Which Roof To Choose For The Russian Climate

2023 Author: Douglas Hoggarth | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:23

The first thing to think about when installing a roof is whether the house will have an attic or the house will have an attic structure.

In Russia, an attic space was traditionally arranged under a roof. It reliably protected the house from the cold, provided ventilation and ventilation of the structural elements of the roof, and at the same time was a place for storing old things. The mysterious and somewhat mysterious room of the attic has always attracted children who loved to play there, which is why the plots of many children's books begin or take place in the attic - "A Story That Doesn't Have" M. Ende, "Timur and His Team" by A. Gaidar and others.

From a constructive point of view, the attic significantly increases the reliability and durability of the roof, and this is its undoubted advantage. However, where the plus is there and the minus: the presence of an attic increases the cost of the box compared to a house with an attic.

With the advent of foreign technologies, they increasingly began to build just such houses with an attic, and not with a traditional attic. The very concept of an attic was introduced in France in the 17th century and means a living space directly under the roof, which serves as a ceiling. At the same time, the interior space of the house is used as much as possible, which is why the cost of the house box is significantly reduced. Abroad, when building houses for the middle class, this design is preferred.

However, in the early 90s, after the first boom in the construction of attic houses in Russia, it turned out that the apparent simplicity of the attic roof hides a lot of technological subtleties. As a result, most roofs of this type were unsuccessful.

It is clear that the damage from a leak, even a small one, is incomparably higher in the attic than from leaks in the attic roof. In the first case, water enters the room directly and, if repair is needed, it is carried out in the living room. Bad experience greatly disappointed many housebuilders and forced them to return to the attic.

Let's try to figure out where the truth is. The main reason for trouble with a mansard roof is that such a roof is exposed not only to moisture from above when it rains or snows, but, surprisingly, from below. At first, this was completely incomprehensible to unskilled builders. It was the moisture contained in the air coming from living quarters and condensing on the inner surface of the roof due to the temperature difference, and this, unfortunately, the law of physics, became the destroyer of attics. I had to observe an amazing paradox when, in clear cool weather, a real "rain" poured into the house from the roof of the attic floor. It turns out that there was so much condensation on the inner surface of the roof that within a few months it completely soaked a thick layer of insulation and after that spilled down.

To avoid such a nuisance, in the attic technology, a vapor barrier is provided to prevent warm humid air from living quarters up to the tiles. In addition, the inner cold surface of the tile with the help of special design solutions must be well ventilated and have a waterproofing layer under it. And between these protective layers, a reliable thermal insulation system is laid. Then there will be no trouble with condensation. In fact, there are many of these subtleties and it is completely unnecessary for a layman to know them. The main thing is that the construction company that has undertaken to build the house knows this.

Now, with the information provided, you yourself can make an informed decision about which roof system to choose - attic or attic.

Next, you need to decide on the type of roofing.

Almost all global manufacturers of roofing coverings are now represented on the Russian market. But material, outwardly the same, can cost very, very differently from different companies. Often the reason is not at all that they are trying to sell you the same thing that is around the corner, but twice as expensive, although this happens. It turns out that most roofing materials are produced for different climatic zones. And the milder the climate, the lower the cost. Therefore, many unscrupulous suppliers bring to us cheap shingles that protect houses well, but only in Africa, and not in our climate. Moreover, outwardly it is almost impossible to distinguish it from a similar one intended for Canada. And Russia is not at all the same thing not only with Europe, but even with the Scandinavian countries. Their design winter temperatures are minus 5-10 degrees, while ours are 35-40. Therefore, it is better to find out what type of roofing is suitable for our climate with the help of a specialist.

But buying shingles is half the battle. The composition of the roof covering includes a huge number of elements. Snow holders, ridge and valley elements (the author doesn't swear here - it's just that they are named), ventilation devices, a drainage system, stairs for access to television antennas, special films, gaskets and much more. Sometimes their number reaches 50-60 items. All of them were developed and applied by the manufacturer for a reason, and replacing, for example, a branded vapor barrier film with an excellent domestic roofing felt leads to unpleasant consequences. Naturally, when a layman calls the supplier and asks how much such and such a tile costs, he is told the cost of only the tile itself. And the fact that 49 more items are still needed for it, which will triple the price,Not everyone speaks (after all, this was not asked). As a result, misunderstandings arise.

The Customer often comes and, showing the Iz Ruk v Ruki newspaper, is puzzled trying to figure out why the tiles in the advertisement are 1.5-2 times cheaper than the builders offer. Many, not trusting the experts, buy such, well, very cheap tiles themselves. As a rule, this ends with one thing: the constructed roof has to be disassembled, and the unusable material thrown away.

I'll tell you a life story. One of my acquaintances, the smartest man and an extremely erudite professional in his field, someone suggested "on the occasion" to purchase a tile at an incredibly low price. He, of course, agreed, but still decided to check the purchased roofing material. The examination showed that there are not enough components. An acquaintance of mine puzzled the Supplier accordingly. Admitting a mistake, he assured that everything would be in order, and in turn offered to cover the roof with the forces of his workers at an extremely inexpensive price, who, moreover, would themselves solve the problems with all the missing components. Shook hands. Having covered the roof, the workers quickly got ready to leave. But, having learned from previous experience, the Customer nevertheless decided to conduct an examination of the work done. It turned out that the tiles were not installed correctly. The unfortunate workers undertook to fix everything. Having removed the tiles, they began to lay them again. But during assembly and disassembly, most of the tiles were damaged. After calculating the upcoming costs, the Supplier and his workers simply suddenly disappeared. As luck would have it, the tiles themselves turned out to be of a rather rare type, and it took a month until a new company was found that knew where to buy it. It was already deep autumn. The house stood with a dismantled roof. Heavy rains have started. Brick walls and floor slabs got wet and saturated with water, and then the first frost struck. The water in the walls froze and they cracked. Having looked at all this, the owner was forced to simply sell his house. This is what the savings have turned out to be. The supplier and his workers just suddenly disappeared. As luck would have it, the tiles themselves turned out to be of a rather rare type, and it took a month until a new company was found that knew where to buy it. It was already deep autumn. The house stood with a dismantled roof. Heavy rains have started. Brick walls and floor slabs got wet and saturated with water, and then the first frost struck. The water in the walls froze and they cracked. Having looked at all this, the owner was forced to simply sell his house. This is what the savings have turned out to be. The supplier and his workers just suddenly disappeared. As luck would have it, the tiles themselves turned out to be of a rather rare type, and it took a month until a new company was found that knew where to buy it. It was already deep autumn. The house stood with a dismantled roof. Heavy rains have started. Brick walls and floor slabs got wet and saturated with water, and then the first frost struck. The water in the walls froze and they cracked. Having looked at all this, the owner was forced to simply sell his house. This is what the savings have turned out to be.and they cracked. Having looked at all this, the owner was forced to simply sell his house. This is what the savings have turned out to be.and they cracked. Having looked at all this, the owner was forced to simply sell his house. This is what the savings have turned out to be.

The practice of our construction company has shown that, taking into account the climatic features of Russia, two types of roofing correspond to the optimal combinations of the "price + quality" indicator.

Soft scaly roofing made of polymer modified bitumen with ceramic backing. It is cheap, durable (the manufacturer's warranty period is usually 20-30 years), ceramic powder allows you to get a wide range of colors, is easy to cut and therefore easier to fit on complex roof shapes. In addition, it is very lightweight and does not require powerful rafters and lathing. One of the essential features is that the tiles must be laid on a completely flat surface, for which special plywood is used. In Europe, it is most popular in the construction of modern houses for the middle class.

Plastic coated metal tile. This coating is more expensive than the previous one, but stronger. The roof includes a very large number of components. As a rule, roofing sheets are supplied from the manufacturer already cut to size. This requires a very high degree of precision when issuing project documentation. On-site fitting is difficult and requires additional painting in areas of damaged factory protective coating. To a greater extent than the previous coating, it forms condensation on the inner surface and is much more laborious and difficult to work with. Generally speaking, these tiles can only be installed by highly professional and, as a result, expensive firms. The work of any home-grown craftsmen is categorically contraindicated. The surface is slippery and large masses of snow on the roof can slide downwards,therefore, with such tiles, it is necessary to use snow holders and snow cutters. More than once I had to see how a huge snow-ice snowdrift slides off the roofs built 3-4 years ago, without snowmobiles (then these additional elements were almost never on sale), destroying everything around the house.

The weight of the tiles is also low and therefore does not require special powerful floor structures. This coating has now become even more popular in Russia than abroad.

Tiled roofs made of natural clay (or a modern analogue: cement-sand tiles) and copper are more expensive. Moreover, in the case of using natural tiles, the price of the roof increases very significantly. And not only because of the cost of the tile itself, but also because its weight is very large (40-50 kg / sq.m), more powerful rafters and other structural elements of the roof are required. In addition, natural tiles require particularly careful installation and sealing of joints. Abroad, on responsible houses, especially in northern countries, it is even put in several layers (sometimes up to three). I must admit that this is, of course, a wonderful, environmentally flawless material with great durability. In addition, the historicism of the appearance of a house with natural tiles allows you to get the most powerful architectural effect.

Copper coating - although very expensive, but an excellent roofing material traditional for Russia. The domes of temples and roofs of palaces were covered with copper. The durability of the copper roof is impressive (100-200 years). But there are also disadvantages - increased noise during rain. In the west, a copper roof is a sign of prestige and solidity, but we still rarely use it.