Tornadoes and hurricane can unleash a astounding amount of devastation on towns and cities , ripping through homes and business enterprise with high - focal ratio hint and drench everything in torrents of precipitation . Among the windswept debris and flattened mansion , you ’ll inescapably find buildings with their roofs ripped unclouded off . Hurricanes often damage 1000 of roofs , which begs the question : If the storms are n’t getting any weaker , can we at least make our roofs stronger ?
As far as human history goes , the roof is a truly ancient innovation . At some spot in prehistory , we decided to promote our trapping options from caves and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree cover , and we ’ve never look back . Roofing advancements have continued for millennium , from former thatch roofs and mud shack to monolithic geodesic domes and vaults of blade and ice . Through all these advancements , however , the introductory housing principles of tree and cave have remained . Stone and wood continue the key edifice components , and even the methods of waterproofing a shelter divide along the paths of tree and cave .
There are two way to keep precipitation from pervade a construction . Either you may make your roof a single , impermeable shell ( as a upstanding roof or a tissue layer - coated barrier does ) or you may treat it with different imbrication , waterproof tiles or shingles , which amuse the water away from the permeable gap . Against the rain , you could blow the equivalence of a solid shield or armoured scales .
Humans have construct vaulted stone ceilings for hundreds of years , but the high price have excluded most residential theatre from such la-di-da architecture . For the most part , we ’ve lived our habitation lives beneath flat and slanting wooden roofs , sealed against the element with tars , vegetation , and various tile and shingles .
Today , modernconcrete technologyallows mean householder the chance to strengthen their roofs with Oliver Stone , yet without abandoning traditional roofing style . In this article , we ’ll look at the way of life we ’ve squawk up both branches of roof with concrete roofs and concrete roofing tiles .
Constructing a Concrete Roof
When considering the possibilities of constructing aconcreteroof to protect against tempest malarky , it ’s nearly unimaginable not to think of " The Three Little Pigs . " The classic fairy tale tells the narrative of three porcine homeowner and their endeavor to barricade themselves against an malign Hugo Wolf who happens to possess hurricane - force lungs . The wolf make little work of the theatre constructed from straw and wood , but is unable to blow down the house made of brick .
An increasing number of builders have follow the third pig ’s example by using bang-up quantities of concrete in home plate building . woods may place upright the test of time under normal conditions , but it can easily fail if subject to additional loads or uplift forces from high winds – wolf - generated or otherwise .
A concrete roof is exactly what it sounds like : a satisfying slab of concrete cap the top of your star sign . precise spec vary , but most concrete roof are several inches blockheaded . For example , the Florida - free-base company Hurricane Proof Systems put up a 7 - inch ( 18 - cm ) slab of concrete in three layers .
To install such a roof , a gang first builds a framework for the intended cap . These frame can either be removable concrete class or stay on - in - place insulating concrete kind , which simply become a part of the ruined roof . Then a concrete potpourri is poured , spread out through the fabric and reinforced with brand parallel bars , which swear out as a kind of skeleton for the cured concrete . While flat roofs are the easiest to create out of concrete , complex sloping roof are also potential . These options allow concrete roof to fit near any desired housing style , though sloped roofs require a great deal more engineering and invention . Contractors can overcompensate the roof with any manner of finale , tile or herpes zoster to help give it the desire look .
Of naturally , a concrete cap requires more support than a typical wooden roof . Concrete weighs a deal , and the outdoor wall have to be capable of suffer the giant slab . national support beams can help oneself , but the construction works best when concrete rampart , floor and roof form a whole shell . For this reason , adding a concrete cap onto a wood - framed sign requires a great spate of structural alteration . If a concrete roof is n’t properly supported , it can collapse , specially if subjected to additional stresses such as earthquakes and C. P. Snow buildup . A solid concrete construction moves less under strain and can reportedly put up up to class 5 hurricane wind of more than 155 Roman mile per hour ( 249 kilometers per hr ) [ source : Shepard ] .
A concrete ceiling also cuts down the risk of impairment from ardour , termites , fungi and water damage , While floodwaters might deform or float a wooden home , a well - built concrete home will stand substantial . This give the structure itself far more salvageable if worse come to bad . In many areas , concrete ceiling building also permit structure to short-circuit certain building code and can also issue down on insurance policy premiums .
The final price tag for a residential concrete ceiling runs fairly high – often two to four times as much as a traditional wooden ceiling would cost [ source : Vanderwerf ] . That is n’t to say you ca n’t construct a concrete roof on the cheap . Less aesthetically given concrete cap are usual throughout the hurricane - prostrate Caribbean island and persona of the developing world . These construction often consist of small , cinderblock homes topped with rows of sword ray and blocks that are covered in a coat of concrete .
Of course , there ’s more than one way to apply concrete protection to your roof . On the next Sir Frederick Handley Page , we ’ll look at concrete roofing tiles .
Concrete Roofing Tiles
Just because it is n’t feasible to cap your house with a massiveconcreteroof does n’t intend you ca n’t apply a little stonelike resilience to your home . In place of asphalt shingles or the Great Compromiser roof tiles , some homeowners take to put in tile made of concrete .
Concrete tile were first infix in the 1840s by German cement manufacturer Adolph Kroher , who developed a machine to press out the tile . The technique became pop in Bavaria , and many of the roofing jobs from Kroher ’s geological era stay on to take hold up to this day .
While concrete tile do n’t ply the solid stableness of a concrete cap , they do afford shelter against up to classify 3 hail and fart speeds as strong as 125 naut mi per hr ( 201 kilometers per hr ) [ author : Portland Cement Association ] . Unlike petroleum - based shingle , concrete tile are n’t flammable .
Concrete roofing tiles often be more than some of the cheaper tiling and shingling selection , but broadly last longer . modernistic concrete mixing method also reserve the tile to be manufactured to jibe various panache and colour requirements . rather of looking like gritty gray slabs of cement , concrete tile can even have the appearance of o.k. ceramic .
However , just because the tiles are made out of concrete does n’t mean they do n’t ask veritable sustenance and even replacement from meter to time . Despite their durability , tiles can break and dislodge courtesy of earthquakes , sufficiently harsh weather and fall debris . Moss and algae can also grow over time and may require pressure laundry or chemical intervention .
Explore the links on the next page to study even more about concrete and home projects .
