The roof of a house in the Vaslui area: shape, pitch, roofing and solar panels, according to the O.A.R. guide

The roof is the element that changes the look of a house the most and, for the O.A.R. guide, the one most sensitive to the local character. Here is what it recommends for the Vaslui area. These are recommendations; if the local regulations or a funding programme require them, they become conditions to be met.

What roofs look like in the area

In the Vaslui Zone, the most common roofs are hipped and gabled, with medium pitches. Traditional roofing is made of rye straw, reed or rushes, more rarely of maize stalks, shingles or boards; more recent houses have ceramic tiles and flat metal sheet, which the guide recognises as part of the 20th-century local character; for works on existing buildings, the guide accepts unglazed extruded profiled ceramic tiles but requires metal sheet to be replaced. As a rule, the roof space is not used as living space.

Shape and pitch

The rules below concern new detached buildings (small, medium and large). For large single-volume buildings, the guide provides different ones: a low pitch of at most 2-5%, only with a green roof layer, and a pitch of at least 30 degrees for ceramic tiles.

• a roof as simple as possible, gabled or hipped with equal slopes, with horizontal eaves and ridges; gabled roofs with clipped (half-hipped) ridge ends are also allowed if the local character permits;
• shapes and pitches from other climate or geographic zones are not allowed;
• a pitch of 20 to 45 degrees, depending on the roofing, which can drop to 15 degrees for lean-to extensions over outbuildings and for annexes;
• a low pitch, of at least 2%, only with a green roof layer and where the terrain allows, for example on partly buried volumes;
• dormers: avoid oversized ones or ones with uncharacteristic shapes; they should preferably face the yard;
• the space under the roof is used as functional space, not as a loft for storing bulky or heavy objects, for reasons of safety in use and in case of fire.

Roofing and colours

• natural renewable materials: rushes, reed, rye straw and unglazed extruded profiled ceramic tiles; where the local context allows, also timber shingles; on large single-volume buildings, bitumen shingles in colours from the local range are also accepted for lower pitches, where the context allows and especially outside the village core;
• combining several types, colours or shapes of roofing on the same roof is not recommended (exceptions: green roofs and a combination of rushes and rye straw on each slope);
• natural colours; no garish or saturated colours;
• the thermal insulation and waterproofing materials are compatible with the roofing and, as far as possible, natural, allowing vapour exchange between inside and outside;
• the structure is made of timber, with local or contemporary techniques (glued laminated, cross-laminated or bonded timber), with fire-retardant and biocide treatment; no plastic materials in the structure.

Solar panels, photovoltaics and other elements on the roof

• on detached buildings, skylights, roof windows, solar and photovoltaic panels and chimneys are allowed only if functionally justified and covering at most 10% of the area of the roof slope, oriented towards the inside of the plot as far as possible;
• solar panels in the plane of the roof are accepted and recommended, but covering more than 10% of the slope with panels visible from the street is given as a negative example;
• on large single-volume buildings, photovoltaic or solar panels are accepted on the south face, over 40% of its area.

The fire safety rules for panels (clear spaces, access, marking) are separate; see the article on photovoltaic panels and P 118.