Flat Roof Design For Snow

Flat roofs must be installed on a very specific mild slope so that the water can drain off properly and if the drains and scuppers aren t cleared regularly this increases the chance of a leak.

Flat roof design for snow. Flat roofs can t possibly support all the extra weight a totally valid concern but rest assured your architect and engineer have this in mind when designing the roof structure. In areas where the ground snow load p g exceeds 10 pounds per square foot psf 0 479 kn m 2 the following additional information shall also be provided regardless of whether snow loads govern the design of the roof. Flat roofs are efficient economic to construct and can look beautiful. Flat roofs aren t architecturally logical as rain and snow will shed much more quickly off a sloped roof.

Wind seismic building weight furniture occupants etc. Snow is actually one of the easiest to design for and all. Combined with the snow catching ability low and flat roofs are able to blend in with their natural surroundings quite seamlessly. They can be extremely low.

Snow exposure factor c e. But now flat roofs often are constructed with fewer layers because of improved waterproofing technology. In this video i dispel 5 common myths surrounding the use of flat roofs in snowy climates. Snow load importance factor i s.

Flat roof snow load p f. 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. Flat roofs are hard to replace. Thermal factor c t.

But in flat roofed homes they re extra important. Certainly the weight of snow can add up but your home must support a variety of loads. A flat roof is no more or less likely to leak than a pitched roof it all comes down to the design and the competence with which it is installed. Of course you don t need to live in a modern house to deal with a flat roof.

This could mean flat roofs may not raise the same red flags they used to. They help with roof snow removal and rainfall by funneling it away from your roof and siding. Some observers suggest it s harder to replace a flat roof than a traditional pitched shingle roof because of the labor required to remove its layers especially on older flat roofs. If you live in the us our snow load calculator compares the total weight on your roof with the permissible load calculated according to the standards issued by the american society of civil engineers regarding the minimum design loads for buildings and other structures asce7 16.

That means 12 inches of snow on a flat roof creates an additional r 12 of insulation that arrives at a time of year when you most need it. If your drainage system isn t functioning well it can cause water to pool on the top of the roof. But they can also be susceptible to damage during the winter. Stay ahead of winter s worst with these tips.

The very notion of shelter is linked to the image of a roof above.