UK producer, Glidevale Protect is a ‘one-stop-shop’ for high-performance construction membranes across the full building envelope. With the launch of Viking Air, it now offers the most vapour and air permeable roofing underlay available for pitched roofs in the UK and Ireland, fully independently certified.
Regulations demand building materials help avoid moisture build-up and control condensation in pitched roofspaces. In response, vapour and air permeable roofing underlay products have increased the options for warm and cold roof construction.
Naturally, the prime function of a roofing underlay must be water tightness and strong wind uplift resistance. Ventilating the roofspace via the underlay is increasingly becoming an option for the specifier as an alternative to other types of underlay and options at roof level. An air open breather membrane is part of the mix and new Protect Viking Air strikes the perfect balance by maximising air and vapour permeability with tough resistance to water penetration. Adding another dimension to Glidevale Protect’s toolkit, the product offers several other key advantages, detailed below.
Approved for use in Wind Zones 1-4 with no extra counter batten or integral tape
Viking Air has been designed to be a true heavyweight when it comes to installation in demanding locations. It’s a vapour and air permeable roofing membrane that’s rated for use in Wind Zones 1-4 at 345mm batten gauge to BS 5534, ensuring suitability across a wide area of the UK and throughout Ireland, including in areas with strong prevailing winds.
Crucially, Protect Viking Air achieves this strong wind uplift resistance without the need for extra counter battens or integral tape. This ensures the roofing underlay is not as labour intensive to install and requires no additional material costs, avoiding the need to use 38mm batten, for example. And when installed at 310mm batten gauge or with sarking board, Viking Air achieves unrestricted use for wind uplift in Zones 1-5, ensuring suitability across the UK and throughout Ireland. There is also no requirement to counter batten the roof or tape the laps to achieve up to Zone 5 for wind uplift, delivering complete peace of mind for the installer, safe in the knowledge that Viking Air outperforms the rest.
Tough but easy to work with
On a practical level, Viking Air is tough and durable yet easy to cut and handle with a unique grid design to assist with cutting on-site. It remains flexible even in low temperatures and can be easily laid straight over the ridge to ensure the roof is watertight before it is tiled. This saves time and avoids the effort required to cut the air open breather membrane short either side of the ridge. Viking Air’s water resistant and durable nature makes it ideally suited as the second line of defence after the roof is covered and the underlay can also be used as a temporary roof covering during construction*.
*For clarification on exposure times please contact Glidevale Protect’s Technical Team on technical@glidevaleprotect.com
Technical performance assured
As well as offering a much superior airflow rate of any other vapour and air permeable roofing underlay on the market, Viking Air is hydrophobically treated to provide added water shedding properties and water penetration resistance. In fact, it’s completely watertight up to 1m head of water resistance, providing added assurances in performance.
Viking Air’s high air and vapour permeability also reduces the risk of roofspace condensation in accordance with BS 5250 and NHBC requirements, being suitable for use in cold roof construction without additional ventilation as permitted by the NHBC. The installation of a separate air and vapour control layer (AVCL) on the warm side of the insulation is also recommended.
All the answers, whatever the question
Viking Air is a welcome addition to the Glidevale Protect’s truly comprehensive roofing underlay collection. Whatever the roofing project, there’s a solution or combination of products available to match the spec perfectly from Glidevale Protect’s extensive portfolio - with quality and performance 100% assured.
To discover more about the most air permeable pitched roof membrane on the market, contact us today at info@glidevaleprotect.com or 0161 905 5700 quoting ‘Viking Air’.
