The roof is a construction at the top of a building that protects against precipitation and atmospheric phenomena, and also provides thermal insulation for the building. The roof is part of the building envelope.
Roof construction
The roof construction in most cases rests on the walls of the building and usually consists of two parts:
- The supporting structure consists of wooden rafters, or steel beams, or concrete slabs, or monolithic flooring. It may also include thermal insulation.
- The outer covering of the roof that protects directly from atmospheric influences. It can consist of several elements:
- The bearing layer is held on the supporting construction and is a lathing, solid flooring or screed. It may include waterproofing, vapor barrier, and thermal insulation.
- Outer layer is what we see on the roof: tiles, corrugated sheets, bitumen coating or any other.
- Various elements and systems include roof windows, caps, flashing, edge waterproofing elements, water collection and drainage systems (gutters and downpipes), and more.
Types of roofs
Depending on the construction, most roofs can be divided into two types:
- A flat roof has a slope of up to 3% or 1-2 degrees. Most often used on commercial buildings and apartment buildings, but also used in private, low-rise construction. Flat roofs have an attic-less construction, can be exploited (for example, a terrace) or non-exploited.
- Green roof – partially or completely planted with plants that are planted in a special soil mixture (potting soil) on top of a waterproof roof layer.
- A pitched roof usually has a slope of more than 10% or 6 degrees. It is widely used in private construction, in most cases it has an attic and can be of different shapes:
- A shed roof has only one slope and is often used as an additional roof or on auxiliary buildings, verandas, and terraces.
- A gable roof is the most common type of classic construction.
- A multi-pitched roof has more than two slopes, which can be of different shapes, sizes, slopes, located at different levels, and so on.
- Hip roof or hipped roof – without gables, the slopes descend to all the walls of the building.
- Mansard roof or gambrel – with living space instead of an attic.
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