The History Of Metal Roofs

In america metal roofing primarily took off in the 19th century.

The history of metal roofs.

Copper has always been a popular choice of metal for roofing because of its ease of handling and the beautiful way it ages. By the 1400s flat copper sheeting began to be used in europe particularly on churches. Metal roofing material was produced by heating and hand hammering the metal to a thin sheet. The history of metal roofing dates back to the 1700s when lead and copper were the main metals used for roofs.

A manufacturer named robert morris created it in trenton new jersey. Metal roofs are sometimes made of corrugated galvanized steel. Roofing came from an instinct need of protecting oneself from the weather and other elements. At the turn of the 18th century the first facilities for rolling copper sheet metal were developed in america.

We know that around 27 b c the romans used copper metal roofing for the pantheon. Before that lead and copper were sometimes used to cover roof surfaces if the roof s pitch or shape did not work for wood tile or slate. Copper roofing arguably the oldest form of metal roofing has been around for thousands and thousands of generations. Morris created the first sheet metal roof for his own philadelphia mansion.

Sheet iron was manufactured in america by robert morris who helped finance the revolutionary war in the 1790s. Another approach is to blend zinc aluminum and silicon coated steel. Throughout the history of mankind roofing has evolved and developed from the use of twigs and straws to metals and tiles. The first tin plated steel was produced in the same costly way.

For example a lead roof covered rosewell one of the grandest mansions in 18th century virginia. Metal roofing in america is principally a 19th century phenomenon. Zinc started to be used in roofs in the 1700s and remains popular today as an alternative to copper. In the late 1600s in germany heated steel was first thinned by rolling a less expensive process.

Before then the only metals commonly used were lead and copper. A wrought iron steel sheet was coated with zinc and then roll formed into corrugated sheets.