GB2385336A

GB2385336A - Water seal at ridge end of hipped roof, e.g. of conservatory

Info

Publication number: GB2385336A
Application number: GB0203749A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dennis Anthony Jones
Original assignee: Aspect Management Ltd
Current assignee: Aspect Management Ltd
Priority date: 2002-02-16
Filing date: 2002-02-16
Publication date: 2003-08-20
Anticipated expiration: 2022-02-16
Also published as: GB2385336B; GB0203749D0

Abstract

In a hipped roof, panel supporting elongate members, e.g. glazing bars 10, are connected to the ridge end 12 by connectors 14 which are provided with means 56,58, for locating lengths of sealing material 60 supported between the roofing panels 18 and an overlying ridge end cap (62, Fig 2, not shown). The means 56, 58, may be integral with the connector 14 or provided separately; a flexible gasket 66 may be provided as shown to bear against the ridge end cap. The connectors 14 may be hooked over a semicircular bar 30 attached to ridge beam 12.

Description

- 1 ROOF ASSEMBLY

This invention relates to roofridge assemblies, especially for conservatories 5 ofthe tripped type in which panel supporting bars radiate from one end of a ridge structure, the supporting bars being connected between the ridge end and an eaves beam and the ridge end being provided with a cap overlying the end portions of the supporting bars.

In known arrangements, to prevent ingress of rainwater etc beneath the cap, lo flexible foamed material is pushed into the gap between the cap and the underlying roofing in a somewhat haphazard and unreliable manner.

The present invention seeks to provide, inter alla, a more reliable sealing arrangement for the ridge end construction.

According to one aspect ofthe present there is provided a ridge end assembly for a tripped roof in which panel-supporting elongate members of the tripped roof are connected to the ridge end by connectors which are provided with means for locating lengths of sealing material between the panels supported, in use, by the panel supporting 20 members and an overlying ridge end cap.

The lengths of sealing material may be in the form of strips located with one edge contacting the panels and the opposite edge contacting or in close proximity to the underside of the cap.

The lengths of sealing material may be located at a position at or immediately adjacent a lower edge of the ridge end cap so as to intercept rainwater at the opening between the panels and the ridge end cap.

- 2 According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a connector for use in connecting panel-supporting bars to the ridge end of a tripped roof, the connector being provided with a formation for coupling to a mounting element 5 associated with the ridge end and locating means for positioning strips of sealing material between the panels and an overlying ridge end cap.

The strips may have sealing contact at least with the panels and, optionally, with the ridge end cap so as to achieve weatherproofing to a substantial extent, especially lo with respect to ingress of rainwater.

The locating means may form part ofthe connectors or, alternatively, may be provided on separate components which are adapted to be fitted to the connectors.

5 The locating means may be formed by spaced flanges which extend substantially transversely to the panel-supporting members, the flanges being arranged so that a section of the sealing material can be inserted in and retained in position by the flanges. 20 At least one of the flanges may be provided with an upstanding flexible sealing gasket for cooperation with the overlying ridge end cap.

The connectors may be provided with drainage channels for directing any water penetrating beneath the cap to channels provided on the supporting bars.

The drainage channels may be provided directly on the connectors or, alternatively, on separate components adapted to be fitted to the connectors, which

components will usually be the same components as referred to above but the possibility of different components being used is not excluded.

The drainage channels may be formed by lateral extensions which may be 5 arranged to contact the undersides of the panels in the proximity of the ridge end.

For the avoidance of doubt, it is contemplated that the provision of a connector with a drainage channel or channels as disclosed herein may constitute a separate aspect or aspects of the invention which are not necessarily limited to use in lo combination with the locating means.

The extensions may be provided with gaskets for sealing contact with the undersides of the panels.

15 The flanges and/or the extensions may be integrally formed with the connectors. Each connector may be provided with a hook-shaped formation for connection to an arcuate mounting element associated with the ridge end.

The invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of one end of a conservatory roof showing a 25 number of panel-supporting bars radiating from the ridge end;

Figure 2 is a side view showing coupling of one supporting bar to the ridge structure, with the ridge structure and supporting bar sections also illustrated; and 5 Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of a bar and connector.

Referring to the drawings, the tripped roof section of a conservatory roof comprises a number of elongated, panel-supporting bars 10 which are linked to the ridge structure 12 by means of connectors 14 which engage with a mounting element 16 of 0 arcuate configuration located at the end of the ridge structure. The ridge structure 12 and the supporting bars 10 are typically produced as extrusions with the cross-sections illustrated in Figure 2.

The bars 10 extend between the ridge structure 12 and an eaves beam (not 5 shown) and roofing panels 18 (see Figure 2) are supported between adjacent pairs of bars.

The roofing panels are typically in the form of polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride or glass, each panel being supported at its edges by the bars 10.

Each bar 10 comprises an inner member 20 and an outer member 22 either 20 of both of which may be manufactured as aluminium extrusions. The panels 18, in use, are trapped between the inner and outer members 20, 22 and extend Mom the eaves beam to a point proximate the ridge end. The inner member 20 is generally T-shaped comprising a central portion 24 and a cross-piece 26 which has upwardly directed flanges 28 forming shoulders on which the inner faces at the panel edges of the panels 18 can seat. The 25 construction and design of the bars 10 is described in detail in prior UK Patent Applications Nos. 0 118713.7, 01187716.0 and 0130633.1, the entire disclosures of which

are incorporated herein by this reference. For present purposes, a notable feature of the inner member 20 is the provision of channels 27 formed by the cross-piece 26 and flanges

- 5 28, which channels serve as drainage channels in circumstances where ingress of water might occur despite the use of seals associated with the inner and outer members 20, 22.

The mounting element 16 in the illustrated embodiment is in the form of a s generally semi-circular ring 30 (a D-shaped ring) which is secured to the ridge structure 12 by plate 32. Each bar 10 is linked to the D-ring 30 by the connectors 14, one of which is illustrated in detail in Figures 2 and 3. Each connector 14 may be produced as a plastics moulding from a suitably robust material for the purpose and comprises a first rearward section 40 which is insertable into the two-part bar 10 in such a way that the central portion 1024 ofthe bar enters a central channel 42 ofthe section 40, the section 40 being apertured so that the connector can be fastened securely, e.g. by nuts and bolts 44a, b, to the central portion 24 in such a way that the connector 14 then forms a continuation of the bar 10.

This arrangement allows the bars 10 to be square cut, thereby simplifying fabrication.

15The connector further includes an intermediate section 46 and a forward section 48 which is angularly related to the rearward section 40 and terminates in a downwardly directed hook-like formation 50 for engagement with the D-ring 30 in the manner illustrated in Figure 1. To ensure that the formation 50 is securely anchored to the D-ring, its open end may be bridged by a screw or other fastener 52 to eliminate any risk 20 of the formation becoming accidentally disengaged from the D-ring 30. If desired, the arrangement may be such that the fastener 52, when tightened, causes the sides of the formation 50 to deform so as to grip the D-ring.

The intermediate section 42 is provided with location means comprising 25 spaced flanges 56, 58 projecting laterally of each side face of the connector and also upwardly relative to the top of the connector. When the connector section 40 is fully inserted into the bar 10, the end of the bar abuts against the flange 56. The flanges 56, 58 define channels on each side of the connector for the location of strips 60 of sealing

- 6 material, e.g. a resilient foam material so that the strips can seat on the panels 18 and at least substantially bridge the gap between the upper faces of the panels 18 and the underside of an overlying, external cap 62 (shown in broken outline in Figure 2) associated with the ridge structure 12. It will be seen that the channels formed by spaced flanges 56, 5 S8 locate and retain the end edges of the strips 60 which may be square cut as illustrated or, alternatively, may be shaped so as to extend across the connectors.

The lower edge ofthe strips 60 are intended to make sealing contact with the lo panels. If desired, the seal may be enhanced by the application of a mastic or other sealing material which can be applied as a bead along the junction between the strips 60 and the roof panels. The upper edges of the strips 60 may also make sealing contact with the underside of the cap 62 although this is not essential as a small gap may be tolerated athtis point because the main source of rainwater ingress will tend to be by way of water driven 15 up the panels faces by the wind and this will be intercepted at the junction between the strips and the panels..

To avoid having to specially shape the end edges of strips 60 and thereby simplify fabrication, the flanges 56 may be overmoulded with a flexible gasket 66, the 20 upper edge of which is designed to contact against the underside ofthe cap 62 and deform downwardly when the cap is located in place to provide sealing at that location. In this way, the relatively small gaps above the connectors 14 are effectively sealed by the gaskets 66. The downward deflection ofthe gaskets 66 may be in the forward direction, ie. towards the edge 63 of the cap 62.

It will be noted that the strips 60 are located at the forward opening ofthe gap between the panels and the cap 62 thereby intercepting

- 7 As well as serving to connect the bars 10 to the ridge structure 12 and also locate the sealing strips 60, the connectors 14 additionally provide a drainage facility if and when needed. To this end, each connector is provided on each side with a lateral wing-

shaped extension 70 on which the roofing panel edges seat in the proximity of the ridge 5 end. The extensions form channels 72 which, when the connector is fitted to a supporting bar 10 merge, and desirably overlap to some extent, with the channels 27 associated with the cross- piece 26 of the inner member 20. The extensions 70 are formed with overmoulded gaskets 72 for sealing contact with the underside ofthe panels 18. Any water that might penetrate through the gap between the roofing panels 18 and the connectors 14 10 is collected by the channels 72 and, by gravity, is directed into the channels 27 and along the length of the bars to drainage points at the lower ends of the bars.

The flanges 56, 58 and/or the extensions 70 may be integrally formed with the connectors 14. Alternatively, these components may be formed separately from the 15 connector as part of a component or components adapted to fitted to the connector.

Claims

- 8 CLAIMS

1. A ridge end assembly for a tripped roof in which panel-supporting elongate members of the tripped roof are connected to the ridge end by connectors which are 5 provided with means for locating lengths of sealing material between panels supported, in use, by the panel supporting members and an overlying cap.

2. A connector for use in connecting panel-supporting members to the ridge end of a tripped roof, the connector being adapted to be fitted to panel-supporting bars of the lo roof and each being provided with a formation for coupling to a mounting element associated with the ridge end and locating means for positioning strips of sealing material between the panels and an overlying ridge end cap.

3. An assembly or connector as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 in which the locating

15 means forms part ofthe connector.

4. An assembly or connector as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 in which the locating means is provided on a separate component which is adapted to be tatted to the connector.

20 5. An assembly or connector as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the locating means is formed by spaced flanges which extend substantially transversely to the connector, the flanges being arranged so that a section of the sealing material can be inserted in and retained in position by the flanges.

2s 6. An assembly or connector as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which at least one ofthe flanges is provided with an upstanding flexible sealing gasket for co-operation with and overlying ridge end cap.

- 9- 7. An assembly or connector as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the connector is provided with one or more drainage channels for directing any water to channels associated with the supporting bar.

5 8. An assembly or connector as claimed in Claim 7 in which the drainage channel is provided directly on the connector.

9. An assembly or connector as claimed in Claim 7 in which the drainage channel is provided on a separate component adapted to be fitted to the connector.

10. An assembly or connector as claimed in Claim 8 or 9 in which the drainage channel is formed by a lateral extension arranged to contact the roofing panel underside.

11. An assembly or connector as claimed in Claim 10 in which the extension is 5 provided with gaskets for sealing contact with the panel underside.

12. An assembly or connector as claimed in any one of Claims 5 to 11 in which the flanges and/or the extensions are integrally formed with the connector.

20 13. A ridge end assembly for a tripped roof substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.

14. A connector for use in connecting panel-supporting members to the ridge end of a tripped roof, the connector being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference 25 to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings.