Tiling Battens - Coloured or Clear??

[MrMartin]

I need some advice ....

I have just had a new roof put on with slate tiles. It looks good, But..... I see that the tiling battens used are clear in colour, i.e.natural wood colour, yet

all the other tiling battens used in other roofs in my village are either blue or green ish in colour. I take the colouration to mean that they have been treated with a wood preservative. Whilst the battens used by my contractor are stamped with BS5534 I suspect that they have not been treated with any wood preservative. Looking on the NHBC Standards website it is not clear to me whether treating treating battens with a preservative is mandatory or a recommended code of practice. Furthermore the building specification written by my surveyor, it states that the battens must be to BS5534 and treated.

Can anybody cast some professional opinions on this please?

Thanks

[nod]

The colored ones are graded Then tend to be straighter and have less nots in them Slightly more expensive also

[ToughButterCup]

Ask to see the relevant invoice. If the battens aren't treated, then deduct the difference (£!00?) . NHBC standards are irrelevant.

If sub-standard battens have been fitted , then look for additional shortcuts.

Overall, it's probably not worth the aggro : especially if you have a good relationship with your roofer.  If that happened to us - I'd just have a sharp sentence or two about it. Plus a smile and a straight look.

[Conor]

Measure, and see if they are actually 25x50mm, and not 22x44mm. 

 

I think the coloured batten thing is regional/supplier specific.. All the ones I've seen here in NI are natural (with a green tint from the preserving process.) But are stamped and correct standard.

[Temp]

 

Quote

https://professionalbuildersmerchant.co.uk/news/roof-battens-sig-explains-why-grades-matter/

 

It takes a very experienced contractor or merchant to recognise a batten of this standard by sight, so manufacturers developed a system of colouring battens to differentiate a correct graded batten from the standard green treated dimensional timber. The generic colour for such products is blue, with some manufacturers trade-marking their own specific premium graded batten offer. SR Timber, for example, provides battens orange in colour (pictured below) while Marley colours its graded battens red.

 

This should make everything clear. Unfortunately, the blue colour was never trademarked by a single manufacturer, becoming a generic indicator for graded battens from multiple providers. Over recent years, for example, there has been a worrying increase in the number of blue-coloured battens creeping into the market which do not meet the required quality standards.

 

Sadly, this means that it is not sufficient to rely on the colour of the product to give assurance that it is better quality. Correctly manufactured product should be stamped “Graded BS5534” and should also carry information identifying the size, supplier, species code and/or “imported” (either is allowed).

 

[Iceverge]

6 hours ago, ToughButterCup said:

NHBC standards are irrelevant.

 

The houses in Cambridgeshire being knocked had NHBC building control. Agreed that it may not have been building controls problem but the NHBC stamp wouldn't necessarily fill me with confidence.