ROOFING IN KENYA QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS BY WWW.A4ARCHITECT.COM

ROOFING IN KENYA QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS BY WWW.A4ARCHITECT.COM

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1. How do roofing systems contribute to overall cost of buildings?

On average, roofs including trusses and ceilings cost around 10% of the overall cost of construction.

2. What are the current hot roofing systems in the market preferred by home owners or property developers and why?

Home owners prefer mainly iron sheets[mabati], concrete tiles and clay tiles. This is because mabati sheets are affordable and the cost increases from mabati to clay tiles to concrete tiles.

3. What are some of latest roofing technology available in the local market and why are more and more people turning to roofing tiles to replace wood in roof construction?

The latest roofing tiles at the moment in Kenya are Aluminium sheets and bitumen tiles. Wood is becoming very scarce due to environmental considerations hence use of steel trusses on the increase.

4 What type of roofing tiles are there in the market currently and which ones are generally preferred by developers?

There are concrete tiles, clay tiles stone-coated iron sheet tiles. Developers choose according to their budget. The concrete tiles are in the range of 600 kes per square meter, clay tiles in the range of 500 kes per sq.m. and the stone coated tiles in the range of 1700 kes per sq.m.

5 Which of these have we seen the most technological advances?

Stone-coated steel tiles have the most technological advances in the type of paint used, the type of joinery used, the type of trusses required.

6 Amid booming demand for housing caused by ongoing infrastructure developments in the country, the growth of middle-class, increased rural to urban migration how can local developers capitalise on affordable housing technologies and products and make profit out of this?

Local developers can start manufacturing their own clay tiles since all they need is a good source of clay and some experience. This can create a very large industry of its own since there is a huge demand for roof tiles in Kenya.

7 Can roofing tiles effectively provide protection against strong winds, hail storm and other adverse weather conditions.
Yes. Care should be taken to ensure Bernoulli’s effect does not create pressures that suck up the tiles upwards . Also, each roofing tile has its own specifications regarding overlap distance and roof slope to be used for it to work effectively.

8 Can the materials boost efforts by property owners to harvest rainwater – and how safe is the water for human use?
The paint used in roof contains lead and other harmful chemicals hence unsafe for drinking. Only the clay roof tile is natural hence its water can be used for drinking.

9 It is said simple decisions like choosing a colour for your roofing tile can add up to big savings. How true is this?

Its not true. The type of roof material i.e clay or concrete or steel is the one that determines the costs. There is no price change due to the colour.

10 How is adoption of new roofing technology picking up in Kenya and is current Building Code supportive of use of new appropriate building materials and technologies?

Due to addressing various needs such as superior aesthetics, need for curved roof surfaces e.t.c, new roof technology is picking up in Kenya. We are waiting for the new building code in line with the new constitution which should be made into law by August this year to replace the 1968 code currently in use. This new code will include use of new appropriate building technologies.

Use of methods outlined in the a4architect.com Diamond House effectively reduce the roofing costs by 58%.

<table style=”width:auto;”><tr><td><a href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2PHgnZ9i63SDKsdYQVHIDg?feat=embedwebsite”><img src=”https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2CmfSxI8wg8/TmHxsMwcTYI/AAAAAAAAFUs/yF7kdyAS_qE/s144/front%252520page.jpg” height=”144″ width=”108″ /></a></td></tr><tr><td style=”font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right”>From <a href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/a4architect1/DIAMONDHOUSEBOOK?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite”>DIAMOND HOUSE BOOK</a></td></tr></table>

Francis Gichuhi Kamau

B.Arch. U.o.N. Registered Architect-Kenya.

+254721410684

info@a4architect.com

www.a4architect.com
CURRENT CONSTRUCTION COST RATES
http://ujenzibora.com/nahinga/?p=1203