How Much Roof Load Should I Figure For A Fire

Load limits on the roof of a building.

How much roof load should i figure for a fire.

Roof pitch is a determining factor for cost of the roof as well as the roof area and the type of materials used. To find the amount of plywood needed to cover a roof start by finding the area of the roof. However in my practice i typically use the horizontal run of the roof for both types of load. Multiply the length of the roof in feet by the width of the roof in feet to find the area of the roof in square feet.

Here each square foot of roof system delivers 50 pounds of live load and 15 pounds of dead load 65 psf total to the structural support system. Roofs are under a lot of pressure. To do this i use conservative too heavy dead loads and full snow loads regardless of pitch. Remember these loads are distributed uniformly over the entire surface of the roof.

I ignore the slope. In order to stay intact and in place a roof must be able to resist loads both permanent and temporary that are pushing. Outside of the u s a degree angle is typically used. If you live in the us our snow load calculator compares the total weight on your roof with the permissible load calculated according to the standards issued by the american society of civil engineers regarding the minimum design loads for buildings and other structures asce7 16.

Find the area of a roof. Technically you should use the actual rafter length when adding up the weight of roofing materials.