Roof Terrace

Decorating a beautiful roof terrace is sometimes forgotten in the harsh weather of the North.
At Marcottestyle, we see the roof terrace as an extension of the house where the furnishing should also be appropriate.

Thus, the roof terrace design takes into account your wishes and the environment in order to create a roof terrace full of character and harmony.
Marcottestyle ensures a seamless process both technically and aesthetically and always looks for the best solution where sometimes from an unfavorable or less attractive element a splendid piece is ultimately created.
The works are always followed up with the greatest care down to the smallest details.

An extraordinary location in the middle of Brussels:

The main elements in a roof terrace

The roof load

In order to avoid discussions with neighbors or Owner’s Association, one can opt for an iron skeleton as a terrace foundation or roof skeleton: This is a self-supporting construction with iron poutrelles and sleepers that only support the bearing walls.
This has the great advantage that there is absolutely no load on the existing roofing.
If one assumes that it takes 1 silo truck of 27 tons to apply substrate at a height of about 30 cm on a roof of 220m² with only 80 m² provided for planting.
This gives a roof load of about 330Kg/m². In addition, the granite tiles of 7 tons on 130 m² represent a load of 54 kg per m², with an average of 1.5 people of 150 kg / m², the total load is about half a ton/m². In the load capacity control calculation, the engineer will take into account the characteristic properties of the concrete and rebar, common to the period in which the building was constructed.
A building from the period 1950-1970, subject to some additional checks will still have a maximum load of about 1ton/m², excluding the own weight of the concrete slab.
This with the following conditions: maximum spans of 3.3m, a concrete thickness of 17cm and reinforcement section above 1490mm²/m (source: engineering office Mertens Werner bvba).
Usually one speaks of a maximum load for most buildings of approximately 350 to 500 Kg/m².
A normal accessible roof structure must have a minimum load of 250kg/m².
If this roof structure is not intended to be walkable, the roof load can be on the low side, which means that an engineer’s stability check is always necessary, or an iron frame must be used, so that the entire roof terrace rests only on the supporting walls.

A perfect architectural plan

Assisted by leading landscapers, plants are selected so that there is something in bloom at any time.
All plants are also carefully selected according to the chosen height or color.
Shade, sun or low maintenance, color and growth rate are also important in determining the right appropriate planting.

Picking plants

The following plants were used on this roof terrace: In order to make a good choice regarding the colors, we advise you to look at Piet Oudolf’s works, which can be a true source of inspiration.
Acer Palmatum, Centranthus Ruber Albus, Ground cover: Clematis Vitalba, Geranium Macrorrhizum, Lavandula

A perfect preparation

Bringing the material and substrate up onto the roof terrace is not always easy.
This requires the perfect timing and some organization.
Above the asphalt layer, a PVC foil is briefly placed up to the wall stand.
A drainage liner will then be placed on the flat ground.
This will allow excess water that gets into the soil or substrate to seep away under the copings and further under the tiles to find its way into the gutter.
Then the granite tiles will be employed nicely horizontally on the flat roof.
The tiles will always be carefully placed on adjustable legs, in order to fine tune them to obtain a perfectly solid floor.
Once this is done, everything is aligned nicely and the coping stones can be applied.

The works themselves

The substrate is pumped to the top and poured into the flower boxes.  

The result after 1.5 years

And the result can already be admired from the second season; Here, the roof terrace was constructed in January 2014, the result of which has already matured amazingly fast in August 2015.