This invention is concerned with improvements in or relating to roofing battens and their use in a novel method of tiling a roof.

Conventional roofing battens are generally provided by sawn strips of wood and are secured to the roof structure to enable a tiler to cover a roof with tiles. To this end the tiles may be secured by nails which are driven into the battens through apertures in the tiles and/or the tiles may be secured by clips of many diverse configurations which clips may be adapted to engage headlap and/or side-lock portions of the tiles.

In any event, the fixing of tiles to a roof is a time- consuming exercise and especially where nails and clips are utilised causing the tiler to carry about his person a pouch for the nails and clips and a belt for carrying the tools necessary for nailing, etc.

With non-conventional tiles, e.g. the plastics tiles of PCT W087/04479, it is proposed to use an extruded batten strip which is generally of "T" cross-section along its length and which strip is arranged to be accommodated in captive engagement by complementary "T" shaped channels extending widthwise across the underside of the tiles. In order to mount the tiles of PCT WO87/04479 on a roof, each tile must be mounted onto a batten strip from one end and slid sideways along a roof into place. This is not a practical way in which to locate conventional tiles on a roof.

In a further engagement as disclosed in GB2222620A, the tiles are provided with lateral slots of thin section on an underside thereof for engaging in use a support flange of a batten strip, conventional tiles, e.g. concrete roof tiles are manufactured in the main by passing pallets seriatim through a tile moulding machine whereat tile mortar is formed on the pallets as a ribbon

of mortar which is thereafter cut to form discrete tiles on each pallet. Such pallets form the underside of the tiles which preclude the manufacture of the non-conventional tiles GB2222620A with the thin section lateral slots.

US4955170 discloses the use of folded steel sheet batten elements which captively engage upper end portions of tiles mounted on a roof; however, such an arrangement does not cater for securing the sidelock portions of tiles located on a roof and thus, in inclement weather conditions, viz. high wind loads, the tiles may tip up about their upper ends and become dislodged from a roof.

The present invention seeks to overcome or at least mitigate the disadvantages of prior art tiling arrangements. Thus, the present invention provides a roofing batten comprising integral tile fixing means conveniently provided by a first snap-fit device for engagement, when in use, with a headlap portion of a roof tile, the tile fixing means also comprising a second snap-fit device for engagement, when in use, with the side-lock portion of a roof tile.

Preferably the first snap-fit device comprises a hold-down clip overlying a recess formed in an upper surface, in use, of the batten, said recess being adapted to captively receive, in use, a ribbed portion formed on an underside of a headlap portion of a tile engaged thereby.

Conveniently the second snap-fit device comprises a hook element extending upwardly and rearwardly of the upper surface, in use, of e batten, said hook element being adapted, in use, to latch over a grooved side-lock portion of a roof tile engaged thereby.

Conveniently the batten is of wedge-shape cross-section, or substantially so, at right angles to the length thereof, the arrangement being such that, in use, the small end of the wedge

shape is the upper end and faces towards the ridge of a roof on which it is used.

Preferably the batten of the last five preceding paragraphs is formed together with the tile fixing means as a unitary moulding of plastics material, preferably polyethylene.

The present invention also provides a roofing batten comprising tile fixing means provided by:

a) retaining means for engagement, in use, with headlap por¬ tions of tiles in a first row of tiles on a roof to retain the headlap portions and thus said tiles against movement, and, b) hook means for engagement, in use with side-lock portions of a second row of tiles positioned on a roof with tail-lap portions thereof overlying said headlap portions of tiles in said first row of tiles.

Conveniently the present invention further provides a method of tiling a roof comprising the steps of:

a) securing a plurality of roofing battens to a roof struc¬ ture said battens comprising integral tile fixing means provided by:

i) tile retaining means for engagement, in use, with headlap portions of associated tiles, and, ii) hooks for engagement, in use, one each with side-lock portions of associated tiles,

b) successively positioning tiles of a first row of such tiles on the roof with the headlap portions of each tile being retained in snap-fit engagement with associated tile retaining means, c) successively positioning tiles of a second row of such tiles on the roof in overlapping relationship with the

tiles of said first row with the headlap portions of each tile being retained in snap-fit engagement with associated tile retaining means and the side-lock portions of each tile being engaged by associated hooks, and, d) repeating step c) above until the tiling of the roof is completed.

There now follows by way of example of the present invention a detailed description of a roofing batten and a method of tiling a roof using said batten, which description is to be read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is an upper right-hand perspective view of part of a roofing batten; and.

Figure 2 is an underside perspective view of the inter¬ locking end portions of two adjacent roofing battens.

Conventional tiling techniques have utilised wooden battens, to which tiles of concrete, clay or other materials have been fixed using nails or clips or a combination thereof. Such costly exercises are overcome by the present invention which provides a roofing batten 2 formed as a unitary moulding of plastics material, i.e. polyethylene, and comprising, integrally formed therewith, tile fixing means 4, see Figure 1.

The batten 2 is wedge-shaped in cross-section, see the left-hand of Figure 1 in order to achieve accurate tile fitment in use, the batten 2 comprising a rear wall 6 and a front wall 8 spanned by an upper wall 10, see Figure 1. Reinforcing ribs 12 are provided in the underside of the wall 10 between the walls 6 and 8; however, such ribs serve only the perfunctory task of strengthening the batten and may be of any arbitrary configuration.

The upper wall 10 is provided with a centrally disposed protu¬ berance 14 extending therealong which is frustroconical in cross-section and together with the walls 6 and 8 defines

rearward and forward channels 16 and 18 respectively the purpose of which will become clear hereinafter.

The protuberance 14 is provided with gapped portions 19 along -.its length, see Figure 1, also for a purpose to be made clear hereinafter.

The tile fixing means 4 comprises a first snap-fit device provided by latch elements 20 and 22 of inverted "L" shaped configuration at spaced-apart locations on the upper extremities of the wall 6, with a vertical arm 24 of the elements 20 and 22 extending upwardly of said wall and a horizontal arm 26 thereof extending to partially overlie the channel 16, see Figure 1.

The tile fixing means also comprises a second snap-fit device provided by a hook element 30 also provided on the upper extremities of the wall 6, see Figure 1.

It will be obvious that the battens 2 which are supplied in one metre lengths and are coupled together by the conventional coupling means indicated at 32 and 33 in Figure 2, provide support for series of first and second snap-fit devices by which tiles may be secured to a roof.

In a method of tiling a roof using the novel battens 2 of the present invention a roofer:

a) secures a plurality of battens 2 in parallel rows to a roof structure by driving nails, not shown, into the structure through apertures 34 provided along the length of said battens with lengthwise adjacent battens in one row being coupled together by the coupling means 32 and 33, b) positions a first row of tiles overlying a first row of battens 2 on the roof with their respective interlocked side portions accommodated in associated gapped portions 19 of the protuberance 14 and with their headlap portions

each being retained in snap-fit engagement under the horizontal arms 26 of the elements 20 and 22 of the battens 2, for this purpose the headlap portions of the tiles are of complementary shape to that of the recessed upper surfaces 10 of the battens. c) positions a second row of tiles overlying a second row of battens 2 on the roof with their headlap portions each being retained in snap-fit engagement under the horizontal arms 26 of the elements 20 and 22 of the battens 2 and with the side-lock portions of each tile in snap-fit engagement with an associated hook element 30, and, d) repeats step c) above until the tiling of the roof is completed.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that tiling a roof by the described method using the novel battens 2 of this invention provides a cost effective and most advantageous improvement on known methods of tiling. Application of the method does not detract from the security of tiles on a roof since each tile is engaged by fixing means at three points.