Brief History of Roofing

The history of roofing has come an extremely long way.  Man has utilized various natural
resources, technological methods & ways of applications throughout history to create the
environmentally safe, effective roofing of today.  From wood, mud and straw, to tiling, shingles
and beyond, the one thing most of us take for granted has been a necessity a properly function
roof for survival since the dawn of time. The evolution and history of the roof, and how it has
formed into what it is today, will be evaluated within this article.

The history of roofing is an interesting topic, as a lot can be learned through a civilization simply
through its roofing.  As one can imagine, a roof can only be as good as the materials readily
available, so every civilization had varying methods, tools, and materials for creating their
respective roofs.  The finished product and the materials used to produce roof are an accurate
portrayal of how technologically advanced and creative a certain civilization may have been.

Although most of the growth within the roofing industry has been within the last 200 years, the
complete history of roofing starts much earlier than that.  The Greeks and Romans were the first
to experiment with differing roofing styles. The Romans introduced slating and tiling to Great
Britain as early as 100 BC.  Thatch roofs were introduced and implemented around the year 735
AD and it wouldn’t be for another 300 years until wooden shingles were first implemented as
well.

It wasn’t until the 12th century that the history of roofing was changed forever under King John,
when he issued a law in London that citizens had to replace their thatch and reed roof-coverings
and replace them with clay tiles.  This law was passed as a measure against spreading fires and
marked the beginning point for mass-produced, industrial roofing methods.  Dreadnought clay
tiles began production in 1805 and industrial roofing at that time had little insulation but a good
slope for rainwater and other debris.  One hundred year after that, concrete tile roofing was first
utilized.

While the history of roofing began to evolve, American roofing styles and all of those abroad
were still dependent upon the regional availability of materials.  In the southern parts of the
United States, wood and metal were more widely used.  In the Southwest, tile was a lot more
prevalent. The Midwest utilized mostly wood roof coverings.

Even to this day, roofing styles are still based around those of local materials, but a wider variety
and more expansive materials are now present in many markets throughout the world.  Today,
materials such as slate, and felt are amongst the most common roofing materials.  It is hard to
predict the future of the roofing industry and what technology can shape for the future, but for
certain, the history of roofing has evolved and will continue to evolve forever.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 29th, 2008 at 10:57 am and is filed under News and Articles. You can
follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback
from your own site.

Comments are closed

Roofing shingles
are made from several types of materials. Wood shingles are sawed from red cedar or pine.
Modern shingles are cut from new growth trees and must be treated with chemical preservatives
to make them last as well as earlier versions that were cut from old growth trees. They must also
be chemically treated to achieve a fire resistance rating comparable to other types of shingles; in
fact, the highest rating can be attained only by installing them over a special subsurface layer.
Aluminum shingles have a long life span, although they are comparatively expensive. Asphalt
shingles cover about 80% of the homes in the United States. Their popularity is due to their
relatively light weight, comparatively low cost, ease of installation, and low maintenance
requirements.

A typical asphalt shingle is a rectangle about 12-18 in (30-46 cm) wide and 36-40 in (91-102 cm)
long. Popular styles have several cutouts along one edge to form tabs that simulate smaller,
individual shingles. Three tabs are common, but the number may range from two to five. Some
styles are made to interlock with adjacent shingles during installation, creating a more wind-
resistant surface.

History
Asphalt has been used as a building material for thousands of years. Ancient Babylonians used it
as mortar between clay bricks and as a waterproofing liner in canals. Roll roofing, consisting of
long strips of asphalt-coated felt with a finishing layer of finely crushed stone, has been
manufactured in the United States since 1893. In 1903, Henry M. Reynolds began marketing
asphalt shingles he cut from sheets of roll roofing. By the 1920s, this roofing material had
become so popular it was sold through mail-order catalogs. By the 1950s, the typical asphalt
shingle looked much as it does today, including the tab-forming cutouts.

Since the late 1950s, manufacturers have sought to develop inorganic base materials as
alternatives to the traditional organic felt. Inorganic bases are desirable because they are more
fire resistant than an organic base; furthermore, they absorb less asphalt during the
manufacturing process, so the resulting shingles weigh less. Asbestos was used in shingle mats
until its related health risks became well known. Improvements in fiber-glass matting have made
them the most popular asphalt shingle base material in the industry since the late 1970s.

Raw Materials
Asphalt shingles are sometimes called composite shingles. Their foundation is a base of either
organic felt or fiberglass. Organic felt mats are made of cellulose fibers obtained from recycled
waste paper or wood. These fibers are reduced to a water-based pulp, formed into sheets, dried,
cut into strips, and wound onto rolls. Thinner, lighter shingles with a higher resistance to fire are
made on a base of fiberglass. In a typical process, the fiberglass membrane is made by chopping
fine, glass filaments and mixing them with water to form a pulp, which is formed into a sheet.
The water is then vacuumed out of the pulp, and a binder is applied to the mat. After curing, the
mat is sliced to appropriate widths and rolled.

To make shingles, a roll of organic felt or fiberglass mat is mounted and fed into a dry looper.
The material passes through a presaturation chamber, then goes into a saturator tank filled with
hot asphalt, which coats the fibers. If needed the material passes through the wet looping
machine.

Asphalt, a very thick hydrocarbon substance, can be obtained either from naturally occurring
deposits or, more commonly, as a byproduct of crude oil refining. Before being used in the
manufacture of shingles, asphalt must be oxidized by a process called blowing. This is done by
bubbling air through heated asphalt to which appropriate catalysts have been added, causing a
chemical reaction. The resulting form of asphalt softens the right amount at the right
temperatures to make good shingles. To further process the blown asphalt into a proper coating
material, a mineral stabilizer such as fly ash or finely ground limestone is added. This makes the
material more durable and more resistant to fire and weather.

Various colors of ceramic-coated mineral granules are used as a top coat on shingles to protect
them from the sun's ultraviolet rays, increase their resistance to fire, and add an attractive finish.
The granules may be small rocks or particles of slag (a byproduct of ore smelting). Shingles
designed for use in humid locations may include some copper-containing granules in the top coat
to inhibit the growth of algae on the roof. The back surface of the shingles is coated with sand,
talc, or fine particles of mica to keep the shingles from sticking together during storage.

Strips or spots of a thermoplastic adhesive are applied to most shingles during the manufacturing
process. Once installed on a roof, the shingles are heated by the sun, and this adhesive is
activated to bond overlapping shingles together for increased wind resistance.

The Manufacturing
Process
Asphalt shingles are produced by passing the base material through a machine that successively
adds the other components. The same machine can be used to make either shingles or roll
roofing.
Dry looping

 1 A jumbo roll [6 ft (1.83 m) in diameter] of either organic felt or fiberglass mat is

mounted and fed into the roofing machine. The base material first passes through a dry
looper. Matting is accumulated accordion-style in this reservoir, so that the machine can
continue to operate when the supply roll is exhausted and a new one is mounted.

Saturation

 2 The base material passes through a presaturation chamber, where it is sprayed on one
side with hot asphalt to drive out any moisture that may be present. It then goes into a
saturator tank filled with hot asphalt. Soaking in the asphalt coats the fibers within the
mat and fills the voids between them.

Wet looping

 3 The matting is again formed into accordion-like folds. While the asphalt coating on the
mat cools, it is drawn into the felt, creating an even greater degree of saturation.

Coating

 4 Coating asphalt, which has been stabilized with powdered minerals, is applied to both
surfaces of the mat. The mat passes

The mat passes between a pair of asphalt coating rolls. After, a coating of fine mineral
particles is applied to the back surface of the mat, which then passes through a series of
rollers that embed the coating particles in the asphalt and cool the material. The shingles
are finished by cooling and cutting them to size.

between a pair of coating rolls, which are separated by an appropriate distance to ensure
that the desired amount of coating asphalt is applied to the mat. This step may be
sufficient to coat fiberglass filaments and fill voids between them; in this case, the
saturation and wet looping steps can be bypassed.
Read more: How shingle is made - material, manufacture, making, history, used, processing,
components, steps, product, industry, machine, History, Raw Materials, The Manufacturing
Process, Quality Control http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Shingle.html#ixzz196c40GfC