Roofing in Brazil

Brazil's roofing reflects Indigenous building traditions, a Portuguese colonial heritage of curved clay tiles, a mostly tropical and subtropical climate with heavy seasonal rain, and a vast stock of self-built urban housing. Today most homes are covered by tiles or roofing sheets (telhas), often over a concrete slab (laje). Brazil mined chrysotile asbestos and used it in fibre-cement roofing until its Supreme Court banned it in 2017.

Climate and hazards

• Heavy tropical rain and intense sun over most of the country, favouring generous overhangs, adequate pitch for tile roofs and ventilated roof spaces.
• Seismic design is covered by the standard NBR 15421 (2006).

Roofing history

Indigenous. Indigenous peoples lived in thatched houses (ocas), which the first colonists imitated. In the far north the Yanomami still build shabonos, rings of palm-thatched lean-to roofs around an open plaza, and Tukanoan peoples of the northwest Amazon build malocas, communal longhouses roofed with palm thatch.

Colonial (1500 to 1822). The earliest colonial houses had straw roofs (sapé), like Indigenous dwellings, and clay tiles were first used on wealthier buildings before spreading. Walls of rammed earth (taipa de pilão) or wattle and daub (pau a pique) were protected from rain by wide eaves (beirais), whose rafter ends were often carved. Gable roofs were common in towns and hipped roofs on larger buildings; some town houses (sobrados) in Recife, Salvador and São Luís had gently curved roofs with upturned tiles at the corners. The standard tile was the curved telha colonial or capa-canal, laid in alternating rows of channels and covers.

Jesuit missions. In the south, the Guaraní missions made their own clay tiles from the 17th century and replaced straw roofs with tile, partly as protection against fire. The Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis in Brazil and Argentina were inscribed by UNESCO in 1983.

Industrial era. Flatter ceramic tiles of the French (Marseille) pattern, developed in France in the 19th century and exported widely, came into common use alongside the curved colonial tile. Fibre-cement sheet, made in Brazil by Eternit since 1940, became a common low-cost roof for houses, especially in lower-income urban areas, and for farm and industrial buildings, along with corrugated and trapezoidal steel sheet.

Asbestos ban. On 29 November 2017 the Federal Supreme Court (STF), by 7 votes to 2 in cases ADI 3406 and ADI 3470, declared unconstitutional Article 2 of Federal Law 9.055/1995, which had permitted the extraction, manufacture, sale and distribution of chrysotile asbestos. The ruling has binding effect nationwide. Asbestos mining at Minaçu, Goiás, by Eternit's subsidiary SAMA continued for export under a 2019 state law until a court in Uruaçu, acting on a request by federal prosecutors, ordered it suspended in August 2021. Eternit, which filed for judicial recovery in March 2018, now makes asbestos-free fibre-cement and in 2019 launched fibre-cement solar tiles rated at 142 Wp each.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Telha colonial (capa-canal): curved clay tiles in the Portuguese tradition.
• Telha francesa (Marseille): flatter ceramic tile of French pattern.
• Sapé: grass thatch of early colonial and rural houses.
• Oca, maloca and shabono: Indigenous thatched houses.

Roofing today

IBGE's Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua) for 2019 reported the predominant roof covering of Brazilian homes as:

• Tiles or sheets without a concrete slab (telha sem laje de concreto): 49.8% (36.0 million homes)
• Tiles or sheets over a concrete slab (telha com laje de concreto): 32.1% (23.2 million)
• Concrete slab only (somente laje de concreto): 15.5% (11.2 million)
• Other materials: 2.6% (1.9 million)

The laje is standard in multi-storey buildings and very common in self-built houses, where a flat slab allows later upward extension; many houses combine a slab ceiling with a tiled pitched roof above.

Codes, standards and regulation

Technical standards are issued by ABNT (Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas) as NBR standards; the seismic design standard is NBR 15421 (2006). Asbestos is banned under the 2017 STF ruling.

Industry

• Eternit S.A.: fibre-cement roofing sheets and accessories, concrete roof tiles, and solar roof tiles; active since 1940.
• Slate: Brazil is reported to be the world's second-largest slate producer after Spain, with most output from around Papagaios in Minas Gerais; much is used for flooring and cladding, and not all meets European CE-marking requirements for roofing (see Brazilian slate).

Notable roofs

• Ouro Preto (UNESCO 1980), Olinda (1982) and Salvador (1985): colonial towns; Salvador's sobrados include the Arcebispos House, built 1707 to 1715.
• Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis (UNESCO 1983), shared with Argentina.
• Brasília (UNESCO 1987).

Local roofing terms

• Telhado: roof; telha: tile or roofing sheet.
• Capa-canal: cover-and-channel curved tile.
• Laje: concrete slab.
• Beiral: eave.
• Fibrocimento: fibre-cement.
• Sapé: grass thatch.