If you are designing roof access walkway systems, read this guide for some useful tips.
If you want to design effective roof walkway systems Brisbane for your property, there are a lot of things you need to consider to ensure your project is successful. Roof access walkways are complex and technically demanding specifications and they involve a wide range of important considerations relating to safety, performance, installation and compatibility with the roofing structure. Read on as we explain some of the top tips to consider when designing the best roof access system.
Choose light material
When designing a roof access walkway, it is important to consider the weight of the walkway system. This is an important factor as the structures of your roof can be fragile with a limited loadbearing capacity compared to other building floors. Therefore, the material used must be lightweight but robust to bear the load of pedestrian traffic. Aluminium is therefore the best material in this respect because it has a high strength to weight ratio.
Check the lab capacity
Roof walkway systems would meet load-bearing requirements for roofing installations for access walkway systems, steps and treads. This states that the roof walkway should be tested with a 1.5Kn load over an area of 100sqmm and deflection should be kept within 15mm of the span or whichever is the lesser. Then, the load is increased to 2.6Kn and held in position for a minute.
Make sure the system provides a safe surface
If you want to maximise the safety of your roof safety systems, it is important to design the system with anti-slip qualities. There are numerous ways to achieve this such as serrated surface, ribbed surface, or a combination of both. Timber should not be used because it is unsuitable material as the surface water can easily make it slippery and this could cause accidents.
The walkway system should be free-draining
Water pooling is hazardous in any area that has foot traffic and especially on a roof structure that is exposed to the elements. Walkway systems should have sufficient built-in drainage systems to prevent water pooling. This can be easily achieved by combining longitudinal bearers and cross-bars which provide a suitable feet contact area without having to compromise the drainage capabilities.
Incorporate a suitable handrail or guardrail if necessary
If the structure of your roofing is a fragile substrate, it is important to be very careful to provide adequate protection. Walkways can be used together with suitable man-safe systems or handrails that can be used as part of the walkway system to provide additional safety for the users.
Check the installation requirements
When designing a walkway system, it is important to consider the ease and speed of installation it provides. If you find the fixing method to be complex then it will create unnecessary costs and time spent on site. You should avoid roof walkway systems Brisbane that require hot works for assembly of the components or when installing them to the roofing. Walkways should provide a fixing system that can be installed by a maintenance or roofing contractor.
