Roofing in Mexico

Mexico combines several roofing traditions: Mesoamerican stone vaults and palm thatch, Spanish colonial clay tile, earth roofs and thin brick vaults, and, above all today, the reinforced concrete slab. Climates range from the dry north and temperate central highlands to the humid, hurricane-exposed Gulf, Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

Climate and hazards

• Earthquakes, particularly in the centre and south, make roof weight and the connection of roof to walls critical.
• Hurricanes on both coasts, including the Yucatán Peninsula.
• Heavy summer rain in the south and the central highlands, and intense sun and heat in the north, where thermal mass and roof waterproofing matter.

Roofing history

Maya. Maya builders roofed masonry rooms with the corbel vault, in which courses of stone step inward until they meet; it imitated the steep profile of the thatched hut but needed thick walls and gave little interior width. Temples often carried tall roof combs (cresterías), seen in double-walled form at Palenque and in flatter form in some Petén-style temples such as those at Tikal. Puuc-style buildings at Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil and Labná used concrete cores faced with cut stone for walls and vaults. Ordinary houses were built of perishable materials and roofed with thatch.

Colonial period. Spanish builders brought fired clay tile (teja) and Mediterranean flat roofs of timber beams under earth (terrado). The thin brick vault known in Spain as the Catalan vault, laid in layers of flat bricks without formwork, reached New Spain and is still used for roofs and floors, where it is usually called bóveda. Talavera ceramic tiles decorate the domes and bell towers of many churches.

Modern period. Reinforced concrete gradually replaced natural materials in most homes in the 20th century, and the flat slab (losa) became the typical roof of Mexican towns and cities. Corrugated metal and asbestos-cement sheet spread on informal housing, workshops and farm buildings, and sheet-metal roofs characterise some historic mining towns such as Cananea in Sonora.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Maya house (xa'anil naj in Yucatán): oval in plan with a steep thatched roof, a form associated with resisting hurricane winds.
• Palapa: an open-sided shelter with a roof of dried palm leaves, common on beaches and in rural areas (see palapa).
• Terrado: flat earth roof on timber beams, a colonial and northern tradition counted separately in the census.
• Tejamanil: hand-split wooden shingles, recorded by the census with wooden roofs.
• Teja roofs in colonial towns; rounded ceramic tiles on riverside houses in the Nautla area of Veracruz.
• Anglo-Caribbean timber houses with gabled roofs in Chetumal, Quintana Roo.

Roofing today

INEGI's 2020 Population and Housing Census reported the roof material of occupied private dwellings as:

• Concrete slab or joists with block infill (losa de concreto o viguetas con bovedilla): 78.6% (71.6% in 2010)
• Metal sheet (lámina metálica): 12.5%
• Asbestos sheet (lámina de asbesto): 3.7%
• Wood or tejamanil: 2.0%
• Clay tile (teja): 1.3%
• Other, including cardboard sheet, terrado, palm or straw, fibre-cement sheet and scrap: 1.8%

The share of clay tile fell from 2.9% in 2010 to 1.3% in 2020, while asbestos sheet fell from 5.5% to 3.7%. INEGI's National Housing Survey (ENVI) 2020 found 44.2% of dwellings reporting damp or water leaks in foundations, walls or roofs, and 40.8% reporting cracks in roofs or walls. Flat slabs double as terraces, water-tank platforms and space for later extension, and are waterproofed with liquid-applied coatings (impermeabilizantes) or bituminous membranes.

Codes, standards and regulation

Because of Mexico's seismic and hurricane exposure, roof weight, anchorage and the connection of slab roofs to walls are central design concerns.

Industry

Mexico has large domestic cement, steel and roofing-sheet industries supplying the slab and sheet-metal markets.

Notable roofs

• Palenque, Chiapas: corbel-vaulted temples with roof combs, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Uxmal and the Puuc sites of Yucatán: stone-faced concrete vaults.
• Colonial churches with domes and bell towers faced in Talavera ceramic tile.

Local roofing terms

• Losa: concrete slab roof.
• Vigueta y bovedilla: precast joist and block-infill slab.
• Lámina: sheet roofing (metal, asbestos-cement or cardboard).
• Teja: clay roof tile. Tejamanil: split wooden shingle.
• Terrado: earth roof on beams.
• Bóveda: vault, especially the thin brick vault.
• Palapa: palm-thatched shelter.
• Impermeabilizante: roof waterproofing coating.

Sources and gaps

Pre-Hispanic Aztec roofing is poorly documented in published sources. Building regulations and roofing product standards: published information is limited.