Patent Application
20250003215
As recently as the late 1990's, safety measures in the housing construction industry were rarely fully enforced. As an example, in the residential roofing construction trade, carpenters would put two by four toe-kicks on the first row of roof sheathing only. In the early 2000's, construction companies began adding safety measures to the process of installing roof sheathing in order to meet OSHA requirements.
In the late 2000's, safety regulation requirements started to become more strict. At first, roofers were required to have guard rails at 42″ and 21″ from the first row of roof sheathing. About 5 years later, the industry determined that those measures were not adequate. Those measures allowed for the sides of the roof to be left open, which created a hazard for a person to potentially fall into. Additional safety measures were instituted, including the requirement for the roofers to be tied off using a rope and harness. That measure proved to be ineffective due to the ropes not being tight at all times. Current safety requirements include the use of retractable cables, and continuing the requirement of putting two by four toe-kicks down.
It became clear that increased exposure time on the roof while laying roof sheathing correlated to increased accidents and injuries. An invention that would cut down the exposure time on the roof while laying roof sheathing, thus reducing accidents and injuries, was needed in the industry. One solution was to lay out the roof sheathing for appropriate roof truss locations. By knowing the layout of the roof trusses, the starter and finisher pieces of roof sheathing could be precut. The roof vents in the roof sheathing could also be precut before putting the roof sheathing on the roof trusses. These solutions, while saving some time on the roof did not appreciably reduce exposure time on the roof. This invention minimizes exposure time on the roof and decreases the amount of time of any roofing project by utilizing five components, the roof truss layout, the house dimensions, the roof overhang, the roof pitch, and the top truss chord length.
There have been several attempts to construct roofs either offsite or in whole home manufacturing facilities, to attempt to alleviate the risks inherent in common roofing practices, i.e., roofers spending an inordinate amount of time high upon rooftops installing the roof subassembly, moisture barrier and shingles.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,192 by Cohen, et al (the '192 patent), describes a method of manufacturing standard size dwellings using a movable manufacturing facility wherein several subassembly production lines are present, including a roof subassembly for assembly of a roof on to a standard size dwelling, which said dwelling is located on a transport element to be moved to an end location. While patent '192 provides the roof being assembled at ground level, it requires the entire roof structure, including beams and trusses, to be assembled and lifted onto the house. The roof structure would be very heavy, requiring a high capacity crane to lift it onto the house, creating additional inherent safety concerns.
The present invention describes constructing the roof panels at ground level (flat) to be lifted from ground level and attached to the roof trusses already in place. This lifting would only require a forklift or rough terrain boom lift. Two story structures may require a boom crane, but would not require a high capacity crane. The present invention also provides that the roof panels could be constructed off-site in accordance with the roof specifications and dimensions and transported to the building site. The roof panels of the present invention would lay flat for transportation, thus not requiring the controlled access roadway to individual sites needed in the prior art. The present invention substantially reduces the time spent on the roof, requiring the roofers only to place the moisture barrier and shingles on the roof subassembly.
Initially, the dimensions of the roof, including roof truss layout, house dimensions, roof overhang 13, roof pitch, and top truss chord length are determined. The roof panels 1 are multi-edge panels, either pre-measured or cut to specifications, with a top ridge edge 19 and a bottom edge 20, two removable two by four framing boards 7, one of each situated at the top ridge edge 19 and the bottom edge 20, and a plurality of two by four rafters 2 attached to the removable two by four framing boards 7 at the top ridge edge 19 and bottom edge 20 at spaced intervals to match the roof truss layout. A plurality of roof sheathing 4, preferably plywood, are stapled to the two by four rafters 2 with a small space between each roof sheath. Once the roof panel 1 is formed, the removable two by four framing boards 7 are removed. Any necessary roof vent cutouts 16 and roof access panel cutouts 17 would then be cut into the roof sheathing 4 for placement of roof vents or a roof access panel 18, respectively.
For the craning process to lift the roof panel 1 up to the roof trusses 9, two by four toe-kicks 10 are removably attached to the roof sheathing 4 perpendicular to the roof trusses 9 and extra two by four support boards 11 are removably attached to the two by four toe-kicks 10 and situated perpendicular to the two by four toe-kicks 10. Appropriate sized holes are drilled at each intersection of the two by four toe-kicks 10 and extra two by four support boards 11 through which tie-down anchor bolts 22 are placed and attached to facilitate lifting the roof panel 1 to the roof trusses 9. Cable means are removably attached to each tie-down anchor bolt 22 and each roof panel 1 is lifted into place up onto the roof trusses 9, the bottom of each two by four rafter 2 is placed to abut up to the two by sis sub-facia 25 of the roof structure. When proper location is acquired, the two by four rafters 2 are nailed to the top truss chord of the house structure. This is repeated for all roof panels 1. After craning the roof panels 1, and preferably after the two by four rafters 2 are nailed to the top truss chord, each roof panel 1 is stapled at the seam of each roof sheathing 4 to each adjacent roof sheathing 4 of each roof panel 1. This process is repeated for each roof slope. The stapling at the seams of adjacent roof sheathing may also be done prior to raising the roof panel up to the building trusses.
The roof panels 1 are made out of any type of acceptable roofing material, such as plywood, pressed wood panels, manufactured wood, similar roofing sub-base material or the like.
Alternative embodiments include situating roof sheathing 4 either horizontally or vertically onto the panel fame 8 or combining the configurations by situating the roof sheathing 4 alternating between a horizontal and vertical direction, cutting a roof panel 1, or multiple roof panels 1 that have been attached together, to fit and meet the dimensions of a dormer or a non-rectangular roof section.
