I want to share with you the experience of a roof failure that occurred due to improper implementation of an aluminum template roof. There were several mistakes on the said roof and the sum of all of them resulted in the disrepair of the roof implemented in 2009. All the defects found eventually led to the fact that the more than 10-year-old roof had to be repaired in its entirety. Naming the major defects
- low roof pitch
- poor quality insurance waterproofing
- anchoring of templates without the use of attachments
- absolutely dysfunctional narrows
Anchoring of templates without the use of attachments
It is clear that the contractor underestimated the low slope and used incorrect anchoring of the individual templates. We will not go into the reasons why he used this method, but it is clear that it was the reason for the failure. Therefore, in renovations or new constructions, it is necessary to use the knowledge and experience of the template manufacturers according to the latest and up-to-date standards. The leader in the supply and production of templates is the Austrian manufacturer PREFA and therefore we recommend to be inspired by this supplier in particular.
Low roof pitch
Each contractor must evaluate the correctness of the roofing with respect to supplying the correct vapour barrier. All the necessary information is known to all trained roofers or members of the Roofers Guild of Slovakia. In communication with the designer and the building supervisor, these facts must be taken into account during implementation.
Poor quality insurance waterproofing
Very little emphasis is placed by investors on the quality of the insurance waterproofing supplied. In particular, they forget that this insulation protects the roof not only as a vapour permeable layer, but also as an insurance against possible rainwater leakage from the roof. We recommend that the vapour barrier be taped with good quality tapes at their joints if they are not included in the delivery of this membrane.
Non-functional narrows
When designing the roof, the designer must already take into account the penetrations and details on the roof. One of these is, of course, the guttering, which serves to drain water from the intersecting roof surfaces into the rainwater downpipes. It should not be forgotten that the construction of the gutter starts from the carpentry work, through the wrapping of the contralata with a vapour barrier, to the subsequent installation of the gutter using additional sealing strips. When everything is implemented correctly, the long service life of the roof is guaranteed and the occurrence of failure is prevented. This did not happen with this roof, so let us try to learn from it.
Correct details
I have simply tried to point out the correct details and thus prevent mistakes being made on this roof. These are in particular the following elements on the roof:
- Correct application of the vapour barrier in the valley
- Correct manufacture of the gutter from one piece of sheet metal with anti-water curve and the use of locking strips
- Correct anchoring of the snow catcher integrated into the template anchoring attachment
Correct shape of templates
See the templates that were to be used on the roof and were able to prevent the degradation of the wood and other elements on the roof. I hope our readers will find these details interesting.
Production of templates
We recommend using a segment bender and quality plumbing tools when making templates.
Production of templates by CNC technology
Here, too, there is a technological shift and in the appendix you can see a fully automatic line that produces the templates, but also a method of laying the templates on the roof by yourself. You need to click directly to YouTube from the link below.
Complete photo documentation
If you want to see more pictures of that roof, please see the gallery below. These are pictures that don’t have a more detailed description, but you can easily navigate your way around.
I hope you found this article interesting and helpful in your decision making process when choosing a new case for your renovated roof. Marek
