What is an ondulin tile and is it worth it to use for roofing a private house? We will talk about this in detail in this review. If the topic is interesting, read on.
Some people call ondulin nothing more than a euro-slate, others call it “paper” slate. However, it should be noted that this material has nothing to do with classical slate, except for perhaps a wavy shape.
Ondulin is made from cellulose fibers that heat and compress strongly. Ready wavy sheets are painted in a wide palette of colors. After this, bitumen is impregnated with the addition of polymers.
Features of Ondulin
One of the important features of ondulin is its excellent water resistance. In this regard, ondulin surpasses almost all roofing materials.
Moreover, on the roof, thin cellulose fibers, when heated by sunlight, are even more soldered together, which adds even greater resistance to water.
How to fix ondulin
To clearly show how the installation of ondulin occurs, the author decided to build a small model. If the angle of the roof is up to 15 degrees, the crate can be made continuous - for example, from sheets of plywood or OSB.
You can also use inch boards, nailing them butt. If the angle of inclination of the roof is more than 15 degrees, then the step of the crate must be made 36.6 cm, while the thickness of the bar should be at least 50 mm. If using a board, its thickness must be at least 25 mm.
The overhang of the sheet should be 3.5 cm. In order not to run around the roof with a square or tape measure, it is better to immediately make marks on the sheets that will be easy to navigate. You also need to make marks in those places where you will hammer in nails, that is, every 36.6 cm.
Subtleties of installation
Each sheet of ondulin must be attached to a crate of 18 nails, and it is advisable not to save on this. The nails themselves must be driven in a certain sequence, as recommended by the manufacturer.
It is important to ensure that the nail is hammered perpendicular to the crate in two planes. If this is not done, then under the nail head there may be a gap through which water will pass.
The adjacent sheet is attached in the same way and overlaps on one wave. All the following rows of ondulin, including the last, are also overlapping, but 12 cm should be measured.
Roofing sheets must be staggered. To mark ondulin, you need to use a colored pencil and another sheet or its trim. In this case, the mark is flat.
You can cut the ondulin sheet with an ordinary hacksaw on a tree. So that the hacksaw is not clogged with bitumen, you sometimes need to moisten it with water and silicone or oil.
To cut off ondulin tiles along the waves, you can use a knife. It is also necessary to ensure that the roof nail head is slightly recessed into the material, however, it is worth doing this without fanaticism, since you can damage the sheet.
You can see a more detailed review of ondulin in the video on our website.
