Patent Application
20150136283
The field of the invention is temporary roofing covers for residential structures.
Sloped residential roofing is commonplace in all climates. Such roofing is fully exposed to all manner of inclement and damaging conditions, including weather conditions which rapidly and radically alter the utility and lifespan of the roofing material itself. This can be particularly adverse when the owner is not present for long periods of time and the building is left to the elements un-managed and unheated or only minimally heated. An example, is the typical cottage or camp which may lie unoccupied for much of the year and, particularly for long periods of inclement winter weather where snow, ice and rain tend to accumulate and may build up upon collections of debris in or on eaves or in gutters and trip further debris in the process.
It is known among some cottagers to actually cover roofing systems for the winter with tarpaulin sheets. These are thrown over all or part of the roof and are held down by gravity with the assistance of ropes and weights, most often by weights off the roof edge. In most instances these tarpaulins are subject to such weather abuse, and particularly high winds, UV and driving precipitation that they are unlikely to remain in use for more than 1 season, often less. Often their presence in a damaged condition adds to the deterioration of the building itself, its roof and associated gutters, trim etc. Adding and improving the quality of the tarpaulins used might seem to have benefit but the extra cost and sheer mass involved have been found to be prohibitive.
Some of these matters are discussed in PCT patent application PCT/AR/2009/000685 published on Dec. 10, 2009 and also published as Canadian application 2,726,321 (herein CA'321), now abandoned. CA'321 seeks to present a solution to the problem of adhering adjoining strips from a working position while on the roof and working with heavy rolls by forming a conjoined sheet of strips cut to fit using the ground as the work surface, dragging this sheet over the entire roof and then heat shrinking the result to achieve a secure engagement between the complete structure and the sheet.
And again in US Published Pending Patent Application 2005/0217202 published Oct. 6, 2005 on the application of Crook (herein USPPA'202). USPPA'202 discussed a roof cover or protection system directed at high wind situations. As far as understood Crook asserts the use of heat shrinkable material to envelop the entire roof in strips which are heat shrunk in to their cover configuration. The individual strips may be taped down to the roofing material. As can be seen USPPA'202 does not have specific provision for rain, snow and ice. It discusses a one-time solution which is directed at ease of installation of large and heavy rolls of protective material. A solution to a gabled roof is to wrap the entire roof with a strip in a spiral configuration and then shrink it in to shape. This is not known to provide a useful and reusable result.
Another complete coverage discussion is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,201 to Lachapelle issued Jul. 30, 2002. In this the protective layer is provided in strips which are sticky and stretchable. On the roof the strips are up and over and are then sealably attached to the wall layers.
Objects of the invention include provision of a temporary and reusable roofing cover:
which may be installed, removed and re-installed with a minimum of skilled labour or a home owner in a safe and secure manner, and,
is adapted to resist water, snow and ice and particularly built up snow and ice, ice dams and resultant water intrusion into the building, and,
which may be easily and inexpensively fabricated on site without complex fabrication steps on the roof itself, and,
which may be installed with a minimum of manipulation of large rolls of material on the roof itself.
The invention provides a temporary roofing cover for residential buildings with sloped roofs having 2 or more roof decks with a plurality of overlapping highly elongated body strips of waterproof material, each adapted to extend horizontally across a single roof deck, a highly elongated ridge cap strip adapted to extend between an adjacent pair of roof decks along their ridge joint and overlap one of said body strips on each roof deck, and fastening means along at least each elongated edge of each of said strips adapted to secure each edge to an adjacent strip in said overlapping relationship along said elongated edge and a method of fabrication and installation at a remote work site.
a is a bottom view of the ridge cap,
b is a top view of a middle strip adjacent to the ridge cap of
c is a top view of a middle strip adjacent to the middle strip of
d is a bottom view of the middle strips of
e is a top view of a bottom strip adjacent to the gutter.
In
In typical winter conditions a snow and ice load 7 may build up significantly. In some climes this can amount to an extra roof loading of tons. During periods of freeze and thaw or with freezing rain the roof gutter structure 8 is not capable of handling run off and an ice dam 9 may form along the roof edge above and including gutter 8 further adding to the roof loading. Further run off then backs up into a pool 10 of melt water and mixed ice crystals which accumulates on the roof 1.
Pooled water 10 does not drain away and starts to penetrate, as at 11, the roof shingles 4 and the deck 3 to accumulate further as water or water and ice 12 in attic space 5. Pooled water 12 then drains from attic space 5 into the ceiling joints 6 and interior drywall 13 to cause water damage to the drywall as at 14.
As shown in
As further shown in
In
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the temporary roofing cover of the invention a highly elongated protective strip of waterproof material, the ridge cap 18, is first applied along and parallel to the ridge line 1a with equal depending portions 18e and 18f, on the front and back side respectively, extending down roof 1 in direction 16 to line 21a and from gable 17a to gable 17b. Strip 18 may be imprinted with a shingle pattern on its uppermost surface as shown at 18a.
Ridge cap 18 is installed to roof 1 overlapping ridge line 1a in direction 21 along line 21a in
A plurality of protective main highly elongated body strips 19 are installed to roof 1 downwardly from ridge line 1a along direction 16 and from gable 17a to gable 17b in direction 22. Main body strips 19 form parallel lines 22a across the roof 1.
As shown in
Similarly, a lower protective strip 20 is installed to roof 1 adjacent the gutter 8 along line 23.
As shown in
a shows the back side of the ridge cap 18 with its fold line 18i which corresponds to the roof ridge line 1a upon installation. Pairs of zipper fasteners 18c are adjacent the lower edges 18e and 18f and corresponding pairs of velcro-type fasteners 18d adjacent each of the zipper fasteners 18c.
Upon installation, the ridge cap 18 is rotated about its long axis 18i so that zipper fasteners 18c and velcro-type fasteners 18d correspond with mating zipper fasteners 19a and velcro-type fasteners 19b, respectively, on the first middle strip installed.
b shows the top side of the first middle strip 19 which is installed to the roof 1 immediately adjacent ridge cap 18. With installation the mating velcro-type fasteners 18d and 19b are joined along their respective lengths to hold strips 18 and 19 together in place while zipper fasteners 18c and 19a are joined for complete closure of the uppermost joint.
d shows the underside 29 of the middle strip 18 with its zipper fastener 29a and its corresponding velcro-type strip 29b.
c shows the top side of the 2nd middle strip 24 which is joined to the first middle strip 19 along its entire length by sliding under middle strip 19 from position 27 to position 28 in direction 26, upwards along the roof 1. Mating velcro-type fasteners 24b and 29b are joined along their respective lengths to hold strips 19 and 24 together in place while zipper fasteners 24a and 29a are joined for complete closure of the second and subsequent middle joints.
e shows the top side of the last and lowermost highly elongated strip 40 in plan view. From the top strip 40 is preferably the same as main body strips 19 and 24 shown in
In
Each of hip extensions includes a fold line 33i, 34i, 35i and 36i, respectively, along its central longitudinal axis which corresponds directly to and overlies hip ridges 51, 52, 49 and 50, respectively, upon installation to hip roof 45. As with ridge cap 18 each of the hip extensions, as with extension 33, includes an outermost zipper-type fastener, as at 33c, on the underside adjacent each outer edge and an inner velcro-type fastener, as at 33d, inboard of each outer zipper both along the full length of the respective extension 33. Similarly, extensions 34 through 36 include both zipper and velcro-type fasteners on their undersides, as at 34c and 34d, 35c and 35d, and 36c and 36d.
In the
In
The lowermost strip 40 as shown in the
In
The invention herein are not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
