Flat Roof Built Up Detail

Here we ll discuss types of flat roofing.

Flat roof built up detail.

Built up roofs are manufactured using built up layers of either tar saturated paper and liquid tar with gravel asphalt rolled asphalt or modified bitumen. The following outlines ways to build protect and reinforce your roof. If you build and flash one right and keep it clean a good flat roof won t leak says toh general contractor tom silva who had seven different flat roofs. As the roof is installed more and more layers are added to increase durability and longevity hence the name built up.

There is a wide variety of flat roof materials available each with its own advantages and drawbacks. Fortunately modern materials for covering flat roofs have improved considerably over the past two decades. Some carry warranties of up to 20 years approaching those for sloped roofing. A further benefit of this type of flat roof build up is that the waterproofing layer is hidden and thereby protected from the effects of solar gain.

Others would treat even steeper pitches as flat roofs. In the warm flat roof construction there is insulation packed into every possible space where air can flow. This flat roof system is still used in some residential applications because of its affordability and fire resistance. The major difference between the warm flat roof and the cold flat roof has to do with the air flow between the roofing timbers known as joists that help to hold up the roof.

Built up roofing bur this multi layer roof design is a proven system that has been around for generations. The definition of a flat roof according to bs 6229 is having a pitch less than 10 o to the horizontal however some in the industry would consider up to 15 o as their definition of a flat roof. Given that the specially selected insulation layer is loose laid it will require ballasting to guard against wind uplift or floating in wet conditions. When building a flat roof it is vital that a degree of falls is built into the construction to ensure rainwater run off.

Going back about 120 years the grandfather of flat roofs is the built up roof or bur. Built up roofs have solved the low pitch roof problem for ages a challenge that asphalt shingles could never handle.