The white Bermuda roof is one of Bermuda’s icons. Bermuda’s roofs have evolved over four centuries to do two things: protect houses against gale-force winds and funnel rain water from the roofs down into large cisterns under houses that feed to all water sources in the house. Since Bermuda has no fresh water source on the island everyone must catch and store their own water. It is the most important and difficult part of the home to maintain. In Bermuda, all the houses have white roofs, by law, every house must collect 80 percent of the water that falls on its roof. . There is no (or very little) fresh water in Bermuda, so roofs are painted with lime based paint to prevent mildew and mold.
To build a traditional Bermudian roof, masons mortar rectangular slabs, or “slates,” of local limestone to each other over a hip-roof frame. Then they apply more mortar over the top and edges of the slates, filling the joints and giving the roof its traditional stepped shape. Along the lower edges of the roof, they sculpt a long concrete trough for a gutter, which directs rainwater to a pipe that filters it and funnels it into a cistern underneath the house. Then they give the whole roof structure a thin wash of cement. Finally, to keep rainwater as clean as possible on its way to the cistern, they paint the roofs with special nontoxic paint (a modern replacement for traditional lime wash), which must be reapplied every two to three years.
The result is a strong, nearly self-supporting structure that holds its own against the weather while sending clean water into the tank. It’s the best and cheapest way to supply fresh water — up to 30 gallons per person are needed per day — to the 60,000-plus residents of this tiny island nation. It’s also what accounts for Bermuda’s signature white rooftops, perfectly placed among the palms and pastel houses.
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