If you’re having a home built, choosing the roof type is going to be one of the most important decisions you can make about your home’s design. Not only will the materials affect your comfort level in the house, but the pitch of the roof can change how you care for your home. If your home is already built, but you’re curious about changing the roof style, you’ll face the same decision. You’ll have a choice between a flat roof (which actually has a very shallow pitch for runoff) and a pitched roof that has a more substantial slope.
Cost to Install vs. Cost to Repair
A flat roof is generally less expensive to install than a pitched roof, especially if you’re re-roofing a house that’s had only flat roofs (if you get a pitched roof after having only a flat roof, you’ll need to either extend or cut parts of the wall to create flat edges around the house). But a pitched roof may be less expensive to maintain in the long run, and they can last a little longer than flat roofs. Sometimes they last much longer, depending on the materials used. Flat roofs can suffer damage more easily which leads to leaks, resulting in additional repair costs that the pitched roof might not have.
No More Pooling Plus Easy Snow Removal
A big argument in favor of pitched roofs is that rain runs right off them. There’s no risk of pooling. The very slight pitch of flat roofs allows rain to run off, too, but all it takes is a little damage that creates a tiny depression in the roof’s surface to stop all the water from running off. Water sitting on a flat roof can lead to mosquito breeding and roof leaks if the surface was breached when the damage occurred.
Pitched roofs make it easier to remove excess snow, too. Snow can build up on just about any roof, but with a pitch, it’s a lot easier to get that snow to fall off. The one caveat is that as the weather warms and the snow melts, it’s also a lot easier for that snow to suddenly slide off the roof with no warning. If you do get a pitched roof, make sure you have excess snow cleared off regularly.
Secondary Roof Use Including Gardens and Decks
If you’ve had in your mind a picture of having a small deck on the roof, a flat roof is obviously going to make that possible. You’re not going to be able to install a deck quickly; the roof will need extra work to shore it up enough to hold the weight of the deck and the people who might sit there. The same goes for rooftop gardens and green roofs. If you want to turn the roof into an eventual outdoor living space, you’ve got to install a flat roof now.
Even if you aren’t planning to install these things now, if you think you’d eventually want them, then you’d want your home to have a flat roof. If you installed a pitched roof and later wanted to have a rooftop deck, for example, you’d have to do a lot of modification to your home’s walls before you could even replace the roof, let alone install the deck. When you’re ready to have your new roof installed and need to contact roofing contractors in Mercer County, NJ, call Ram Exteriors. Whether you’re getting a pitched or flat roof, or are having both types installed on different sections of the house, you’ll need a professional roofing company in Warren County, NJ to get the job done right.