Batten Arrangement for Building Surfaces

A spacer for maintaining separation between a batten and an underlying building surface, characterized by

• an upper surface of the spacer is provided with a recessed groove for receiving and laterally securing the batten;
• a bottom surface of the spacer is provided with a first recessed groove for receiving a connecting member that connects the batten to an adjacent batten, said groove enabling the spacer to lie flush against the building surface when the batten is fastened to the building surface;
• and
• side surfaces provided with second recessed grooves for receiving and laterally securing the connecting member and with a depth at least equal to a thickness of the connecting member.

A method for manufacturing a batten arrangement to be mounted on a building surface, comprising:

• inputting parameters defining dimensions of the building surface and desired separation profile between the battens when in a deployed configuration on the building surface;
• attaching to the battens a plurality of bendable, substantially inelastic connecting members, in a direction that is perpendicular to a lengthwise direction of the battens, the length of each connecting member between adjacent pairs of the battens being such that, in a deployed configuration on the building surface, batten separations and thus positions of the battens relative to each other are maintained substantially constant by the connecting members, said batten arrangement thereby conforming to the input building surface dimensions when in the deployed configuration;
• providing the batten arrangement in a stowed configuration in the battens lie against or immediately adjacent to each other with the connecting members extending outward from between adjacent ones of the battens;
• whereby a user may deploy the batten arrangement for mounting by laying it in the stowed configuration on the building surface and pulling it into the deployed configuration.