History Of Roofing Material

Copper in architecture in the 3rd century b c copper roof shingles were installed atop the lovamahapaya temple in sri lanka.

History of roofing material.

Any historic fabric or pertinent evidence in the roof should be photographed measured and recorded for future reference. 5000 years ago clay roofing tiles have been used in babylon. 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. Asphalt shingles are an american invention by henry reynolds of grand rapids michigan.

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. Copper has played a significant role in architecture for thousands of years see. A roof is part of the building envelope.

Today s versatile roof materials are a legacy of the development of roofs throughout history and cultures. H u t g a nd ng l a ir. Those materials have a long history and their evolution has been largely driven by performance. The romans used copper as roof covering for the pantheon in 27 b c.

Centuries later copper and its alloys were integral in european medieval architecture. It is helpful to establish a sequence of construction history for the roof and roofing materials. Early 20th century building materials. Figure 1 following national trends the forest service often used wood.

A building s roofing material provides shelter from the natural elements. During the repair work useful evidence might unexpectedly appear. Siding and roofing richa wilson intermountain regional architectural historian kathleen snodgrass project leader s y r or n. Take a look back at how roofing has evolved.

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. The characteristics of a roof are dependent upon the purpose of the building that it covers the available roofing. 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. 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.

The outer layer of a roof shows great variation dependent upon availability of material and the nature of the supporting structure. From there they made their way via egypt and greece to rome. The most common residential roofing material used in the united states asphalt shingles are popular because they are economical and easy to install.