Placing and attaching roof panels

Assuming you place your roof panels with a crane, the size boom you'll need will vary somewhat with panel size, panel storage location beside the home, and site access. If you're working with jumbo panels-say 8'x24's with 9 1/4" cores-they'll weigh over 800 pounds (including splines). Where site constraints require that roof panels were stacked at some distance from the shell-say 50 feet-and/or you have to reach to from one side of the home to the other without moving the crane, you'll need to discuss this with the crane operator prior to ordering your crane.

Rig the lines from the crane to the panel such that the panel is delivered to the beam at the desired pitch for placement.

Depending on engineering calculations, roof panels with short spans or placed over trusses and purlins can be attached to each other with double thin splines, just as with wall panels. Longer spans require use of dimensional lumber, I-Joist or other engineered lumber as splines. Since this presents a variety of options, the remaining comments below assume either a dimensional or engineered-wood spline is attached along the edge for longer clear-spans.

You can optimize your crane time by installing one spline into one long panel edge plus the top end plate, prior to your crane's arrival. Be sure to caulk all sides of the panel prior to installing these wood members. When your design incorporates a shed roof design, on two of the four end panels you can install an end plate (on the ground) as well as the spline on the opposite side. Carefully check your shop drawings to make sure you install the plates and splines on the proper side of your roof panels.

Panels must be screwed into ridge beam and bottom cant strip at floor before lines are released. Two-man crew is required on the roof, including at least one lead person experienced with panels.

Tightening a roof panel up to a spline above a beam at a hip joint.

During roof panel day, a crew of four works well. The two on the ground have to select the proper order for sending up panels. Then they prep each one, caulking the spline joints on the opposite side from the pre-installed spline, plus attaching plates or eye-bolt systems for lifting the panels into place. They also temporarily attach a rope to the low end of each panel in order to help guide it during the lift. The pair on the roof apply adhesive over the wood members where each panel will bear, direct the crane operator as to how to guide each panel into place, and attach the edges of both panel facings to the spline. After fastening the first few long wafer-headed screws through the panels and into the beams, purlins or exposed truss members on which they are placed, the roof crew can disconnect the lifting plates and finish off any remaining fastening.

Shell erector Larry Nelson (Thermal Shell Homes) recommends placing the middle panels first, one each on opposite sides of the ridge. Squaring up the first two panels to measurements and lines marked down prior to panel placement is critical; any errors in their placement will telescope towards the outside edges, causing potentially serious problems.

If you are building in a particularly windy area, check the weather reports in advance. Large panels can be very tough to handle in a wind; better to postpone a lift than to risk losing people or panels in a big wind.