Roof repair strips and method for refurbishing wooden roofs
Repair strips can be inserted between courses of shakes or shingles in a wooden shake or shingle roof. The repair strip has a thin upper edge for insertion into the interface between two courses of shakes or shingles. A lower part of the repair strip is structured to provide air channels on one or both of its top and bottom faces. Gripping members may be provided to hold the repair strips in place.
The invention relates to roofing for buildings and particularly to the field of roofing with wooden shingles or shakes.
BACKGROUNDWooden shingles and shakes are a popular roofing material. Shingles and shake roofs can be very aesthetically pleasing roofs. Such roofs also tend to keep a building cooler than do roofs of asphalt shingles. Over time, exposure to the weather can damage shingles or shakes. For example, shingles or shakes may become cracked. A crack can present a path for water to leak through the roof.
There are ways to repair roofs in which a few individual shakes or shingles have become cracked. However, these ways require that all of the individual shingles or shakes which need repair can be identified. This is not always easy. Further, the process of removing and repairing a damaged shingle or shake can harm nearby shingles or shakes, especially if the roof is old.
As an alternative to removing and repairing damaged shingles, it is known to insert a piece of sheet metal between shingles to repair a leaky roof. However, the sheet metal creates a moisture barrier that interferes with natural evaporation of water from the roof, and can act as a point of condensation when the temperature changes.
It is wise to replace a roof before the roof begins to leak. Over time, leaking can damage the structure of a building. Replacing a roof can be very expensive. Where a building has an attractive shake or shingle roof, the building owner has a choice of replacing the shakes or shingles with new shakes or shingles or switching to another (often less attractive looking) roofing system. One difficulty in making this decision is that some of the wooden shingles and shakes available on the market are made from poorer quality wood which is not as long lasting as high quality shingles and shakes which were more readily available in the past.
There is a need for roofing systems and methods which provide building owners with additional roofing options.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis invention provides repair strips which can be inserted between the courses of wooden shingles or shakes. The repair strips may be used to repair an existing roof, thereby avoiding the need to replace the roof. The repair strips may also be built into a new roof to make the new roof longer lasting, even if the shingles or shakes are of inferior quality. Use of the repair strips preserves the attractive appearance of wooden roofs.
One aspect of the invention provides repair strips for use in repairing or building wooden shake or shingle roofs. The repair strips comprise elongated waterproof bodies having upper and lower edges. The body is thin at the upper edge and tapers to a thickness greater than a thickness of the upper edge in its parts toward the lower edge. The bodies may be made of sheet metal or plastic, for example.
Other aspects of the invention include:
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- methods for repairing roofs which involve inserting repair strips into the interfaces between successive courses of wooden shakes or shingles; and,
- roofs which comprise a plurality of courses of overlapping wooden shingles or shakes; and a plurality of repair strips located in successive interfaces between a number of successive ones of the courses. Each of the repair strips overlaps with another one of the repair strips in an adjacent one of the interfaces.
Further aspects of the invention and features of specific embodiments of the invention are described below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSIn drawings which illustrate non-limiting embodiments of the invention,
Throughout the following description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the invention. However, the invention may be practiced without these particulars. In other instances, well known elements have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative, rather than a restrictive, sense.
Repair strip 20 has a width W. The desired width W, depends upon the length of the shingles or shakes in the roof to be repaired. As shown in
For example, a repair strip 20 for use in repairing a roof made with 18 inch long shakes would typically have a width W of approximately 10 inches. A repair strip 20 for use in repairing a roof made with 24 inch long shingles would typically have a width W of approximately 13 inches.
Repair strips 20 can be inserted between courses 18 of an existing roof 10 by sliding them into the interfaces between shingles 16 from below. Each repair strip 20 is inserted until its upper edge 22 is nearly at nails 17 of the course 18 above the repair strip 20.
Repair strips 20 may be supplied in any convenient length L. L is typically several times wider than individual shingles 16. For example, repair strips 20 may have lengths L of 3 feet, 4 feet or 5 feet or some other convenient lengths in the range of 2 to 6 feet. It is not necessary that all repair strips 20 have the same length. In some alternative embodiments of the invention, repair strips 20 are supplied in long lengths (for example in a roll) and can be cut on site to any desired lengths.
Repair strips 20 are made of a material which is impermeable to water, non rusting and stiff enough to permit repair strips 20 to be slid between courses of shingles or shakes as described above. The material may be, for example, sheet aluminum, coated sheet steel, a high-quality plastic resistant to ultraviolet light, or the like. Repair strips 20 preferably have a number of additional features. The repair strip 20 of
Repair strip 20 is tapered in cross section. Upper edge 22 is thin so that it can be easily introduced into an interface between courses 18. Upper edge 22 preferably has rounded corners 23 to aid in insertion into interface by reducing the chance that strip 20 will catch on shingles 16. Upper edge 22 may also have a rounded cross section, as shown in
A lower portion 24 of repair strip 20 is thicker than upper edge 22. In example embodiments of the invention, the thickness T1 adjacent upper edge 22 is in the range of about 0.02 to 0.1 inches while the thickness T2 of lower portion 24 adjacent lower edge 25 is in the range of about 0.1 inches to about 0.5 inches.
Lower portion 24 is contoured to define air channels 26 on at least one of, and preferably on both of, its top surface 30T and its bottom surface 30B. In the embodiment of
The precise shapes of corrugations 28 are not important. Corrugations 28 may be rounded, as shown in
As shown in
Channels 26T and 26B (collectively, channels 26) are preferably wide enough that water does not tend to be retained in the channels by capillary action. In an example embodiment of the invention, channels 26 are at least 3/16 inches wide. Channels 26 are preferably on the order of ¼ inch across to ¾ inch across. In the illustrated embodiment, topside channels 26T extend to lower edge 25. Topside channels 26T could be modified or removed in the portion of repair strip 20 which is exposed without significantly affecting the function of repair strip 20.
In
Repair strips 20 may be colored, especially in their lowermost projecting portions 60 (
Repair strips 20 may be held in place between courses 18 by friction in roofs where courses 18 are close enough together. Repair strips 20 may also include gripping means for preventing repair strips 20 from slipping downward out from between courses 18 after they have been installed. The gripping means may take any of a variety of forms. The gripping means may comprise an adhesive material applied near upper edge 22. The adhesive material may be a material that bonds to wooden shingles 16 with moisture. The adhesive material may be covered by a protective strip which is removed immediately prior to installation of strip 20.
As shown in
Repair strips 20 provide a building owner with the option of repairing, instead of replacing, a wood shake or shingle roof that is becoming unreliable. It is not necessary to repair an entire roof. The owner has the option of repairing only a small area of the roof. Further, the roof does not need to be removed to make the repairs. The repairs can even be accomplished when it is raining (subject to the need to always work safely on roofs and to take suitable precautions to avoid slipping and falling while working on a roof). Further, repairs can be done incrementally. One could start by repairing the areas of a roof which have become the most badly deteriorated and then repair other areas of the roof as time or budget permit.
A roof repair can be accomplished simply by inserting repair strips 20 between adjacent courses of shingles or shakes in the area to be repaired. The gripping means hold the repair strips in place once they have been inserted. Repair strips 20 are easy to insert because they have a thin upper edge 22 and they are quite stiff. Once installed, repair strips 20 overlap with one another (see
The ends of horizontally adjacent repair strips 20 between the same courses may also overlap with one another so that water cannot leak through a roof between the repair strips. As shown in
It is not mandatory that repair strips 20 be used only for repairing roofs. Repair strips 20 may be integrated in a new wood shingle or wood shake roof. Where repair strips 20 are used in a newly constructed roof they may be inserted as described above or, in the alternative, they may be nailed into place in the roof using nails 88, as shown in
Using repair strips 20 in the construction of a new roof can extend the lifespan of the roof even if a lower grade of wooden shakes or shingles is used to make the roof. The roof has the attractive appearance of a wooden shake or shingle roof but the repair strips provide insurance against leaks. Further, most of any rain or hail falling on the roof hits the exposed shakes or shingles. Thus the sound made by falling rain or hail is muted.
Moss will sometimes grow on wooden shakes and shingles. Moss holds moisture and can degrade a wooden roof. Exposed lower portions of repair strips 20 may optionally be coated with zinc or another moss-retardant to prevent moss from growing on the repaired section of a roof.
Where a component (e.g. a structure, member, part etc.) is referred to above, unless otherwise indicated, reference to that component (including a reference to a “means”) should be interpreted as including as equivalents of that component any component which performs the function of the described component (i.e., that is functionally equivalent), including components which are not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the illustrated exemplary embodiments of the invention.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. For example:
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- In some embodiments of the invention, repair strips 20 may project significantly farther to the weather than is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Repair strips 20 could even completely cover wooden shakes or shingles 16. If repair strips 20 are wide enough, they may be nailed down even when they are not being applied as part of a new roof. In this case, the nails should be inserted at locations where they will be covered by overlying repair strips 20. The nails may be inserted through an overlying shake or shingle to pass through the repair strip 20.
Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.
- In some embodiments of the invention, repair strips 20 may project significantly farther to the weather than is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Repair strips 20 could even completely cover wooden shakes or shingles 16. If repair strips 20 are wide enough, they may be nailed down even when they are not being applied as part of a new roof. In this case, the nails should be inserted at locations where they will be covered by overlying repair strips 20. The nails may be inserted through an overlying shake or shingle to pass through the repair strip 20.
Claims
1. A repair strip for use in repairing or building a wooden shake or shingle roof, the repair strip comprising an elongated waterproof body having upper and lower edges, the body being thin at the upper edge and tapering to a thickness greater than a thickness of the upper edge in its parts toward the lower edge.
2. A repair strip according to claim 1 wherein a region extending along the body adjacent to the lower edge is corrugated.
3. A repair strip according to claim 2 wherein the region is corrugated with corrugations which are tapered in height, the corrugations being larger in their parts closest to the lower edge and smaller in their parts closest to the upper edge.
4. A repair strip according to claim 3 comprising a non-corrugated region extending along the upper edge.
5. A repair strip according to claim 2 comprising a non-corrugated region extending along the upper edge.
6. A repair strip according to claim 1 wherein at least one of a top surface and a bottom surface of the repair strip is contoured to define a plurality of air channels in a region of the surface extending along the repair strip adjacent to the lower edge.
7. A repair strip according to claim 6 wherein the top surface and the bottom surface of the repair strip are both contoured to define air channels in a region of the surface extending along the repair strip adjacent to the lower edge.
8. A repair strip according to claim 6 comprising a plurality of ridges projecting from the body in the region of the surface, the ridges extending generally transversely on the body wherein the air channels are defined between adjacent ones of the ridges.
9. A repair strip according to claim 8 wherein the ridges are tapered in height, the ridges being taller in their parts closest to the lower edge and shorter in their parts closest to the upper edge.
10. A repair strip according to claim 6 comprising a plurality of projections on the surface in the region, wherein the air channels are defined between the projections.
11. A repair strip according to claim 10 wherein the projections are sawtooth-like and extend generally transversely on the body.
12. A repair strip according to claim 10 wherein the projections are oriented to direct water away from edges of the repair strip.
13. A repair strip according to claim 10 wherein the projections comprise points oriented toward the lower edge of the body to resist pulling out of the repair strip from between courses of wooden shakes or shingles.
14. A repair strip according to claim 2 comprising a plurality of projections on the surface in the region.
15. A repair strip according to claim 3 comprising a plurality of projections on the corrugations.
16. A repair strip according to claim 1 comprising gripping means on the body for holding the repair strip in place between courses of wooden shakes or shingles.
17. A repair strip according to claim 16 wherein the gripping means comprises adhesive material applied to a region of the repair strip along the upper edge.
18. A repair strip according to claim 1 comprising a plurality of tabs projecting from the body and disposed along the upper edge, the tabs having edges oriented toward the lower edge of the body to resist pulling out of the repair strip from between courses of wooden shakes or shingles.
19. A repair strip according to claim 18 wherein the tabs include a first plurality of tabs projecting on a top side of the body and a second plurality of tabs projecting on a bottom side of the body.
20. A repair strip according to claim 18 wherein the tabs are triangular and each project at an acute angle to the body.
21. A repair strip according to claim 1 comprising a first interlocking end part on a first end of the body and a second interlocking end part on a second end of the body opposed to the first end, the first end, wherein the first interlocking end part of the repair strip can be interlocked with the second interlocking end part of a horizontally adjacent second repair strip to prevent leakage of water therebetween.
22. A repair strip according to claim 21 wherein the first interlocking end part comprises a U-shaped channel extending along the first end of the repair strip.
23. A repair strip according to claim 1 wherein the body comprises a metal sheet.
24. A method for repairing a roof comprising overlapping courses of wooden shakes or shingles, the method comprising inserting repair strips according to claim 1 in interfaces between the courses of shakes or shingles.
25. A method according to claim 24 wherein the repair strips comprise gripping means for holding the repair strip in place between courses of wooden shakes or shingles and the method comprises inserting the repair strips until the gripping means engage the wooden shakes or shingles of the roof.
26. A method according to claim 25 comprising overlapping the repair strips inserted in vertically adjacent interfaces of the roof.
27. A method according to claim 26 comprising leaving a portion of each of the repair strips exposed.
28. A method according to claim 27 comprising overlapping horizontally adjacent ones of the repair strips.
29. A wooden shake or shingle roof comprising:
- a plurality of courses of overlapping wooden shingles or shakes;
- a plurality of repair strips according to claim 1, the repair strips located in successive interfaces between a number of successive ones of the courses, each of the repair strips overlapping with another one of the repair strips in an adjacent one of the interfaces.
30. A roof according to claim 29 wherein each of the repair strips is nailed through an underlying one of the shakes or shingles into a wooden member.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 14, 2004
Publication Date: Mar 16, 2006
Inventor: Wallace Martin (Langley)
Application Number: 10/940,013
International Classification: E02D 37/00 (20060101);