Unlike most products in the home improvement or construction industry , solid roofs ( also called warm roofs ) have very little in terms of official standards to guide their design and manufacture and ensure they meet not just a set of official specifications and performance criteria , but also protect the homeowner should these roofs not comply .

Although there are building regulations guidelines that specify when a solid roof installation requires building control certification - and that can be a little vague - building inspectors are mostly left to their own devices when assessing an installation for the purpose of certification .

Of course , most manufacturers will have structural calculations available and will publish a U-Value performance . However , as Anne-Marie Busch , Commercial Manager , comments : “ Building inspectors find themselves having to interpret how to apply Building Regulations when assessing the solid roof , to come up with what they believe is acceptable . This is a direct result of the fact that they do not have an official solid roof standard to work with .”

Again , most systems work with a building control specialist to help make up for .

15th June

As we are all aware , since 15th June 2022 , U-Value ( the rate of heat transfer through a structure like a wall , a glazed unit , a roof …) is now an official performance target a solid roof needs to achieve . This has seen all manufacturers , including Icotherm , having to change their roof design to achieve 0.15 W / m ² K .

It has resulted in what can be described as “ interesting ” changes to specifications :

Icotherm ’ s U-value performance was already officially 0.16 , as demonstrated by our original BRE test results reports . Already designed to be the simplest roof to install , our priority was to maintain this when achieving the new target ( a very reasonable improvement of 0.01 W / m ² K ). Thanks to the fact that we use timber , which has little thermal bridging , we were very pleased to be able to offer our roof with just the addition of a 37.5mm insulated plasterboard ( with EPS , to match our main insulation ). And still , we are keeping it as a fully ventilated system .

In comparison , other systems have had to introduce plasterboard with much thicker insulation , 75mm or more , making installation difficult : heavy to manoeuvre , a bit of a guess work to screw into the framework , bulky to transport . The resulting roofs are also much deeper , affecting the roofline when replacing a glazed conservatory roof .

Icotherm ’ s stand

With things being as they are we keep working to ensure our roofs carry on fulfilling our customers ’ expectations with a fitter friendly , performing roof , with probably the most flexible design options on the market .

Icotherm will support any move from government bodies to put in place official standards that all solid roof systems to be assessed against .

It would be beneficial for trade and homeowner alike .

For more information visit www . icotherm . co . uk or contact us on info @ icotherm . co . uk

Breathable Membrane

Insulated plasterboard