Flat Roofing: The Truly Versatile Experience

Flat roofing is used largely in commercial buildings and in areas of low precipitation. Flat roofs lend themselves well to desert style housing as utilized in both northern Africa and southwestern United States. It is less expensive to install for large areas of coverage than the more common roofing styles used in residential housing, due to not having to add the extra superstructure that peaked roofs require and the ease of installing on a flat surface. Flat roofs are easy to maintain because there is less concern of falling off while performing maintenance tasks, lowering the need for safety equipment.

A common feature of flat roofs in residential housing is an easy access to be able to utilize the flat roof like a sun deck. This increases the area of use for outdoor activities like sunbathing, barbecues and other outdoor activities without increasing the size of the lot. Of course if you're in a climate with high precipitation, the use of this area is of lessor value. It's hard to keep the barbecue lit when it's raining. If in a climate with large snowfalls, it can be necessary to remove snow often to keep the weight down to levels that are safe. Certain places in the world actually have snow blowers on top of the roof!

Flat roofs are not actually flat. Building codes usually require a slope of two inches from the center to edge of the roof for drainage purposes. They are constructed of rolled asphalt or urethane foam. Urethane foam is easy to maintain and add effective insulation to the building. A coating is installed on top of the foam to protect it from weather. With proper maintenance, a properly installed foam roof can last up to 20 years. Rolled asphalt flat roofs need to have insulation installed, but need no coating to protect the roof from weather. In actual deserts like in the southwestern United States, traditionally the flat roof is made from the same material the house was ,adobe, or mud bricks. While this makes for inexpensive construction materials, it will usually not meet modern building codes.

So the time to use a flat roof on your building is when you are constructing a large commercial building that will have a maintenance crew to take care of it, when space is a valuable commodity and the climate allows, or if the style of architecture demands it. One great thing about flat roofing is that you can paint over the roofing material without harming it, allowing fantastic personalizing of the space to show off your own unique taste. In addition, flat roofing comes in almost any basic color.

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