joining roofing battens

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10th February 2008, 06:53 AM
gg23

joining roofing battens

hi,
Have started putting up battens on 900 cts roof trusses. The roof is about 9.4m long and I have 3.2m lengths of 90x45 for the battens. How are the battens spliced/joined when the join is not over a truss? Im hoping that there is a way to join the battens when they dont meet over the truss as otherwise I will have a lot of wastage.

Also I cannot find any spec for the spacing of the battens? The roof is a simple gable and the sloping section is about 4m.

Thanks
greg
11th February 2008, 12:50 AM
journeyman Mick

I'm in a cyclonic area so it may be different for non-cyclonic (but I doubt it) and all battens must be joined over a truss/rafter. Batten spacing is dependant on wind loads and roofing type.

Mick
11th February 2008, 08:16 AM
sol381

Prepare for waste.. as mick said they have to be joined on a truss.. seems like 90x 45 is a bit overkill. 75x 38 is the usual size.
11th February 2008, 08:39 AM
Make it work

I joined mine over the rafter but to minimise waste I used the longest lengths I could get delivered. I used 70 X 35 at centres to match existing, about 900 plus or minus some.

The other thing is staggering the joins, I was told that inspectors frown on having more than 1 joined batten on the same rafter, made sense to me to stagger the joins.
11th February 2008, 11:08 AM
DvdHntr

Quote:

Originally Posted by Make it work

I was told that inspectors frown on having more than 1 joined batten on the same rafter, made sense to me to stagger the joins.

There is a reason. The battens are assumed to restrain the top chord/rafter and they don't restarin well enough at a join.
11th February 2008, 09:37 PM
MrFixIt

Hi

Quote:

Originally Posted by gg23

hi,
Have started putting up battens on 900 cts roof trusses. The roof is about 9.4m long and I have 3.2m lengths of 90x45 for the battens. How are the battens spliced/joined when the join is not over a truss?

They're NOT :oo: All joins have to be over a truss.

Quote:

Im hoping that there is a way to join the battens when they dont meet over the truss as otherwise I will have a lot of wastage.

No there isn't and unfortunately yes you will have wastage. The problem you have is the batten length is more suited to 600 centre trusses/rafters. You could try for 2.7m or 3.6m battens that wiil help minimise your wastage as those lengths work better with 900 centres. If you can get a different length of batten, check that the batten ends are not split/poor condition as you will be working at the ends of the material and it is a PITA to be 25mm short and have to cut off nearly 900mm to use the alternative truss.