Building panel as a covering for building surfaces and method of applying

• US 6,625,939 B1
• Filed: 11/12/1999
• Issued: 09/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CertainTeed Corp. (Compagnie De Saint-Gobain)
• Original Assignee: CertainTeed Corp. (Compagnie De Saint-Gobain)
• Inventors: Beck, David H., Werner, Robert W., Dennis, Barbara E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Canfield, Robert
• Application Number:
  US09/438,999
• Time in Patent Office: 1,418 Days
• Field of Search: 521/05, 525/20, 525/19, 525/21, 525/23, 525/39--43, 527/471, 527/481, 525/46, 332/63
• US Class Current: 52/105
• CPC Class Codes: E04D 15/025 Templates, gauges or spacers for installing roof tiles or roof laths templates for rafters E04G21/1891
• CPC Class Codes: E04D 3/30 of metal
• CPC Class Codes: E04D 3/32 of plastics, fibrous materials, or asbestos cement
• CPC Class Codes: E04D 3/34 of specified materials, or of combinations of materials, not covered by any one of groups E04D3/26 - E04D3/32
• CPC Class Codes: E04F 13/0864 composed of superposed elements which overlap each other and of which the flat outer surface includes an acute angle with the surface to cover

Abstract

Building panels are provided, for applying panels, such as siding, roofing or the like to studs, to roofing rafters, or the like, wherein indicia is provided along a panel, giving spaced-apart markings, for guiding one who is applying panels to a building surface, to the location of a next support capable of supporting the panel when a fastener is applied thereto, a fixed or pre-set distance from a support such as stud, roofing rafter or the like. Thus, when adjacent studs, rafters, or the like, are spaced apart a known distance, the indicia will serve to guide the installer to a location where a fastener will engage a support to which the panel is to be applied, even if the visual location of the underlying support is visually obscured, such as by means of a sheet building material between the structural support and the panel. The indicia may take on various forms.

Claims

1. A siding or roofing panel adapted to be applied to a building and secured through a stud-obscuring sheet material to a plurality of visually obscured-from-view spaced apart supports of pre-set, known spacing between supports, comprising:

(a) a sheet of panel having upper and lower edges and right and left edges;

(b) with an upper lip adjacent the upper edge;

(c) with the upper lip including a fastener zone means

(i) adapted to receive fasteners therethrough for securing the panel to supports, and

(ii) to allow for panel expansion and contraction with variations in temperature and

(d) with indicia means in addition to said fastener zone means, integral with and comprising part of the upper lip;

(e) with a plurality of said indicia means being spaced apart along the upper lip an amount corresponding to the known spacing of spaced apart supports for providing a visual indication on the upper lip of the pre-set known spacing between the spaced apart and obscured-from-view supports, for guiding the placement of fasteners through the lip into the supports

wherein the fastener zone means comprise slotted openings.

2. A covering for a building comprising a plurality of siding or roofing panels, each panel being applied to a building and secured through a stud-obscuring sheet material to a plurality of visually obscured-from-view spaced apart supports of pre-set, known spacing between the supports of the building only by fasteners and comprising:

(a) a sheet of panel having upper and lower edges and right and left edges;

(b) with an upper lip adjacent the upper edge;

(c) with the upper lip including a fastener zone means

(i) adapted to receive fasteners therethrough for securing the panel to supports, and

ii) to allow for panel expansion and contraction with variations in temperature and

(d) with indicia means in addition to said fastener zone means, integral with and comprising part of the upper lip;

(e) with a plurality of said indicia means being spaced apart along the upper lip an amount corresponding to the known spacing of spaced apart supports for providing a visual indication on the upper lip of the pre-set known spacing between the spaced apart and obscured-from-view supports, for guiding the placement of fasteners through the lip into the supports

wherein the fastener zone means comprise slotted openings.

3. A method of applying siding or roofing panels to a building structure comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a plurality of panels. each having upper and lower edges and right and left edges, with an upper lip adjacent the upper edge;

with the upper lip including a fastener zone means adapted to receive fasteners therethrough for securing the panel to supports of pre-set known spacing therebetween, and to allow for panel expansion and contraction with variations in temperature, and with indicia means in addition to said fastener zone means, integral with and comprising part of the upper lip;

with a plurality of said indicia means being spaced apart along the upper lip an amount corresponding to the known spacing of spaced apart supports for providing a visual indication on the upper lip of the pre-set known spacing between the spaced apart and obscured-from-view supports,

(b) providing a plurality of spaced apart supports;

(c) providing sheet building material;

(d) securing the sheet building material to the supports;

(e) fastening a first panel at one location to support, by driving one or more fasteners through the lip of the first panel, through the sheet building material; and

into supports;

(f) continuing to fasten the first panel through the sheet building material to a plurality of supports by driving fasteners through the lip of the first panel, through the sheet building material, and into supports;

(g) covering the lip of the first panel, including the fasteners and indicia thereof by applying a second panel over the lip of the first panel and over another portion of sheet building material and fastening the second panel through the sheet building material to supports by driving fasteners through a lip thereof at pre-set, known spacing into the spaced apart supports;

(h) continuing to apply successive panels by driving fasteners through lips thereof, through sheet building material, and into supports of pre-set, known spacing with each successively applied panel covering the lip, including fasteners and indicia means of a next-previously-applied panel

wherein the fastener zone means comprise slotted openings.