The roof of a house is in many ways not so much a part of its design as a symbol. A symbol of the completion of a large stage of construction: after all, despite the fact that there is still interior decoration to be done, it is already possible to live in the house! That is why the attitude to the roof has always been special.
Today, many of those who are engaged in the construction of their homes prefer to do roofing work on their own.
Indeed, by erecting rafters and laying roofing materials with our own hands, we can control the entire process, make adjustments to it and in the end get exactly the result we expect.
Naturally, we should not forget about the financial component: the services of professional roofers will cost you a lot (no matter how the roof advertising promises otherwise), but you can do it yourself - well, or with the help of a couple of assistants.
And this statement is fully justified, because installing a roof with your own hands is not so difficult. Of course, you will have to work hard - and not only on the roof itself, but also at a computer or books, studying the features of different roofs. But the result is worth it!
Choosing a roof
The roofs of houses that are being built in private construction (namely, we will consider them in this article) are of different types.
Depending on the roof slope allocate pitched roofs (if the slope exceeds 10) and flat. Most often, roofs of the first type are erected for this purpose, since they more effectively cope with one of the main functions of the roof - drainage.
Note! Flat roofs are not actually perfectly flat. In construction, the category of flat roofs includes roofs whose slope angle is in the range of 5 - 2.5. This angle is necessary to ensure the flow of water, since moisture stagnation zones form on a perfectly flat roof, which eventually give rise to leaks.
The shape of the roof is also important.
The most commonly used roof types are:
- Shed - roofs, the only plane of which rests on the load-bearing walls of a building of different heights. Differs in constructive simplicity, and therefore are used either for outbuildings or for outbuildings.
- Gable - formed by two planes-slopes, which are based on load-bearing walls. Easy to erect, reliable in operation, therefore they are one of the most common types of roofing systems. In addition, a gable roof looks much more expressive than a shed roof.
- Mansard (broken) roof - a kind of gable. The shape of such a roof due to the broken contour allows you to get the most voluminous under-roof space that can be used as a living space. However, the appearance of such a roof loses to both gable roofs and more complex structures.
- hip do-it-yourself roofing - a kind of duplex. It is formed by two side slopes in the form of trapezoids, and two inclined triangular pediments. Such a roof is more economical than a gable one, since the gables have to be made not from wall materials, but from roofing materials. However, here lies the main difficulty in the construction of a hip roof, because a significant part of the roofing materials (slate, tiles, corrugated board) has to be cut at the required angle. One of the options for a hip roof is a hip roof.
In addition to the above, there are domed, spire-shaped and other forms that the roof of houses can take, but they are used less often, and they still should not be built without appropriate construction preparation.
Roofing materials
But no matter what form the roof takes, no matter what roofing equipment is used in its construction, roofing materials will play a key role. .
It will ultimately depend on them how effectively the roof will protect the building from rain and wind.
As roofing materials today use:
- Slate
- Ceramic tiles
- Bituminous (flexible) tile
- metal tile
- Roof decking
- Roll roofing materials
Each of these materials has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it is hardly possible to choose the ideal material.
Therefore, before you build a roof, carefully study all the possible options for roofing materials, and choose the one that best suits your requirements (well, your financial capabilities).
Roof structure
The construction of the roof is carried out in several stages:
- First, we build the roof frame - the truss system. The rafters are long wooden (rarely metal or concrete) beams, which at one end rest on the wall of the building or the Mauerlat stand-beam, and at the other they are connected to the opposite rafters in the upper (ridge) part of the roof. For the manufacture of rafters, rectangular bars or a sufficiently thick board for the roof are used.
- We strengthen the rafter system with a lower harness (connects the rafter legs in the lower part), braces (crossbars) and vertical posts.
- From the inside, the roof may require insulation. To do this, under the rafters, we lay and fix plates of heat-insulating roofing material, which we tighten from the inside (facing the room) side with a vapor-permeable membrane.
- We lay a waterproofing film on top of the rafters, which we fasten tightly to the rafters, leaving an overhang of about 40 mm along the edges of the roof.When laying the waterproofing, we make sure that the sheets of the waterproofing material are not damaged, and we also ensure an overlap of at least 10 mm.
- On top of the waterproofing on the rafters, we fill the counter-rails - we will attach the crate to them. The crate itself can also be attached to the rafters, but then there is a risk of damage to the waterproofing, which can subsequently lead to a roof leak.
- The crate can be erected both sparse - from a bar, and solid - from boards or plywood boards. A sparse crate is used for large-sized roofing materials, such as corrugated board or metal tiles, and a solid one is used for piece roofing materials of small size.
over roof battens we fix the roofing material itself.
Roofing
The final step in fixing the roof is the laying of the roofing material itself.
Different roofing materials are laid in different ways, but the principles for laying are the same:
- The fewer joints, the tighter the roof. Each joint, and even not properly sealed, is a potential leak.
- Roofing materials must overlap. The smaller the slope angle (and hence the smaller the water flow) - the more overlap you need to do.
- Adhesive materials (e.g. shingles or roof tiles) must be additionally fixed with fasteners.
- When fixing roofing material, special attention should be paid to roof ribs, valleys (internal joints of slopes), as well as places where the roof adjoins vertical surfaces - walls, pipes, roof structures, etc.
So, if construction is in full swing on your site, the roof should be the final chord.
And if the roofing work is done successfully, then you can breathe a sigh of relief: behind another stage of the difficult path on the way to a new home!
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