Of all the stages of building a house, building a roof is the most difficult and responsible event. It’s not enough just to install the beams evenly, to correctly place the wooden joints, you also need to be able to calculate the critical load so that the roof does not collapse one day on the residents’ heads due to the large amount of wet snow on it, or hurricane winds, which are not uncommon in recent years. Therefore, building a roof with your own hands is an extremely responsible event. We insist on this, and within the framework of this article we will try to more fully reveal the stages of construction of non-complex roof options.
The roof is the structural element that gives the house a unique, inimitable look. Private houses are distinguished just by the roof.
Therefore, there are countless options for building this structural element, especially when we build the roof ourselves.
Roofs are divided mainly into two categories:
- Flat roof.
- Pitched or sloping roof.
Let's take a closer look at these options.
Flat roof
In our area, such a roof on residential private houses is rare, unlike in the south of Europe, for example. It all depends on the thickness and weight of the snow cover in winter.
In Ukraine, snow can weigh 180 kg per square meter, while in Moscow it can weigh up to 240 kg. Now imagine what material you need to build a roof from so that it can withstand a multi-ton snow cap plus its own weight. That's right, from reinforced concrete floors.
Most often, such floors are found on multi-storey residential buildings and garages, which are lined up according to a standard project.
The difficulty lies in the fact that the installation of such a roof must be carried out with the help of a crane, plus special equipment will bring plates, and we are building the roof ourselves. In general, it’s not convenient for yourself, and you also want a more beautiful appearance.
Such a roof is lined with roofing material or its modern, more wear-resistant counterparts: rubemast, euroroofing material. With proper installation, a roof made of roofing felt lasts 15 years without major repairs.
The exception is exploited flat roofs, which host all kinds of active play areas or green spaces.
On such a roof they make an exit from the house, as on a large terrace.But it is not possible to carry out such construction on our own, too many calculations need to be done when we build roofs of this type.
We will not consider the technique of laying a flat roof in this article, because. it is better not to do it with your own hands, but to invite an experienced team of builders, controlling the stages of construction.
pitched roof
In private construction, the construction of houses with pitched roofs of various shapes and angles is more common. The simplest option to build a roof is a pitched roof.
One supporting wall is made higher than the other by the angle of the roof, then the wooden frame, which we will consider below, and the roofing material are laid. Depending on the distance between the supports, the shape of the frame is selected.
This form does not look very presentable, although it is common in non-residential buildings in the private sector. So, what kind of roof to build.
The most common option is a gable design. Moreover, the view changes depending on the angle of inclination of the slopes. An asymmetric version of the arrangement of the planes is possible, when not only the angles of inclination are different, but also the dimensions of the slopes.
This form is also called pincer. Depending on the number of “tongs”, the roof is called so: one-gable, two-gable, etc.
And here's what a multi-gable roof frame might look like
As you can see, the construction is quite complex, without deep building knowledge, this will not work. It is better to entrust calculations and work to professionals. Although you can pre-build a roof in Revit - a special computer program.
A two-gable roof can have a mansard shape, which allows you to make a full-fledged second floor instead of an attic.
This form is the most common in private cottage construction, since it is not very difficult to create a frame for it, but the house looks quite solid.
Therefore, when asked how to build a roof - an envelope (in the old fashioned way) or an attic - the second option is preferable. This is the roof we will build now.
Create a frame
Let's create the roof frame step by step.
- Mauerlat. If the house has wooden walls, then the upper beam will be supporting, and it must be additionally fixed to the lower beams. If the walls are brick / concrete, then you need to prepare a place for the Mauerlat.
Tip: be sure to lay a waterproofing between the wood and the brick, otherwise condensation cannot be avoided, and the wood will quickly rot.
An anchor bolt or a threaded stud is driven into the wall for 2 bricks, to which the Mauerlat beam is then fixed. On the Mauerlat and the rafter leg, special matching cutouts (locks) are made so that the rafter does not slip off.
The ends of the Mauerlat are connected, as shown in the figure above, necessarily overlapped, since the main task of this beam is to evenly distribute the load along the supporting walls. We go further in the question of how to build a roof at home.
- Now install the rafters. To do this, according to the calculated roof load, we select beams or boards from 60 mm thick, with a moisture content of no more than 20%, and create a truss system. Its scheme is shown in the figure below.
The step between the rafter legs is chosen from 60 cm to 1 meter, depending on the load on the roof.
Tip: all wooden parts of the house structure are treated with flame retardants and antiseptics before assembly, which will provide fire resistance and protection against fungi, mold, and insects.
The rafter rests against the lock on the Mauerlat, which will ensure the immobility of the structure.
By the way, the rafters are layered and hanging.
The difference between them is that the layered rafters, in addition to the load-bearing walls, also rest on intermediate supports, while the hanging rafters rest only on the supporting walls. And the question of how to build a roof yourself is easier to solve with a layered option.
In residential buildings, layered structures are mainly used, because. they are lighter and easier to build a house with your own hands. Hanging rafters are used over large open spaces without mid-supports, such as farms, showrooms, stadiums, etc.
- Now that the supporting part is ready, we mount the counter-lattice and the crate. On the rafters, we first nail the bars of the counter-lattice, which serve as a support for the battens of the batten and a place for laying insulating materials. Then we install the crate.
1-roofing material, 2-sheathing, 3-counter-sheathing, 4-water insulator, 5-insulation, 6-vapor barrier.
Depending on the roofing material, we choose the final frame for laying the roof.
If the roofing material is sheet, gaps are left between the laths of the lathing. In the case of using a soft roof, an OSB slab is additionally laid under it.
- Next, the roofing material is laid. The method of installation directly depends on the type of roof and the size of the roof.
Finally, let's watch a short video of building a roof with your own hands, a video that shows the main stages of construction.
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