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TOPIC: Exposed Fasteners

Fastener placement

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I am building trail shelters and sanitation facilities using metal roofing with exposed fasteners. There is some disagreement about the placement of the fasteners. We use gasketed screws with a 36" rated sheet width I say that the screws should be placed on either side of the major ribs on the flat surface and in the flats of the sheet. They say the screws are placed on the major ribs. Who is right? Additionally, what is the correct spacing of fasteners along the length of the sheet (parallel to the slope)? These shelters are usually located in areas of severe weather, but usually situated to be as sheltered as much as possible from the wind. Thanks for your help.
Guest User

8/11/2003
First off you should contact the manufacturer and get his recommendations. I suspect that you have purchsed a generic through fastened vertical rib panel. One needs to take into consideration the expansion of a panel both vertically and horizontally. The profile cross section, sheet length and roof slope all have an effect. The longer the sheet the more expansion and unless the structure is designed to take the movement then the fasteners are best placed on the ribs however the steeper the pitch, the more stress is placed on fasteners placed on the ribs. One must also consider the wind load for the placement, quantity and size of the fasteners and make sure you buy a fastener with the same life expectancy as the roofing material. All I can say is if you want to do it right, contact the manufacturer. If the supplier can not help in this then that should be a warning sign. You have put metal roofing into the consideration set, so do a bit more investigationand do it right and o it once. Hope this helps.
Allan Reid
Dura-Loc Roofing Systems, Inc.

8/12/2003