Rooftop details

[e-paw]

With the height of most of our layouts being below chest level the top of structures are very visible. I seen plenty of beautifully detailed buildings with blank roofs My theory is that because the rooftops of most buildings are not always easy to be seen in person those details are just forgotten about. Some map programs allow you to view the top of structures, but the resolution is not always the best. My job as an electrician puts me on rooftops quite often so I'm starting this thread to showcase pictures of various details found on the roofs of residential and commercial buildings, to stir your creative thinking and include some of these things in your projects. I will add more pics as I come across things of interest to modelers, and feel free to add your own pics along with mine.

A common sight on most residential buildings are air conditioner condensers. Although this condo building does not have it, today's code require that a GFI receptacle and work light be located within 50 feet of the AC units. To keep the inspectors happy, you can include it on your models. In this pic you can also see A rotating vent stack. This is a common feature in structures built in the last 60 years or so


Satilate dishes and T.V. antennas are still a part of the roof top land scape.


Roof access hatches are also a necessary feature often overlooked by modelers here is one in the open and closed position.


Here is an overview of the same roof as the rest of the pics . You can see puddles, pipes, hatches, A.C. units, Garbage, dishes, and wires. Plenty of stuff to add interest you a model.

[ezdays]

Yup, sometimes roofs are viewed more than street level details. In some areas, clotheslines are visible on many rooftops, pigeon coops, lounge chairs and picnic tables are good things to add. I know that some of these things are available in all scales.

[Buckler]

Thanks for the brilliant pictures. There is so much detail that should be shown on our models, but is so often neglected.
Dave

[Sumpter250]

If there is plumbing in the building? --- There is a vent on the roof.
If there is a furnace, or gas water heater in the building? --- there is some kind of a chimney.
If the building is a Bar, or Restaurant, there could also be a roof-top patio.
------ and the list goes on.

[IndyCity]

Wonderfull details. That will be much fun to model it.

At my search, what a "roof top ratio" is, i found this very inspiring picture:

http://thefabriclab.files.wordpress.com/..._patio.jpg

I need a little help with this pic:

on the left side of the pic , between the car and the very left house there is an brown unit. Can someone identify what it is ?

same the blue box at the same corner ? Is it a trash container ?

[e-paw]

That looks like it could be a trash compactor, Indy

[Mr Fixit]

Excellent thread idea e-paw.

One thing that I noted in your photos that you didnt mention was that your first photos show a tar roof that has since been spray painted a white colour. Now I suspect that this is the same material we have had sprayed on many of the roof areas of the school I work at. It is a special paint which has high value insulating properties and can be sprayed on many different surfaces.

Another area of roof detail that should also be attended to is Worksafe Compliant Roof Access and Fall Restraint Systems.
By this I mean guardrails and roof walkways [metal grating] as well as safety harness attatchment points and cable runs.
We are still in the process of having these all installed around the numerous school buildings, some of which are covered by Heritage Overlays, which can make things tricky.

Also if you happen to model any multi storey office blocks then you will need to provide details of the structures used by the swing stage scaffold systems used for cleaning and maintaining the exterior of the building. If you have concrete silos for your cement plant or for your grain silos, you could also model a swing stage scaffold being used to provide access to repair crews.

One more item that is now making its appearance on building roofs is 'Green Power' generating equipment in the shape of solar panels for water heating or electricity generation as well wind turbines of various shapes and configurations.
I will have to consider modelling these items for the Hodgson Mill plant on the Effingham Railroad. Hodgson Mill also has a segment of their website devoted to their 'Green Power' generating systems if you would like to learn more.
HodgsonMill.com

Mark

[ezdays]

Wonderfull details. That will be much fun to model it.

At my search, what a "roof top ratio" is, i found this very inspiring picture:

http://thefabriclab.files.wordpress.com/..._patio.jpg

I need a little help with this pic:

on the left side of the pic , between the car and the very left house there is an brown unit. Can someone identify what it is ?

same the blue box at the same corner ? Is it a trash container ?

The brown unit is most likely a paper and cardboard compactor, the blue unit with the black lid is a trash dumpster. The are probably both behind some sort of business on the first floor, with apartments above the business.

[e-paw]

That's not spray paint Mr Fitix, but a fine gravel that is spread over the wet tar. The light color reflects some of the sun light to keep the building cooler in the summer time. In the last pic you can see that the middle section has not been finished yet, that roof is still in the process of being worked on, witch is the reason that I was there. In the same pic in the lower left corner there is a section of conduit that is empty and separated. It controls the security gate at the entrance of the complex and was damaged by the roofers . So I was there to make the repairs .

[Mr Fixit]

Ah I see, well it sort of looked like the roof had been spray painted with a little overspray on the parapet sides. Then again now I think about it, why wasnt the parapet sprayed as well, D'oh.
Damn clumsy roofers, well at least they made some extra work to keep you busy, e-paw.

Mark

[e-paw]

Here is a shot of a roof From a former Public Service garage in Union City NJ. It could lend to a few ideas on detailing in an urban aria. Check out the old sky lights that have been blanked over with corrugated siding. One has suffered some wind damage. If you look towards the bottom right there is even some vegetation growing.


This pic is of some ornamental iron work on the side of the same building (seen on the right of the first pic) They are only through bolted into the brick and have no structural purpose, only decoration. This was at one time the exterior wall so this was able to be seen from the street, But that was a long time ago..

[BR60103]

A question arose last year on a visit to NYC. Do any other cities have rooftop water towers? These are things that look like a N scale water tank on a O scale highrise.

[Mr Fixit]

A question arose last year on a visit to NYC. Do any other cities have rooftop water towers? These are things that look like a N scale water tank on a O scale highrise.

The main purpose of the roof top water towers you are describing is to provide a water supply and improved water pressure.
In a lot of cases their use depends upon the age of the building and type of construction. The type you are referring to would have been either built or retro fitted to older solid brick or lower steel framed buildings built prior to WW11 as a rough guide.

All multi-storey buildings constructed today have one or more plant rooms occupying part or full floors as well as roof top areas, depending upon total height and design. Really tall multi storey 'sky scrapers' will have several plant rooms spread out over the height of the building and occupying full or part floors. Its one way of getting rid of the 'unlucky' 13th floor. While they may contain water tanks for drinking water, service uses, air conditioner use and fire service supply, they are not as visible as the roof top water towers you are talking about. Roof top plant rooms today tend to be located in fully enclosed plant rooms or screened plant rooms open to the sky. A lot of the space in a plant room is devoted to air conditioning requirements as well as electrical, data/telecommunications, and computing/server rooms. Moving air at the 'right temperature' takes up a lot of energy as well as space vertically and horizontally within a building. The 'smarter' a building is today, the more heat that is generated by the equipment and the greater the electrical power requirements.

One way to think of an occupied building is like a human body, with similar requirements for air and water to be supplied and then disposed of and power to 'do things' and to be able to communicate.

I hope that this has helped with your understanding of roof top details.

Mark

[Russ Bellinis]

In the March-April issue of Model Railroad Hobbyist E-mag there is a 29 page article by Tom Wilson, a model railroader and building inspector in Florida, on doing roof top details as well as types of roofs. He also did a follow up on his blog at the MRH site but one of the admins inadvertently flushed it as spam and we lost all of the extra content that Tom had posted.

[e-paw]

This round of pics from The Kennedy center In Union city New Jersey, or the buildings around it. I'll start off with some of the surrounding structures. This is the roof of a building that contains a bank and a few chain restaurants. The details shown here are pretty typical of modern commercial buildings. HVAC equipment, vents, Ladders, all can be found on most buildings of this kind.

Next is the drive up teller for the same bank. You don't often get to see the top of something like this. The top portion is open reveling the structural supports that hold it all together.

On to another building that is right next door. The roof of the Chinese take out place offers a small surprise, the ladder on the left can be placed on any roof to draw the eye to a normally blank aria. The larger building behind it was a printing press at one time (I wired up a lot of old machines in there not too long ago). The large pipe could be added to any industry to add interest. The ivy growing on the wall could be a nice touch also..