# Forum Home Renovation Roofing  Noisy laser lite

## Gumby

I recently had a new roof put over the back deck. We used the normal Laser lite  roofing but it makes a lot of noise all day as it expands and shrinks in the sun. I had this stuff up there before and it was only about 7 years old. it didn't carry on like the new stuff does. 
It was attached using those self drilling screws which have a cutter just under the screw head. They cut a larger hole than the screw itself so it isn't that the holes need to be bigger. There is plenty of room around the hole for expansion. I was thinking that maybe it needs to be tightened down a bit more. Any thoughts before I get up there and have a play.

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## Eastie

Laser lite make a noise stop perlin tape to prevent this - sounds like pulling it up, taping the rafters and laying it again  :Frown:

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## Bin J

I am still deciding on whether or not to put laserlite up for this very reason.  
I understand that you can get some tape to go under the laserlite, on top of the rafters (sorry, don't know if that's the correct term) which is kind of padded, and helps reduce the noise. 
(whoops looks like Eastie got in before me!)

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## meerkat

Hey BinJ  
your icon looks like its got tackle !!!:eek: :Biggrin:

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## Gumby

oh well, it's better than the noise. I just can't understand why the last lot didn't do it. Well, i didn't notice it as much anyway. :confused:  I don't think there was tape up there, in fact almost certain. 
Thanks guys, I'll check it out, try a small section and see if it works.

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## ozwinner

Our LL at home is quiet but My BIl's makes a terrible noise.
Wonder why that is? 
I think he used the tape too. 
Al :confused:

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## Gumby

Mine fgaces north so it gets all the sun. Even when the sun goes in behind a cloud the bloody stuff starts to shring straight away. When the sun pops out again, more creaking.  
If yours is at the back Al, that would face south from memory. I wonder if that has something to do with it. :confused:

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## ozwinner

Ive got a carport out the front that faces north/south, and a carport at the side that is east/west,(Im talking which way the roof faces)  neither makes any noise. 
Are the screws tight?
I tend to over tighten all my screws.  :Rolleyes:   
Al :confused:

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## Gumby

> Are the screws tight?  
> Al :confused:

  I don't think that they are tight at all. I could give them a couple of turns which would push the rubber seal onto them a bit more. I suppose it's worth a try.

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## ozwinner

I usually tighten until the ridge goes nearly flat, the undo a couple of turns. 
Hey, Im a ham fisted brickie what else do you expect? 
Al  :Biggrin:

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## savage

This may be a dumb thing to say but when I put up the L/Lite roof on my spa room, the guy said to me, "Make sure it all goes up with the correct side facing up". On closer inspection of the lable on each sheet it tells you that this is the side that faces up. He said he gets a lot of people coming back with noise complaints and most of the time they have put them up any which way.

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## ozwinner

I put on one sheet the wrong way up, it went brittle and fell apart. 
Al  :Frown:

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## Gumby

Thanks for the tip Savage. I checked and found they all went the correct way up so that's not it. I'll tighten a couple of sheets and see if it helps.

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## journeyman Mick

Gumby,
the screws need to be tight enough that the rubber seals are slightly compressed. Tha't slightly compressed, not flattened out and certainly not loose either. 
Mick

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## maglite

The noise is more than likely coming from a heap of freo dorcker supporters creeping about looking for a place to stay when the perennial losers they call a football team make the GF.......in their dreams and no there is not a misprint there.

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## Shannon Nash

Size matters!!! 
I recently inquired about the tape that some have mentioned in previous replies and told that for my planned pergola which would have approx 12-13 sheets side by side that i would definitely need to use noise stop tape. 
I am putting two sheets side by side, in a veranda, and have been told that the tape would not be necessary for this. 
Gumby how did those screws with the cutter go? Are they worth the extra $$ for convenience of not having two drills on the roof with you? 
Cheers
SN

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## Gumby

Just finished putting that noise reduction tape under the laserlite and it's fixed the problem   :Biggrin:   
I think the main problem was that the builder asked mne to paint the top of the beams before he put up the laserlite sheets. It eems the plastic paint (Solarguard) doesn't allow the laerlite sheets to slide at all and so you get a lot more noise than you would if the sheets were sitting on unfinished timber. 
Instead of removint the sheets completely, I just cut the tape into small strips and slid it in under the sheet. Worked a treat. 
Thanks for all the help people.  :Biggrin:   We can have our GF BBQ without me worrying about the thing creaking all day. 
In answer to the previous question.
The hole cutters are great. They leave a larger hole than the screw whixch is what you need to allow for expansion.

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## Stuart

Yeah - so you much be a rich bugger, cause they cost a bloody fortune.  
I looked at those, and bought bags of 200 for $25 (for the normal ones, and not the laserlight branded ones). My mate and I were up there with 2 drills each- one for the 10mm hole, and one to drive the bolt. Saved my money for genuine laserlight (actually it was by far the cheapest after doing a lot of shopping around, and Bunnings was by far the cheapest source :eek: )

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## ozwinner

> We can have our GF BBQ without me worrying about the thing creaking all day.

  Thats fine, but what about the laser light?  :Tongue:    
Al  :Biggrin:

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## Shaun04

You get this cracking noise when the sheets heat up or cool down, it is caused by contraction and expansion of the sheet on the screw causing the cracking noise, its not the sheet its the sheet on the screw. You can now buy Laserlight screws especially for plastic or acrylic Laserlight roofing that has a saw tooth up the middle of the shank and makes a bigger hole to allow for the contraction and expansion of the sheet. Also has a bigger rubber seal to hold it down firm under C and E. So go out and buy these screws and you shouldnt have any more cracking from the roof.

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## Stuart

> You can now buy Laserlight screws especially for plastic or acrylic Laserlight roofing that has a saw tooth up the middle of the shank and makes a bigger hole to allow for the contraction and expansion of the sheet. Also has a bigger rubber seal to hold it down firm under C and E. So go out and buy these screws and you shouldnt have any more cracking from the roof.

  If you actually bothered to read the thread, in post #1 you would have seen that these are the screws that Gumby used. 
I wish people would bother actually reading the whole thread before putting in their 2c :mad: 
So given that he DID use the screw that you have said would prevent the noise, how come it was still there until the noise reduction tape was place between the sheets and the roof?  Oh, wait - I guess you didn't read that bit either.

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## Gumby

Shaun, thanks for the input but as i said in my previous post, it's now fixed. I already had those screws with the larger hole. That was the first thing I checked. It was the sheets rubbing on the plastic paint causing the problem. 
Stu, I had those screws because that's what the builder used. I have no idea what they cost but he would have built it into his costs anyway. I didn't have much choice.  :Smilie:

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## Stuart

Lucky bugger - they are about $120 for a packet of 250.  Compared to $25 for 200 that I bought (where I had to drill a 10mm hole before screwing them in).  Didn't take long - we had the whole deck done in about 2 hours (9m x 3.5m)

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## Shaun04

> If you actually bothered to read the thread, in post #1 you would have seen that these are the screws that Gumby used. 
> I wish people would bother actually reading the whole thread before putting in their 2c :mad: 
> So given that he DID use the screw that you have said would prevent the noise, how come it was still there until the noise reduction tape was place between the sheets and the roof?  Oh, wait - I guess you didn't read that bit either.

  Geez gettin a bit too fiesty there mate, i did read the thread, just prob didnt realise he used the same screws. 
Far out try to give some helpful info and people have a go at you, youre not a Sparky by any chance?

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## Sturdee

> you're not a Sparky by any chance?

  
No but he can spark. :Biggrin:   :Tongue:    
Peter.

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## Jack E

> youre not a Sparky by any chance?

  What's that supposed to mean:confused:

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## Sigidi

Hey Gumbee, 
with laserlite you can't just use any old screw you have to use ones with a saw located on the shaft of the screw, this cuts a bigger hole in the laserlite which allows for expansion and contraction. 
If you put those in then you won't have any more noise - mind you they are more expensive than standard roof screws, but you don't get the noise        :Smilie:

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## Gumby

> Hey Gumbee, 
> with laserlite you can't just use any old screw you have to use ones with a saw located on the shaft of the screw, this cuts a bigger hole in the laserlite which allows for expansion and contraction. 
> If you put those in then you won't have any more noise - mind you they are more expensive than standard roof screws, but you don't get the noise

  Please tell me you are kidding :confused:

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## Sturdee

> Hey Gumbee, 
> with laserlite you can't just use any old screw you have to use ones with a saw located on the shaft of the screw, this cuts a bigger hole in the laserlite which allows for expansion and contraction. 
> If you put those in then you won't have any more noise - mind you they are more expensive than standard roof screws, but you don't get the noise

  
and    

> If you actually bothered to read the thread, in post #1 you would have seen that these are the screws that Gumby used. 
> I wish people would bother actually reading the whole thread before putting in their 2c :mad: 
> So given that he DID use the screw that you have said would prevent the noise, how come it was still there until the noise reduction tape was place between the sheets and the roof?  Oh, wait - I guess you didn't read that bit either.

  
Is it ground hog day? :confused: :confused: :confused:   
Peter.

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## Stuart

> Hey Gumbee, 
> with laserlite you can't just use any old screw you have to use ones with a saw located on the shaft of the screw, this cuts a bigger hole in the laserlite which allows for expansion and contraction. 
> If you put those in then you won't have any more noise - mind you they are more expensive than standard roof screws, but you don't get the noise

  Actually, no you don't have to buy them - they are very expensive.
Agree though - you do need an oversized hole (10mm diameter), but there is no reason why you can't pre-drill the hole before screwing the laserlight down.  Just means it is a 2 part operation, which is still pretty easy (especially if you have 2 drills - one for cutting the 10mm hole, one for screwing in the roof screws) 
As I said a couple of posts ago.  :Frown:

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## Gumby

Ever been stuck in one of those big revolving doors?  :Rolleyes:

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## Stuart

See - I can be restrained....leash is back on, but it already has some bite marks

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## Stuart

> Ever been stuck in one of those big revolving doors?

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## Sigidi

I just wanted to see how easy it was to get another bite from Stuart :Smilie:  
Admittedly our apprentice Carpenter from earlier may have not read as thoroughly as he should have, but geese did you have to raost him so much?? :Wink:  
Poor guy thought he was helping out - and don't we all?

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## Shaun04

Yeah man you hurt my feelings....

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## Stuart



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## crumpet

Hi Guys , im new to this one and also new to owning a pergola , 
I have solasafe ploy installed on my pitched roof and im too suffering from the dreaded creaking noise all day , the thing is i have the noise stop tape all across my wood but ive noticed that the builder didn't use any cutting screws so the hole is tightly around the screw.. do you think this is the reason why om getting noise still ?? 
thanks for the help

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## Dr - 307

Just thought of something else..... 
What do you do if you've used noise tape and self expansion hole drilling screws and the polycarb still creaks and crackles?  :Biggrin:  
Quite seriously this is a gem of a thread. I've printed it off so the family can have a laugh. 
Cheers,
Doc.

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## The Bleeder

Hi, I'm new to this thread and yes Doc the answer is take off the roof and enjoy the elements. If you don't like that leave the roof and have louder parties.Steve

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## Dr - 307

Or buy shares in Red Head Matches. :Wink:

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## scooter

> Hi Guys , im new to this one and also new to owning a pergola , 
> I have solasafe ploy installed on my pitched roof and im too suffering from the dreaded creaking noise all day , the thing is i have the noise stop tape all across my wood but ive noticed that the builder didn't use any cutting screws so the hole is tightly around the screw.. do you think this is the reason why om getting noise still ?? 
> thanks for the help

  Possibly. 
The sheets need to be able to expand & contract with changes in temperature. The noise stop tape allows this by providing a lowish friction surface (compared to a painted surface) for the sheets to slightly move across the surface of the battens. 
The same need for expansion is the reason why the clearance holes are needed around the screws, to be able to move with minimal restriction. 
Better have a chat to your builder. or buy the correct screws and drill out the holes & install.  
Cheers....................Sean

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