History Of Roofing Material

5000 years ago clay roofing tiles have been used in babylon.

History of roofing material.

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. Roofing material is the outermost layer on the roof of a building sometimes self supporting but generally supported by an underlying structure. The outer layer of a roof shows great variation dependent upon availability of material and the nature of the supporting structure. Today s versatile roof materials are a legacy of the development of roofs throughout history and cultures.

Any historic fabric or pertinent evidence in the roof should be photographed measured and recorded for future reference. Early 20th century building materials. Copper has played a significant role in architecture for thousands of years see. The romans used copper as roof covering for the pantheon in 27 b c.

Copper in architecture in the 3rd century b c copper roof shingles were installed atop the lovamahapaya temple in sri lanka. The characteristics of a roof are dependent upon the purpose of the building that it covers the available roofing. Take a look back at how roofing has evolved. During the repair work useful evidence might unexpectedly appear.

Rome was called the city of tiled roofs. Siding and roofing richa wilson intermountain regional architectural historian kathleen snodgrass project leader s y r or n. A building s roofing material provides shelter from the natural elements. 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.

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. It is helpful to establish a sequence of construction history for the roof and roofing materials. Centuries later copper and its alloys were integral in european medieval architecture. H u t g a nd ng l a ir.

These shingles can be reinforced with fiberglass or organic materials cellulose without changing the appearance of the shingle. The most common residential roofing material used in the united states asphalt shingles are popular because they are economical and easy to install. From there they made their way via egypt and greece to rome. A roof is part of the building envelope.

Figure 1 following national trends the forest service often used wood. Those materials have a long history and their evolution has been largely driven by performance. 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.