Roofing in the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola. Its roofing is now split almost evenly between reinforced concrete and corrugated zinc (galvanised steel) sheet, with traditional palm materials surviving only in a few thousand homes.

Climate and hazards

The country has a hot, humid tropical climate with heavy seasonal rain and lies in the path of Atlantic hurricanes. Hispaniola is also seismically active. Roofs must resist wind uplift and, where they are heavy slabs, be properly tied to columns and walls.

Roofing history

Taíno. The Taíno villages of Hispaniola were among the largest in the Caribbean. Family houses (bohíos) were large thatched buildings of wooden poles, woven straw and palm leaves set around a central plaza, and chiefs lived in rectangular houses (caney) of similar construction (see bohio).

Modern era. Corrugated zinc sheet and reinforced concrete slabs have almost entirely replaced plant materials: by 2022 fewer than 4,000 dwellings still had palm roofs.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Bohío: palm-thatched rural house.
• Cana and yagua: traditional palm roof coverings still recorded separately in the census. Cana is thatch from the leaves of the palma cana (Sabal domingensis); yagua is the fibrous leaf sheath of the royal palm, used for the walls and roofs of bohíos.

Roofing today

The 10th National Population and Housing Census (2022), reported by the National Statistics Office (ONE), counted 3,694,060 occupied private dwellings, with roofs of:

• Concrete: 1,881,428 (50.9%)
• Zinc sheet: 1,755,486 (47.5%)
• Asbestos-cement: 38,553 (1.0%)
• Cana: 1,970 (0.1%)
• Yagua: 1,656 (under 0.1%)
• Other: 14,967 (0.4%)

Concrete overtook zinc as the leading roof material by a narrow margin in 2022, while asbestos-cement and palm roofs have become marginal.

Local roofing terms

• Techo de zinc: corrugated galvanised sheet roof.
• Techo de concreto / placa: concrete slab roof.
• Cana: palm-leaf thatch from the palma cana. Yagua: royal-palm leaf sheath.
• Bohío: thatched house.

Sources and gaps

No information on domestic roofing manufacturers was found in published sources.

Building code details, colonial roofing history and individual heritage roofs: published information is limited.