Building Research Establishment Digest

CI/SfB 1976

DIGEST

(27.1)

312
August 1986

Flat roof design: the technical options

The term flat roof is used in UK codes and standards to denote a roof having a slope of up to 10 (about 1 in 6) to provide drainage. The term low-pitched is also used to denote the upper end of this range. Flat roofs are characterised by having a continuous waterproof layer. They have been used on buildings where the traditional pitched roof design, with a discontinuous waterproof layer, could have been used. There are, though, other cases, especially on large buildings of irregular plan, where they may provide the only feasible solution. Experience has shown that high maintenance costs can occur with flat roofs. Many of the problems investigated by BRE in the UK could have been avoided at the design and construction stages if designers and constructors had appreciated fully the limitations of the various design options, and how appropriate each was to the particular building. It is possible to design flat or low-pitched roofs that will give satisfactory service and acceptable maintenance costs provided that sound design is supported by correct selection of materials and components, and followed by good standards of workmanship during construction and planned inspection and maintenance in service. This Digest replaces Digest 221 which is now withdrawn.

Roof requirements
Among the prime requirements for a roof is that, in conjunction with other relevant building elements, it should protect the occupants and the structure of the building it covers from the external environment. In practice, the roof designer usually has to provide a rainproof layer, means of excluding wind and snow, sufficient thermal insulation and a supporting structure. The structure must be able to resist wind and snow loads; these can be more severe on flat than on pitched roofs. In the case of wind, the uplift forces increase with decreasing roof pitch (Digest 119). With snow, the loadings normally decrease with steep roof pitches, although significant loadings can be caused locally on the roof by drifting and by any obstructions (Digest 290). Higher thermal insulation also increases snow loadings. The designer must also recognise the implication for his design arising from the activities of the occupants. Most activities generate moisture to some extent; this increases the vapour pressure of the interior air over that of the air surrounding the building. Unless prevented, there is a movement of the usually wetter interior air into the fabric of the building, including the roof, with the danger of condensation occurring on the colder parts of the construction. The roof designer has also to acknowledge the risk of failure of the waterproof layer itself or of leakage from some detail associated with it. In addition, roofs have often to be completed in other than ideal weather conditions. If this is not recognised by the roofing contractor and appropriate measures taken, the subsequent weathertightness performance may be affected. Finally, under all working conditions, unless close quality control is exercised, poor workmanship can occur during construction that will lead to the entry of water. Whether from condensation or leakage such wetting, especially if entrapped, can be difficult to dry out and can affect the properties of many materials used in roof construction; indeed, it can result in actual deterioration, ie an irreversible change in properties. The implications of moisture ingress are, therefore, a major consideration in the design of flat roofs.
Building Research Establishment Ltd Garston Watford WD2 7JR Telephone: 01923 664664 Facsimile: 01923 664098

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Summary of flat roof requirements
q To protect the occupants and the structure of the building from the weather, in

particular to prevent water penetration.

q To control heat exchange between inside the building and outside without

causing a risk of condensation in the structure. In meeting the requirements for a roof the designer initially has a number of choices available to him. It is assumed in this digest that a horizontal or lowpitched roof with a continuous fully-supported waterproof layer is chosen in preference to a pitched-roof design. The waterproof layer usually consists of mastic asphalt, or of multi- or single-layer roofing membranes of bituminous felt, or rubber or plastics sheet. The technical options available to the designer then depend on the relative positions of the deck, the thermal insulation and the waterproof layer. This digest discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the various arrangements for these three constituent parts, and other factors which influence the choice of a particular roof design from the available options. This digest does not consider the use of metal coverings. With these, metal sheets with mechanical joints constitute a non-continuous covering and a special design approach is necessary, in particular to avoid corrosion and water entrapment.

Flat roof construction: principal functional parts Waterproof membrane Prevents water getting through the roof into the structure and to the interior Reduces heat exchange through the roof Supported by the primary structure; provides a base for other parts of the roof. In a structural concrete deck, this also constitutes the loadbearing structure Transmits the weight of the roof and any loading on the roof to structural elements of the walls

Insulation Deck

Loadbearing primary structure: supporting the deck

The technical options

Of the various possibilities for the arrangement of the constituent functional parts of a flat roof with fully-supported continuous waterproof layer, only three can be advocated as both practicable and technically acceptable. They are the colddeck, and two types of warm-deck design: the sandwich and the inverted (or protected membrane) constructions. First option: cold-deck or warm-deck design The first option is between the cold-deck and warm-deck arrangements. In the cold-deck design, the principal thermal insulation is placed immediately above the ceiling with a void, vented to the outside, between the insulation and the deck. This arrangement results in the roof covering and the deck being substantially colder in winter than the interior of the building.

In the two warm-deck designs, the insulation is above the deck; the cavity, if provided, does not require ventilation for satisfactory performance of the roof. This arrangement results in the structural deck and the ceiling being at a temperature close to that of the interior of the building.

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Cold-deck: advantages The waterproof membrane is directly supported by the deck and is easily accessible for repair. It can be readily replaced, if degraded by exposure to weather, without sacrificing the insulation.
Non-rigid insulant material can be laid in position but it may require some securing in roofs with high ventilation rates. The roof is designed to allow the ventilation of any water vapour leaking from occupied spaces below.

Warm-deck: advantages Roof cavities are not necessary unless required for services, or if a separate ceiling is provided. If they are used, cavities do not need ventilation, except in cases such as swimming pool roofs where pressurisation with fresh air may be necessary.
Fire barriers can readily be accommodated without making special provisions for ventilation. A continuous vapour barrier can be readily provided on flat decks to prevent condensation in the insulation. The structural deck is protected by the insulation from extremes of temperature.

Cold-deck: disadvantages Effective ventilation may be difficult to achieve, particularly in roofs of complex plan. BS 6229 states that total ventilation opening divided equally between opposite sides of the roof should be not less than 0.004 times the plan area of the roof. Openings up to twice this are preferable in sheltered areas. The ventilation apertures should be placed to allow adequate through ventilation. This will normally be achieved by natural pressure differences caused by wind around the roof. Some features can present additional difficulties: solid strutting, cavity barriers to restrict spread of fire and smoke, irregular roof shape or a roof abutting another roof or wall can all cause problems in achieving effective through-ventilation. Particularly in the case of large, complex roof areas, it may be necessary to provide additional apertures for ventilation that penetrate the waterproof membrane. It is important that ventilation is provided in each discrete cavity.
Increased joist depth may be necessary to accommodate extra insulation if thermal resistance of the roof must be increased to meet Building Regulations. Means must be provided to prevent vermin (Digest 238) or snow entering ventilation apertures, and allowance made for any reduction in the effective ventilation area that this causes. If a cold-deck design is used over an area of high moisture hazard (eg a swimming pool), the cavity must be ventilated by pressurised, fresh, unheated air to prevent any build-up of wet air in the roof. The provision of an effective air and vapour barrier at ceiling level is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve; damage or puncturing is likely during installation and provision must often be made for light fittings etc which penetrate the membrane. At these positions, air leakage can result in warm, moist air streams striking the cold deck with resultant localised condensation.

Warm-deck: disadvantages The waterproof membrane and insulation must be securely held to the deck against wind uplift forces.
If replacement of the waterproof membrane becomes necessary, the sacrifice of the insulation may be unavoidable. The insulation must be able to support maintenance traffic and equipment. Failures in the waterproof membrane may be difficult to locate and repair. If the roof covering is fully adhered to the insulation, the correct insulating material must be used if the risk of fatigue damage is to be avoided.

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First option

Cold deck roof (insulation below the deck)

Warm deck roof (insulation above the deck)

Ventilated cavity 50 mm min

Second option

Warm deck: Sandwich roof

Solar reflective chippings

Warm deck: Inverted roof

Surface loading paving stones or gravel or bonded loading layer

Waterproof membrane

}
{

Deck (alternative materials)

Insulation

Vapour check (cold deck) Vapour barrier (sandwich roof) Plaster or plasterboard

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Second option: sandwich or inverted roof If the cold-deck design has been rejected, the choice is between the two warm-deck designs: the sandwich and inverted constructions.

Warm-deck sandwich construction: advantages The waterproof membrane is accessible for inspection and repair, though it will be necessary to remove chippings over the area of the roof affected (these are applied to protect the roof from ultra-violet radiation).
The insulation can be secured by bonding or by mechanical fasteners that do not penetrate the waterproof membrane.

Warm-deck inverted roof construction: advantages The waterproof membrane is fully protected against sunlight and extremes of temperature and from maintenance traffic and equipment.
There is no requirement for a separate vapour barrier, since the membrane fulfils this function.

Warm-deck sandwich construction: disadvantages A continuous vapour barrier is required on the deck to prevent condensation in the insulation. Joints in this membrane must be bonded and any flanking paths for water vapour between the interior and the insulation layer eliminated.
Water from leaks through the membrane, or rain falling during construction of the roof, will be trapped in the insulation. The insulation layer must support the waterproof membrane against maintenance traffic and equipment. The waterproof membrane must be protected against thermal movements at the joints between rigid foam plastics insulation boards. This can be done by one of the following ways: by interposing a suitable thermally-stable layer, such as Perlite or bitumen-impregnated insulation board; by taping over the joints in the insulation layer using a material either that does not bond to the overlaid waterproof membrane or whose adhesion to the insulation is weak and able to rupture when the insulation moves; in the case of built-up felt membranes, by partially bonding the waterproof membrane to the insulation with a perforated first layer of bitumen felt. The membrane is subjected to a considerably greater temperature range than is the membrane in the cold-deck or inverted construction, owing to the low thermal capacity of insulation materials and to the greater exposure of the membrane to solar radiation (despite the use of protective layers of light-coloured chippings or of reflective finishes on the surface of the waterproof membrane). Frequent exposure to elevated temperatures causes the membrane to age faster in the sandwich construction; the resulting brittleness (especially at low temperatures) can increase the risk of failure due to thermally-induced flexural fatigue and tensile stresses in the membrane.

Warm-deck inverted roof construction: disadvantages The waterproof membrane is not immediately accessible for inspection and repair. This can also present difficulty in tracing leakage of water to suspected punctures or failures of the membrane.
The insulation must be ballasted by paving or stones to prevent uplift by wind suction forces; this provides some protection against damage to the boards. Insulation boards to which a layer of mortar has been keyed and bonded are now available; they may obviate the need for heavy ballasting since the boards are interlocked and held down around the perimeter of the roof. These boards can be bonded to the underlying waterproof layer. However, there is limited experience of this type of inverted roof and it cannot therefore be recommended without reservation at present. The insulation must resist frost attack and retain its thermal resistance after prolonged exposure to water: only closed-cell insulants are therefore suitable. Rain and melting snow flowing between the membrane and insulation layer at joints between the insulation boards cause heat losses. Since these losses are intermittent, they can be allowed for by increasing the thickness of insulation by approximately 20% in heavyweight decks. For lightweight decks with low thermal capacity (eg timber, troughed metal), there is a risk that these heat losses could cause intermittent local condensation at the undersurface of the deck. Rainwater drains from this type of roof less readily than from warm-deck sandwich roofs, though this is unlikely to affect adversely the thermal performance of the roof. There is some evidence that grit from the layer of ballasting stones or from the atmosphere gets washed down between the insulation and waterproof layer, where it can cause damage (amounting even to penetration) to some membranes. This can be prevented by placing a suitable fleece sheet over the insulation and below the layer of stones.

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Costs and other considerations

The technical considerations reviewed so far should allow the designer to choose which of the three options best suits the requirements of the proposed building. Further decisions about the detailed design and choice of materials for deck, insulation and waterproof membrane will be covered in future digests. A choice of design on the basis of cost should not be based solely on the initial costs of construction, although this will clearly be an important factor. Future maintenance costs should also be considered, though there is currently little authoritative information available on such costs and times to replacement for the different types of flat roof. Neither is past experience a wholly reliable guide in this respect. Many factors influencing the performance of flat roofs have been recognised and investigated during the past 20 years. As a result, design guidance is available which should avoid many of the major design faults that have frequently led in the past to premature failures requiring costly remedial measures. Improved materials now available, particularly for the waterproof membrane, also improve the prospects for satisfactory performance in service of all three types of flat roof, but especially the warm-deck design. The warm-deck inverted roof design, introduced more recently than the others, has given very satisfactory performance in North America and Northern Europe during the last 15 years. The traditional inverted roof, ie with ballasted insulation over a heavyweight deck, may be considered the option with the lowest risk of failure in the light of experience of all three flat roof designs in service. Roof slope If a flat roof has a complex plan, it may be necessary to construct it with a truly horizontal surface. In general, this is not desirable because roofs should be provided with sufficient slope to enable effective drainage of rainwater. Retention of water on the roof is undesirable for two major reasons: it may increase the risk of deterioration of the waterproof membrane (particularly when areas that are alternately wet and dry are exposed to the effects of solar radiation) and it provides a source to feed water through a small discontinuity in the membrane or at defective details on the roof. In cases of severe ponding there is also the risk of structural overloading of the roof.

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Further Reading BS 5250:1975 Code of basic data for the design of buildings: the control of condensation in dwellings. BS 6229:1982 Code of practice for flat roofs with continuously supported coverings. BS CP 144 Roof coverings. Part 3:1970 Built-up bitumen felt. Part 4:1970 Mastic asphalt. CORNISH, J P AND HENDRY, I W L. Avoidance of condensation in roofs. BRE Current Paper CP1/75. BEECH, J C and DINWOODIE, J M W. Preventing water penetration in flat and lowpitched roofs. Building Technology and Management, November 1982. BEECH, J C and SAUNDERS, G K. The movement of foam plastics insulants in warmdeck flat roofs. BRE Information Paper IP6/84. HIDE, W T. Inspection and maintenance of flat and low-pitched roofs. BRE Information Paper IP15/82. MCINTYRE, I S. Moisture in a timber-based flat roof of cold-deck construction. BRE Information Paper IP35/79. MCINTYRE, I S and BIRCH, D P. Considerations in the design of timber flat roofs. BRE Information Paper IP19/82. Flat Roofs Technical Guide. PSA Directorate of Architectural Services. Second Edition December 1981. Inverted Roofs Technical Directorate of Architectural Surveying Services. 1984. Guide. PSA and Quantity

Conclusions
Three basic options are available to the designer who wants to use a flat or low-pitched roof with a fully-supported continuous waterproof layer; each of these has its advantages and disadvantages. The adoption of hybrid designs, which incorporate some design principles of more than one of these options, is deprecated for newly-built roofs. It may be necessary when upgrading, in which case calculations must be made to ensure that harmful condensation does not result. There are numerous factors that influence the choice of one of the three options described here. They include: whether cavity barriers for fire stopping must be incorporated; whether in sheltered locations sufficient ventilation can be provided for complex configurations of cold-deck design; whether an effective continuous vapour barrier can be achieved in warm-deck designs. In this last case the designer must also make allowance in the design for the thermal movement of rigid foam plastics insulants. The designer should have a clear picture of the transmission of both heat and water vapour through the roof which the overall design is intended to accommodate in service. In this respect it is recommended that the performance of any roof design should be checked by calculation at an early stage. Computer packages are now available which enable a realistic estimate to be made of the risk of condensation in a proposed roof design, and allow the effects of changes to the basic design to be readily determined. Above all, adequate detail design (eg parapets, upstands and edge trim) and good workmanship must be achieved for whatever roof design is selected, and the need recognised for regular inspection and maintenance in service. In assessing alternative designs both the initial and maintenance costs, and the probable service life, must be considered realistically. With a realistic consideration of all the relevant factors discussed in this digest, and with careful selection of materials and components having full regard to the importance of compatibility between them, it is possible to design flat or low-pitched roofs that will give acceptable life to replacement, with economic maintenance costs in service.

EDWARDS, M J. Assessment of condensation risk in the envelope of the building. BRE-CON (Microcomputer package). BRE, 1984. Flat roofs. Criteria and methods of assessment, repair and replacement. DES Design Note 46. Department of Education and Science. Architects and Building Group. 1985.

All BRE Digests relating to flat and low-pitched roofs are currently undergoing revision. Digests covering specific aspects of flat roof design will be issued in the course of the next two to three years covering the following: The selection of flat roof coverings Digests 372 and 419 lnsulants for flat and low-pitched roofs Digest 324 Thermal upgrading of existing roofs
Other BRE Digests 119 The assessment of wind loads 238 Reducing the risk of pest infestation 270 Condensation in insulated domestic roofs 290 Loads on roofs from snow drifting against vertical obstructions and in valleys

ISBN 0 85125 216 8 Copyright BRE 1986 First published 1986 Republished on CD-ROM 1999, with permission of Building Research Establishment Ltd,

by Construction Research Communications Ltd, 151 Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4GB. E-mail crc@construct.emap.co.uk Tel 0171 505 6622 Fax 0171 505 6606

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Anyone wishing to use the information given in this publication should satisfy themselves that it is not out of date, for example with reference to the Building Regulations.

Technical enquiries to: BRE Enquiries Garston, Watford, WD2 7JR Tel 01923 664664 Fax 01923 664098