Prefabricated Panel Of Shingles

Abstract

A prefabricated panel of shingles having a plurality of courses and a thin mounting strip extending over the upper face of the shingles in each course and secured thereto. The strip is so positioned relative to the lower edge of the shingles in each course as to be covered by the lower margin of the shingles of the next course. Staples extending through the thin strip and through each shingle on adjacent opposed vertical edges thereof.

Description

This invention relates to a prefabricated shingle assembly for application to a roof wherein a relatively few of the panels will cover the entire roof and can be applied in a short time and wherein the finished roof has the precise appearance of an authentic wood shingle roof with individually applied shingles.

The shingle assembly of the present invention is primarily for wood shingles which are expensive to apply in the conventional fashion and many of the shingles are damaged during the roofing operation.

The shingles which go into the panel of the present invention are ideally suited for prefabrication in the shop, but it is not feasible to fabricate a single panel covering the entire roof or even a single slope of the roof because of the discontinuities caused by dormers, chimneys, etc. In accordance with the present invention, standard panels of reasonable length such as 8 to 10 feet and with five or six courses are formed and hoisted into place. The panel is desirably raised to final position in the roof by overhead means, such as a light crane or a "cherry picker" and the nailing readily accomplished without the need for the workmen to step on the roof.

An important object of the invention is to provide a panel of shingles and a method of applying multiple shingles to a roof which provide an improved shingle roof and which can be laid in a fraction of the time required by conventional means, consisting in laying and nailing the shingles, one at a time.

In accordance with the present invention, a course of shingles, i.e., the lower course, is laid out on a work support and extending 6, 8 or 10 feet as desired, after which a mounting strip, located far enough above the lower edge of the course as to be covered by the shingles in the second course, is nailed to the shingles. A second course is then laid over the first an approved distance above this lower edge so as to cover the first mounting strip. The right side of the panel is not straight. Rather is each succeeding course laid inwardly to the left a predetermined distance, usually 11/2 inches, and the mounting strip extends clear to the right-hand edge of the shingle in each course while at the left edge it stops just in excess of 11/2 inches so that when the second panel in a row is applied, there is no binding and the shingle ends fit precisely. A slight space is provided between each shingle, generally one-fourth inch to allow for expansion. The right-hand end of the mounting strip is nailed in place and, as soon as the next panel to the left has been fitted in place, the ends of the strips are nailed. An important feature of the mounting technique resides in the fact that a nail with a T-head is applied to some, but not all, of the shingles in the panel by a nail gun whose head enters a space between two shingles and is driven through the mounting strip and the shingles. Several of these nails in each strip affixes the panel to the roof far more effectively than can individual shingles be applied to the roof.

In the drawings

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a conventional roof and showing the manner in which the panels are laid;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a standard panel of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of this panel;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the panel used at the left hand end of the roof;

FIG. 5 shows the panel at the right hand end thereof;

FIG. 6 is a section on line 6--6 of FIG. 2.

There is shown in FIG. 2 a panel 10 of shingles which have been assembled in the shop as distinguished from application of the individual shingles, one at a time, to the roof. It is shown as having six courses but it may have more or less. The first course 11 is shown as comprising five shingles 12 and a thin strip 14 of metal or plastic material overlays these shingles at a point sufficiently far removed from the lower edge 16 of the panel to cause it to be covered by the lower edges 18 of the shingles in the second course 19. The shingles in the first course are secured to the strip by driving 2 or more U-shaped staples 20 through the strip and through each of the shingles, preferably by means of a power driven staple gun with means underneath so as to cause the ends of the legs to be clinched inwardly as shown at 21 in FIG. 6. A work support with a metal top suffices to perform this function.

A standard shingle length is 18 inches and shingles come in random widths. If the mounting strip of metal or plastic is 1 inch wide, it should be affixed 51/2 inches from the lower edges 16 of the shingles in the first course. The lower edge 18 of the shingles in the second course 19 extend one-half inch below strip 14 on the first course. Power driven staple guns of the type used for the foregoing purpose are common in the carpentry trade. The first strip 14 extends clear to the right hand side of the first shingle in the first course. At the opposite end of this first course the strip terminates at or just short of the left-hand side of the last shingle in the second course as shown at 21. The first shingle 22 in the second course is set inwardly of the first shingle in the first course. The last shingle in the second course extends a distance beyond the last shingle in the first course. These distances should be about 11/2 inches and each course should be of the same length so that the staggered ends of each panel precisely fit those in the adjoining panel. Although the shingles are of varying width, their widths follow a common pattern so that it is a simple matter to select shingles for the second course which have precisely the same combined widths as those in the first course.

It will be noted that the shingles in each course are not in side-by-side abutment but rather there is a space 24 between each shingle. This space should be about one-fourth inch to allow for expansion of the shingle in hot weather. The number of courses in a panel is a matter of choice but in general it can be said that a panel of between six and nine courses gives maximum stability and rigidity without becoming so heavy as to be unwieldy in hoisting the panel to the roof and nailing it.

The last course 26 in the panel should preferably have the usual metal or plastic strip 14 and also a second strip 28. This compensates for the fact that the upper end of each shingle is thinner than the lower end so that the upper edge of each panel necessarily has less structural strength than the lower edge.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that after panel 10 is nailed in place a second panel having the identical configuration can be placed on the roof adjacent to the first panel, moved to the right so that the underlying edges at the right side of the second panel are closely adjacent the edges of the first panel and this second panel is easily moved into substantial abutting relation to those of the first, maintaining the one-fourth inch spacing and the second panel nailed in place.

The panel 30 located at the right-hand end of the roof (FIGS. 1 and 5) is identical with panel 10 except that its right edge, indicated at 31, is straight. Similarly, the last panel 32 in the first row of panels, shown in more detail in FIG. 4, has a left hand edge 34 which is straight. Inasmuch as all roofs are invariably of different lengths, the panels 32 with the straight left hand edge are usually fabricated to this special width in the shop.

As soon as the first row of panels has been laid as indicated in FIG. 1, the second row 36 is laid in the same fashion. It will be noted from FIG. 3 that by virtue of raising the lower end of the shingle upwardly a distance equal to the thickness of strip 14 allows the shingle to lie flatter than it would if the strip were not present and this assures that there are no force tending to raise the lower end of the shingle. More important still, the mounting strip extending the full width of every shingle in the course holds the shingle down and prevents this lower end from raising much more effectively than would be the case if the sole lateral retaining force was afforded by the shingle above the shingle in that course.

The space of about one-fourth inch between each of the shingles in the panel allows for a nailing gun to be applied to the mounting strip between two adjacent shingles and thus shoot a well-known type of nail with a T-shaped head through the mounting strip and the shingle beneath it and into the roof structure below the shingles. A judicious number of these nails permanently secures the panel to the roof. The reason for having each succeeding course of shingles set inwardly to the right, as shown in FIG. 2, rather than to the left, is solely to aid the workmen in nailing the panels to the rows. In fact, a left-handed carpenter might find the reverse arrangement preferred.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A prefabricated panel formed of a plurality of courses of individual wood shingles comprising, in combination, a first course of shingles, a first thin mounting strip extending over the upper faces of the shingles in said first course and secured to each shingle in said first course, at least a second course of shingles, said second course partially overlying said first course with the lower margin of the shingles in said second course covering said first mounting strip, a second thin mounting strip laterally spaced from said first mounting strip and extending over the upper faces of the shingles in said second course, said second mounting strip being secured to each shingle in said second course and the corresponding underlying shingle in said first course, and each course of shingles succeeding said second course being similarly positioned and secured to the underlying course by means of a thin mounting strip positioned and secured in a manner similar to said second mounting strip, the terminal shingles of all said courses being progressively staggered in one direction along at least one edge of said panel.

2. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein the terminal shingles of said courses are progressively staggered in the same direction along both edges of said panel, the total shingles in each said course having substantially the same combined length.

3. A panel as defined in claim 1 for use as a terminal panel on a surface and wherein one said edge thereof is staggered as aforesaid, the opposite edge thereof being straight.

4. The panel defined in claim 1 having from five to nine courses of said wood shingles.

5. A prefabricated panel as defined in claim 1 wherein said mounting strips are secured to the respective underlying shingles by means of staples.

6. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein each shingle is spaced from the adjoining shingles in each course by a distance sufficient to allow for expansion thereof.

7. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein the mounting strips are made from sheet metal.

8. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein the mounting strips are made from plastic.

9. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein the mounting strips at one end of the panel extend to the outer edge of the terminal shingle in each course and are spaced from the outer edge of the terminal shingle at the opposite end of each course.

10. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein the uppermost course has two spaced mounting strips.