Roofing in Honduras

Honduras spans the Caribbean coast, mountainous interior and a short Pacific shoreline. Its roofing history runs from the Maya city of Copán through Spanish colonial tile to the metal sheet and concrete of modern housing, with Garifuna and Indigenous thatch surviving on the Caribbean side. Hurricanes and floods have repeatedly destroyed large parts of the housing stock.

Climate and hazards

• Hurricanes and floods. In Hurricane Mitch in 1998 about 7,000 people died in Honduras, an estimated 35,000 houses were destroyed and 50,000 damaged, and up to 1.5 million people were left homeless.
• Earthquakes.
• Tropical heat and heavy rain, favouring steep, ventilated roofs and wide eaves.

Roofing history

Maya period. Copán, in western Honduras, was a major Classic Maya city. UNESCO dates the founding of its royal dynasty to 427 CE, its flourishing to about 300 to 900 CE and its abandonment to the early 10th century. Its Acropolis rises about 30 m (100 ft) through successive rebuildings, and its Hieroglyphic Stairway carries more than 1,800 glyphs. As elsewhere in the Maya world, temples and palaces were stone, with corbel vaults, while ordinary houses were of poles and thatch. Copán was inscribed by UNESCO in 1980.

Colonial period. Spanish colonial towns were built with adobe walls and clay tile (teja) roofs.

Garifuna. In 1797 about a quarter of the Garifuna were deported to the island of Roatán, off the Honduran coast; from there they settled the Caribbean coastal lowlands of Honduras and neighbouring countries. Their villages traditionally had wooden or wattle-and-daub houses with thatched roofs.

Modern period. Metal sheet, fibre-cement sheet and concrete slabs replaced most tile and thatch in the 20th century.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Maya pole-and-thatch house in the west (see Maya thatched house).
• Garifuna house: wattle-and-daub or wooden walls, thatched roof; wooden houses raised on posts.
• Teja on adobe: the colonial and rural highland house.

Roofing today

Metal sheet is widely used on rural and urban houses, and reinforced concrete on urban buildings.

Codes, standards and regulation

A 2012 comparative review of Latin American seismic codes listed the 2010 code of the Colegio de Ingenieros Civiles de Honduras (CICH) as the country's seismic design code in force at that time.

Notable roofs

• Copán (UNESCO 1980): Maya temples and palaces built of local volcanic tuff, with the Acropolis and Hieroglyphic Stairway.

Local roofing terms

• Lámina: metal roofing sheet.
• Teja: clay roof tile.