Time trials conducted on a house builder’s development have proven that a new one piece clip and nail from Marley Eternit can save up to 30% on roof clipping time. This follows the recent announcement of a more stringent British Standard, which will require an increase in clipping on all roofs from the end of February 2015.
Roofing and facades manufacturer Marley Eternit has launched the new SoloFix one piece clip and nail to help contractors get ready for the changes to BS 5534, the Code of Practice for Slating and Tiling, which were announced at the end of August.
The fixing time trials took place at a Bellway Homes site in Burton upon Trent on a single block of two houses, with duo pitch roofs. Experienced roofers from Bracknell Roofing completed the time challenge, using traditional clips and nails on one side of the roof and then the new SoloFix one piece clip and nail on the other. The roof fitted with SoloFix took 30% less time to clip than the one that was fixed using traditional clips and nails.
Gavin White, product manager at Marley Eternit, comments: “As a result of the changes to BS 5534, roofers will have to clip more tiles than ever before. However, installing traditional two piece clips isn’t a popular fixing method as it is often viewed as time consuming and costly.
“We developed SoloFix specifically to address this problem and our own internal tests found there was a 30% time saving over traditional clips, but we wanted to get independent verification from live site trials. That’s why we decided to carry out the roof fixing race with the help of Bellway Homes and Bracknell Roofing. The time trials proved that using the one piece clip and nail was almost a third quicker, representing a significant labour saving and helping to reduce the possible time and cost consequences of the more stringent fixing standards.”
SoloFix is an affordable one piece clip and nail made from ZiAl, which not only saves on clipping time, but delivers a high strength, high performance solution which can be used for all UK exposures including corrosive marine environments.
Gavin White adds: “We want to help contractors to implement these changes, so as well as launching new products, like SoloFix and providing technical services, we are also working with the NFRC to offer training courses in the new BS 5534 standard. These free half day courses will be held at venues nationwide over the coming months, with each member also receiving a free copy of the standard. The sessions are vital because it is now a membership requirement of the NFRC that at least one representative of each member business attends a BS 5534 training course before the end of 2015.
“We know that the introduction of more stringent fixing requirements may seem onerous and over cautious to some contractors, but it is necessary to ensure that roofs in the UK are secure enough to withstand increasingly extreme weather events. Roofs that are being fixed now will have to endure whatever weather we face in many years to come and we need to future proof them against more volatile conditions.”
The revised BS 5534 was published on 31 August and there will be a six month crossover, or coexistence period, where the two standards will be available to use. The new standard will become mandatory at the end of February 2015.
More information about how the new standard will affect your roof fixing requirements can be found at www.marleyeternit.co.uk.
