ᐅ Gable Roof or Flat Roof – Experiences?

Hello everyone,

let’s imagine you had the choice to build your house with either a pitched roof or a flat roof. Which would you choose? The flat roof is a bit more expensive but offers no sloping walls and makes it easy to have a rooftop terrace. The pitched roof is more affordable, but a rooftop terrace would be more challenging and there would be sloped walls everywhere.

The appearance is obviously quite different as well: I think a pitched roof looks more classic, conservative, and solid—while a flat roof appears more modern.

I’m looking forward to your arguments.

Best regards,
HB1

Gable roof, because it is more reliable over time in terms of watertightness. From my professional experience, I have seen too many leaking flat roofs. I have no issue with sloped ceilings in the upper floor as long as the knee wall is over 1 meter (3.3 feet).

If you ask like that: a pitched roof with a good knee wall.
And why? With a flat roof, you have to go for a two-story design... whether it’s a city villa, Bauhaus style, or anything else: you end up sitting in the garden in front of a huge wall surface that is taller than the garden is deep, and then wonder why you feel uncomfortable on the terrace [emoji87]
A pitched roof is more appealing [emoji4]

Upstairs, the sloped ceilings create a cozy atmosphere, and the slope can be used well—kids build forts, and adults place built-in closets underneath.

I will probably be alone with my opinion here.

Best regards, Yvonne

Hausbauer1 schrieb:
let’s assume you had the choice to build your house with either a pitched roof or a flat roof,

But those would be two completely different houses – faces and hats hardly ever fit “interchangeably.” Although sometimes it seems like some homeowners and builders don’t hesitate to combine “Bauhaus Toscana” styles without blinking.

I would always build a roof *on* a house, never a house *under* a roof – so I find your question quite – uh – “theoretical.”

I’m a fan of very shallow hipped roofs but also like mansard and barrel roofs. I only consider pitched roofs if they have a knee wall that fully replaces the attic truss. I find flat roofs interesting only when combined with staggered partial volumes; over an undifferentiated rectangular floor plan, a flat roof in my opinion looks like a missing pitched roof.

In any case, in my opinion you should decide on a single roof style – a pitched roof with a barrel roof dormer looks simply inconsistent to me. And a flat-roofed bay window on a half-hipped roof house would, in my view, be a matter for the taste police.

By the way, I only like shed roofs in the “classic” form (single-slope), and staggered only in split-level designs. And I prefer symmetrical pitched roofs – asymmetrical ones strike me as even more ’80s than 45° angles in the floor plan.

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11ant schrieb:
..,
By the way, I only like shed roofs in the "classic" style (single slope); offset ones only with split-level designs...

You are judging the façade without knowing the interior: split-level is not always visible!

Brief regards

ypg schrieb:
Split level is not always visible!

Then please show some examples where it can’t be seen on the facade (it would probably have to be without windows).

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