Onduline roofing and National Stables - Problems

Notimetoride

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Better quality stables have their roof timbers closer together with will lengthen the lifespan of the onduline. Onduline is an economy roofing material but itch have a reasonable lifespan if the supporting timbers are closer together meaning it won't sag quite as much. When i was looking for stables I looked very closely as the distance between the timbers and went with Redmire (we still had onduline though) As far as I know the roof us still sound but the onduline will need replacing at some point as it doesn't have a particularly long lifespan
 

Makemineacob

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Our onduline is now about 15 years old and still no issues, it was installed over supporting timbers and has ply underneath towards the bottom of each panel. Still looks very good and we don't have any condensation issues. Installation is the key and yes, it won't last for ever but needs installing properly.
 

Bradders2175

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We bought some pre-fabricated stables about ten years ago. I won't name the manufacturer as, although they were budget (their lowest price option), they do the job if treated properly. The onduline roof began to leak in places along the ridge about six years after installation. I used expanded foam to fill the gaps, but eventually this year had to bite the bullet and get up and do something about it.
I noticed that the majority of ridge panels had sunk and were no longer effective in the rain. We live in SW France and in my opinion, this is due to the high temperatures that we can get in the Summer months, regularly in the high 30's and often in the low 40's with occasional high 40's. Being black, the onduline will really soak up the heat. It has sagged between the purlins. I don't think the purlins were built of a substantial enough timber, nor were there enough or them. 50cm spacing was too much. All of the purlins had begun to sag. I have since installed additional timber and the ridge purlins have been supported, making them level again, but, I really need to install additional rafters. I'll then have another look at the roof, probably boarding it before covering it with a roofing finish yet to be decided.
We don't have a problem with condensation, but if I'm going to re-roof, I'll probably put in some sort of vapour barrier as belt and braces.
 

Tiddlypom

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It may be a zombie thread, but FGI I’ll bite , as one of our onduline field shelter roofs is now leaking.

Despite being fitted correctly as per the photos below in my post from 2016, the onduline roofing in our smaller field shelter which was put up in 2011 (not shown), has split in a few places and is leaking.


I'm pleased with our Onduline roofing, and we've got rather a lot of it. It's between 5 and 10 years old. It was put on over OSB boarding, which I presume adds rigidity. It hasn't had any maintenance, it just carries on doing the job. It's wearing much better than the roofing felt over OSB which I had on the original stables.

image.jpg1_zpsuihvxnfl.jpg
2006

image.jpg1_zpso2smcuqz.jpg
2015


Onduline has refused to honour their 15 year guarantee - they never pay up, according to Withington Hill who installed our stable block and field shelters. However, Withington Hill are going stand by their build and are sending a man round to replace the leaking panels at no cost to ourselves. Excellent long term support from WH, but not from onduline.
 

ester

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Our onduline was 16 years old with I think 2? replacement patches. It was very saggy particularly just down from the ridge but not horrendously leaky.
We've put box profile up over the summer.
 

cauda equina

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Our onduline was 16 years old with I think 2? replacement patches. It was very saggy particularly just down from the ridge but not horrendously leaky.
We've put box profile up over the summer.
Is box profile much heavier?
Mine is a mobile shelter and does get moved occasionally
 

thefarsideofthefield

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We have a block of 4 stables and a field shelter installed by National Stables over 25 years ago . The onduline roofing was excellent with no problems for 18 years . We then got hit by a particularly bad storm which caused a little damage to a small area of onduline on one stable and on further inspection decided that the onduline was probably nearing the end of it's life and elected to replace all the roofing . I have no complaints with either National Stabling or Onduline . Certain materials have a given life span and need replacing at some point and I felt 18 years of roofing with no leaking , lifting or sagging was good value for money - I will be happy if the new roof also lasts that long . I should add also that the actual timber stables/shelter themselves are superb and look almost as they did when they were first put up . I view it the same as having to replace rotten fence posts , guttering , etc . Not much lasts forever these days .
 

onemoretime

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Wow thank you all for your replies. I should say that I am not questioning the worthiness of the Onduline product, It was in fact part of our local planning officers requested materials when we applied to build the stables. My concern is that our stable manufacturer was not competent in installing the product. I am trying to find out if this is a common problem with stables built by "National Stables" and if so has anyone else had any assistance in fixing the problem.

I had the same problem with our stables built by Chart. We had to have the whole roof renewed by another company and they put OSB on first then Onduline. It is far far better now and no condensation. Chart clearly hadn't fitted the Onduline correctly and it sagged and leaked after a very short time.
 
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Esmae

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We have onduline on our stables. Fitted over OSB board. The first block is 18 years old with the original roof and we have no problem. The second block 12 years old fitted the same way and no problem. I think it is essential to fix it to a solid rigid surface in the first place.
 

scruffyponies

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Just wondered those of you with box profile roofing, is it not seriously noisy when it rains? I've got a mobile with onduline roofing (its not even lined but now in its 10th year and still going strong??!), but I'm getting another shelter for a different field, and wondered about box profile instead. But I am worried that a noisy roof will spook the horses in really bad weather. I think it will be set east facing so in winter the prevailing westerly will be driving straight across the back of it. Experiences anyone?

I don't know about rain, but my tin roofed shelter is right under an oak tree. With the number and size of acorns falling this year, it sounds like a machine gun. Ponies.... couldn't care less.
I would suggest that if you have the kind of horses who get overly wound up by noise, this would be a great way of desensitising them.
 

Bradders2175

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Is this Zombie Thread of the Day?
I was researching roofing due to ours leaking, which was why I replied to the thread. It might be an old post, but was relevant to me. The box roofing is an interesting fix, but having looked at the cost of replacing the roof, is probably too expensive.
It was interesting to see the onduline roofing being fitted on top of osb in one of the posts. I have considered using the old onduline on top of the osb, but 80sqm of osb isn't cheap either. I had bought Douglas Fir planks from a local sawmill in the past to use as a base for a tiled roof over a carport. That was quite inexpensive. It comes as planks, which will take bit longer to install. I'll be pricing that up in the week.
A week or so ago, I had removed the ridge and placed overlapping roofing felt, fixed with new onduline nails over the ridge, replacing the ridge with some new ridge tiles. Fortunately, I had been oversupplied when the stables arrived and only had to buy three more.While I was on the roof, I took the time to knock the nails in further where the sagging of the onduline had made them protrude. Where the nail holes were enlarged, caused by movement in the sun and wind, I patched using strips of roofing felt and some liquid bitumen reinforced with fibreglass fibres. A little messy, but the patches did the job. Three days after the repair, a storm removed the felt from the South side! Hence the thoughts about a better repair. However, the patches held out in the rain, which exposed one leak that I had missed.
Over the years, our inexpensive horses have cost us a fortune! Fencing the perimeter, stables, trailer, more substantial vehicle to tow the trailer, sand school with proper drainage (yet to be completed due to the cost of suitable sand delivery!). I'm a rare rider (that's my wife and daughters), but get great relaxation from being with them when mucking out or feeding.
 

sharni

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depends if the wind plays with it. had to replace a roof on one of our field shelters after 10 years but the other is older and the roiof is still water tight. it is facing at 90degrees to the the other roof which is north and south elevations the ridge running east to west. the sun ans wind lift the nails slightly and wear holes then the rain gets in. i find onduline pretty rubbish compared to box profile tin sheet which i would use if putting up stables or shelters again.
 

ester

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That's interesting, ours are west facing towards to the somerset coast. Only because that's the only direction the planners would allow
 
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