A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

but can also be of

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adapta ...

metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linear light fittings. In the

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

industry, battens used as furring may also be referred to as "top hats", in reference to the profile of the metal.

Roofing

''Roofing battens'' or ''battening'', also called ''roofing

lath A lath or slat is a thin, narrow strip of straight-wood grain, grained wood used under roof shingles or tiles, on lath and plaster walls and ceilings to hold plaster, and in Latticework, lattice and Trellis (architecture), trellis work. ''Lath ...

'', are used to provide the fixing point for roofing materials such as shingles or tiles. The spacing of the battens on the

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

es or

rafter A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as wooden beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof shingles, roof deck and its associate ...

s depend on the type of roofing material and are applied horizontally like purlins. Battens are also used in metal roofing to secure the sheets called a ''batten-seam roof'' and are covered with a ''batten roll joint''. Some roofs may use a grid of battens in both directions, known as a ''counter-batten system'', which improves ventilation. Roofing battens are most commonly made of wood or metal, but can be made of other materials.

Wall battens

''Wall battens'' like roofing battens are used to fix siding materials such as tile or shingles.

Rainscreen A rainscreen is an exterior wall detail where the siding (wall cladding) stands off from the moisture- resistant surface of an air/water barrier applied to the sheathing to create a capillary break and to allow drainage and evaporation. The ''ra ...

construction uses battens (furring) as part of a system which allows walls to dry out more quickly than normal.

Board-and-batten

Takayama Old Town (Sanmachi Suji) (35819349621)

''Board-and-batten'' siding is an exterior treatment of vertical boards with battens covering the seams. Board-and-batten roofing is a type of board roof with battens covering the gaps between boards on a roof as the roofing material. Board-and-batten is also a synonym for single-wall construction, a method of building with vertical, structural boards, the seams sometimes covered with battens.

Spacers

Battens may be used as spacers, sometimes called furring, to raise the surface of a material. In flooring the sometimes large battens support the finish flooring in a similar manner to a joist but with the batten resting on a solid sub-floor as a '' floating floor'' and sometimes cushioned.

Trim

''Batten trim'' or ''batten molding'' is a thin strip of

trim Trim or TRIM may refer to: Cutting * Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them ** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process ** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees Decoration * Trim (sewing), ...

typically with a rectangular cross-section similar to

used in lattice, used to cover seams between panels of exterior siding or interior paneling.

Flooring

In flooring a batten may be relatively large, up to thick by wide and more than long.

Batten doors

door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security b ...

construction battens may be used to strengthen panels made up of multiple boards, as in a batten door, or to cover joins.

Wall insulation

Battens are used for solid wall insulation. Regularly spaced battens are fitted to the wall, the spaces between them filled with insulation, and plasterboard or drywall screwed to the battens. This method is no longer the most popular, as rigid insulation sheets give better insulation (with battens bridging the insulation) and take less time to fit.

Screed batten

In concrete work a ''screed batten'' is fixed to the

formwork Formwork is molds into which concrete or similar materials are either precast or cast-in-place. In the context of concrete construction, the falsework supports the shuttering molds. In specialty applications formwork may be permanently i ...

to smoothly guide a screed smoothing tool.

Lighting

In the lighting industry, battens refer to linear fittings, commonly LED strips or using fluorescent tubes. Batten luminaires are typically cheap and meant to be fixed directly to structural battens in loft spaces or to ceilings and soffits in back-of-house areas where aesthetic value is not required. Fluorescent fittings may include a low-specification diffuser cover, or simply have the fluorescent tube exposed.

Sailing

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' ( land yacht) over a chose ...

, battens are long, narrow and flexible inserts used in sails, to improve their qualities as airfoils.

References

{{Woodworking Woodworking Building materials