Crucial education about the grading, treatment and safety of timber roof battens drew a wide audience from the timber supply chain in Liverpool on March 26.
The North West Timber Trade Association (NWTTA) joined with leading batten supplier SR Timber and TFT Wood Experts to for the Batten Learning Day, supported by Timber Development UK, with timber merchants, distributors, importers and roofing professionals in attendance.
The hands-on learning day at the Crowne Plaza Hotel was designed to strengthen essential knowledge and promote best practice across the sector including:
• Improve core knowledge of roof batten standards and applications
• Understand the different types of batten and its uses
• Learn how to identify fake or non-compliant batten
• Develop skills in visual grading and quality assessment
• Understand the risks and customer impact of using fake or unfit-for-purpose batten
• Explore the various timber treatments used for roofing battens and why they matter
Presentations featured an introduction from SR Timber, Timber Development UK’s Nick Boulton covering construction products safety, the importance of treatments by Neil Ryan of the Wood Protection Association, and an overview of BS5534 batten initiatives by Jim Coulson and Johnny Fleming of TFT Wood Experts.
A practical hands-on workshop followed where delegates were tested on their grading skills with a pile of roof battens, while a lively Q&A saw questions asked on coloured dye added to treatments and quality standards.
“Tile batten is undoubtably a safety critical product which places significant responsibility on all elements of the supply chain to ensure the batten they sell performs as claimed,” said Nick Boulton.
“Although it sits outside the CPR (Construction Products Regulation) making consistent enforcement challenging, better regulation is on the way through the General Safety Requirement (GSR) which is currently under consultation from UK Government.”
Mr Boulton said roofers use tile battens as hand and foot holds in construction, so it was crucial the product was:
• Strong
• Must maintain integrity
• Must be sound with sufficient density
• Must be correctly preservative treated
“If tile battens fail, there is a risk to the lives of roofers, building occupants and the wider public,” he added.
Delegates asked about the dye colour used in battens, as many products are now coloured, with blue, yellow and orange being among the colours used in the market by different suppliers.
TFT’s Jim Coulson advised traders to look for the correct BS grading and examine the parcel of products. “There is an assumption that a coloured batten is a good batten, but a clear treated batten can be perfectly well graded.”
Neil Ryan of the Wood Protection Association reminded that a dye is just a pigment added to a clear treatment.
“The dye is not an indicator of treatment – you need to look for that evidence of treatment certificates,” he said. “You should always be able to trace back where the products have been treated.”
There was also discussion about a video produced by The Roofing Outlaw which had shared apparent examples of chemical burns from handling treated roof battens.
TDUK’s Nick Boulton pointed out that all treatment chemicals had each passed the testing for human contact.
Images of treatment dripping from timber battens on construction sites “should not happen” because you are not allowed to move treated timber until 24hrs after treatment. “It has to be touch dry, it’s against the law to move it,” he said.
Jim Coulson suggested some of the battens in such cases perhaps may not be properly treated.
Mr Coulson said it was not possible to get 100% of battens graded correctly, as two different graders may disagree on marginal product differences. But he said adhering to the standards and guidelines would help ensure a safe product.
