BY MARK J. SHEINGOLD FEELING FLAT COMPONENTS AND DESIGN OF ROOF STRUCTURES R oofs are very complicated and we have seen instances where a PhD in engineering writes the specifications for a roof replacement. The goal of this article is not to make you an expert on roofs, but to teach you enough that you feel more comfortable when talking to a roofer about your next roofing project. When talking about flat roofs, the first thing we want to address is the definition of a flat roof. The word flat roof is actually inaccurate and the correct term is low-slope roof-if a roof were totally flat, water would accumulate on the roof and damage it. Roofs can be classified into the category of low-slope or steep-slope roofs. September 2017 21