Roofing panels

A roofing panel for a building including at least one flank wall having a top, said building further including a ridge and a roof having slant height between said top and said ridge, an eaves being formed on the roofing panel at the top of the flank wall, said roofing panel comprising

• an outer skin of glass-fibre-reinforced plastic moulded to simulate a roof tile pattern;
• at least two integral reinforcing beams on the underside of said skin and adapted for extending from the eaves to the ridge;
• an inner liner of substantially flat relatively stiff air-impervious material sealed to said reinforcing beams and extending longitudinally from adjacent the eaves to substantially the ridge;
• said inner liner being spaced from the underside of said outer skin at all points so as to define, with the sides of said reinforcing beams, a tunnel open at each end;
• an upstanding ridge flange on said outer skin having a castellated shape in plan adapted to engage and be secured to a complementarily castellated ridge flange on a similar panel on the side of the ridge, and
• means for sealing said inner liner to a counterpart liner on said similar panel.

A pitched roof having substantially flat oppositely inclined roof pitches which meet at their respective apexes along the line of the roof ridge wherein:

• each pitch is composed of a series of laterally abutting main roofing panels each having on the underside thereof an internal longitudinal stiffening beam extending substantially between the eaves and ridge ends of said main panel;
• each said main panel being secured at its ridge end to the corresponding end of a counterpart main panel on the opposite pitch in such a way as to provide a ventilating gap between the apexes of said panels for the exhaust therethrough to atmosphere of air convected upwards to said line of the roof ridge;
• at least one of said main panels has an inner impervious liner spaced from the underside thereof and sealed at laterally spaced intervals along continuous longitudinal lines to the underside of said panel whereby to form a tunnel open at its eaves and ridge ends to provide through communication with atmosphere at a ventilation gap;
• and
• the main panels on each pitch are stepped adjacent their eaves ends on respective supporting panels of shorter length and steeper pitch to constitute a mansard roof assembly.

A roofing panel for a building including at least one flank wall having a top, said building further including a ridge and a roof having a slant height between said top and said ridge, an eaves being formed on the roofing panel at the top of the flank wall, said roofing panel comprising an outer skin of sheet metal of a length at least equal to said slant height between the top of the flank wall and the ridge of the roof;

• a fixing formation on said skin at the ridge and adapted to meet and be secured to a similar counterpart panel located on the opposite side of said ridge, said fixing formation being provide with a valley whereby to define, in conjunction with said counterpart panel, a ventilation gap between said panels;
• an integral longitudinal stiffening beam on the underside of said outer skin extending substantially from the eaves to the ridge;
• a generally flat, inner, sheet-metal liner sealed in airtight relation to the underside of said outer skin along spaced substantially parallel longitudinal lines and spaced from said skin at least between the flank wall and the ridge so as to form an open-ended tunnel extending from the outside of said building at the eaves to said ridge, said liner having spaced ends one of which is adjacent said ridge;
• and
• means for sealing the end of said liner to said counterpart panel.

A roofing panel for a building including at least one flank wall having a top, said building further including a ridge and a roof having a slant height between said top and said ridge, an eaves being formed on the roofing panel at the top of the flank wall, said roofing panel comprising an outer skin of sheet metal of a length at least equal to said slant height between the top of the flank wall and the ridge of the roof;

• a fixing formation on said skin at the ridge and adapted to meet and be secured to a similar counterpart panel located on the opposite side of said ridge, said fixing formation being provided with a valley whereby to define, in conjunction with said counterpart panel, a ventilation gap between said panels;
• an integral longitudinal stiffening beam on the underside of said outer skin extending substantially from the eaves to the ridge;
• a generally flat, inner, sheet-metal liner sealed in airtight relation to the underside of said outer skin along spaced substantially parallel longitudinal lines and spanced from said skin at least between the flank wall and the ridge so as to form an open-ended tunnel extending from the outside of said building at the eaves to said ridge, said liner having spaced ends one of which is adjacent said ridge;
• means for selectively introducing air into said tunnel from atmosphere or from within said building at a point adjacent said flank wall;
• and
• means for constraining air thus introduced into the tunnel to exhaust to atmosphere via said ventilation gap.