Flat roof or slope roof?

I have started this blog when an unseen client of me living and working in Canada suggested me to write on my experiences.Now I keep getting mails appreciating my blog entries which help a lot people who intend to construct a house in Kerala  and those who have already started building house.

Of late,I have even started getting suggestions on topic for my blog entries.Now I will write on advantages and disadvantages of going for flat roof or slope roof concrete and in general about flat roof and slope roof again based on request from a client.

Technically,flat roof is better as concrete can be laid on a flat roof with better perfection.You can use a vibrator to compact concrete laid on flat roof whereas in slope roof you cannot do that.While laying concrete on slope roof,workers in general intentionally reduce water content even to the extent of not getting a proper mix.Whatever they may say to please the client,workers always do work in a manner convenient to them rather than doing the work more correctly even at the cost of more labour and inconveniences to them.

After laying concrete with proper mix on a slope roof,concrete tend to fall down on a slope  roof.Workers are supposed to put dry cement mix and trowel the surface again and again to make surface of concrete even and finished.I have seen workers doing this years back.But now they do not bother to do it.Instead they reduce water content to ridiculous level to prevent concrete laid falling down.

After the concrete is laid,curing is easier in flat roof as you can put brick barriers in boundaries to store water for curing over concrete laid.In the case of slope roof,you cannot do that.You will have to put jute bags on top and sprinkle water every hour to retain wetness over concreted surface which hardly any one does.At the maximum,water will be sprinkled on concreted surface in the morning and evening and in the heat of Kerala,it does not serve much purpose.

On top of concreted surface,I suggest laying of clay tiles for both flat roof and slope roof.This will reduce heat inside rooms as clay tile will absorb much of the heat.It will also take away possibility of concrete roof leakage and definitely much cheaper than going for aluminum roof over concreted roof.

Then why slope roof ? Slope roof will definitely increase visual appearance of the building as slope roof with clay tiles laid over it will give you traditional Kerala building appearance thus increasing the aesthetic appearance of the building.As slope roof raises the roof level,ceiling height inside rooms will go up thereby giving you better ventilation inside rooms in addition to better appearance even from inside house .