Flat Roof Built Up Detail

If you build and flash one right and keep it clean a good flat roof won t leak says toh general contractor tom silva who had seven different flat roofs.

Flat roof built up detail.

Tar and gravel 2. As the roof is installed more and more layers are added to increase durability and longevity hence the name built up. Built up roofing. When building a flat roof it is vital that a degree of falls is built into the construction to ensure rainwater run off.

In the warm flat roof construction there is insulation packed into every possible space where air can flow. Built up roofs are manufactured using built up layers of either tar saturated paper and liquid tar with gravel asphalt rolled asphalt or modified bitumen. Here we ll discuss types of flat roofing. Built up roofing bur this multi layer roof design is a proven system that has been around for generations.

Fortunately modern materials for covering flat roofs have improved considerably over the past two decades. Some carry warranties of up to 20 years approaching those for sloped roofing. The definition of a flat roof according to bs 6229 is having a pitch less than 10 o to the horizontal however some in the industry would consider up to 15 o as their definition of a flat roof. The major difference between the warm flat roof and the cold flat roof has to do with the air flow between the roofing timbers known as joists that help to hold up the roof.

There is a wide variety of flat roof materials available each with its own advantages and drawbacks. This flat roof system is still used in some residential applications because of its affordability and fire resistance. Going back about 120 years the grandfather of flat roofs is the built up roof or bur. Others would treat even steeper pitches as flat roofs.

Built up roofs have solved the low pitch roof problem for ages a challenge that asphalt shingles could never handle. Built up roofing bur most often used in commercial and industrial applications this flat roof system contains layers of waterproof membrane such as a treated fiberglass basemat tar and gravel to seal the flat roof surface.