When it comes to replacing your home’s roof, understanding what pitch you need is vital. Not only does this slope angle determine how your house will look, but it also plays a key role in how your new roof will perform. Because of this, knowing what different pitches there are and the advantages of each can be incredibly helpful in making the best decision for the project. These are the common roof pitch angles used by builders and what they can contribute to a home.
Low-Slope
First up is the low-sloped roof. This pitch is very slight and has an incline of fewer than four inches per foot of roofing material. This allows individuals to safely walk on its surface while still enabling it to promote proper drainage during rainstorms. However, its run-off rate is much lower, making it less viable of an angle to use in areas that receive frequent or heavy precipitation. Since water can easily gather in the grooves on these roofs, you must also check them for cracks often.
Steep-Slope
Steep-sloped roofs can have an incline of up to nine inches per foot, which is the maximum allowable pitch. Though walking on them is out of the question, drainage from storms is never an issue with these roofs. On the flip side, they can be a bit more expensive to install outright. So, it’s important to determine whether you’d rather pay more now or spend more on maintenance over time.
Flat
On the other hand, flat roofs don’t have a slope at all. Any pitch that they do have is very minimal and doesn’t exceed an inch for each square foot of material. As such, these roofs are perfectly safe to walk and perform maintenance on. But, like low-sloped models, they’re more likely to sustain damage from the rain. This is why flat pitches are more common on sheds and garages rather than homes.
Medium-Slope
But the most common roof pitch angles used by builders are the medium-slope models. This is because they’re the most versatile in both functionality and style. Medium-slope roofs typically range between six and nine inches per foot and can still accommodate safe walking. They also come in the largest number of styles to suit your home’s aesthetic needs.
At American Metal Roofs of Northern Wisconsin, we’ve installed a plethora of different roofing over the years. Whether it be variances in pitch angle or general roofing style, we have experience accommodating all these needs. So, we’re confident that no one knows how to get better results for your house than we do. Our roofing contractors in Appleton, WI, will work with you to ensure that your roofing project is everything you need and more.