Medieval Roofing Materials

While in warmer parts of the country people tended to use wood roofing in colder regions people often used slate or metal.

Medieval roofing materials.

Over 250 roofs in southern england have base coats of thatch that were applied over 500 years ago providing direct evidence of the types of materials that were used for thatching in the medieval period. Imported from wales to colonial america for fire proof roofs in boston philadelphia and new york it was still slow to catch on for houses. Ceramic tile roofing traditionally consists of locally available materials such as clay granite terracotta or slate. Second only to wood as a natural traditional roofing material slateis a fine grained sedimentary rock that has topped castles and large buildings for centuries in europe.

Dutch roof tiles netherlands. It turns out that clay roof tiles had their own name. Timber and oak shingles burned easily so the lord needed something more durable to replace them. But i never put clay roof tiles together with medieval england i assumed that roofs were thatch stone or slate.

A higher noise level and the risk of getting dents that may affect the overall look. Despite the benefits the cost is significantly higher for metal roofing systems but there are a few drawbacks to aluminum and steel roofing. Awareness of these and other traditions of roofing materials and their detailing will contribute to more sensitive preservation treatments. Thacktyle they were mentioned in london building codes as early as 1212 and were almost certainly in use earlier.

Although expensive lead didn t burn and was water and wind proof. Imbrex and tegula style dating back to ancient greece and rome. Monk and nun a style similar to imbrex and tegula but basically using two imbrex tiles. Some of these materials are fire resistant.

Asphalt shingles and roll roofing were used in the 1890s. Some castle builders chose lead for roofing. Many roofs of asbestos aluminum stainless steel galvanized steel and lead coated copper may soon have historic values as well. Wood was cheap and the most available material.

The incredible longevity of metal roofing materials makes them an attractive option. Other material became available depending on the resources and wealth of the builder and included thatch oak shingles slates flag stone and clay tiles. Slate was commonly used as a roofing material for rich houses due to its low water absorption properties fixing is typically with double nails onto timber battens england and wales or nailed directly onto timber sarking boards scotland and northern ireland. There are now synthetic roofing products including rubber plastic and polymer roofing developed to give you the color look and texture of natural materials like slate and wood.

Building with slate roof tiles. Almost all of these roofs are thatched with wheat rye or a maslin mixture of both.