One of the advantages of a private house is the possibility to have your own plot near it. On it you can find not only a vegetable garden, but also a small park, where you can spend time with your family.
Nature is a great place where you can restore your strength. It is not always possible to do without a canopy, so many decide to have a pergola in the yard. It can be built with a non-standard Chinese roof. It requires some effort, but the result will be pleasing to the eye.
What’s different about it?
An arbor, which has a Chinese roof, immediately stands out from other buildings. Perhaps the Asian rooftops that have been seen in TV programs or while traveling come to mind. It is simply impossible to confuse it with others.
The triangular shapes of the roofs are characteristic of our area. It can be a single roof, a gable roof or a multiple roof. If you have a gazebo with a Chinese roof in your yard, you can give a special charm to the yard space. This design has certain features:
- curved edges;
- wide cornices;
- unique tiles.
Attention is drawn to the unique edges of the roof. They have a semicircular shape and the ends go up into the sky. The cornices also differ: they have a unique shape with a large bend at a large angle.
The roof eaves are not as close as in the classic version common in most other countries. The overhangs are placed at a sufficient distance from the supporting walls. This is done in order to reduce the possibility of rainwater, as well as snow that can be brought in by the wind. The practical side is very well implemented.
For a Chinese pergola roof, a special roof tile that has been specially designed for this type of roof is considered ideal. It is made of ceramics and is cylindrical in shape. Thanks to it, you can easily cope with the angular joints that are present between some elements.
In addition to the shape and unique tiles, the roof can also be decorated with other elements. One of them is the jiang-show figure. They can also be placed on the Chinese roof of the gazebo to achieve a full immersion in the culture.
The figurines are a small profile on which various images are applied. Most often they are drawings of creatures that are found in Eastern mythology. They are used to better design the joints of the Chinese roof. In addition to their appearance, they have a practical side, which consists in additional protection from water.
From the curved edges of the Chinese roof, you can often see small protruding “horns”. This is a special profile that is used for the design of the Chinese roof ridge. The profile has special clips for this purpose.
Please note! Due to the ceramic and other elements used, the weight of the roof can be increased by several times. This is worth considering when designing the base and supports for the Chinese roof ridge.
Possible options
The ideal option for building a Chinese roof on a pergola is to have a native craftsman. But it would be difficult to pay or find one in your city, so it is not always possible to stick to the original design, although it is really possible if you deal with the column structures.
There is also an adaptive version of the Chinese roof, which is easy to build from available materials. The difference between them is that the original Chinese roof is not installed on the rafters as it is usual. Most buildings that were built using ancient technology in China have no load-bearing walls.
Instead, support columns are used. This is due to the terrain. Because of frequent seismic activity, we had to look for a solution that would provide the building with the necessary stability.
Rigid support walls are usually the first to break down due to vibrations. Roofing without a support can cause irreparable damage. Since the situation in our area is somewhat different, a version that simulates Chinese has been developed.
For this purpose the rafter system with some changes is made. Available flexible materials for the base and roof deck are used. They allow to reduce the load on the whole system and not to lose in shape. This variant looks very similar to the original, but its cost is much lower.
Therefore, before the construction of the structure with your own hands, it is necessary to decide what exactly will be erected: the original or an imitation.