Recently, more and more offers have appeared on the building materials market, which are rather difficult for an amateur to understand. For roofing, the most common materials are metal tiles and steel sheets. To build your own home, you should consider such an option as the installation of a roof from soft tiles. By technology, it is somewhat different from conventional materials, but has many advantages that make it a strong competitor.
What is a soft tile
The name is conditional. The material is rather a sheet of fiberglass impregnated with a bitumen binder with the addition of rubber. Features of the composition dictate some requirements in the production of construction work and operation. The cover sheet is called shingles.
To increase the protective properties, the front surface is sprinkled with crumb stone. This allows the material to become more resistant to mechanical damage. The advantages of using soft tiles to cover the roof with your own hands include the following characteristics:
- attractive appearance;
- ease of transportation due to the compact size of the products and their relatively small mass;
- simplification of the process of lifting the material to the roof;
- DIY installation is easier;
- the absence of noise during rain or wind, the roof of such a material absorbs unnecessary sounds and contributes to a comfortable stay in the house;
- a wide variety of color schemes.
In addition to the advantages, installation has a number of disadvantages:
- a roof made of such material is not the most budget option;
- the technology provides for the installation of a continuous crate with your own hands, which greatly increases the consumption of wood (the main costs for the construction of the roof go exactly to the crate), the roofing cake is expensive;
- there are restrictions on the angle of inclination, since with a steep slope in the summer, the upper layer of bitumen shingles can melt and shift relative to the original position;
- an increase in the mass of the roofing, this value cannot be compared with ceramic tiles, but still it is slightly larger than when laying metal roofing in a pie.
Key recommendations
After the decision was made to finish the cake of the roof of the house with the use of soft tiles, you need to think about laying it with your own hands. Installation is not complicated, but the technology has some features. You can give the following recommendations for the implementation of the work:
- Material after purchase is stored indoors. Sheets are laid horizontally in pallets whose height is taken no more than 16 rows. Lining carpet, which is used for priming and leveling the surface under the tiles for storage, is placed in a vertical position.
- To create favorable temperature conditions in the under-roof space, it will be necessary to perform thermal insulation. The selection of the type of insulation is carried out depending on the preferences and financial capabilities of the owner of the house. Most often, installation of mineral wool is carried out. The technology of laying this material assumes the presence of reliable waterproofing and vapor barrier. In addition, to remove liquid vapor from the surface of the insulation, a ventilated air gap is provided between it and the roof covering, the width of which is assigned an average of 5 cm.
- When buying roofing material, it is important to pay attention to the batch of goods. The roof will look better if you use materials made at the same time in one place. In this case, an exact match in color and physical characteristics can be guaranteed.
- Installation of soft tiles is not carried out at low temperatures. This is due to the fact that the material becomes brittle in the cold and can easily be damaged when fixed in a pie.
- To lay the material with your own hands, the minimum slope angle should be 15 degrees. Installation with a smaller one does not guarantee waterproofing, since the liquid on the surface moves quite slowly and can easily leak into small gaps. At the same time, it is worth considering the rule that for bitumen, the roof slope cannot be too large and remember that the more the roof is tilted, the more material will be needed on the cake.
- Installation of soft tiles with their own hands is carried out without the use of a burner. This material does not belong to the class of surfaced. For additional fixing (with strong wind loads) use special adhesive solutions.
- Peel off the transparent protective film from the inner surface immediately before laying on the cake.
- When doing the work yourself, it is important to remember that it is not allowed to walk on the roof without special equipment in sunny warm weather. This is due to the fact that the material slightly melts under the influence of sunlight, and the person performing the installation may leave footprints on the surface that cannot be eliminated without replacing part of the coating.
- A solid material is used as the base under the tile. The cake may include a continuous crate or sparse with subsequent laying on it of moisture-proof plywood. Installation directly on the insulation is prohibited.
If you follow these recommendations, then a roof with a flexible tile facing will delight its owner for many years.
Roof construction technology
To correctly make a roofing pie under a bituminous tile, it is recommended to perform the following procedure:
- installation of the rafter system;
- laying of the waterproofing layer and the device of the ventilated layer;
- fixing the crate (solid or sparse);
- if necessary, a continuous layer of moisture-proof plywood;
- installation of roofing;
- laying insulation between rafters;
- fixing vapor barrier;
- inner lining.
Some of these structures included in the roofing pie should be considered separately.
Crate
When installing a continuous layer of boards without subsequent alignment with plywood, the following surface quality requirements are observed:
- lack of gaps, ledges, irregularities;
- the thickness of the board is selected depending on the pitch of the rafter legs, large sections should be taken to ensure reliability (a board of 32-50 mm is suitable);
- normalized moisture content of wood no more than 20%;
- boards should be strong, without damage with the obligatory treatment with an antiseptic.
Fulfillment of these requirements will ensure a tight fit of the roofing material to the surface, which prevents leakage of the roof. Along the perimeter of weak sections of the roof, it is required to lay a lining carpet, which will increase the reliability of waterproofing. Possible places where the roofing cake may leak are:
- endow;
- adjoining the roof of the attic and dormer windows;
- exit of vent pipes and chimneys;
- antenna installation locations.
The best option, which is most often used by professional builders, will be a solid plywood flooring on a rarefied crate.
Such a pie provides high load-bearing capacity.
Ventilation system
It removes moisture from the surface of the insulation. As mentioned earlier, the minimum clearance is 5 cm. The main elements that need to be provided for the normal functioning of the system:
- vents in eaves overhangs, which can be closed with perforated soffits or sparse board fastening;
- the gap between thermal insulation and waterproofing;
- ventilation outlets in the ridge of the roof (aerators).
Material installation
Laying starts from the bottom of the roof. It is important to pay attention to the probable places of leaks. Difficulties arise mainly on the valleys. Laying bituminous tiles on a slope and skate does not cause special difficulties.
The lower part of the shingle is attached to the surface of the ramp using an adhesive layer. For the top, you need to prepare four nails for each element. Fixing devices have a feature - wide caps, so as not to damage the roofing material. Laying of the material is carried out with the shift of the rows (dressing), the value of which is taken equal to 50 cm.