The Flat Roof

Even though we call them flat, usually they are not absolutely flat as some "minimum" slope is necessary to allow the rain water to flow off the roof. Therefor the roofs which pitch is below 10 degrees (standard is approximately 3 degrees) we call the flat roofs.

The flat roofs advantages are:

- the (residential) flat roof construction is less demanding than the construction of any sloped roof (which needs an advanced construction consisting of trusses, beams, joists, etc...); - for the same reason, the (residential) flat roof construction is cheaper than the construction of any pitched roof type; - flat roofs are much easier to access (if you have the key from the right door, of course); - the roof works are much safer than on any of the pitch roofs(if you fell down from the flatroof, you probably did it intentionally). WARNING! In all the above bullets I am stressing the word in the brackets - (residential). Actually, there is a huge difference between building the residential flat roof and a flat roof for a hypermarket. Large flat roofs represent a huge challenge for any experienced roofer. The maintenance of the large flat roof is an extraordinarily expensive thing mainly during the tough winters. The load of the snow (if wet, snow produces the pressure of up to 300 kilograms on the square meter of the flat roof) is high and broken large roofs can kill. If you live in Europe you sure noticed the Bad Reichenhall case when the load of snow broke the roof of the Winter Sport Hall killing 15 people or the newest tragedy in Polish Katowice where couple of days ago (28/01/2006) the load of snow broke the roof of an exhibition hall killing 65 (!) people.

The main disadvantages of the flat roofs are:

- the flat roof coatings do not last as long as the pitch roof roofing products; - the flat roof maintenance is more demanding and the replacement of flat roof is not that easy if it comes to that.