Roofing in Ethiopia

Ethiopia's highland civilisation has one of Africa's longest building records, from the stone architecture of Aksum and the rock-cut churches of Lalibela to the castles of Gondar. Ordinary houses traditionally had either thatched conical roofs, as on the round tukul, or flat roofs of earth on timber, as on the stone hidmo of Tigray. Corrugated iron has since spread widely, and in a 2011-2012 rural survey sample it covered almost as many homes as thatch.

Climate and hazards

Much of Ethiopia is high plateau with a main rainy season, cool nights and strong sun; the Afar and Somali lowlands are hot and dry. Roofs must shed seasonal heavy rain in the highlands. Timber scarcity has long shaped roof design: in the Ïnderta area of Tigray, wood was so scarce that using more of it raised a house's prestige.

Roofing history

Aksum. The ruins of Aksum date from the 1st to the 13th centuries AD. Its tallest standing stele, over 23 m (75 ft) high, is carved to represent a nine-storey building, and a fallen stele of about 33 m (108 ft) may be the largest monolithic stele ever attempted. Ruins of 6th- and 7th-century palaces also survive.

Lalibela. Tradition credits King Gebre Meskel Lalibela of the Zagwe dynasty (reigned c. 1181-1221) with the eleven churches of Lalibela, carved downward from scoriaceous basalt. Because each church is cut from the rock, its "roof" is the original rock surface. In 2008, temporary protective shelters funded by the European Union were placed over five of the churches (see Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela).

Gondar. The fortress-city of Fasil Ghebbi was founded by Emperor Fasilides in the 17th century and built of brown basalt with wine-coloured tuff ornament. Its architecture blends Portuguese, Indian and Arab influences with later Baroque elements introduced by Jesuit missionaries; one account names an Indian architect, Abdal Kerim. Dawit's Hall was without a roof as of 2002.

Harar. The walled town of Harar Jugol in the east, whose walls were built between the 13th and 16th centuries, has 82 mosques and 102 shrines. After 1887, Indian merchants added rectangular two-storey houses with wooden verandas.

20th century. By 1984, Ethiopia's census used the categories corrugated iron, concrete or cement, wood and mud, thatch, reed or bamboo, and asbestos for urban households.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Tukul: round house with walls of mud and poles and a conical thatched roof (see Tukul). The name godjo is also recorded.
• Hidmo: rectangular stone house of Tigray and Eritrea with masonry walls, wooden ceilings and a flat soil roof; thick walls and roof keep indoor conditions stable (see Hidmo).
• Afar shelters: portable huts of twigs and woven mats, moved by camel; settled Afar increasingly build wooden frames plastered with clay.
• Rock-cut roofs: the churches of Lalibela and other rock-hewn churches.

Roofing today

The Ethiopian Rural Socioeconomic Survey 2011-2012 recorded the main roof material of about 3,900 rural and small-town households. Unweighted shares of sampled households (not official estimates) were:

Main roof material	Share of sampled households
Thatch	45.2%
Corrugated iron sheet	42.5%
Wood and mud	6.5%
Reed / bamboo	2.2%
Others	1.8%
Plastic canvas	1.4%
Concrete / cement	0.5%

In towns, corrugated iron is close to universal. In an urban job-seekers' impact-evaluation survey (2016-2020), corrugated iron sheet was recorded for 94.4% of 827 respondents' dwellings (unweighted). The Demographic and Health Survey (2016) also records roof material, with corrugated iron classed as a "finished" roof and thatch or mud as "natural".

Codes, standards and regulation

Building regulation is set at federal level by the Ethiopian Building Proclamation No. 624/2009, with technical requirements published as Ethiopian Building Code Standards (EBCS) documents.

Notable roofs

• Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela: World Heritage since 1978; EU-funded shelters since 2008.
• Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar: 17th-century stone castles, World Heritage since 1979.
• Aksum: stelae representing multi-storey buildings.
• Harar Jugol: walled Islamic town with traditional Harari houses.

Local roofing terms

• tukul: round thatched house.
• hidmo (Tigrinya): flat-roofed stone house.
• chikka: wood frame plastered with clay (Afar region usage).

Sources and gaps

Details of roofing provisions: published information is limited. No information on domestic roofing manufacturers was found in published sources.

Survey percentages are unweighted sample counts, mainly rural. National weighted roof shares from the 2007 census or DHS reports: published information is limited. Thatching traditions of southern Ethiopia (such as the Sidama and Dorze) were not found in published sources.