Flat roof double garage, can it look good?

[philcray]

Looking at building a new double garage (c20"x20") at the back of the house, to keep the height of the building down and also reduce costs I am considering a flat roof. The garage will be of block construction with white render, one large electric door and approach on gravel drive.

I still want the garage to look presentable and recognise that a pitched roof tends to be better aesthetically but wondered if anyone has any thoughts, or ideally pictures, of smart looking flat roof garages. The house is red brick 1920's detached but the garage will not be that near so have a free hand on design.

Thanks

Phil

[Zetec-S]

Not quite the same, but we used to have a large(ish) shed, 12'x8' with a shallow pent roof. Fine for the first couple of years, but over time we started getting small leaks, so was constantly trying to fix it. Never again.

The money you'll save by going with a flat roof now will probably be outweighed by the money you'll have to spend in the future dealing with leaks, etc. I'd spend the extra money now and go with a pitched roof, a lot less hassle. Even if it's only a shallow pitch, although if you can get something with more height then it'll be extra storage space.

[Risotto]

I think flat roof garages can look good in isolation but they don't suit every house.

Something like this looks fine to me but I don't think it would necessarily look right alongside a 1920s red brick house:



If you're worried about the roof itself looking a bit of an eyesore from the first floor, you could soften it a bit with a green roof - Sedum or similar:

[Triumph Man]

philcray said:

Looking at building a new double garage (c20"x20") at the back of the house, to keep the height of the building down and also reduce costs I am considering a flat roof. The garage will be of block construction with white render, one large electric door and approach on gravel drive.

I still want the garage to look presentable and recognise that a pitched roof tends to be better aesthetically but wondered if anyone has any thoughts, or ideally pictures, of smart looking flat roof garages. The house is red brick 1920's detached but the garage will not be that near so have a free hand on design.

Thanks

Phil

Flat roofs can look smart - a single ply material (a rubber type) in a lead-a-like colour, or GRP, can look good. I would avoid felt as it just looks depressing. Also, if you can, a larger overhang helps. Felt flat roofs with no overhang just look tragic. To dress it up you can add fake standing seams, or fake lead rolls. Depending on budget you could go for zinc, where by its nature you will have actual standing seams (joints where the zinc covering is crimped together - about 500/600mm apart)

Try and keep the fascia depth as slim as possible below the gutter line - another tragic looking thing is when people have a bloody deep fascia.

[philcray]

Risotto said:

I think flat roof garages can look good in isolation but they don't suit every house.

Something like this looks fine to me but I don't think it would necessarily look right alongside a 1920s red brick house:



If you're worried about the roof itself looking a bit of an eyesore from the first floor, you could soften it a bit with a green roof - Sedum or similar:

I do like the look of the top image, it is the sort of thing I had in mind if we go with the flat roof, sort of modern but with an art deco slant....

[Eddieslofart]

You’re only limited by your imagination, and wallet.

Membranes are available in most colours, copper verdigris looks nice especially with ribs.

But if you are not actually going to see the roof, just the perimeter, edge trims can again be obtained in most colours to match wall decoration.

Seedum will require a beefed up structure, grp is for boats. Zinc will need a good fall.

You could get something like a Kingspan K1000 in that span, and use whatever edge trim you wanted to suit.

[RATATTAK]

philcray said:

Looking at building a new double garage (c20"x20") at the back of the house, to keep the height of the building down and also reduce costs I am considering a flat roof.

Phil

That's an extremely small garage !!!!!

[mel]

My "work in progress" flat roofed garage. Roof is 8m x 8m and made of 150mm SIPS, Single 3m wide roller shutter, plus pedestrian and patio doors into the "cave" section (it's a 2 room layout) Full SIPS construction, then wrap,batten, cement board and render system. It's pretty much built to a house spec'. Roof is resin system with battens to take a 21 panel PV system moulded in.