Warm roof 'Skew' fixings: hand tool or sds power install?

Will shortly be warm roofing my pitched roof, using 140mm skew type fixings for the counter batten/insulation. First time I've done it (and last, as it's for my own roof) was just wondering whether the sds power install tool was worth the money (around £115), or whether the hand support tool at £16 was okay?

Could always sell on the sds power install tool when I've finished if it makes the job that much easier to be worthwhile.

Any opinions from guys that do this kind of work which to go for?

Many thanks.

Watshot said:

or whether the hand support tool at £16 was okay?

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whats that? do you have a decent cordless drill/driver? something around the £100-£150 is a good investment.
When you buy your screws, Id recommend torx as they are much easier to drive for the longer lengths and don't cam out. Toolstation sell paslode torx exterior screws. You said you want 150mm but unfortunately they only stock 100 or 200mm(56512) . Could you live with the extra 50mm? Use that extra capacity for extra insulation? You might baulk at the price of the screws but when I did my flat roof I ended up buying 5 boxes of those

No, the skew fixings (Helifix in-skew/Target skewfast/Wallfast timfix) are specifically for the job on a pitched roof and come in 5mm increments. They are designed to resist compression/side/wind suction loads, and are headless so as to not interfere with the tiling battens.

They use either a hand held tool to aid hammering in straight, or an attachment for an sds drill for power fitting, which would appear to be quicker and reduce the risk of bending (as does the hand tool, to a point).

The price is for the attachment, not a drill. An increase in thickness results in an increase in ridge height which takes us back to planning. As we will meet the current u value standard at 0.18 I'll be sticking at 140mm which meets the depth and fixing requirements.

So does anyone have any experience of the benefits of the sds attachment over the hand held tool? Thanks.