produce a tile which while having the benefits of the interlocking formations looks more natural.

A second aspect of the invention provides a roofing tile of generally rectangular form, and having a groove in a central region thereof which groove is generally parallel to two lateral edges of the tile and arranged such that when incorporated in a roof the groove gives an appearance of being a join between two adjacent tiles. Preferably said lateral edges are provided with interlocking formations as above. Preferably two or more types of tile are provided, with and without such grooves, or with such grooves in differing places on the tile, so that when such several different types of tile are built into a roof in a regular pattern, they give the impression of an irregular pattern of tiles.

Roofing tiles according to the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is an isometic view of four interlocking roofing tiles, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are cross-sections on the lines Il-Il and Ill-Ill in Figure 1 respectively, Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of part of a roof made up of such tiles, Fig. 5 is an elevation of the front, lower edge of one of the tiles, and Fig. 6 is an elevation of the rear, upper edge of that tile.

Referring to Fig. 1, the roof has parallel horizontal wooden battens 10, to which tiles 1 2a-1 2d are attached in a shingled formation.

The underside of the tiles are provided with nibs 14 at a top edge portion which enabie the tiles to be hung over the battens 10 in a generally conventional manner. This is shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The major portion 1 6 of the upper surface of each tile is textured so as to resemble a traditional slate when in position in a roof, though it is not necessary to texture the surface above an approximate line 1 8 which will be covered by the tiles in the course above in a roof, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. Indeed, above this line 18 there may be one or more horizontal grooves (not shown) in the upper surface of the tile to provide a stop for moisture.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 3, the left-hand edge of each tile 1 2a-1 2d has a lateral extension 20 flush with the underside of the tile, while the right-hand edge has a corresponding undercut recess 22 which mates with the extension 20.

The extension 20 has two upwardly facing longitudinal grooves 24 and the undersurface of the recess 22 is shaped to match this configuration. This provides an interlocking tile which fits together with other such tiles in a roof without the interlocking formations being visible from above the tiles. The grooves 24 trap any moisture which enters between laterally adjacent tiles and channel it downwards onto the tiles in the course beneath, without a great deal of skill and attention being paid to the overlapping formation of the tiles to ensure weatherproofing.

Such an arrangem'ent is of course conventional, but in a conventional interlocking tile, although the interlocking formations cannot be seen from above, they are very visible at the front edge of the tile. This visibility is very noticeable from ground level, and in the past means that it has not been possible to obtain a realistic slate effect with the convenience of interlocking tiles.

In order to conceal the interlocking formations, the left-hand extension 20 does not extend right to the front (lower) edge of the tile, but stops short at 26 as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. In a corresponding fashion, the undercut recess 22 does not extend to the front of the tile, so that the tile has a portion 28 of substantially full thickness just in front of the recess. This enables the portion 28 to fit over the front of the extension 20 of an adjacent tile, concealing the interlocking formations. It thus becomes possible to build up a roof conveniently of interlocking tiles but while still retaining a slate effect appearance. It will be appreciated that the front edges of the tiles can also be given an uneven texture to improve this effect.

When water finds its way into the grooves 24, it will pass down to the stopped end 26 of the extension 20, and then drip onto the upper side of the tile in the course beneath. Figure 5 shows a desirable feature to prevent such water being trapped in that position behind the portion 28.

The underside of the portion 28 is recessed slightly at 30, so that it lies very slightly above the surface of the course beneath and allows the water to drain away. The depth of this recessing is suitably about 1/16th of an inch (approx. 1.5 mm). This depth is sufficient to allow the water to drain, but does not have any noticeable effect on the appearance of a roof made from such tiles.

One feature which will be noted from Figure 1 and also from Figure 4 (which shows the final effect of a roof made from such tiles) is that the tiles 1 2a-1 2d are rectangular with their longer edges arranged parallel to the horizontal battens 10 rather then perpendicular to them. With conventional interlocking tiles, the longer edges are arranged in the perpendicular (vertical) direction, i.e. parallel to the interlocking formations. The reason is simply that this enables fewer battens 10 to be used. Furthermore, in a traditional slate roof the slates are generally rectangular with their longer edges in the vertical direction. However, in a slate roof the overlapping which is necessary between adjacent slates is very complicated and a large proportion of each tile is covered up by tiles shingled above it.What remains visible of each slate in a traditional slate roof is a rectangular portion of the tile and the longer edges of this visible rectangle are in the horizontal direction. Accordingly, since with the present interlocking tiles the overlap between adjacent courses of tiles need be no more than with conventional interlocking tiles, we have made the tiles with their longer edges horizontal in order to give a better slate effect, even though this does require a few more battens 10.

A roof which is built up out of completely identical tiles will have a regular appearance which does not correspond with that found in traditional slate roofs. Figures 1, 5 and 6 illustrate a further feature of the present tiles which mitigates this disadvantage. On the upper surface of the textured part 16 of the tile, there is a groove 32 parallel with the lateral edges of the tile, in a central region of the tile. The depth of the groove 32 might be, for example, about half the thickness of the tile. It will be seen from the drawings that it is not necessary for the groove 32 to extend above the imaginary line 18 since in the finished roof it would not be visible above that line. Furthermore, if it extended above that line it would weaken the strength and the weatherproof properties of the tile.However, the groove 32 does extend to the front edge of the tile, where there is notch 34 to the full depth of the tile.

From Figure 1, it will be noticed that although the grooves 32 in the tiles 1 2a and 1 2d are both in a central region of the tile, they are not exactly in the centre but are offset one towards the righthand side and one towards the left-hand side of the tile.

As can be seen in Fig. 4, these grooves give a much more irregular, natural appearance to the finished roof, since from ground level it is impossible to distinguish a groove 32, 34 from a join between adjacent tiles. Thus, although all the tiles are in fact the same size, it is possible to produce the desired irregular effect by mixing together tiles 1 2a with the right-hand groove 32, tiles 1 2d with the left-hand groove 32 and tiles with no groove at all, such as those designated 12b and 12e in Figure 1.

From ground level, therefore, the effect produced is not at all like convenient interlocking tiles but very similar to a traditional slate roof with irregularly textured and irregularly sized and positioned slates. However, this effect is achieved with all the advantages of conventional interlocking tiles, particularly the fact that relatively little skill is required in fitting the tiles in the roof because of the interlocking formations which provide weatherproofing channels between adjacent tiles.

The present invention can be used to produce not only a slate effect but also a simulated stone effect.

Claims

1. A roofing tile of generally rectangular form, having a groove in a central region thereof which is generally parallel to two opposed lateral edges of the tile, the groove having a depth less than the thickness of the tile and extending to a front edge of the tile between the lateral edges, there being a notch in the front edge of the tile corresponding to the groove, the groove and notch being thereby arranged such that when the tile is incorporated in a roof, they give an appearance of being a join between two adjacent tiles.

2. A tile according to claim 1 wherein the groove does not extend to the rear edge of the tile.

3. A tile according to claim 1 or claim 2 which has a breadth between the lateral edges greater than the distance between the front and rear edges of the tile.

4. A tile according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the groove is offset towards one side of the central region of the tile.

5. A tile according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the opposed lateral edges have complementary interlocking formations so that the tile can interlock with tiles laterally adjacent thereto having similar formations.

6. A tile according to claim 5 wherein the interlocking formations are stopped short of the front edge of the tile, one front corner of the tile below the interlocking formation having a portion which in use covers and conceals the front end of the interlocking formations of said tile and a tile adjacent thereto.

7. A roofing tile according to claim 1, substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

8. A set of tiles for forming a roof, of which one or more tiles are in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, and one or more other tiles have no said groove.

9. A set of tiles for forming a roof, of which two or more tiles are in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 7 and have their respective said grooves at differing positions on the tile.

10. A set of tiles for forming a roof, substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 A roof made up from a plurality of tiles according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or from a set of tiles according to claim 8, 9 or 10.