Roof

Roof

A roof is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temperature, and wind. A roof is part of the building envelope.

Types and forms

Roofs can be of many forms, including but not limited to the following:

• Flat roof: A flat roof is a roof which is almost level in contrast to the many types of sloped roofs.
• Gable roof: A gable roof is a type of roof design where two sides slope downward toward the walls - and the other two sides include walls that extend from the bottom of the eaves to the peak of the ridge.
• Hip roof: A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope.
• Mansard roof: A mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper.

Materials

Roofing materials may be placed on top of a secondary water-resistant material called underlayment. Materials used for roofing include:

• Asphalt shingle: Asphalt shingles are a roofing material consisting of individual overlapping elements.
• Metal roof: A metal roof is a roofing system made from metal pieces or tiles characterized by its high resistance, impermeability and longevity.
• Slate: Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism.

See also

• List of commercially available roofing materials
• Domestic roof construction
• Stone slab roof
• Cool roof
• Green roof

References

Roof Resources
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