History Of Flat Roofs

A history of flat roofs.

History of flat roofs.

Flat roofing is not actually flat. How did flat roofs start. The flat roof see the figure has historically been widely used in the middle east the american southwest and anywhere else where the climate is arid and the drainage of water off the roof is thus of secondary importance. 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.

Both farm villages and victorian london had sloped roofs made of wood thatch tile or slate. Flat roofs have been around for a very long while. It wasn t until the ancient greeks and roman civilizations that tiles became common in europe. Main types of roofs are flat roofs and sloping ones.

But such a low slope holds snow and water much longer than a steeply pitched roof and therefore needs a very different material to stay watertight. From switzerland to the fabled hanging gardens of babylon humans have been growing plants on flat roofs. Then in the mid 1800s tar roofs built up roofing were invented. Flat roofs or low slope roofs are also commonly found on commercial buildings throughout the world.

Tiled and thatched roofs china has a long history of advanced architectural techniques and reportedly they had been using clay tiles as far back as 3 000 bc. Flat roofs are an ancient form mostly used in arid climates and allow the roof space to be used as a living space or a living roof. Back then this idea was fairly prevalent since there were no useful applications for having a tilted roof and our ancestors weren t too keen on aesthetics. Other articles where flat roof is discussed.

A flat roof is a roof which is almost level in contrast to the many types of sloped roofs. While standard sloped roofs typically have shingles that are overlapped like. Those materials have a long history and their evolution has been largely driven by performance. The roof normally was thatched such as that the material that made up most of the roof was straw leaves or branches.

Because of climate issues hot countries such as spain have had flat roofs for century. This was a flat roof made of. This is the traditional design of their buildings. Flat roofs came into widespread use in europe and the americas in the 19th century when new waterproof roofing materials and the use of structural steel and concrete made them more practical.

Sometimes mortar was applied between the courses to secure the tiles in a heavy wind.