Cold Flat Roof Ventilation Detail

A cold roof is the most common type of roof construction often taking the form of an uninhabited storage space.

Cold flat roof ventilation detail.

Their layer of insulation is beneath the roof decking and the roofing membranes. There are two types of flat roof systems warm and cold roofs which affect the positioning of the ventilation. Cold roofs and warm roofs. The minimum requirements for cold roof ventilation are set out in bs 5250 control of condensation in buildings which takes into consideration span pitch and roof area.

In this case ventilation is required and the roof can still become wet with condensation which may cause materials to decay. There are two types of flat roof. 2011 code of practice for control of condensation in buildings stipulates that there should be a ventilation gap between the insulation and the bottom of the flat roof deck of at least 50mm. The wider the span the more free airflow is required in the roof space.

Flat roof ventilation allows for the circulation of air in the property particularly for warmer rooms in residential buildings. A cold roof system sees the insulation placed immediately above the ceiling between the joists with ventilation space above the insulation. Ventilation for cold roofs. No ventilation is required for these types of roofs.

Cold roofs have the waterproof layer placed directly onto the roof deck and the insulation inside the roof just above the ceiling. This video shows the key features of a flat roof cold deck construction and how to draw the details to a scale of 1 10. Hopefully this video will help explain the difference between cold flat roof construction and warm flat roof construction this videos show detailed drawings. In a concrete deck for example this gap could be created by fixing 50x50mm timber battens at 600mm centres and attaching the insulation to underside of these battens.

When thermal insulation is placed below the deck the ventilation must also be on the underside. A cold roof really is colder than the rest of your home in the winter which means condensation is much less likely to develop. That means the rest of the roof is protected from heat.