Talk:Batten

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[edit] Wiktionary

I think this page should be deleted and the contents moved to Wiktionary but what do we do with the person names? SilentC 23:11, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Batten vs Purlin

Not sure about other countries but in Australia, 'roofing battens' are as described in this article. A purlin is a much heavier member used when the span between rafters is greater. Battens provide bracing and a fixing point but are not a structural component as such in terms of load bearing. The NSW Framing Manual refers to roof battens but does not mention purlins. The term purlin is usually reserved for steel sections found in sheds and larger commercial buildings. That is the case here, anyway. SilentC (talk) 01:33, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

I guess thats another definition. My experience with the term batten is to describe a piece of trim that conceals a seam, which agrees with the definition of batten given in the molding (decorative) article. I found a description of roofing battens here [1] but it specifies that they run parallel to the slope of the roof, which would seem to contradict the definition in this article. —Kymacpherson (talk) 07:08, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

That's talking about batten seam roofing and naturally the battens have to run with the slope of the roof or else it would leak. I suspect the term has come from the battens that are fixed to the rafters on a tiled roof from which the tiles hang. Here are a couple of links: [2] and [3]. In the second one you can see a diagram of a roof showing the ends of the battens running up the rafter. SilentC (talk) 21:36, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the links. I googled a couple of phrases to try to get an idea if the word batten is used more conventionally in one sense or the other. Here are the number of google hits I got for these phrases: "roofing batten" 492000, "batten trim" 220000, "batten molding" 127000. My preference would be to put separate definitions for "roofing batten" and "batten trim" in the article. I'll try and get a picture of a house with batten trim. —Kymacpherson (talk) 23:15, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. Batten is quite a generic term - simply refers to a thin piece of wood or other material. There are obviously then a lot of more specific uses and within different industries and locations it will mean different things without the qualifier. So when you say 'batten' in the building industry over here, everyone will think first of roof battens. We also use battens as a fixing point for ceilings - these are usually called 'ceiling battens' but plasterers (drywallers in the US) usually just call them battens and talk about 'battening out' when they install them. So in short, any detail of specific uses we can provide will be helpful. SilentC (talk) 00:07, 6 December 2007 (UTC)