Flat Roof Homes And Snow

Yet for historic modern style buildings like this old house s cambridge tv project flat roofs are at the core of the architecture meant to reflect the broad horizontal lines of the natural landscape.

Flat roof homes and snow.

Don t go thinking that modern houses with flat roofs only look good though as these innovative designs actually have practical properties as well. How to inspect and maintain your roof. A flat roof needs to be built right and know how to handle rain and snow to survive our canadian climate. These are created when heat transfer from a home s interior melts the snow on a roof which then refreezes as it makes its way to the outer edges of the roof s surface.

From an aesthetic standpoint a house in the country with a flat roof blends in much better than a house with a pitched roof. A single slope roof s typical steepness allows for easy snow and water runoff making it great for heavy snow and rain regions. This can eventually cause problems with ice dams. That means 12 inches of snow on a flat roof creates an additional r 12 of insulation that arrives at a time of year when you most need it.

Heavy loads of wet snow can eventually lead to shingle damage stress on load bearing walls and even roof collapse. If your home has a roof with a substantial pitch ice dams and clogged gutters can still prevent snow from sliding off. Flat roofs aren t architecturally logical as rain and snow will shed much more quickly off a sloped roof. Photo by courtesy of the holmes group.

It s true than in a city neighbourhood with predominantly older houses flat roofs stick out but it is the opposite in the country side. Flat roofs can t possibly support all the extra weight a totally valid concern but rest assured your architect and engineer have this in mind when designing the roof structure. Combined with the snow catching ability low and flat roofs are able to blend in with their natural surroundings quite seamlessly. As snow piles up all that weight equates to structural stress especially for buildings with flat roofs.

It has a very low slope between 1 4 to 1 2 inch per foot so that it drains water. Wind seismic building weight furniture occupants etc. Certainly the weight of snow can add up but your home must support a variety of loads. Snow is actually one of the easiest to design for and all.

But such a low slope holds snow and water much longer than a steeply pitched roof and therefore needs a very different material to stay watertight. Of course you don t need to live in a modern house to deal with a flat roof. In most flat roofed homes heated spaces are situated directly under the roof without any buffer from an unheated attic. When it comes to maintaining your home inspection of all areas of your home should be a part of the process.

Flat roofing is not actually flat. A flat roof sits cleaner on the horizon and breaks up the scenery less.