What is the Right Roof?
I had a friend in Maine who was in love with red clay tile roofs so when he built his new home he decided to use this type of roofing. As he was a framing contractor he made the trusses extra strong for the weight but he never counted on the snow sticking to the tile. The roof deck sagged in one place and several of his clay tiles cracked. Moisture got into the cracks and the freeze-thaw cycle went to work on them and extended the cracks. Water got in and, as he did not see the need for an underlayment of asphalt felt, the water ran down one of his interior walls. In the end he had a crew take the tile from the roof and he replaced it with asphalt shingles. That was 10 years ago and the roof hasn’t given him any problems.
As much as he loved the Spanish look his part of Maine was not the place for tile shingles. Now, if had lived further south or in a dryer area it might have worked out fine. Because even if he had an underlay material water still would have come in under the shingles in bigger quantities and might have shattered more shingles or the expensive edging near the gutters.
Conversely, northern manufactured asphalt shingles can melt right to the roof deck necessitating the whole deck be replaced. And in areas of extreme snow conditions, where you want the snow off your roof before it piles up, metal works the best.
The point is that roofs are successful in certain areas of the country, not because of intense scientific experimentation. It’s because the also-rans could not handle the weather conditions. Just like animals hav adapted to the situations of their specific climate so did building standards which includes roofing.
Add comment April 25, 2008
