Chandal Roof

The chandal roof is the classic flat roof of the traditional coral-stone and mud houses, forts and mosques of the Gulf coast, from Kuwait and Bahrain to Qatar and the UAE. Its name comes from the mangrove poles (variously written chandal, danchal or danshil) that form its beams. Because timber long enough for beams did not grow locally, these poles were imported by sea, mostly from East Africa.

Layers

Writing on Qatar describes the roof as built up in layers:

1. Beams: danshil poles spanning between the walls. They were valued for their resistance to weather and were also used for lintels and connectors, often painted in bright colours.
2. Mat layer: mangrove mats, split bamboo (baszhil, imported from India and East Africa) or palm mats laid across the poles. Palm fronds (duun) could be used interchangeably.
3. Earth: a covering of clay over the matting, finished to shed rain. Clay was vulnerable to rain, so roofs needed regular maintenance.

Dried palm trunks were also used as beams, but they carry less load than mangrove, so they were combined with other materials. Because each room had to be spanned by a single run of poles, pole length set a practical limit on room width.

Walls beneath

The roofs sat on walls of rough stone bound with clay, later with gypsum mortar, or on coral-stone slabs; in Qatar coral slabs of about 70 x 50 x 7 cm (28 x 20 x 3 in) were used for walls, niches and lintels. Gypsum plaster protected limestone walls from moisture.

Decorated ceilings

Seen from below, the poles and mats form the ceiling, and in majlis rooms they were often painted with geometric patterns. In Oman, roofs of houses, mosques and forts were built from palm logs or from local or imported wood, including teak from India and East Africa chosen for its resistance to termites. Omani ceiling logs were commonly painted dark brown or red with white patterns and sometimes carry the builder's name, the date or Qur'anic verses; Jabreen Castle near Bahla, built in the late 17th century, has notable painted ceilings.

Today

Restorations in Qatar, such as the 2022 work at Ar Rakiyat Fort, have rebuilt wooden ceilings with traditional materials. Elsewhere such roofs have largely given way to reinforced concrete slabs.