Many custom homes in Southern California are built with contemporary styling, and to many architects of the modernist home, this means adding a flat roof. But not all homes with flat roofs are contemporary; some Craftsman, Art Deco and Southwestern style homes also have roofs without any pitch whatsoever. There are also many commercial buildings, especially churches, that have been designed with flat roofs.

These homes look sleek, attractive and distinctive, yet there can be one big problem, even in California: LEAKS. Have you ever wondered why all those homes in the mountains, Swiss Alps or otherwise, have those steeply pitched roofs? It’s to encourage the runoff of rain and snow. In U.S. cities like Buffalo, New York, there is a building code requirement that roofs have a specific minimum slope of 6 inches in 12 inches because they receive a lot of snowfall. In places where there isn’t as much rainfall, like our fair state, there is no requirement for pitch at all, and therefore these architects have free rein when designing these custom homes. [Read more…]