Flat Roof Patios in Cannington

Land around the Cannington activity centre and the station has been coded for higher density for years, and the redevelopment has followed. Townhouses, grouped dwellings and apartments have replaced a lot of the original postwar brick.

The older stock has not disappeared. Through East Cannington and Queens Park there are still 1950s and 60s houses on undivided lots with low fascias, shallow eaves and a proper backyard behind them.

Those two situations produce two different quotes. One is a courtyard cover measured in single-figure square metres, the other is a conventional rear patio with room for posts wherever the design wants them.

A rear grouped-dwelling lot is often reached by a shared driveway barely wider than a car. Materials come in by hand, and the maximum sheet and beam length is decided by the corner they have to turn.

Height is the other constraint, and it is a design decision rather than a structural one. A roof set too high in a walled courtyard reads as a lid, and set too low the space closes in.

The usual answer sits just under the top of the surrounding fence or wall. That keeps the sky visible from a seated position and stops the structure dominating a small area.

Light is the other thing a small courtyard cannot afford to lose. A solid roof across the whole area can leave the rear rooms darker than they were, which is why a translucent section over the part furthest from the house is worth considering.

Infill housing in Cannington is frequently built hard to one boundary. That wall belongs to the dwelling it was built for, and it is not a structure to be bolting someone else's patio into.

So the load stays on your side. A post inside your own boundary carrying your own beam avoids the whole argument, and it keeps any future dispute about the wall out of your roof.

Overhang matters too. Neither the roof edge nor the gutter can cross the boundary line, and a flat roof with a slim edge detail is easier to keep on the right side of it than a pitched one with a bulky eave.

A lot of Cannington property is held as an investment, and the brief that comes with it is different. The patio has to look good at inspection, cost nothing to maintain and survive tenants who will not be oiling anything.

Steel answers that better than timber. A Colorbond structure needs washing rather than sanding and sealing, and there is no annual job for a landlord to forget about.

Colour does quiet work here. A mid tone hides the dust that blows off the highway and the car parks far better than a very pale one, and it does not show every mark the way a dark finish can.

Plenty of Cannington briefs include a built-in barbecue or an outdoor kitchen, because the courtyard is where the family eats. That changes the roof from a rain cover into something with a heat source underneath it.

Clearances come first. A barbecue needs the manufacturer's specified distance to any surface above and beside it, and a low flat roof over a small courtyard is exactly where that gets tight.

Ventilation is the second half. Smoke and grease under a solid roof in a walled courtyard have nowhere to go, so the design usually needs a raised section, an open edge or a proper flue rather than hoping the breeze does it.

The building permit comes first. A patio is Class 10a work, so the City of Canning needs the application before construction, with a site plan, elevations, structural engineering and an on-site stormwater design.

On a small infill lot the R-Codes questions arrive with it. Boundary setbacks, how much of the site is left as open space, and whether the required outdoor living area is still uncovered are what determine if development approval is needed as well.

That last provision catches people. Roofing the entire courtyard can remove the uncovered outdoor living area the lot was approved with, which is a planning issue rather than a building one and is much cheaper to solve on paper.

Grouped dwellings add one more check. Where the lot forms part of a survey-strata scheme, the strata company usually has to agree to the work before the council application goes in, and it will want the appearance and the stormwater settled first.