Battens - colours

[Triassic]

I’m about to buy the battens for my roof and under the cladding on the walls.

 

During a trip round the timber merchants I noticed there are four different colours of battens,  green, blue, red and natural. What does the colour coding mean?

 

For the roof, does size matter? Are there any online suppliers likely to be cheaper than my local BM?

[ProDave]

The coloured ones are apparently bright colours so BC can tell from the ground they are treated.  The plain ones are probably not treated.

 

All mine are the bright green ones as that's all the local BM has. 

[Jeremy Harris]

Ours used to be green, but now they are all a fetching shade of pink from all the local BMs.  As @ProDave says, I gather this is just so a BCO can check without needing to climb a ladder...

[nod]

They all do the same job

Its unusual to find felt battens that arnt tantalised 

[Russell griffiths]

All the replies are slightly true but it all depends on what you are looking for in a batten

a couple of years ago the standard was changed for battens and they had a new British standard number issued

to make identifying them easier manufacturers started to put a dye in the preservative, however this didn’t stop ungraded battens getting dyed to make them look official 

 

if you want a batten that complies with the british standard you need to read the number on the side 

 

one of the reasons that they got a new British standard was worker safety, as roof trusses are now set at 600 centres this provides a large enough gap for a worker to fall through if the battens he was stood on failed, grading them and giving them a standard tried to prevent poor grade timber being used. 

 

As an employer who had a lad fall through a roof as a batten broke I looked into this a fair bit. 

[ProDave]

3 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

one of the reasons that they got a new British standard was worker safety, as roof trusses are now set at 600 centres this provides a large enough gap for a worker to fall through if the battens he was stood on failed, grading them and giving them a standard tried to prevent poor grade timber being used. 

 

As an employer who had a lad fall through a roof as a batten broke I looked into this a fair bit. 

Only an English problem. If you built a roof properly, like we do in Scotland, with some form of sarking board, you would not be able to fall through it.

[Declan52]

3 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

All the replies are slightly true but it all depends on what you are looking for in a batten

a couple of years ago the standard was changed for battens and they had a new British standard number issued

to make identifying them easier manufacturers started to put a dye in the preservative, however this didn’t stop ungraded battens getting dyed to make them look official 

 

if you want a batten that complies with the british standard you need to read the number on the side 

 

one of the reasons that they got a new British standard was worker safety, as roof trusses are now set at 600 centres this provides a large enough gap for a worker to fall through if the battens he was stood on failed, grading them and giving them a standard tried to prevent poor grade timber being used. 

 

As an employer who had a lad fall through a roof as a batten broke I looked into this a fair bit. 

It scares the  brown stuff out off you when you hear that snap sound.  At least with 400 centres you get wedged and end up with a few cuts.  At 600 centres you can end up with some serious injuries.

[ToughButterCup]

Plain: (A1) = standard

Blue : (BS whatever) = '... is what self builders buy ...'

Red : (BS whatever) = ' ... is what they use on new houses ... '

 

is what Scott Montgomery (our woofer) told me yesterday.  

[PeterW]

The BS is the same - colour depends on supplier and red is primarily John Brash who supply some monumental amounts to the UK construction industry. 

[Triassic]

Having got a better understanding of battens and their roll in roofing safety, I found this LABC document on roofing battens.

 

https://www.folkestone-hythe.gov.uk/media/1181/Building-Control-Roofing-Battens/pdf/Building_Control_Roofing_Battens.pdf

[Triassic]

HSG33 makes clear that the batten should meet certain minimum requirements and one of these is that: the battens are a minimum size of 50mm x 25mm and meet the grading requirements specified in BS 5534 Code of practice for slating and tiling (including shingles) and NFRC Technical Bulletin 33 Graded battens for slating and tiling.

[makie]

On 22/12/2018 at 09:51, ProDave said:

Only an English problem. If you built a roof properly, like we do in Scotland, with some form of sarking board, you would not be able to fall through it.

It's not just an English problem. Most houses built with tiles in Scotland are built with felt over the joists, unless it is for a council.