The magic of roofs.

Yes, that is correct. There is no such thing as "rooves".

What do we love about roofs. They keep us dry and shelter us from the sun, keep us warm in winter and cool in summer (done right). They are a good place to store boxes if there is a big enough cavity and they can be another room, if they are bigger again. It's called an attic.

Roofs can exist without walls (columns), but walls are something else without a roof.

My own personal thoughts on roofs are that building element is not where a client should be spending a large chunk of the construction budget. A roof shouldn't be a complex part of the installation as when roofs are complicated, the budget gets challenged quickly and can spiral out of control with very little pressure.

Don't get me wrong, an uncomplicated roof can be attractive. It's all about distribution of spaces and articulating the built form in a way that allows for the roof to step and indent where needed. This articulation and the stepping of roof elements creates the visual interest needed to captivate the viewer. There are some golden rules for roof design;

• K.I.S.S - keep it simple, stupid. The more complicated, the more expensive (typically).

• Design the roof at a pitch that ratios correctly visually to the height of the walls.

• Put drainage in locations that either make it a feature of the design, or conceal within the fabric of the home.

• Avoid roof rainwater spreaders.

• Box gutters should discharge outside the line of an external wall. So should extended soaker trays and roof rainwater diversion treatments\valley boards.

• Avoid cut fascias and barges where the cuts are less than 30 degrees.

• Where possible, keep roof penetrations to a minimum and high on the roof structure.

• When roof pitches are below 10 degrees, there should be a foam backing strip at ridges and upstand flashings.

• Sumps should have an overflow feature at all times.

All these items assist functional integrity of the roof waterproofing and lower risk, where the most likely issues will occur. So, keep it simple and you won't have your roof plumber ripping his hair out.

Signing off,

Revell