ᐅ Bungalow Flat Roof – Reinforced Concrete vs. Wood

Created on: 11 Aug 2021 18:37
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Maurice_Grim
Good evening,

we are planning to build a bungalow with a flat roof. Some providers want to construct the flat roof using wood, while others use reinforced concrete. In our opinion, reinforced concrete is safer because wood naturally expands and contracts (affecting tightness, etc.), but reinforced concrete is also significantly more expensive.
What are your experiences?
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Maurice_Grim
12 Aug 2021 07:43
11ant schrieb:

Please don’t say it’s a bungalow just because it saves you from having stairs or a flat roof because it’s the simplest option 🙂

Bungalow in Bauhaus style, because we don’t want to have issues with age (and therefore stairs) or with accidents and wheelchairs. We chose a flat roof because, in our opinion, it looks the best and since we are building next to a railway with an embankment, this way we won’t be too high above the embankment, which should reduce noise problems.
Climbee16 Aug 2021 10:29
Maurice_Grim schrieb:

In our opinion, reinforced concrete would be safer, since wood naturally moves and expands.

However, concrete and steel also expand—but both materials are often used together because they have the same coefficient of linear expansion; otherwise, this wouldn’t work.
So, a reinforced concrete ceiling isn’t completely static either!

I would base the decision on who you are working with. Use the material your builder is most experienced with—that’s what they will do best.
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guckuck2
16 Aug 2021 11:09
I definitely don't see it that way in this case. We can learn from the construction mistakes of the 70s and 80s – no timber in flat roofs!
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Maurice_Grim
20 Aug 2021 17:01
In the end, we decided to go with a developer offering a reinforced concrete roof. We actually felt uneasy about a wooden roof. Surely, some providers can do a great job with it, but the gut feeling has to be right as well.

Thanks for all the contributions.