Want a Flat Roof ?
When thinking about a flat roof for your new home my advice is…..a roof can be:
- Flat.
- Inexpensive.
- Have a long leak free life.
PICK ANY TWO!
Sounds harsh but my experience, and others I have talked to, confirms this opinion.
My personal experience with a flat roof was my parents house which had a pitched roof for the main house, but a flat roof for the garage.
After about seven or eight years the garage roof started to leak. Following 4 attempts to fix it they bit the bullet and had a pitched roof put on the garage. No more problems in the next 30 years.
Yes, I know many multi-storey building have a flat roof without problems but with these tall buildings the roof is a small proportion of the total cost and so the builder can invest in a more sophisticated, and expensive, roofing system.
In your one or two storey property the roof will be a much bigger proportion of the total cost.
Most builders go for a low cost, low tech roof to keep the cost down. If it’s flat it will probably last until the guarantee period runs out and then you could be faced with ongoing repairs.
These comments will also apply to balconies over habitable rooms which are also prone to leaking.
If you do decide to have a flat roof you will need plenty of large downspouts (See Roof Choice – Risk)…………..otherwise you could have several cm of water on your roof in a storm, which will really tests the waterproofing.
Want Tiles or a Colorbond Roof see What’s On The Roof