Trilatte roofing panels - easy roof renovation solution?

[Stephenlemmon]

Hello.

We decided to get an impartial project manager to come and give us some advice on our renovation project. He mentioned a wonder product call Trilatte which is a sandwich of waterproof surface, insulation and interior finishing in one that just nails to your rafters. THe tiles just sit on top and are more or less just for decoration.

http://www.unilin-systems.com/fr/PAGE_Trilatte1.ASP

He assured me that it was cheaper than re-doing the roof, insulating it and finishing it with plasterboard - not to mention much much quicker.

It looks pretty good, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience of this material?

Any advice much appreciated.

Stephen.

[Richardk]

Hi Stephen - I've never heard of it myself (no real surprise there mind you....) but would you not still have to remove all the roof tiles in order to be able to install the material anyhow? If not, the the rafters would still be subject to any water ingress via the roof.

Assuming the former, although speed would I'm sure be great I assume it would cost quite alot more?

I'm interested as we may need to do our own roof in the not too distant future.

Richard

[Bobc]

Dear Stephen,

Lots of 'wonder products' come on to the market and are not taken up by French artisans who are often quite resistant to change.

I am not sure that this product is as wonderful as it sounds:

Certainly in our area of France, the serious roofing contractors that we work with use traditional methods combined with modern thin foil-backed insulation.

I would question whether this product is waterproof in it's supplied form - their technical information implies that it must be covered in some way and so tiles are more than decorative.

Tiles do not simply sit on top - you would have to lay spaced liteau to support them.

I understand your point about fitting plasterboard on a ceiling 8m up, but this is quite achievable with a decent tower - which you will need anyway to tape, joint and then paint all the panels.

Also, unless your roof structure is completely level you will end up with all sorts of interesting gaps to fill where the new panels meet the old timbers.

Would be interested to know how you get on - also how this compares costwise with a conventional roofing/insulation job.

Kind regards,

Bob Clarke
Le Grindoux Properties SARL
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/grindoux