History Of Roofing Material

A building s roofing material provides shelter from the natural elements.

History of roofing material.

These shingles can be reinforced with fiberglass or organic materials cellulose without changing the appearance of the shingle. A roof is the top covering of a building including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights providing protection against rain snow sunlight extremes of temperature and wind. 5000 years ago clay roofing tiles have been used in babylon. The romans introduced middle europe to their excellent characteristics and long.

Early 20th century building materials. From there they made their way via egypt and greece to rome. National board of fire underwriters campaign to eliminate the use of wood shingles on roofs was a contributing factor in the growth in popularity of. Rome was called the city of tiled roofs.

Take a look back at how roofing has evolved. Roofing material is the outermost layer on the roof of a building sometimes self supporting but generally supported by an underlying structure. A look into clay tile history it is said that the first historically known clay roofing tiles have been used in neolithic china as early as 10 000 b c. Copper in architecture in the 3rd century b c copper roof shingles were installed atop the lovamahapaya temple in sri lanka.

Siding and roofing richa wilson intermountain regional architectural historian kathleen snodgrass project leader s y r or n. They were first used in 1903 in general use in parts of america by 1911 and by 1939 11 million squares of shingles were being produced. During the repair work useful evidence might unexpectedly appear. Wood and slate shingles and clay tiles were the predominant roofing choice until the mid 19th century when metal and bituminous roofing systems made low slope applications possible.

Any historic fabric or pertinent evidence in the roof should be photographed measured and recorded for future reference. Asphalt shingles are an american invention by henry reynolds of grand rapids michigan. A roof is part of the building envelope. The characteristics of a roof are dependent upon the purpose of the building that it covers the available roofing.

Today s versatile roof materials are a legacy of the development of roofs throughout history and cultures. Those materials have a long history and their evolution has been largely driven by performance. The outer layer of a roof shows great variation dependent upon availability of material and the nature of the supporting structure. It is helpful to establish a sequence of construction history for the roof and roofing materials.

The most common residential roofing material used in the united states asphalt shingles are popular because they are economical and easy to install. Centuries later copper and its alloys were integral in european medieval architecture. Figure 1 following national trends the forest service often used wood.