The roof is the most reliable “defender” of the house. The Oan prevents us from getting wet in the rain and protects us from the heat and cold. If it is properly designed, faithfully built, and intelligently operated, it will not be a problem for many years.
The problems can be very serious. The photo below clearly shows the blatant professional mistake of the contractor, who put the tiles on the sparse crate. If I had not seen these photos with my own eyes, I would not have believed that this is possible. Instead of the usual gentle slope, the structure of an unexpected wavy shape resembles a south-eastern pagoda. And the roof has completely lost its waterproof quality.
How to avoid problems?
The main criterion that forms the rules for the construction of roofs is the long-term experience of the craft. However, modern technology could not touch this area. Practice shows that it is not enough to strive to use new materials. It is important to approach construction wisely, constantly monitoring compliance with technology. This can be helped by training materials and instructions, libraries of which are created by reputable manufacturers of roofing materials.
Many, at first glance, small mistakes in construction, using high-tech materials, can lead to serious complications in the operation of the roof. This is often caused by attracting cheap, ready-to-work labor without the necessary knowledge and skills.
It is even more insulting when a construction error is the result of unfair work of a contractor. Moreover, the mistakes in the construction of the roof were revealed, alas, not even the next day after the final payment.
Recommendations of Roof Choice
What is the best way to cover the roof? An important role is played by aesthetic considerations based on the visual compatibility of the roofing material with the walls. You must admit that it was strange to see poor Ondulina on the roof of a cottage decorated with artificial stone. The list of such inconsistencies can easily be continued by any of our readers.
Three types of roofing should be distinguished:
- patterned coating (various types of clay tiles, bituminous roofing-the so-called tiles);
- title page (seam roof, metal tile, profiled sheet);
- roll coating (various mastic, polymer and bituminous polymer coatings).
In the construction of a house, tiles or a sheet are most often used.
Special tiles are used to complete the cone
There is a competitive version of the classification , which was based on the mass value of the roof:
- light (about 15 kg/m2) as the metal coating, soft roof;
- heavy (over 20 kg/m2) — natural tiles, slate.
What can I advise on the choice of material? If your cottage is built (for example, a wooden house), baked clay tiles or slate will be too heavy for it both in the literal sense (static load), and in a figurative, purely visual sense. In this case, you will have to stop, for example, on light asphalt tiles.
The choice of roofing material is influenced by the complexity of the roof structure and the slope of the roof. For example, when laying metal on complex structures, a large yield of waste is inevitable.
Two words about the angle of the roof. You need to decide on this from the very first steps of designing a house.
For such a roof, snow retention elements should be provided
The worst slope in terms of snow accumulation is 30°. It was discovered when blowing through roof layouts in a wind tunnel. Not only is the snow collected in maximum quantity, even when the wind blows it to the other side of the roof. That is, the slope must be either greater or less than 30°.
The slope of the ramp is such that the snow will not stay on it. However, a significant wind load should be expected here
Metal-tile
It has quite decent technical and aesthetic characteristics:
- long service life,
- good performance,
- moderate specific gravity,
- attractive appearance.
Metal tiles were used for the roof
The metal is perfectly protected, as it should be, from aggressive weather conditions for 15 years of warranty. But this is the only official warranty, the estimated service life of which is 50 years.
One of the disadvantages of metal tiles is its emptiness: you will learn about the beginning of rain by the sounds from the roof. The main manufacturers of roofing materials are Ruukki (premium segment, Finland), Poimukate (Finland).
The material is a thin sheet that looks like a stacked ceramic tile. The inside of the sheet is covered with a special protective layer, the top-with a decorative polymer coating. The service life of steel shingles depends on the safety of protective coatings.
It is necessary to be especially careful when cutting the material. It is not uncommon for a grinder to be used for cutting. Indeed, cutting is very efficient, but significantly reduces the service life of the coating.
Prohibit builders from using the angle grinder when cutting and laying metal!
Bitumen tile
The undisputed leader among the lightest roofing materials. It is called bitumen. These are longitudinal flat sheets, one edge of which is notched. The supporting base is a fiberglass mat impregnated with roofing bitumen or organic cellulose. The top of the tile is covered with basalt granules, on the back side-with an adhesive layer of bitumen, protected by a special film.
Installation of this coating is carried out on a continuous run. Most often, it is made of water-resistant plywood, OSB boards or sheet-sheet edged boards. I sincerely regret that our reader did not know about this, from whose story the story began. Remember ?
Soft roofing has a number of advantages:
- It is not afraid of temperature changes: it works equally well both in the heat and in the cold.
- Since the product consists of many segments, it easily adapts to the geometric inaccuracies of the roof, possible distortions when the building subsides, and much more.
- Minor damage is eliminated by simply replacing the damaged component on the substrate, carefully hidden after construction is completed.
- This roof does not make noise in the rain and is completely sealed thanks to the bitumen backing.
All this makes the soft tile optimal for suburban and urban buildings of the budget segment.
There is one drawback, but it only applies to the installation conditions. Since the bitumen hardens at low temperatures, install the roof you need at positive temperatures. Although during installation, you can use a construction dryer, but you will not get guaranteed quality here.
Ceramic tile
It would be unfair not to mention the roofing material itself. In terms of durability, it surpasses the walls of the house. Although not all readers will agree with this.
The designers are of the opinion that ceramic tiles are very heavy and will require a strong additional foundation to support it. I hasten to dispel this fear. The percentage of tiles in the total mass of a brick house is about 3%, and does not have a significant effect on the foundation.
Also, such a roof with a “Large mass” has its advantages. Such a roof:
- resists strong gusts of wind,
- does not create noise during rain
- is indifferent to temperature changes
The piece-by-piece nature of this material makes it easy to replace one of the cells. Although this is also an advantage, but, in my opinion, very formal. We still have to live to see the cracked and burnt ceramic tiles. The design of the soldier stamps made of tiles is designed for installation with a ramp slope in the range from 22° to 60°.
Installation of a tiled roof
In many respects similar in appearance and technical qualities of roofing coverings are made of concrete mixes. Such products are called cement-sand tiles. Already painted in bulk, it keeps the appearance fresh for decades. Ceramic and cement-sand tiles require the installation of the same type of sparse crate.
Do you think this is all the types of roofing materials that we mentioned? No, not all of them. There is still ondulin, the metal (iron or copper), metal profile, slate, organic thatched roof and so on. But in this article, the above is enough, since they are used as the main ones.
A seam roof can be so elegant
After completing the roof work, the roofers traditionally lift several buckets of water to the “top bunk” and pour it on the slope. So they confirm the quality of the work performed and proceed to the final calculation of the customer. The real test of Q-factor will be the winter months with all the heavenly abyss and irregular temperatures.
Leave a Reply