SUPPORT STRUCTURES ON ROOFS

摘要

Metal panel roofs, and load support structures for supporting loads on such roofs. Side rails provide primary support for loads on such roofs. The side rails can be fabricated from sheet metal or can be extruded. A side rail includes a standing seam cavity which is lowered, and covers, the standing seam. Side walls of the standing seam cavity. An upstanding web extends up from the cavity, and lower shoulders may extend laterally, optionally downwardly, from the walls which define the cavity, on either one side, or both sides, of the cavity. Building roof insulation can extend up through an aperture in the roof, surrounded by such load support structure, and extend up to the top of the side rail, thus providing a thermal break between the load support structure elements and the space surrounded by the load support structure.

主权项

1. A side rail for use in combination with a roof penetration, said side rail having first and second opposing sides, and a length, and comprising:
(a) an upstanding elongate web having first and second opposing sides and a first thickness between the first and second opposing sides, said upstanding web having a first top and a first bottom; and (b) an upstanding elongate cavity wall laterally displaced from, and extending alongside, said upstanding web, said cavity wall having third and fourth opposing sides and a second thickness between the third and fourth opposing sides, an upper portion of said cavity wall being connected to an intermediate portion of said upstanding web between the top and the bottom of said upstanding web, the combination of said upstanding cavity wall and said upstanding web defining a cavity between said upstanding web and said upstanding cavity wall, the cavity having a third top and a third bottom, and an elongate opening along the bottom of the cavity and proximate the bottoms of the upstanding web and the cavity wall, and wherein, when said side rail is in an upstanding use orientation wherein said upstanding web is vertical, the bottom of said web and the bottom of said cavity wall, at a given point along the length of said side rail are, within the thickness dimension of one of said web and said cavity wall, at a common elevation.