Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Roof light renovation _____________________________________________________ Author: Wegelin, Hans In: Unpublished Date: 0 _____________________________________________________
Roof light renovation Anderson Street, Pretoria, Gauteng Built in 1967, the roof light of this house consisted of a simple extension of the galvanised steel ribbed roof sheets in glass reinforced polyester. Thirty years later, much beyond its expected life, the polyester had perished and was replaced with 6,5 mm high penetration resistant tinted laminated glass. How to fix it to a rigid masonry wall on one side, and a more flexible laminated timber beam spanning more than 7 m on the other side? First the masonry wall was built up to the level of adjoining parapet walls. Two steel angles, joined by longscrews to adjust to variation in width, were then built into the wall and screwed to the top of the beam by means of lugs, leaving room to move on the down-slope side. The glass was fixed to double sided tape stuck onto the steel frame, and the gap between glass and frame on the underside sealed with structural sealant. Top and butt joints were sealed with silicone. The top of the wall was sealed with acrylic waterproofing paint reinforced with non-woven polyester fibre fabric. Troughs of existing roof sheets were turned up and covered with serrated flashing tucked in under the glass. The new roof light has performed perfectly — no leaks or cracks have occurred — and the laminated glass is a lot quieter when it rains than the polyester!