In roofing, battens serve various crucial purposes. Though these strips are not visible on a finished roof, they are intended to reliably anchor the overlying tiles or slates as well as help to ensure the roof’s rigidity, durability and weather tightness, as batten manufacturer Marley explains.
However, be warned that not all roofing battens are created equal – even when they look alike. Here are some ways that you can tell what exactly distinguishes separate roofing battens…
Graded vs ungraded battens
Grading is a crucial part of ensuring the strength and reliability of a batten. You might not have realised that only battens pre-or-factory-graded to the BS 5534:2014 requirements can actually be called roofing battens, Marley indicates. So, how can you tell you are looking at a “roofing batten”?
Look closely on the batten for an indelible stamp reading “BS 5534”, while you can further be assured about the quality if third-party accreditation is indicated on the stamp. Such a party could be the British Board of Agrément, mentioned on the stamp on Marley’s JB-Red battens.
A word of warning, though: don’t be fooled by the batten’s colour. This hue can mean surprisingly little in practice. While those JB-Red battens, for example, come in a distinctive red colour, this colour – or any other – on a batten is not a cast-iron guarantee that it meets the relevant British Standard.
This is because, unfortunately, many different coloured battens have entered the marketplace, Professional Builder warns – and not all of those strips have been mechanically fully graded. Therefore, be sure to check for the stamp and supporting documentation.
How has the batten been graded?
If a roofer were to use a coloured batten on your roof without verifying that this batten has been suitably graded, this professional would be posing various risks. Using a coloured-but-ungraded batten can invalidate warranties or fall short of standards set by local authorities.
Especially worryingly, such battens can be weak and too easily break, making them very dangerous to use in roofing. Our own roofing company’s affiliations with CompetentRoofer and LABC (Local Authority Building Control), however, mean that the battens we use all pass the test.
However, while the BS 5534 requirements state that roofing battens shouldn’t be graded on-site, there isn’t mention of exactly where they should be graded. Marley reckons that the most accurate and consistent grading in roofing battens comes from high-speed camera and laser scanning.
What else do you need to think about?
From where has the timber been sourced? The answer to this question, too, will be included on the batten’s stamp. If the timber has come from the tree’s sideboard, the wood will be of especially good quality, with relatively few knots or bends.
Meanwhile, kiln-dried timber is more stable, and FSC or PEFC Certification would indicate that the timber has been sustainably sourced. We diligently inspect the battens we use and so ensure good results when our roofers from Washington build or repair roofs around the North East.
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