Since the design of garage roofs is usually quite simple and most often comes down to the usual shed option for adjacent garages or flat for prefabricated garages with reinforced concrete slabs. However, even with such a simple design, the question quite arises of how to cover the roof of the garage, which this article is intended to answer.
There are various options for garage roofs, in addition to shed and flat ones, in the case of private detached garages, a gable roof is widely used, which allows you to equip a spacious attic space on the garage, and with a good designer’s taste, such a garage will be difficult to distinguish from a residential building.
In order to save money, people often think about how to make the roof of a cooperative garage with their own hands.
This is a rather difficult stage of construction, in which even minor errors are unacceptable, since even a minimal deviation from the norms building even a shed garage roof may lead to adverse consequences. Construction flaws can, for example, be evidenced by a leaking garage roof.
Do-it-yourself garage roof construction consists of several stages:
- Construction of the rafter system;
- Carrying out waterproofing;
- Roofing material;
- Arrangement of thermal insulation;
- Vapor barrier installation;
- Lining from the inside.
If we build a garage roof without insulation, then the procedure is noticeably simplified, but, naturally, the conditions in which the car will be in the winter season worsen.
A cold roof does not allow for effective heating of the room, therefore, to ensure optimal conditions, it is still recommended to carry out insulation.
Next, we will talk about what to make the roof of the garage from and what material is better to choose to cover it.
This information will be useful not only to those who are going to equip the garage roof on their own, but also to those who plan to hire roofing specialists to do this work, because without understanding the process, it becomes impossible and effective control over the correct and high-quality erection and coating of the garage roof.
To begin with, it’s worth talking about the best way to cover the roof of the garage, since the material used for self-arranging the roof of the garage should provide not only simplicity and ease of installation, but also reliability, durability and affordability of repairing the future roof.
It should also be borne in mind that some of the coatings are not recommended for do-it-yourself installation, since their use requires certain skills and abilities.
The choice of material for covering the garage roof
Thanks to the wide range of roofing materials offered today, the choice of what material to cover the garage roof with depends primarily on the financial capabilities of its owner.
When choosing a material, it should also be taken into account that in addition to protection against water in the form of precipitation and melting snow, the roof must provide protection against the penetration of burglars and hijackers.
It is quite logical that the roofs of garages are usually made more modest than the roofs of residential buildings. At the same time, the neighborhood of a garage and a residential building imply a single architectural style of their design, and an untidy garage next to a beautiful house will look at least unaesthetic.
Therefore, it is advisable to at least cover the roof of the garage with the same material as the roof of the house itself, which will create harmony between them and serve as a decoration for the site.
In the case of using expensive roofing material, such as metal tiles, you should resort to the help of qualified roofers, since without the necessary knowledge and experience this work is almost impossible to perform.
If the garage is located at a distance from a residential building, then you can choose a cheaper option for roofing material, such as slate, roofing felt, galvanized metal (folded roof or corrugated board), etc.
When erecting such roofs, neither professional skills nor building education are required; they are built independently without any problems.
It is only necessary to follow certain rules and have a general idea of how to cover the roof of the garage, making it durable and protected from water and other external influences.
Roof covering with ruberoid
To use roofing material as a material for the roof of the garage, it is necessary to equip a solid rigid frame from the crate.
In the case when the design of the garage roof provides for the formation of a reinforced concrete slab (for example, a flat roof), the roofing material provides not only good waterproofing, but also a fairly durable coating at a low price.
Garage roof screed should be carried out as evenly as possible to ensure good adhesion of the build-up carpet. Roofing material installation also has the advantage that this material is produced in rolls, due to which the installation procedure is greatly simplified.
The garage roof is covered with three layers of this material: there are two lining layers on the bottom, and the top layer is covered with dense dressing.
Garage roof roofing work is carried out in the following sequence:
- The base is smeared with bitumen grease and covered with the first layer of roofing material parallel to the ridge. Laying should be done with an overlap in strips, the length of the overlap is 15 cm. At the edges of the roof, the roofing material is wrapped 15-20 cm under the visor.For reliability, the upper and lower edges of the layer are additionally nailed with nails for slate, the distance between the nails is usually 30-50 centimeters.
- Then the entire surface is covered with bituminous grease and the second lining layer is laid, the stripes of which should be perpendicular to the stripes of the previously laid carpet, the edges are also wrapped.
- The double layer of roofing material is once again covered with a bitumen lubricant, after which the final cover layer of the material is laid in the same way.
The service life of a roof covered in this way is from ten to fifteen years. In addition to roofing material, you can use its more modern counterparts: euroroofing material, rubemast, etc. The increased plasticity of these materials allows extending the service life of the coating up to 30 years.
Important: when filling the garage roof with guide materials, the laying of the strips should be done very carefully, avoiding the occurrence of wrinkles, due to which the coating will quickly become unusable.
Covering the garage roof with galvanized iron
The low weight of this roof allows you to reduce costs due to the roof frame, since it will be enough to install rafters with a pitch of 90-120 cm, and for lathing you can use bars 50x50, 30x70 or 30x100 mm, depending on the load obtained as a result of calculating the roof. The procedure for erecting such a roof is quite simple.
A clear advantage of corrugated board and seam roofing is that the galvanized smooth sheet does not retain snow and water, ensuring the reliability of the structure.
But it should be borne in mind that the laying of the seam roof is carried out using special equipment, so you have to resort to the help of specialists.
Self-execution of the roof is best done using corrugated board, usually HC brand material is used for roofing. The corrugated shape and the ability to select the desired size of the finished sheet greatly simplify its installation.
The fastening of the corrugated board is carried out using rivets or self-tapping screws 4.8x38, installed in the depth of the corrugation. In the case of a gable roof, laying starts from the bottom up from the front side. Alignment of a professional flooring is made on an overhang.
The edges of the sheet are fastened in each wave in every second fold along the overhang and ridge and along the perimeter in increments of 0.5 mm in the crate bar. The design of the sidewalls, edges and upper part of the roof is made using special profiles.
The service life of this coating is fifty years.
Slate garage roof
Slate is a light slab of asbestos cement, before installing which it is necessary to pre-drill holes in it, into which galvanized nails are driven in with an allowance of 2-3 millimeters.
Procedure do-it-yourself slate roofing similar to the procedure for corrugated board, it should only be remembered that the inner corners of the masonry spans should be sawn off for a tighter fit, since the slate has a greater sheet thickness.
The popularity of slate has recently been sharply declining, since it is inferior to corrugated board both in ease of installation and in most parameters. The service life of the coating is from 30 to 40 years.
Garage roof waterproofing
Talking about how to properly cover the roof of the garage, we must not forget that waterproofing is a very important coating.
As a waterproofing, a thin membrane is usually used to prevent moisture from entering the lower layers of the roofing, which is especially important in the case of an insulated garage roof.
Such a membrane has a dual effect, since it:
- Does not pass moisture from the outside;
- Releases steam from the inside.
Such a structure of the membrane provides "breathing" of the wool insulation, preventing it from getting wet and losing its thermal insulation qualities.
When performing waterproofing, it is necessary to take into account the mandatory gaps for ventilation of the membrane, leaving a gap of 25 mm between it and the roofing material, as well as observing a distance of 50 mm to the insulation.
This is usually achieved by laying the membrane on the rafters and building a crate on top of it. Another option is to mount the membrane on the finished frame, after which additional fastening bars are stuffed.
Strips of material are laid from the bottom up with an overlap in increments of 10-15 centimeters. The seam line is usually marked by the manufacturer as a dotted line directly on the film. The membrane is carefully glued with sealed tape, after which it is attached to the frame with iron staples using a stapler.
In order to avoid damage to the membrane during operation, it should be laid freely, but at the same time, tension or sagging of the coating should not be allowed, and wrapped around the edges by 15-20 centimeters. It is also important not to confuse the upper and lower sides when laying the membrane - they are usually marked by the manufacturer.
Garage roof insulation
Finally, let's talk about how to insulate the roof of the garage.Modern materials for thermal insulation make it possible to perform this work without having much experience in the field of construction.
The most common garage roof insulation material is glass wool. To cover pitched roofs, this insulation is produced in rolls, the width of which corresponds to the standard rafter pitch, and has an increased density.
Briefly about how to cover the roof of the garage with glass insulation. If the thickness of the bars allows you to create a hole for ventilation between the waterproofing and the insulation, then the insulation is laid between the rafters by surprise, otherwise the glass wool is attached over the rafters.
In both cases, the thickness of the thermal insulation layer is about 10 centimeters.
A vapor barrier is placed on top of the glass wool to protect against water vapor from inside the room. Bars are stuffed on top, on which the cladding is attached (drywall or dry plaster, fiberglass boards, lining, etc.).
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