Katepal: flexible tile laying technology, what it is, installation instructions, video and photo

Katepal soft roof is popular in our country due to its high quality and a wide range of products.

When they say “Katepal roof”, they mean shingles. At one time, I went to study at the official dealer of the company in our country. I want to share my knowledge in this area and describe in detail the technology of work recommended by the manufacturer. The process is simple, but requires accuracy and careful adherence to all the recommendations listed below.

Katepal shingles are suitable for roofs of any complexity

Content

Material Features

The Katepal soft roof is produced in Finland at an enterprise with the same name. Products are made in different designs and colors. In addition to the main material, all the necessary components are also produced, we will also consider them.

The Finnish manufacturer is almost 70 years old - such a period inspires confidence in its products

Types of flexible roof

What is a flexible tile Katepal:

The shingles are made from high quality modified bitumen applied to a strong fiberglass backing;
On the bottom side there is an adhesive layer, and on the top there is a special dressing that protects the material from damage and gives the products an attractive look.

Below is a visual diagram.

This is what the structure of a flexible tile looks like

Currently, there are 8 collections of Katepal soft roofs on the market:

Illustration	Description
	"Classic KL". A classic collection featuring solid colors and hexagonal elements. The price per square meter ranges from 530 to 560 rubles. The following colors are available: red, grey, green brown and black.
	"Catrilly". This collection also has a hexagonal shape, but unlike the previous version, it creates a more voluminous effect on the roof due to the dark stripes at the top of the segments. There are such colors: moss green, gray, autumn red, dune, tree bark, blue. The cost per square meter ranges from 560 to 620 rubles.
	"Jazzy". Another option with hexagonal elements. It differs from the previous ones in color heterogeneity. The addition of dark granules gives the roof a more natural look due to the differences in shades. Katepal Jazzy comes in five colors: brown, green, grey, red and copper. A square meter will cost 580 rubles.
	"Foxy". This collection features diamond shaped shingles and will appeal to lovers of simple solutions. This form of tiles creates an interesting effect on the roof. Available colors are green, red, brown, grey, dark grey. The price per square meter is 560 rubles.
	"Rocky". A very interesting collection, in which the shingles are made in the form of rectangles of different sizes. The result is a roof that looks like an old shingle roof. Another big plus is the variety of colors, there are fourteen of them: gray agate, southern onyx, mahogany, autumn leaves, terracotta, copper tide, golden sand, dune, black, Baltic, ripe chestnut, taiga, granite. The cost per square is from 600 to 620 rubles.
	"Ambient". A variant with an unusual shape and interesting colors. Differs in high quality and attractive appearance, the roof looks very relief and respectable. Available in colors: black, coral silver, Arabian wood, dark ocher, black gold. The price per square meter is from 750 to 790 rubles.
	"Katepal 3T". This option has the shape of bricks and looks very neat. Suitable for buildings with clear geometric outlines. Available colors: brown, red and black. The cost is from 630 to 750 rubles.
	"Mansion". The newest collection with a number of features: The elements have a two-layer structure, due to which the guaranteed service life is 25 years; The bottom side is laminated, which gives additional reliability to the shingles; Increased sound insulation characteristics due to the large thickness. Available in 4 colors: Alberti (gray), Lorenzo (brown), Palladio (golden sand), Santi (dune). The price per square is from 890 to 970 rubles.

Accessories

In addition to flexible tiles, Katepal also produces all the necessary components:

Illustration	Material Description
	Lining carpet. Used to prepare the base and create an additional waterproofing layer. According to the technology, this material must cover the entire roof before laying flexible tiles. The material is sold in rolls 1 meter wide and 15 meters long. The price per roll is approximately 3800 rubles.
	Ridge tiles. It is used both for skates and for cornice overhangs. Represents sheets 25 cm wide, which can be torn into 3 equal parts along the perforated line. It is made in the color of the main material, in a package of 12 sheets (20 linear meters), such a pack costs around 4300 rubles.
	Valley carpet. It is necessary for protection of internal and external connections of slopes. It is also used for sealing chimney junctions and walls. The end carpet is produced in rolls 70 cm wide and 10 m long. The cost of such a roll is 4350 rubles.
	Bituminous glue K-36. It is used for gluing all difficult areas and reinforcing joints where necessary. Available in packs of 10 l, 3 l and in 0.3 l cylinders. The cost, respectively, is 5700, 2100 and 450 rubles.

I strongly recommend purchasing components from the same manufacturer as the main material. This is the only way to guarantee the reliability of the roof and the perfect match. colors.

In addition to all of the above, you will need additional materials:

Plank for overhangs and cornices. It is made of tin with a polymer coating, the color of which is matched to the roofing material. It is sold both in finished form and is made to order in workshops. When calculating the required amount, do not forget to take into account that overlaps of at least 50 mm are made at the joints;

Such strips are suitable for both cornice overhangs and roof ends.

Galvanized nails. Fastening of materials is carried out with special roofing nails. They have a thickness of 3 mm, a length of 30-35 mm. The wide cap ensures high-quality fixation of the elements on the surface.

Zinc coating makes nails much more resistant to moisture

Here you should make out what tool you need:

Trapezoidal knife. This type of construction knives is best for cutting soft tiles. Get a set of spare blades, as they often break during operation;

A knife with a trapezoidal blade cuts shingles very well.

Hammer. In the process of work, you will have to hammer in a lot of nails. A tool weighing 500-600 g is best suited. If you have an electric hammer, you can use it, so the process will go much faster (the device can be rented);
Metal shears. In the process of fastening the strips to the overhang and the ends of the roof, it is always necessary to cut the elements. This work is handled by ordinary manual metal scissors;

Metal shears will help you quickly and accurately cut additional elements from tin

Tape measure and pencil;
Spatula 50-100 mm wide. Since the consistency of bituminous glue is very thick, it is inconvenient to apply it with a brush. For these purposes, a small spatula is better suited, buy a cheaper option, anyway, after work you will throw it away - it is very difficult to wipe off the bitumen;

It is very convenient to apply bituminous glue with such a spatula.

Building hair dryer. It is needed if you are working at temperatures below +10 degrees. With it, all elements are heated before gluing to improve fastening.

The construction hair dryer helps to carry out work on laying flexible tiles even at low temperatures

Material laying

The workflow consists of laying the underlayment, fixing the cornice strips and laying the top coat. Let's analyze each stage separately.

Foundation preparation

Do-it-yourself installation of the lining carpet is done as follows:

Illustration	Stage description
	The slope must be sewn up with a continuous crate. This part of the work is carried out before the installation of the roof. Sheathing can be made both with tongue-and-groove boards and OSB sheets (oriented strand board). The thickness depends on the pitch of the rafters. The standard option is a board 25 mm or OSB 20 mm. To simplify further work on the slope, you can draw a vertical in 2-3 places to navigate when laying the substrate.
	Read the manufacturer's recommendations carefully. Instructions are printed on the back of the packaging labels of any Katepal material. It contains all the basic conditions for the work and there are visual diagrams.
	The first strip is laid on the valley. The process is simple: The material spreads from top to bottom; The canvas is aligned so that it lies in the middle of the joint, and is slightly stretched; Excess pieces are carefully cut off with a construction knife.
	The element is pinned. If there is an adhesive strip on the material, the protective layer is removed from it and the edge is pressed. After every 30 cm, galvanized nails are hammered along the entire length.
	The substrate spreads along the slope. The laying technology is simple: You need to start from the edges of the roof and move towards the middle; Sheets are stacked with an overlap of at least 100 mm.
	Sheets stick together. This type of work is carried out if you have a lining material with a self-adhesive strip along the edges. After laying and leveling, the protective film is removed from the edges, and the elements are tightly pressed against each other.
	At the top of the strip are nailed. This allows you to fix the elements in the desired position and prevents them from moving later. The fastener spacing is 100 mm.
	When nailing, the canvas is first stretched. It is important to level the material and stretch it a little so that the underlayment lays evenly over the entire area. First, the strip is nailed from above, and then it can be pulled by the bottom.
	The lining carpet is attached along the entire length. Nails are hammered in after about 30 cm, indentation from the edge is 3-4 cm. When hammering, the hat should go flush with the surface of the material, it is not necessary to hammer it hard, as you can damage the lining.
	Vertical canvases should go into the valley by 15 cm. At first, the sheets are simply spread on the surface with a margin, the excess is removed at the next stage.
	Extra pieces of lining carpet are cut along the valley line. The work looks like this: A line is drawn along the valley. The overlap of the upper pieces should be 15 cm; A board is placed under the material so as not to damage the bottom substrate when cutting; Cutting is carried out, everything is simple here: move the knife along the line with strong pressure.
	The joint is coated with bituminous glue. An overlap of 15 cm is needed in order to firmly glue the pieces together. The composition is applied as shown in the photo: with a narrow spatula, longitudinal movements along the edge. The layer must be thick enough.
	The joint is carefully glued. To do this, the upper piece of the lining carpet is pressed against the lower one and smoothed out. If the hive comes out in places, it’s not scary, you don’t need to scrub and clean it.
	If the slope is small, then the lining carpet is laid horizontally. Work starts from the bottom of the roof. Longitudinal joints of the material must be at least 10 cm, transverse - at least 15 cm. The rolls are rolled out and leveled.
	The top edge is nailed. This is done even if you have a self-adhesive version. Hammer fasteners every 30 cm.
	The protective layer is removed and the strips are glued together. Everything is simple and fast here, because the elements are already fixed, and all you need is to remove the protective film and firmly press the connection along its entire length.

Fixing cornice strips

When laying Katepal tiles, the most problematic areas are overhangs and ends. To protect and strengthen these elements, a metal bar is attached to them:

Illustration	Stage description
	An overhang of 3 cm is left along the overhang. The material is simply folded down to cover the ends of the board and protect it from moisture. It does not need to be fixed in any way, it will be fixed with metal elements later.
	The first element is exposed along the edge of the overhang. Everything is easy here: install the bar, align it along the edge and press it firmly against the end of the flooring.
	Fastening is made. The nails are arranged in a herringbone pattern. First, the top row is nailed in increments of 15 cm, then another row is hammered between them 10 cm lower. This method of fixing provides a very reliable fastening of the planks and resistance to deformation under the influence of wind.
	A corner is cut off from the bent part of the bar at a distance of 4 cm. work is carried out with ordinary metal scissors. This is necessary in order to simplify the docking of the elements and ensure their tighter fit to each other.
	Elements are joined. The cut off corner simplifies the connection of the strips, the overlap on the connection must be at least 5 cm. Naturally, before installation, a protective film is removed from the tin, if you nail the elements with it, then you will have to tear out the polyethylene from under the nail heads.
	The rest of the elements are being fixed.. Here you need to stop separately at the junctions. They are fastened with two nails that go through two strips at once.
	This is how the first element is cut, which is placed on the cornice. You need to make a small angle so that the edge does not rise, after which you can nail the connection. Use 3-4 nails to secure the corner.
	Further fastening is carried out in the same way as on the lower overhang.. Nails are driven in a zigzag pattern. Gently join the connection in the area of \u200b\u200bthe ridge, the better you make it, the easier it will be to lay soft tiles later.

A base prepared in this way can stand without problems all winter. That is, the lining carpet itself perfectly protects against moisture.

Roofing installation

I note right away that any type of flexible tile is laid in the same way as Katepal - the installation instructions look like this:

Illustration	Stage description
	First, the valley carpet is spread. This is done from the top down. The material should be located strictly in the middle of the joint and tightly pressed against the surface. It is best to cover the entire valley with one piece of carpet, if it is too long and you need to join the elements, then the overlap should be at least 20 cm.
	The carpet must go completely to the edge of the roof.. The material will be located on top of the tin elements, thereby creating additional protection for the junction of the roof slopes.
	The material is neatly cut along the edge of the plank. The easiest way to do this is with a sharp knife with a trapezoidal blade.
	The valley carpet is fixed. For simplicity and clarity, I have shown everything in the diagram: The edges on all sides of the canvas are lubricated with bituminous glue. Apply with a strip of 10 cm, from below and above it can be wider; The element is carefully pressed against the surface so that there are no folds and kinks; Nails are hammered in increments of 20-25 cm on the sides of the canvas.
	Unpacking ridge tiles. The first element is taken and the protective film is removed from it. In order not to constantly run back and forth, lift the right amount of material to the roof and fold along the edge. Unpack all the packs at once, so that later you will not be distracted by this.
	Ridge shingles are laid with an indent of 5-10 mm from the edge. They are neatly joined to each other, after which they are pressed to the surface. If the ambient temperature is 10 degrees or lower, then it is better to additionally heat the surface with a building hair dryer for the best fastening. In general, I recommend working only at temperatures of 15 degrees and above.
	You can additionally fix the elements with nails. Enough and 2-3 fasteners per element, it is important to fix it in the desired position, then it will securely stick to the surface.
	5 packs of tiles are taken, unpacked and mixed. You can do it differently: just open the packs and take the elements in order from each of them. The difference in shades in Katepal roofing materials may be if you have products from different batches. But it is tedious to check the markings of each pack, it is much easier to just mix the shingles.
	The protective layer is removed from the sheet before laying.. Don't forget about it. I have seen several times how inexperienced craftsmen laid the roof without removing the film. As a result, the sheets do not stick together and the reliability of such a roof is several times lower.
	The first row is laid with an indent of 10 mm from the edge of the eaves shingle. The sheets are neatly placed along the overhang, they are joined together very easily due to the special form of connection.
	Shingle is being fixed. It is important to do everything right: The nails on the first course must go through both the run-of-the-mill shingle and the eaves shingle; The indent of the fastener from the edge must be at least 20 mm; The nails should be perpendicular to the surface, if you hammer them in crookedly, the hat will stick out.
	Fasteners must be above each cutout. That is, the sheet is fixed with four nails. In the place where the shingles join, two nails are obtained next to each other.
	The following rows of shingles are laid. They are arranged so that the protrusions overlap the attachment points of the previous row. It is easy to understand this aspect, just by looking at the photo. Align the protrusions with the line of the cutouts of the bottom row, and the roof will look neat. Fastening is done in the same way, each sheet must be fixed with four nails.
	It looks like a finished flat roof slope. If everything is done carefully, that the coating will be even and reliable.

Laying tiles on valleys, ends and junctions of pipes

The tile flexible Katepal on difficult sites keeps within so:

Illustration	Stage description
	On the valley, the shingles are cut like this: A line is drawn along the joint at a distance of no more than 10 cm from the joint; A board is placed under the shingle and a line is cut.
	The edges of the shingles are glued to the valley carpet. To do this, generously grease them with glue with a strip of at least 100 mm. After that, the edges are well pressed against the surface. Under no circumstances should you nail the edges of the shingles on the valleys!
	At the ends, the edges of the shingles are carefully cut along the edge of the slope. It is necessary to hold the element with one hand, and carefully cut off all unnecessary with the other.
	Adhesive is applied to the surface. After that, the edges are glued. Here they also do not need to be nailed.
	If it is necessary to isolate the chimney, then glue is first applied to the vertical surface. The composition is distributed in a thick layer to a height of at least 30 cm. If the surface is uneven, then the adhesive can be applied both to the base and to valley carpet, which will close the joint.
	The upper part is nailed or secured with dowels. Additional fixation allows you to securely fix the material, and it sticks tightly. It is important to evenly position the piece before nailing, then it will not work to correct the position.
	The edges are trimmed, folded and fastened. You should not cut the material at the corner, it is much better to make cuts and bend it to the other side, it will turn out much more reliable. The edges that will be attached must be well coated with bituminous glue in advance.
	The ridge element breaks first along the lines. If the perforation is weak, then first make cuts with a construction knife so that the elements are divided evenly and do not deteriorate when separated.
	Elements are laid across the ridge. They are bent so that the overlap on both sides is the same. The overlap on the joints is 5 cm, this is very important to ensure the reliability of the joints.
	Each element is fixed with nails. There should be two on each side.The attachment point is covered by the next element and so on.
	This is what a properly fixed skate looks like. All elements fit snugly together and do not stick out in different directions.

Conclusion

Roof Katepal is not only reliable and durable, but also easy to install. The video in this article will help you understand the topic even better, and if something is not clear to you, ask in the comments.

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