In recent times, the issues of roof failures in urban Nigeria have become a source of concern to house owners and building industry professionals. Although several key cases of roof failures have been investigated in South-west Nigeria, this building problem is yet to be adequately explored in the Southeast sub-region of the country. Hence, fuller understanding of the nature, rate and causes of roof failures in the former sub-region, where our study area is major urban centre is lacking. The study is aimed at identifying the major causes of roof failure in Enugu urban, Nigeria with the intent of evaluating the common types of the occurrence, so as to proffer a lasting solution to building design professionals, stakeholders and house owners on measures through which roof failure can be minimized. The study adopted descriptive cross- sectional survey involving observations and interviews. Employing purposive sampling technique, nine neighbourhoods in Enugu urban was selected for the study, based on the frequency of roof renovation going on in those areas as personally observed by the researchers. Primary data was collected through participant observation, photographic documentation and oral interviews based on randomly selected buildings and houses and residents within the neighbourhoods under study. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as bar charts and frequency distribution tables. The results show that the major causes of roof damages are deficient roof design, poor maintenance culture, bad workmanship and use of sub-standard materials. The article concludes that roof design and construction require special knowledge and skill with regular routine maintenance to address the situation. It recommends that climatic consideration of its design and construction be given utmost attention especially in the hot-humid tropical climate.
Jonas et al. (Thu,) studied this question.