Old Flat Roof Construction

Layers of roofing felt usually three feet wide were striped in and covered with melted hot tar.

Old flat roof construction.

Bur or built up roofs have been in use for more than 100 years in the united states and are often referred to as tar and gravel roofs. For additional stability you can also use steel joists that are built into one or both of the walls. Once made of tar paper these types of roofs gradually are using more advanced materials such as fiberglass membranes. Flat roofs usually come with a 10 to 20 year warranty but can last 25 years if you build the roofs right and maintain them using commonsense rules.

On a basic level flat roof construction comes in the form of roofing timbers or joists as they are more commonly known or steels that are laid across two uprights walls in most cases. Ask any architect and they ll tell you that hardly any other type of architecture is as timeless and modern as that of flat roof houses. A flat roof is a roof which is almost level in contrast to the many types of sloped roofs the slope of a roof is properly known as its pitch and flat roofs have up to approximately 10. Yet for historic modern style buildings like this old house s cambridge tv project flat roofs are at the core of the architecture meant to reflect the broad horizontal lines of the natural landscape.

The steels or rsj s rolled steel joists are often built into one or both walls to give added stability to the roof structure. See more ideas about flat roof roof roof construction. This was a flat roof made of layers of felt and tar with a slight slope to a drain. Applied by mop early tar and asphalt roofs.

Workers would heat the asphalt tar or coal pitch to a liquid in a large kettle then mop it on the roof. It should come as no wonder then that these are experiencing a serious comeback right now. The basic construction of a flat roof starts with roofing timber that is laid across two upright items usually two walls. Gravel is an excellent fire.

Many pantiles s curved tiles as well as flat roofing tiles were used in jamestown virginia. This will give additional stability to the roof structure. May 9 2017 explore bernice ohene s board flat roof construction on pinterest. Flat roofs are an ancient form mostly used in arid climates and allow the roof space to be used as a living space or a living roof flat roofs or low slope roofs are also commonly found on commercial.

Flat roofs aren t architecturally logical as rain and snow will shed much more quickly off a sloped roof. Regardless of how new or modern a house is there is a good chance that it will be topped off with a flat roof now but if you can t picture how great they look we. In some cities such as new york and boston clay was popularly used as a precaution against such fires as those that engulfed london in 1666 and scorched boston in 1679.