Dear Jonno
I kindly need an architectural drawing of the plan of the house shown in your article of 25 July 2014. I also need a floor plan plus elevations of a four-bedroom house to be built with hollow blocks, a flat corrugated roof and two bathrooms with separate toilets. It does not need to have a garage attached but should have a small, closed veranda.
Regards
Madoda
Dear Madoda
Thank you for your request of a new home. As you will know, the layout and styling shown is one of many possibilities. The ‘flat-roofed’ home is often requested by people wanting to build as economically as possible. Certainly, one can go overboard with roof styling that will add significantly to building costs. I should, however, bring to your notice some negatives about low-pitched roofing.
If your home is in an area that has frequent hail or snow, there is a danger of it collapsing. I have seen this happen several times. Also, when the snow or hail melts, it can pond on the roof and filter through the metal sheeting overlaps, damaging the ceilings and furnishings below. If the roof is a dual-pitched low roof, it acts like an aeroplane’s wings and can ‘take off’ in a high wind. I have come across many such incidents over the years.
Raising the pitch of either a mono-pitch or dual-pitch roof solves most of these potential problems. Increasing the roof pitch from, say, 5° to 15° adds only another 3% to the cost, ie, 3% of 15% – the average cost of the roof of a regular family home.
Then there is the cost of heightening the walls (parapets), to create a low-pitched roof over the house. The cost of heightening of the walls can rather go towards building up the gable ends of the house to accommodate a steeper dual-pitched roof as shown in the sketches here.
Finally, there is also the aspect of radiant heat from the sun. With a dual-pitched roof, the space between roof and ceiling can be ventilated at the gable ends to temper that heat.In the end, which of the roofs looks more aesthetically attractive? I’ll leave that to you.
As for your request for the house featured in FW 25 July issue, I’ll phone you.
Regards
Jonno
