There are several possible locations where you can have a terrace: near the house, around a swimming pool, on a balcony or on a roof.
A roof terrace is most often built on the roof of a building, a house outbuilding (garage), and in some modern houses, on the roof of the house.
Building permit required
In order to transform a roof into a roof terrace in a multiple dwelling, you must obtain a building permit and the agreement of your co-ownership.
You will probably need to present an engineer’s study to prove that your development work will not affect the solidity of the building.
A crucial point: the waterproofing of your flat roof
Waterproofing is the number one challenge in the construction or design of a rooftop deck.
The following points tell you more about the different layers that need to be applied for a watertight roof:
The functionality of the different elements laid:
- the vapour barrier: to avoid humidity,
- a thermal insulator: to insulate your flat roof from both heat and cold. It can be made of mineral wool, plastic foam, perlite, cork, etc..,
- a screen of independence, possibly, to separate chemical elements that would be incompatible,
- a waterproofing coating: to protect the flat roof from climatic aggressions.
Terrace coverings
If your roof has been designed to receive a terrace, you should not have any weight constraints in the choice of materials, so choose according to your tastes and budget:
- a wooden deck (boards or grating),
- a concrete terrace smoothed, bush-hammered, deactivated, sandblasted, swept, printed, etc..,
- a stone terrace (sandstone, marble, granite, slate, etc.) paved or in the form of slabs,
- a terrace tiling: porcelain, marble, stone (natural or reconstituted).
Price of a terrace roof covering
Here are some ideas of prices per m² of the various coverings for your terrace (price excluding installation, including all taxes):
Roof terrace price in $/m².
| Wood | Stone | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European wood | Exotic wood | Composite wood | Marble | Slate | Granite | Limestone |
| From $15-$20. | From $30 to $100 and + | About $20. | From $45 to $140. | From $30 to $60. | From $60 to $150. | From $50 to $120. |
| Concrete | Tiling | |||||
| From $15 (classic concrete) to more than $100 (printed concrete). | From $10 to more than $150. |
Safety: a few rules to respect
The following are some recommendations for implementation:
– The guardrail must offer a protection height of at least one meter.
– If you have children, prefer a solid and opaque guardrail for better safety: to avoid children’s curiosity and that they do not climb to see behind.
– However, if you opt for a guardrail:
◦ this one will be with vertical bars, horizontal bars would facilitate the climbing by the child,
◦ the space between the vertical bars must be a maximum of 11 centimetres (current regulations), to prevent the passage of the child’s head.
If you wish, we can put you in touch with one or more terrace specialists. They will be able to give you a free, no-obligation quotation.
