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Roofing - designs, pitches, materials and profiles  Some guidelines to roofing, roofing designs, roof pitch and materials you can use and how these decisions may affect your new home project. When designing your home there are many major decisions to be made, and these decisions will shape the overall look and appeal of your home. Roofing will be one of the most important of these decisions, along with which outside finish you decide upon as your roof accounts for 40% of your buildings appeal. Select from the following list to move directly to the section that you are looking for: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  The hip and valley roof design is the most common in Australia due to it's ease of installation, relatively low cost, light weight and clean looking design. This is a good example of a hip and valley roof. It comprises sections of pitched roof which join with each other at a 'hip' at the top of the sheets and a 'valley' at the bottom of intersecting pitches. Where the sheets meet at the top a gap is left for expansion and contraction, and so this gap needs to be covered, the covering piece is called a 'ridge cap'. The hip and valley design is useful for rooves that have many different heights because the hips and valleys make the transition to each height look smooth. You can see the difference between hip and valley and the gable design below. Another advantage of this type of design is that you can have your guttering all connected together in one continuous line, making it look neater and allowing you less drainoff points. .jpg) ;The term 'gable' means to have a flat end on a section of roofing. Gables can be placed anywhere within a roof design: at the edge, right in the middle of a roof, or just have a plain gable at both ends like this image. Here we have a gable roof with no valleys, and instead of using a hip and valley to move to lower sections of the roof, this design has just used other gable sections to achieve the step down. This image also has a row of windows accross the upper level roof, this is an effective way of letting more light in without installing a skylight, and it looks good with the gables. With gable rooves you will need to have a seperate piece of guttering at the bottom of each section of roof, and possibly one drainoff point for each as well.  The curved roof design is just that, a curved roof. The curve can be of any diameter, any length, and be tilted or positioned anywhere within another design. Curved rooves are on average more expensive than flat rooves because the metal has to be thicker and of a specific type that is designed to be curved. Some tight diameter roofing sheets will have to be precurved at the factory or the sheets will buckle as they are screwed down. Also, in respect to fall prevention issues you will have to have specific scaffolding and other measures in place to install the roof. This all equates to a lot of money, so be sure of how much it will cost before deciding on a curved roof.  A skillion roof is just one slope of roof by itself, any size and any pitch. These rooves offer quite a different design appeal as you can see from the image, and can be used to extend onto existing buildings with little designing needed. Due to the simplicity of design, the skillion roof offers an excellent installation price and a large range of possibilities. This design of roof is mostly used with verandahs, extensions and specific architectural designs.  A dormer is simply a small gable section of roof that is placed in the middle of a flat section of a roof. As you can see with this image, there are three dormers, each with it's own window. Dormers are usually used when someone wants to access the space that would usually be unused inside the roof area. The dormers are the only way to have windows for that room without installing a seperate wall, which would mean altering the roof structure quite a bit. Dormers allow you to have windows in a second storey without the need to actually build a second storey. Note: Some homes are not designed to allow the ceiling space to be used, as the framing for the roof is only designed to carry the ceiling and the roof. Placing a floor and seperate ceiling, and using it for a room would place extra strain on the frame, possibly causing it to fail. Please consult one of our professional designers for more information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Roof pitches is a term used for a roofs degree of slope, and the pitch is stated mostly in degrees. Most new houses will have a roof pitch of between 20deg and 40deg ,this is due to the cost of installation, as the steeper the roof pitch the more the cost. It will depend totally on what you want your home to look like at the end, and a steep roof allows you to make it a feature. The slope or pitch of your roof will be displayed on your plan just like the image above so tradesmen can identify how steep it will be for quoting and installation. Whether or not to place guardrail around the roof for safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roofing Materials and Profiles  Metal roofing is becoming one of the most popular roofing materials in the construction field, and there are many reasons for this.
There are different colours, grades and many different profiles. The names, dimensions and appearances will differ between manufacturers, but essentially are all similar in application. The profile names and colour names I will be refering to may come from different manufacturers so if you want more specific details on one of the listed items, use a search engine and you should come up with plenty of information. COLOURBOND® Steel This is a registered trademark of Blue Scope Steel, and the material that the majority of metal roofing manufacturers use due to it's solid foundation in Australia. COLOURBOND® steel is covered by a warranty of up to 30 years, but as the warranties may differ with different installations, you should contact the supplier to determine the warranty terms and conditions. Colourbond® steel comes in a range of colours and many different profiles, and each profile is suited to a different application. COLORBOND® steel has a four stage production process:
The introduction of an advanced Super Polyester pre-painted coating technology ensures COLORBOND® steel retains its as-new look for longer, to deliver high-performance beauty for years to come. ZINCALUME® steel and Galvanised steel ZINCALUME® steel was developed after extensive research into improving the traditional performance of galvanised iron. By blending aluminium with zinc in an alloy coating, BlueScope Steel's researchers discovered a way to greatly enhance corrosion resistance. As a result, the extensive testing programme indicates that ZINCALUME® steel lifespan is up to four times that of ordinary galvanised steel. ZINCALUME® steel has become a part of the Australian way of life. Its been used with striking effect by leading architects to create the latest in modern building designs, though to classic roofing styles for the traditional Australian Homestead. From bustling inner-city building to charming rural properties its applications are endless. Listed below are four popular steel roofing profiles, you can order these profiles and many more in COLOURBOND® steel, ZINCALUME® steel and galvanised steel..
There are other profiles that Lysaght® stock, and many other brands with their own ranges, the above information is only to give you an idea of what is available, what they look like and where you might use them. For more information you will have to do your own research, or contact us. Click here for the full COLOURBOND® steel colour range.  The image on the right is a tiled roof, and as you can see, the apearance is totally different to a metal roof. Tiled rooves comprise of many 'tiles' placed together interlocking to form a roof. The valleys are the same material as a metal roof valley, but have the tiles overlapping the metal valley instead of the metal roof sheets. The capping is also totally different, as shown by the image. Instead of the capping being one piece like metal roofing, it too is made up of many sections of tile caps. The capping is then 'bedded' down with a special material that secures the capping together, and then the capping is 'pointed', which just means that it is finished off neatly with the colour of your roof. There are many many different makes and profiles of tiles, far too many to list. So instead we have just displayed some images below for you to look at.  
As you can see by these images, there are many different styles and colour tyles. Flat, rounded, slate look and more, and you can get cement or clay as a base material. A tiled roof can be installed on almost any pitched roof, but cannot be laid on low sloping rooves. Each manufacturer will have their own minimum pitch installation, so consult them once you have decided on the tile to use on your roof. lgalkhgra kjgujfjhv
If you want more info All the above information is provided to show you the different materials you can use for roofing, this is by no means an exaustive list. There are other roofing materials that we have not covered, so if you want more information on a material that you know about then please contact us and we will do our best to find it. Also, if you want to make a comment about our website, or think we should include some information, please contact us. |
