Why is pitched roof popular?

WHY IS PITCHED ROOF POPULAR?

Pitched roof is the most popular roof in Vietnamese architecture over the years. Let’s BambuBuild find out why is pitched roof popular.

What is pitched roof?

Pitched roof house is the type of house that has the roof  removed from the columns 60cm to 150cm to highlight the typical architectural block. This is the type of roof used most in Vietnamese architecture.

The slope of the roof

Pitched roof with horizontal create the angle. The slope is large or small depend on the material roof, the width of area covered, architectural form, structure, climate, customs and construction cost.

• About architecture: the slope should be consistent with the form and function of the work.
• About economy: the smaller the slope, the less the area of roof.
• About adaptation to climate: the greater the slope, the better drainage, leakage, waterproofing.

The slope of the roof is determined by ratio of the roof’s height to the width, in %. The symbol of the slope is i, i=h/l (h: the heigh of roof, l: the width of roof).
thatched, bamboo or leaves roof has the slope from 33 to 45 degrees. Tile roof has the slope from 30 to 33 degrees. The Rong house in Tay Nguyen (Viet Nam) has the slope from 70 to 80 degrees. Tole roof has the slope from 12 to 15 degrees.

The types of pitched roof:

Basing on the form of the site and the slope requirements, pitched roof houses have many types: single pitched roof, double pitched roof, gambrel roof, mansard roof

The structure of pitched roof:

Pitched roof ‘s structure consists 2 main parts, are: the frame and cover.

• The frame includes: gable wall, truss, jack truss, brace sysrem and purlin.
• The cover includes: for the tile roofs are raising-piece, batten, tile; for the asbestos cement roofs are asbestos cement, for the tole roofs are tole.

Previously, pitched roof ‘s structure is usually made from wooden truss, purlins,.. In addition, this roof is made from reinforced concrete, conventional steel structure (black steel) and recently lightweight galvanized steel.

Each roofing material has corresponding structure: thatched roof uses bamboo truss, tile roof uses wooden truss, tole roof uses steel truss,..

The features of pitched roof:

Advantages:

• Comparing to the flat roof, the pitched roof has more aesthetic beauty with elegant architecture. Pitched roof contributes to shape architecture for the works.
• Pitched roof helps the rain water flows quickly, waterproof, anti-leak.
• Pitched roof brings the airy and cool space with the ventilated function.
• Pitched roof architecture is applied flexibly on all areas, from simple houses to villas, from rural to urban areas,…
• Low cost and short construction time.

Disadvantages:

• It’s harder to move on pitched roof than flat roof.
• Roof area is not utilized as flat roof.