When building a house, most often the most expensive element is the roof, which determines the first impression of its appearance. This article will discuss which roof to choose and what basic materials can be used to cover it.
The choice of roofing material is a very important step in building a house, since an attempt to save on it can lead to a significant increase in costs during operation.
The roof is designed to protect the entire building, so the quality of its implementation will have a huge impact on the safety and longevity of the house.
When choosing a roof, you need to understand that its construction requires certain skills and abilities, since the roof structure uses a whole range of different elements and building materials:
- truss system;
- crate;
- Thermal insulation layer;
- Steam and waterproofing;
- roofing material;
- Rainwater drainage system;
- Roof heating system in winter.
First of all, most developers are interested in the question of how to choose roofing materials that directly affect both the reliability and the attractiveness of the roof, and hence the whole house.
slate roof
Thinking about how to build a roof - which one to choose, most often developers stop at slate. Slate, the main components of which are asbestos fiber and cement, has been used in construction for many years.
Currently, it is manufactured using modern technologies, slate sheets can have any size and any number of waves, their color options are offered for every taste and for any design solution. This material also has a rather high service life, averaging 30 to 40 years.
The main positive characteristics, due to which the choice of material for roofing can fall on slate, include the following:
- Low cost;
- Fairly simple installation procedure;
- Resistance to influence of low temperatures;
- Low heating of the sheet from the inside in hot weather;
- Good resistance to mechanical stress, allowing it to withstand the weight of the snow cover on the roof;
- Good thermal insulation performance of asbestos cement and the absence of condensate under it, which eliminates the need to waterproof the roof;
- Good sound absorption, which is especially useful for mansard roofs;
- Asbestos cement is a non-combustible material.
However, this material also has a number of disadvantages:
- Water protection indicators decrease over time;
- Brittle edges of sheets that easily chip and crumble, especially along the sheet;
- If any area on the roof is constantly in the shade, lichen and moss will grow on it;
- Asbestos is a material harmful to human health.
Slate roofing is most suitable for those who are interested in a reliable, but inexpensive roof that does not differ in special aesthetics.
In addition, when deciding which roof to choose, you can stop at euroslate, which, despite the name, has nothing to do with standard slate, since it is made from sheets of cardboard impregnated with bitumen.
The laying of this material is also quite simple, and the positive characteristics of euroslate include resistance to moisture, external loads and influences. The service life of such a roof before the first repair is about fifteen years.
Steel roofs
Roofing steel has long been slate's main competitor to roofing contractors.
This material is also very inexpensive, but at the same time it can be used to cover roofs with complex structures, as well as elements such as cornice overhangs, valleys, wall gutters, grooves, downpipes, etc.
In modern construction, galvanized steel 0.5 mm thick is most often used for roofing, both sides of which are coated with an anti-corrosion zinc coating. The service life of a steel roof is 10 to 20 years.
The positive qualities of a steel roof are:
- Low material cost;
- Comparative ease of installation;
- Ability to cover complex roof structures;
- Low weight, allowing for lightweight roofing, which also reduces the overall cost of roofing.
The disadvantages of roofing steel include an increased noise level and a rather unattractive appearance of the roof, so this material is more often used for temporary buildings, cottage garages, and for those developers who are thinking about how to choose a roof as cheaply as possible.
Aluminum roofs
Aluminum is used in the manufacture of seam and metal roofing. For the production of aluminum tiles, material is used in rolls, already covered with the necessary coatings.
Due to the relatively low weight, this type of roof can be used on almost any crate.
In addition, aluminum roofing has such positive characteristics as long service life, color stability and very high resistance to harmful influences.
To fasten the aluminum roof to the base, special “tongues” are used, called kleimers, which compensate for the thermal movement of the roof caused by temperature changes at different times of the year.
Useful: the use of kleimers and folding allows you to install such a roof without drilling a single hole in the material.
Roofs made of aluminum do not need additional maintenance, and their service life is from 100 to 150 years.
Roofs from a metal tile
Of all types of metal roofing, the most popular is metal tile roof, which is a sheet of steel, the thickness of which is 0.4-0.5 mm.
In the manufacture of sheets, the following coatings are applied, which provide high strength and durability, as well as good resistance to negative external influences:
- Zinc or zinc-aluminum alloy;
- Composition for protection against corrosion;
- polymer coating;
- Protective varnish.
The construction market has a wide range of metal tiles of various shapes and colors, which makes it quite easy to decide which roof to choose for a particular house.
In addition, metal tiles are distinguished by a polymer coating, on which its quality and price depend:
- Polyester, which is based on a glossy polyester paint. This option is the most economical.
- Matte polyester, the paint is matte, not glossy. It is characterized by increased resistance to mechanical stress.
- Plastisol is a polyvinyl chloride-based coating that has the greatest thickness, resistance to atmospheric and mechanical influences, but burns out under the action of sunlight.
- PVDF is a glossy coating consisting of acrylic and polyvinyl fluoride, which has the highest service life, as well as resistance to fading under the rays of the sun and mechanical stress.
- Pural is a relatively new coating based on polyurethane. It is characterized by good resistance to diurnal temperature changes, corrosion and sunlight.
The positive properties of metal tiles include the following:
- Relatively low price;
- Simplicity and convenience of installation;
- High service life for simple roof structures;
- Resistance to temperature, weather and ultraviolet influences;
- Attractive appearance, a wide range of coating textures and colors.
The main disadvantages of this coating can be called a high noise level during wind or rain, as for any metal roof.
Important: Proper installation allows you to direct the blows of the metal tile to the crate, reducing noise, and also eliminate the sound of rainwater descending into the gutters.
The service life of this coating reaches 50 years. Metal roofing is a good choice for home builders looking for aesthetic appearance and reliability for relatively little money.
Roofs from corrugated board
This coating, made from corrugated metal sheets, combines the main positive features of steel and metal roofing.
Sheets can be either galvanized similar to steel roofing or galvanized with a polymer coating, as in the case of metal roofing, and even the coatings themselves are practically the same.
Roof decking polymer coated is the most common option today due to its relatively low price, attractive appearance and smooth material shapes.
This type of roofing has the same disadvantages and advantages as metal tiles and galvanized steel. The service life of the material depends on the specific type of coating and can range from 10 to 50 years.
Ceramic roof tiles
This material has been used for roofing since ancient times.
In modern construction, two types of ceramic tiles are used:
- Classical, made from baked clay;
- Cement-sand, for the manufacture of which a mixture of sand and cement is used, as well as natural dyes.
The second type of tile is cheaper than the classic one, while practically not inferior to it in terms of its technical parameters.
Outwardly, both types of tiles look similar, a significant difference can only be found in the thickness of the tiles: classic tiles are thinner and more elegant, while cement-sand tiles are thicker, their edges seem to be chopped off.
There are three main types of ceramic tiles for roofing: wavy, flat and grooved, according to which the method of laying this material is selected.
The main positive characteristics of roofing ceramic tiles are:
- High-quality heat saving;
- Increased resistance to moisture and frost;
- Low noise level during rain;
- Elegance of appearance;
- A wide range of shapes and colors of tiles;
- Environmental Safety.
The main disadvantage of natural tile is its rather high price.
In addition, for the installation of roofing from this material, which has a rather large weight, it is necessary to strengthen the structure of the rafter system, which further increases the overall cost of construction.
The service life of this coating exceeds a hundred years, it is most suitable for those who appreciate naturalness and classic aesthetics.
New roofing materials
Lately for roof coverings synthetic materials are also used, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sheets and bituminous fibrous sheets made from synthetic fibers impregnated with bitumen.
The front side of the sheets is covered with a decorative and protective layer of any color.
The standard sheet dimensions are 2000x950 mm, the thickness is 2.7 mm, the weight of one sheet is from 5.8 to 6 kilograms. The fastening of the material is carried out with the help of nails equipped with plastic gaskets.
Useful: synthetic roofing materials produced by the French company Ondulin are most widely used, due to which any bitumen-fibrous roofs are often called ondulin.
The advantages of this type of roofing include a high service life (15-25 years) and a fairly low cost, as well as low weight and ease of installation, even in the absence of knowledge and skills.
Nevertheless, roofing material has the negative features inherent in any other synthetic material. Bituminous fiber roofing is an excellent choice if you want to build a modern roof cheaply and quickly.
That's all I wanted to talk about the choice of roofing and materials for covering it. When choosing a material, you should, first of all, remember that not only the appearance, but also the overall reliability of the roof, and therefore the entire building, depends on the right choice.
Therefore, in order to save money, you should not take a cheaper material that is not suitable for some parameters to the design of a particular roof.
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