Parapet Roof Materials

Different types of parapet walls and their uses are discussed below.

Parapet roof materials.

A parapet wall is a low or dwarf wall built along the edge of the roof terrace walkway balcony etc. The outside of the parapet wall will have a similar finish to the rest of the exterior walls. Courtesy of max baker and the national research council of canada. Thermoblock thermal break blocks reduce heat loss in parapet applications making insulation at the roof to wall transition continuous and the roof more energy efficient.

Parapets can also hide unsightly roofing material or equipment that is placed on the roof such as vents. A parapet roof is simply put when a building s outermost walls extend upwards past the roof around the edges most often by a few feet. Being made of synthetic rubber or polymer they are flexible and elastic and can handle temperature changes and some impact types better than built up roofs. Where extending above a roof a parapet may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a fire wall.

Roof pitch because parapet roofs are encircled by walls they are more prone to leaking than traditional pitched roofs. Traditional tiles are made from terracotta clay but there are also ceramic tiles roofs made of fired clay as well as concrete tile roofs. Flat roofs of this type are usually finished in steel roof sheet and fall towards a special type of gutter called a box gutter. Tbm 1 and tbm 2 structural thermal break materials reduce heat loss in steel and aluminum connections that penetrate the roof thermal envelope.

The assembly is straight forward but what complicates matters is that the roof needs to be vented. These roofs are installed as thin sheet materials 0 030 30 mils to 0 060 inches 60 mils thick and are applied to the roof in a single layer. The parapet itself is standard wood framing with an applied siding in this case t g 1 4 cedar. Parapet walls can be constructed using different materials like reinforced cement concrete steel aluminium glass etc.

Like any roof with batt insulation the venting is an important part of the system. If you didn t get it right you concentrated the stresses at roof edges and you could suck in a parapet or tear or rip a membrane at the parapet photographs 3 and 4. Roof membrane temperatures ottawa canada summer day. All consist of individual tiles installed in overlapping layers over the roof surface and all have roughly the same degree of strength and durability.