GB2413568A

GB2413568A - Roof structure

Info

Publication number: GB2413568A
Application number: GB0409283A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Creighton Mcveigh
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-04-27
Filing date: 2004-04-27
Publication date: 2005-11-02
Also published as: GB0409283D0

Abstract

A roof structure 12 which is easy to assembly, and which can be assembled at ground-level. The roof structure 12 has a number of elongate struts 18, 20 and a number of junction members 26, 28 for connecting the elongate struts 18, 20 end to end. The junction members 26, 28 include ridge members 28 and eaves members 26, and each junction member 26, 28 has engagement means thereon to engage with corresponding engagement means on the ends of the elongate struts 18, 20. The junction member comprises two spaced plates 26a,26b joined by two flanges 30,32.

Description

\ 2413568 - 1 Roof Structure This invention relates to a roof structure

for a building, and to a method of assembling a roof structure.

There is a requirement for easily erected, simple roof coverings to span an area, for example, where goods or produce are to be kept dry. The invention aims to meet this requirement.

According to the invention, there is provided a roof structure for a pitched roof, comprising a plurality of elongate members, and a plurality of junction members for connecting the elongate members end to end, the junction members comprising ridge members and eaves members, wherein the junction members each comprise two spaced plates joined by two flanges, the flanges extending generally at right angles to the plates and maintaining the spacing between the plates, the flanges having engagement means thereon to engage with corresponding engagement means on the ends of the elongate members.

The elongate members are preferably struts which have a major plane, and strength in that plane. The struts may comprise a pair of parallel bars joined by a skeletal structure in the major plane. The skeletal structure may be formed by a zig-zag rod which zigs and zags between the two parallel bars.

The junction members preferably are formed from two plates - 2 - which are cut and folded before being welded to one another to form the junction member. Preferably only two straight line welds are needed to join the two plates.

The junction members are preferably galvanised steel.

The ridge members may have keyhole shaped slots on one pair of opposite faces, for engagement with longitudinal struts, and holes for receiving bolts on other opposed faces, at right angles to the first pair of faces, for receiving bolts for fastening the transverse struts to the ridge member.

The eaves members may also have keyhole shaped slots on one pair of opposite major faces, for engagement with the end of longitudinal struts, and holes on two minor faces for receiving bolts for fastening the transverse struts to the eaves member and for fastening the eaves member to a post.

The invention extends to a roofed structure having a pair of parallel walls, a roof structure as set forth above, and a covering membrane spread over the top of the roof structure.

The walls may be formed from pre-cast concrete units, a plurality of which are aligned (and preferably fastened together) in a line.

The invention also extends to a junction member for use in Pi \ roof construction, for joining elongate roof struts, the member comprising two spaced plates joined by two flanges, the flanges extending generally at right angles to the plates and maintaining the spacing between the plates, the flanges having engagement means thereon to engage with corresponding engagement means on the ends of elongate roof struts.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a crosssection through a building with a roof structure in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective detailed view of an eaves junction member; Figure 3 is a cross-section through the eaves junction member of Figure 2, on the line III-III; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a ridge junction member; Figure 5 is a cross-section through the ridge junction member of Figure 4 on the line V-V; and Figure 6 is a perspective view of one end of elongate member. - 4 -

The structure shown in Figure 1 comprises a pair of parallel walls 10 spanned by a roof structure 12. The walls 10 sit on the ground 14, and a floor slab 16 is shown in the drawing.

The roof is made up of longitudinal struts 18 and transverse struts 20. The transverse struts meet at a ridge 22, and the central longitudinal strut 18 acts as a ridge pole.

The roof framework structure shown in Figure 1 will be completed by covering with a membrane, typically a PVC coated fabric sheet. The sheet can be simply laid over the framework, and be pulled taut and held in place by placing, for example, scaffolding poles through sleeves sewn into the edges of the fabric, and/or by straps which are ratcheted down to fixed points on the walls 10.

The framework can also accept cladding in the form of profiled steel roofing panels. In this case, more struts may be required to support the weight than would be the case with a membrane cover.

The walls 10 can conveniently be cast concrete blocks, and particularly suitable blocks are those sold by Poundfield Products Limited under the name ALFAI3LOC (RTM).

To support the roof structure, legs 24 are bolted onto the wall blocks, using threaded studs provided in the wall block, these studs being those also used for bolting two adjacent blocks together. At the top of each leg 24, an eaves junction member 26 is mounted, in a manner which will be described below. A longitudinal strut 18 is attached to one planar face of each eaves junction block 26, and a transverse strut 20 is engaged with one end face of the junction member 26, another end face being engaged with the leg 24.

The other ends of the transverse struts 20 engage with a ridge junction member 28.

The longitudinal and transverse struts 18, 20 can be identical to one another in form, but can be supplied in different lengths depending on the area to be covered by the roof.

Each eaves junction member 26 (Figures 2 and 3) is made up of two halves 26a and 26b. The half 26b has a right angle flange 30 at its foot, and the half 26a has a right angle flange 32 at a side face. Both halves 26a, 26b have a central access aperture 34, and both have a pair of keyhole engagement slots 36. The two halves 26a and 26b are assembled by being placed together so that the flanges 30, 32 make contact with the opposing faces of the other half, and then the lines of contact are welded by two straight line welds so that the two halves make up a single junction member. The weld lines are shown at 38 in Figure 3.

The flanges 30 and 32 have holes 42,40 through which bolts - 6 can be placed to secure a matching end flange of a strut 18,20 (or a post 24) to the junction box. The holes 40 in the flange 30 can be elongated to take up minor inaccuracies in the relative positions of the posts 24.

The ridge junction members 28 are similarly constructed, with two halves 28a and 28b. The half 28a has a flange 44 and the half 28b has a flange 46. Both flanges have holes 48 which allow connection to transverse struts 20, and keyhole slots 50 which allow connection to longitudinal struts 18. The two halves 28a, 28b are joined by welds along the lines where the flanges 44, 46 meet the opposite component and the weld lines are shown at 52 in Figure 5.

The height of the flanges 30, 32, 44, 46 is optional, but it may be desirable to make the spacing between the two plates wide enough to allow a hand to be placed in between them, if access is necessary to place bolts through the holes 40,48.

Figure 6 shows one end of a typical elongate member which has upper and lower bars 54, 56. In Figure 6 these bars are shown as being of square cross-section but they could be of any cross-section. At their ends, the bars 54, 56 are welded to a flat plate 58, and to an end plate 60.

The end plate 60 has three holes 62 which are intended to register with the holes 42, 48 in the junction members.

Figure 6 shows these holes 62 with nuts and bolts extending through them, but not tightened up. The bars 54, 56 are joined along their length by a zig-zag rod 66 7 which is welded to the plate 58 at 68, and to each bar 56 where it meets that bar, e.g. at 70.

The roof structure can be provided as a kit of parts, designed to span a particular desired range of span dimensions, both in width and length. Thus the struts 18, can be available in a range of stock sizes, and the intending constructor of the building can order the necessary number and size of struts as well as the appropriate number of legs 24, eaves junction members 26 and ridge junction members 28. The structure is easy to assemble and can be sold as a self-assembly project.

Assembly of the roof structure can conveniently be carried out at ground level with the follow operations being carried out in any convenient order.

The longitudinal struts can be assembled to one another to form the desired roof length. For the ridge, struts 18 are attached to the roof junction members 28 by placing the bolt heads 64 through the wider part of the keyhole slots 50, allowing the shank of the bolts to drop into the slot part of the keyhole opening, and then tightening of the nuts on the bolts to lock the elongate member to the junction box. This happens on both sides of each junction box until the desired length has been reached.

It will be seen that there are only two keyhole slots in each face of the junction box, whereas the elongate member endplate 60 has three holes. In practice, three keyhole slots can be provided in the junction member 28 or only two of the three possible bolts 64 need be used in the endplate.

At the eaves junction boxes, the necessary number of eaves junction boxes to achieve the desired roof length can be assembled in the same way, using the keyhole slots 36.

Once the three elongate structures have been assembled, they can be connected together with the transverse struts 20, by passing bolts 64 through the holes 42, 48. It will be noted that these faces of the respective junction members are angled to produce the necessary angle between the transverse component.

Although the roof structure is shown assembled in the form of a pitched roof, it could clearly also be applied to other roof configurations, in particular lean-to roofs.

The structure described is lightweight, easy to assemble and low cost through its modular form. The junction boxes can be formed by simple bending and welding operations.

To avoid damaging a fabric cover, the top faces of the junction boxes may be covered in with a covering strip so that there are no exposed sharp edges which might damage the covering membrane.

As a final assembly step, the posts 24 are bolted into the holes 40 on the underside of the eaves junction members - 9 26, and the roof's structure is then lifted until holes in the posts 24 register with studs in the concrete blocks 10 and the whole structure can then be bolted up. At this stage, the oval holes 40 can take up any small misalignment between the walls 10. As a final step, a PVC fabric sheet is draped over the roof structure and pulled taut at either side, either using poles in sleeves at each edge, or using tie-down straps which can be ratcheted taut.

The junction members can be used with a wide variety of elongate struts, and not only those shown and described here. In particular, the junction members can be used to replace junctions between elongate struts formed conventionally by cutting, drilling and welding processes. - 1'

Claims

Claims 1. A roof structure comprising a plurality of elongate members, and

a plurality of junction members for connecting the elongate members end to end, the junction members comprising ridge members and eaves members, wherein the junction members each comprise two spaced plates joined by two flanges, the flanges extending generally at right angles to the plates and maintaining the spacing between the plates, the flanges having engagement means thereon to engage with corresponding engagement means on the ends of the elongate members.
2. A roof structure as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the elongate members are struts having strength in a major plane thereof.
3. A roof structure as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the struts comprise a pair of parallel bars joined by a skeletal structure in the major plane.
4. A roof structure as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the skeletal structure is formed by a zig-zag rod which zigs and zags between the pair of parallel bars.
5. A roof structure as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the elongate members comprise a plurality of longitudinal struts and a plurality of transverse struts. - [,
6. A roof structure as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the ridge members have keyhole shaped slots on a first pair of opposite faces, for engagement with the longitudinal struts.
7. A roof structure as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the ridge members have holes for receiving bolts on a second pair of opposite faces, at right angles to the first pair of opposite faces, for receiving bolts for fastening the transverse struts to the ridge member.
8. A roof structure as claimed in any one of Claims 5 to 7, wherein the eaves members have keyhole shaped slots on one pair of opposite major faces, for engagement with the ends of the longitudinal struts, and holes on two opposite minor faces for receiving bolts for fastening the transverse struts to the eaves member and for fastening the eaves member to a post.
9. A roof structure as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the junction members are formed from two plates which are cut and folded before being welded to one another to form the junction member.
10. A roof structure as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the two plates are joined by two straight line welds. - 1'
11. A roof structure as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the junction members are formed from galvanized steel.
12. A roofed structure having a pair of parallel walls, a roof structure as claimed in any preceding claim, and a covering membrane spread over the top of the roof structure.
13. A roofed structure as claimed in Claim 12, wherein the walls are formed from pre-cast concrete units, a plurality of which are aligned in a line.
14. A roofed structure as claimed in Claim 13, wherein the pre-cast concrete units are fastened together.
15. A junction member for use in roof construction, for joining elongate roof struts, the junction member comprising two spaced plates joined by two flanges, the flanges extending generally at right angles to the plates and maintaining the spacing between the plates, the flanges having engagement means thereon to engage with corresponding engagement means on the ends of elongate roof struts.
16. A method of assembling a roof structure from a number of component parts which comprise: a plurality of longitudinal struts; a plurality of transverse struts; and a plurality of junction members; the method including the steps of: connecting longitudinal struts to a first set of opposite faces of the junction members to create a desired length of the roof structure; connecting transverse struts to a second set of opposite faces of the junction members, at right angles to the first pair of opposite faces, to create a desired width of the roof structure.
17. A method of assembling a roof structure as claimed in Claim 16, wherein the assembly steps of Claim 16 are carried out at ground level.
18. A roof structure substantially as herein described with reference to or as shown in the drawings.
19. A junction member for use in roof construction substantially as herein described with reference to or as shown in the drawings.
20. A method of assembling a roof structure substantially as herein described.