Patent Grant
10443231
The present application is a 371 application of International Application No. PCT/DK2016/050381 filed on Nov. 22, 2016 which claims priority from foreign application No. PA 2015 70754 filed in Denmark on Nov. 24, 2015.
The present invention relates to a sealing member for use between a flashing member and a roofing material, said sealing member comprising an exterior surface adapted for coming into contact with the roofing material, an interior surface adapted for being attached to the flashing member and two side surfaces extending between the exterior surface and the interior surface. The invention further relates to a method for weather proofing the joint between a roof of a building and a roof penetrating structure.
The purpose of such sealing members is to secure tightness where different weather screening building components are to be connected with each other. The primary purpose of tightening the joint between the building components is to weather proof the construction by preventing the ingress of water, snow and wind, but it is also advantageous if the sealing member hinders dirt, leaves and small animals in entering into the construction.
The sealing member is intended primarily for use with windows mounted in an inclined roof structure comprising a load-bearing structure including a plurality of battens and a roofing material arranged on the battens. The joint between the window and the roof structure is weather-proofed by means of a flashing frame, which may be a unitary frame, but which is usually composed of a number of flashing members. Each flashing member/frame typically has a first leg lying substantially in the plane of the roof between the battens and the roofing and a second leg extending at an angle with respect to the first leg and lying substantially parallel to the outer side of the window.
With a view to providing a sealing transition between a flashing and the surrounding roofing material, a sealing member of the kind mentioned in the introduction is connected to the second leg of the flashing. The roofing material is then put on top of the sealing member, which is thus compressed and seals the joint between the flashing and the roofing material.
In case of profiled roofing materials such as undulated tiles, it is necessary that the sealing element has a relatively large extent in the height direction, so that a sealing transition is established even where the sealing member is located under the highest part of the roofing material profile. On the other hand, this implies that large deformation of the sealing member occurs at other places and it happens that gaps are created between the sealing member and the roofing material where water and other types of precipitation can penetrate and seep through to the roof structure located under the roofing material. Such gaps particularly occur where the level of the interior side of the roofing material shifts abruptly, such as for example where one tile overlaps another. In order to avoid such gaps, the height of the sealing element is adapted dependent on the location relative to the profiling of the tiles. This may be done by manual cutting or using pre-defined weakening portions as described in EP1451422A1.
It, however, remains a problem that the adaptation is sometimes forgotten and that the person doing the installation sometimes removes too much material or removes material in the wrong place.
On this background, it is the object of the invention to provide a sealing member of the kind described in the introduction, where said sealing member is universally applicable and makes it possible to obtain improved tightness with all types of roofing materials and at the same time to facilitate the work routine in connection with the installation of the roof penetrating structure.
This object is achieved with a sealing member of the type described above, made of a compressible material and with slits and/or weakening sections that extend into the sealing member from the exterior surface towards the interior surface, each slit and/or weakening section extending from one side surface to the other side surface.
In this context the term “compressible material” is to be understood as including materials, which will collapse at least partially under the weight of common roofing materials, including tiles, shale slates, cement-bound roof plates and metal roof plates, when used in an inclined or flat roof construction.
The slits and/or weakening sections will increase the ability of the sealing member to adapt to the roof structure and solve the problems associated with using a simple strip of insulation material described above by allowing different sections of the sealing material to be displaced in relation to each other and allow one section to be fully compressed below a tile or other roofing material, while the neighbouring section can remain in its original uncompressed shape. This is particularly advantageous at the joint between two pieces of roofing material, where there will often be a discontinuity on the interior side of the roofing due to the overlap between different pieces of roofing material. Specifically, the provision of the slits and/or weakening sections will prevent a section of the sealing material, which is being compressed below one tile or like piece of roofing material, from pulling the neighbouring section locate underneath a tile arranged above it in the roof construction and thus located further towards the exterior side of the construction, away from the tile. Another advantage is that the different sections of the sealing member may move sideways in relation to each other, i.e. transverse to the length direction, and allow a better adaptation to level differences in roofing material in the transverse directions, which are also typical in undulated tile roofs. This means that transverse displacement of one section will not result in a displacement of the entire sealing member.
Using slits will allow different sections of the compressible material to move virtually unimpeded, whereas weakening sections will first have to be broken before different sections can move in relation to each other. The strength of the weakening sections should therefore be chosen so that they break automatically where needed when the roofing material is applied.
In some embodiments, the sealing member may be provided with a combination of slits and weakening sections in order to impose particular properties on the sealing member. It is even possible to have a slit and a weakening section in the same plane, so that two neighbouring sections of the sealing member are separated by a slit at least at one part of the cross-section and interconnected by a weakening section at least at one other part of the cross-section. As an example a weakening section may extend in the height direction at the centre of the sealing member, while neighbouring sections are separated by slits at the side surfaces. In another embodiment, the sealing member is provided with slits at the exterior surface and with weakening sections closer to the interior surface so that less force will be needed to pull the neighbouring sections of the sealing member apart at the exterior surface than further down in the sealing member profile.
Whereas slits are easily provided by cutting the material, the provision of weakening sections may be somewhat more complex. Weakening sections may for example be provided by embedding zones of different materials, by providing zones with a lower material density or by locally weakening the material, for example by penetrating the material with needles. Weakening sections also includes sections, where the material of the sealing member has first been cut or otherwise separated and then loosely reconnected, for example by means of an adhesive or other fusion technique such as welding.
In a preferred embodiment, the slits and/or weakening sections extend in parallel planes, each plane being substantially parallel to the height direction and extending at an angle of 15-75 degrees to the length direction, preferably an angle of 30-60 degrees to the length direction, still more preferred at an angle of 45 degrees to the length direction. When the slits and/or weakening sections extend at a non-perpendicular angle to the length direction in this way, the risk of openings forming between neighbouring sections of the sealing member when one of them is being compressed is reduced. However, regardless of the orientation of the slits and/or weakening sections, there is still a risk that the compression results in the one or more of them being pulled slightly open. This provides a direct channel through the sealing member, which of course affects the sealing properties negatively, but the angled orientation of the slits and/or weakening sections reduces this effect as the angle will result in the formation of a labyrinth seal. In order to further reduce the effect it is also possible to use a material having two or more independent series of slits and/or weakening sections, which contribute further to the forming of the labyrinth. Alternatively, two or more separate sealing members may be arranged side-by-side and with slits/weakening sections off-set in relation to each other.
A further effect of the slits and/or weakening sections being angled is that a good balance is reached between the need for individual mobility of each section and the sealing member functioning as one member. Specifically, the angling means that neighbouring sections will to some extend follow each other due to contact between them, either in the form of friction or weakening sections remaining more or less intact, at least during a part of the movement following from the compression. This means that the different sections do not end up projecting in many different directions in an untidy manner, which may particularly be a problem where two different pieces of roofing material meet.
Still another advantage of the angled slits and/or weakening sections is that when using several different flashing members, which are arranged adjacent to each other, such as a top flashing member, a bottom flashing member and two side flashing members, an overlap between sealing members provided on different flashing members may easily be established. This will be explained further with reference to the drawing below.
In order to provide the desired adaptability of the sealing member, it is presently preferred that the slits and/or weakening sections extend over at least half of the height of the sealing member. The exact optimal extend of the slits and/or weakening sections will, however, depend on numerous factors such as the total height and width of the sealing member and the intended use of the sealing member.
It is to be understood that the optimal extend of slits and weakening sections need not be the same, that slits and weakening sections provided in the same sealing member need not have the same extend and that the extend of slits and/or weakening sections in a sealing member may vary over the length of the sealing member.
In some embodiments an interior part of the sealing member closest to the interior surface is without slits or weakening sections. This provides stability, not only with respect to its behaviour during compression but also during installation on a flashing member and other handling steps.
Having an interior part without slits or weakening sections also allows that removal of the exterior part of the sealing member leaving a simple strip of compressible material as described in EP1451422A1, thereby increasing the versatility of the product. For this purpose a weakening portion in the longitudinal direction, such as a cavity situated at a distance from the surfaces of the sealing member, may be provided as described in EP1451422A1.
In a preferred embodiment, the height of the interior part constitutes at least ⅕ of the height of the sealing member.
The slits should preferably be at least as deep as largest difference in height occurring in the roofing material in the mounted state, i.e. typically the depth of curvature of roofing material. If the sealing member is to be used with undulated roof plates or tiles, the sealing member preferably has a height in the height direction of 40-100 mm, more preferably 50-80 mm, still more preferred 60-75 mm. This corresponds with the undulated roofing materials most commonly used in northern Europe, which typically have an interior height of 50-60 mm, and it will be understood that different types of roofing materials may require different dimensions.
For most uses the distance in the length direction between neighbouring slits and/or weakening sections is 5-40 mm, preferably 5-30 mm, more preferred 10-20 mm, but here too the optimal dimension will depend on the intended use and the properties of the material used.
In some embodiments, the width of the sealing member is smaller at the exterior surface than at the interior surface. This contributes to the adaptability of both the sealing member as such and of the individual sections. If the sealing member is made with a symmetrical cross-sectional shape the risk of it being installed in a wrong orientation on the flashing member is reduced. It is presently preferred that the two side surfaces are converging in the height direction from the interior surface towards the exterior surface.
In a specific embodiment, the width of the interior part is substantially constant over its height and the width of the remaining exterior part of the sealing member decreases continuously towards the exterior surface, so that the interior part has a substantially rectangular cross-sectional shape and the exterior part has the cross-sectional shape of an isosceles trapezoid, possibly with rounded corners at the exterior surface.
The sealing member may be made by extrusion or a like continuous process and cut to length before use, which is particularly advantageous when using a foamed polymer, but it is also possible to cut it from a larger piece of material. Slits and or weakening sections may be formed simultaneously or subsequently.
It is also possible to make two or more sealing members integral with each other and then separate them before use. As an example, two sealing members may be formed at the same time and interconnected at the exterior surfaces. This results in the exterior surfaces of both sealing members being cut surface. When making the sealing members from a polymer by extrusion, moulding or a similar process a surface skin is usually formed on the sealing member, and the subsequent cutting of the material will result in the exterior surface having a different coefficient of friction than the side surfaces. This may reduce the tendency of the exterior to slide over the surface of the roofing material during compression and hence reduce the risk of sections of the sealing member moving to unintended positions during installation. Though here described with reference to the exterior surface, the basic idea of utilizing a combination of moulded and cut surface to achieve a desired combination of surface properties may be used with respect to other surfaces too and different parts of a surface may be given different properties. Likewise it will be understood that surface properties may be altered in other ways, including surface treatment of the sealing member.
It is in principle sufficient that the material used for the sealing member can be compressed to conform to the shape of the interior surface of the roofing. However, in order to allow the sealing member to stay in contact with the roofing over time, it is preferred that the material used is elastic, at least at room temperature. This will allow the material to follow movements in the roofing caused for example by thermal expansion and contraction, moisture related swelling and creep, and general subsidence of the construction.
As in EP1451422A1, the sealing member can be provided with lines or other markings allowing the height to be reduced by indicating where to cut or with tear-off a part of it.
It is presently preferred to make the sealing member from a foamed polymer, such as polyethylene, polyether or polyester. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) foam combines advantages with regards to handling, price and environmental consideration, but any other suitable material may be used.
In one embodiment, the sealing member is made from non-cross-linked LDPE with a density of approximately 20 kg/m3.
In another embodiment the sealing member is made from a polyether/polyester foam with a density of approximately 25 kg/m3.
A satisfactory compressibility have been found to correspond to a softness of less than 15 Kpa at 50% compression measured in accordance with ISO 386-1.
Needle penetration of non-cross-linked LDPE with a density of approximately 20 kg/m3 has been found to result in the desired compressibility and has the advantage that different parts of the foam profile may be given different compressibility.
Further, preferred and independent properties are:
Regardless of the material used, is should have a high UV resistance and be tolerant to repeated freezing and thawing over an extended period of time.
Independent of other features, the sealing member may further include a fastening means for attaching the sealing member to a flashing member, said fastening means preferably being chosen from the group consisting of: adhesives, double sided tapes, hook-and-loop type fasteners, brackets, recesses or similar interlocking means matching members on the flashing member. Due to the structural simplicity it is presently preferred to use adhesives, such as a pressure sensitive adhesive applied during manufacture, a hot-melt adhesive or a double sided tape applied to the sealing member with a cover foil to be removed immediately prior to attachment. Other examples are interlocking means with matching members on the sealing member and the flashing member, so that the sealing member may be attached by snap-locking or by sliding interlocking parts into engagement. An example of a hook and loop type fastener is Velcro®.
The invention further relates to a flashing kit including a plurality of flashing members and at least one sealing member according to one or more of claims 1-12. The flashing members are adapted for being arranged along top, bottom and sides of a roof penetrating structure, such as a roof window, each flashing member having an exterior side adapted for facing the exterior of a building in the mounted state and an interior side adapted for facing the interior of the building in the mounted state, and each flashing member including a first leg adapted for lying substantially in the plane of the roof between a load-bearing structure and a roofing material and a second leg extending at an angle with respect to the first leg and adapted for lying substantially parallel to an outer side of the roof penetrating structure projecting over the load-bearing structure. The at least one sealing member is attached to the exterior side of at least one flashing member or adapted for being attached to the exterior side of at least one flashing member during installation of the flashing kit. The fasteners mentioned above for attaching the sealing member to the flashing member may also be employed here.
In a preferred embodiment the flashing kit comprises a top flashing member, a bottom flashing member and two side flashing members adapted for being arranged along the top, bottom and sides of the roof penetrating structure, respectively, and a sealing member according to one or more of claims 1-12 are found on two or more of these flashing members.
Sealing members on flashing members adapted for being arranged side-by-side or in an overlapping manner are preferably arranged so that they will be located in continuation of each other in the mounted state.
In some embodiments, the sealing members are arranged so that they project over the edge of the flashing member in order to be able to come into contact with or overlap a sealing member on another flashing member in the mounted state.
A second aspect of the invention relates to a method for weather proofing the joint between a roof of a building and a roof penetrating structure, comprising the following steps, which are not necessarily to be performed in the sequence:
arranging at least one flashing member on a load-bearing structure of the roof with an exterior side facing the exterior of the building and an interior side facing the interior of the building, and with a first leg lying substantially in the plane of the roof between a load-bearing structure and a roofing material and a second leg extending at an angle with respect to the first leg and lying substantially parallel to an outer side of the roof penetrating structure projecting over the load-bearing structure,
arranging a sealing member on the at least one flashing member with an interior surface attached to the flashing member, said sealing member further having two side surfaces extending between the interior surface and an exterior surface opposite the interior surface, a height direction extending from the interior surface to the exterior surface, a length direction extending in parallel to the exterior surface, the interior surface and the side surfaces, and a width direction extending between the two side surfaces perpendicular to the height direction and the length direction, and where slits and/or weakening sections extend into the sealing member from the exterior surface towards the interior surface, each slit and/or weakening section extending from one side surface to the other side surface,
arranging a roofing material on the load-bearing structure so that the first leg of the flashing member projects under the roofing material in the mounted state and so that the roofing material rests on the sealing member and compresses one or more sections of the sealing member.
It is noted that the sealing member does not need to be in direct contact with the flashing member, but that it should be ensured that it stays in the intended position.
In order to avoid erroneous installation it is preferred that the sealing member(s) is/are fastened to the flashing member(s) before arranging the flashing member(s) on the load-bearing structure.
Even though the sealing member may be used at all sides of a roof penetrating structure it will often not be the case. As an example there is usually no need for a sealing member of this type below a roof window mounted in an inclined roof and seen in the direction of slope. It should also be understood that the sealing member according to the invention may be used in combination with other types of sealing members, for example only at the sides of a roof window, while prior art sealing members are used at the top of the window.
When using the sealing member according to the invention with a roof penetrating structure having a rectangular shape, such as a roof window or solar panel, separate sealing members may be arranged to abut each other at the corners or a longer the sealing member may be bent to come around corner. It is, however, also possible to use separate corner sealing members.
Even though the use of the sealing member is here described primarily with relation to a roof window, it will be understood that it may also be used with solar panels, façade windows etc.
In the following the sealing member according to the invention will be described in further detail with reference to embodiments shown on the accompanying drawing, where:
Throughout the drawing like reference numbers have been used for parts having similar or analogous function, but this is not to be taken as an indication that such parts found in different figures are necessarily identical.
The sealing member shown in
In the embodiment shown the sealing member 1 includes an interior part 14, which is hatched in
As may be seen in
The distance D in the length direction between neighbouring slits and/or weakening sections is 10 mm in
Both slits and weakening sections 16 may be made by cutting or melting the material or by any other process resulting in an interruption of the material, the difference being if the material is interrupted entirely or only partially.
Here the entire sealing member 1 is made from the same material, but in other embodiments different parts may have different density and/or different structure and/or be made from different materials. A transition between different parts with different material properties may be gradual or abrupt and does not necessarily have to be located at the level where the slits and/or weakening sections end.
In other embodiments weakening sections 16 are provided as sections of a weaker material than the rest of the sealing member 1. Such weakening sections will typically have a slightly larger thickness in the length direction L than those shown in
The side surface 13 converge towards the exterior surface 12, here with an angle β of 7 degrees, so that the width WE at the exterior surface is smaller than the width WI at the interior surface.
The embodiment shown in
Another embodiment of a sealing member 1 is shown in
When making the sealing members from a foamed polymer by moulding or extrusion, the process will usually result in the formation of a skin layer with a slightly higher density than the rest of the profile. This skin layer has been indicated by the broken line 18 in
While the embodiment shown in
Turning now to
Here the flashing is composed of several members, but a unitary flashing may of course also be utilized, just as the number and arrangement of cladding and covering members may vary. Likewise, the sealing members 1 may in principle have any extent in the longitudinal direction, but it is advantageous if the sealing member extends over substantially the entire length of the corresponding flashing member as shown in
The situation at the top, above the window frame is shown in
A sealing member 1 with slit and/or weakening section planes 16 arranged at an angle α of 45 degrees is shown on a side flashing member 43 in
Turning now to
As may be seen the sealing member 1 on the top flashing member 42 has been compressed in an undulated pattern corresponding to the curvature of the roofing material 6. At the points where the sealing member is least compressed the slits have slightly opened at the exterior surface thereby allowing the sealing member to easily adapt to the shape of the tiles, but the angling of the slits ensure that the sealing remains substantially intact.
In this embodiment, the sealing member extending along the side flashing member 43 has been made extra long so that it also extends over the top flashing member 42 up to the level of the sealing member extending horizontally thereon. In other embodiments, the top flashing member 42 would be provided with a sealing member extending in continuation of the sealing member on the side flashing member 43, possibly a single sealing member extending horizontally and then being bent over 90 degrees to come down along one or both sides towards the side flashing member(s) as shown in
The compression of the sealing member on the side flashing member 43 has resulted in the sections of the sealing underneath the uppermost part of each tile 6 being compressed almost to its maximum, while the sections underneath the lowermost part of each tile is just slight bent in a downwards direction.
In this case the compression of the sections of the sealing member 1 underneath the uppermost part of each tile 6 has resulted in the exterior part of the sealing member 1 not only being compressed but also having tilted in direction away from the window frame 2. This need not be a problem, but with some types of sealing members it may result in unsatisfactory sealing properties. In order to reduce the risk of such sideways tilting the angle β may be adjusted, but as the tilting is at least partly caused by the sealing member sliding over the surface of the roofing material during compression, it is also possible to increase friction between the roofing material and the sealing member. This may be done by a surface treatment of the sealing member, but will easily be achieved by providing the exterior surface as a cut surface as described above with reference to
The invention should not be regarded as being limited to the embodiments shown. On the contrary, various modifications and combinations of the features shown will be within the scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 70754 | Nov 2015 | DK | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/DK2016/050381 | 11/22/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/088882 | 6/1/2017 | WO | A |
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|---|---|---|---|
| 4110881 | Thompson | Sep 1978 | A |
| 4848051 | Weisner | Jul 1989 | A |
| 5053266 | Hesketh et al. | Oct 1991 | A |
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| 5522189 | Mortensen | Jun 1996 | A |
| 5718088 | Jacobsen | Feb 1998 | A |
| 6598356 | Sells | Jul 2003 | B1 |
| 20080303226 | Deib | Dec 2008 | A1 |
| 20090031640 | Elmes | Feb 2009 | A1 |
| 20090064605 | Hoffman | Mar 2009 | A1 |
| 20100024321 | Scherer | Feb 2010 | A1 |
| 20100104797 | Deiss | Apr 2010 | A1 |
| 20120058309 | Deiss | Mar 2012 | A1 |
| 20170198479 | LeVey | Jul 2017 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2503519 | Aug 1976 | DE |
| 202014100478 | May 2015 | DE |
| 0148429 | Jul 1985 | EP |
| 0320343 | Jun 1989 | EP |
| 1008048 | Jul 1999 | NL |
| WO 0348478 | Jun 2003 | WO |
| WO03074812 | Sep 2003 | WO |
| Entry |
|---|
| International Preliminary Report on Patentability dated Oct. 17, 2017 issued in connection with PCT/DK2016/050381, pp. 1 to 14. |
| Apr. 15, 2019 Office Action issued in corresponding European Patent Application No. 16801960.2, 4 pages. |
| Machine generated English translation of EP0320343, 19 pages. |
| Claims addressed in Apr. 15, 2019 Office Action issued in corresponding European Patent Application No. 16801960.2, 4 pages. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180347180 A1 | Dec 2018 | US |
