Up above the Roof is Sky

The house started to feel safe and secure with the roof being laid on the walls. And it started hitting me that I was indeed building a house, like those I see in the world, one that I would soon call Home :)

When people saw us digging for the foundation, they asked us how many floors we were going to build, and when we said it was just the ground floor, we were planning for a sloped roof with roof tiles, I saw it straight on their face that they were judging us.

Sloped roof with roof tiles (locally called Ottu Veedu) has been disregarded as less modern and less status. In fact, having worked with welders and having bought steel and roof tiles to lay on top of it, I bet it would have cost less to pay for a concrete slab on the top. It would have been less tedious, less labour-consuming, and wouldn't require skilled labour.

Roofing was done under a labour contract. Steel and roof tiles were bought from our side.

My initial SketchUp model already had the basics of the type of roof and slopes. I had an idea of a maximum roof height of 5ft in my mind, and accordingly, the slopes were calculated.

Credit Google Images. Not all these parts might be locally available and arrangements had to be made to serve each of their purpose

The welder, who had some previous experience in working with a roof like this, suggested if the building was square, the roof would rise with roof tiles aligning parallelly. However, since this had two hip roofs meeting at a place and with them having different lengths to which they had to be extended in the front and at the back (for the verandah and balcony respectively), they posed quite a few challenges and errors that could still be seen on the building.

Roof tiles before ridges were placed and plastered.

It was then decided to uniformly extend the overhang, and for the front, we decided to give another slope extending from the overhang as the overhanging length at the front of the house was longer (since it accommodated the front verandah). This we thought would end up like Chinese roofs; however, once completed, it didn't make much difference since the difference in slope was small.

This is the pretext of how there might be errors that could pop up on-site due to practical difficulties. One honest lesson from all that happened on-site is it's almost always possible to get things done the way you like with a bit of patience and by being open to challenges. I suppose I would have to write a blog about the unexpected challenges that popped up and how we solved them (probably in the best way or in a decent way) and the learnings from it.

Coming back to the roof, Mangalore roof tile has two layers of roofing. One bottom set of tiles is called Poo Odu and one top layer is like the general roof tile from the old days. They all interlock with one another. The first layer sits on the pipes (battens) that run between the rafters. Hence the battens are spaced considering the size of the Poo Odu. So it's best to give one sample piece to the welder so that he can space the battens on the rafters accordingly. It should also be such that there is minimal cutting of roof tiles.

Basic roof skeleton

It was necessary to be aware of coconut trees in the surroundings of the house as there might be branches from the tree falling on the roof. And it was suggested that it is always best to have a few roof tiles stored for repair and maintenance needs in the future at the site. There was less than 1% damage to the tiles during transport. The size of the roofing area was estimated using the SketchUp model. It had to be multiplied by a factor of 1.2. For example, a roof area of 1600 sq ft would require 1600 X 1.2 roof tiles (the factor, however, might vary if the size of the roof tile changes; however, generally, they are 10” X 12”). Almost equal numbers of bottom and top tiles. A maximum of 5-10% buffer can be given to accommodate breakage and loss in cutting pieces.

Front elevation of roof skeleton. Yet to weld the front hip roof

It was necessary to be aware of coconut trees in the surroundings of the house as there might be branches from the tree falling on the roof. And it was suggested that it is always best to have a few roof tiles stored for repair and maintenance needs in the future.

The joints in the hip roof needed ridge tiles, and when the joint was inverted, it required an inverted ridge which we weren't able to source in the manufacturing area. Therefore, it was decided to place a curved plate in between the two layers of tiles to prevent water dripping. It, however, has specific ridge tiles that can do the purpose.

Ridges plastered using cement. Need to be coated with Red-oxide to match the color of the roof tiles

All the joints and the ridge ends had to be cemented with a mixture of cement and red oxide powder to match the colour. We are looking for skilled labour to do the job as it has to be done with patience and best if we can find old people who have worked on such roof plastering works in the olden days.

Standing under the roof has so far been cool (with no fans attached yet). Once the roofing is on, there is actually lesser natural light in the house than I had imagined, but that I believe has also been the reason the house is staying cool. To feel the real comparison of the cooling effect between a normal concrete roof, single layer roof, and this Mangalore-type roofing, we might have to wait until I start living there.

If there is a worry of safety (due to large gaps in between the battens) along with the battens running parallelly, simple rods could be welded in between them.

This sums up pretty much all that happened while the roofing was made. It was indeed a great feeling to have the roof laid and look at your house getting its other major component. I just can't wait for it to rain and pour in the Muttram and to see the water run and flow through the curves of the roof.

I have been learning. Lessons- big and small and this journey has been nothing short of a beautiful, hectic, overwhelming course. These I believe would lay the foundation for all my projects in the future. Even when mistakes and reworks are making me guilty for being a bad engineer, I am learning to tell myself, that I am going through all this now so that I don't repeat them in the future. I am telling myself I am discovering ways on how not to do stuff and I am grateful for all the souls helping me on this amazing journey.

As promised, a party awaits. So hang in with me till the project is over!

Loads of love and gratitude for sharing your time <virtual hugs>