The History Of Metal Roofs

Throughout the history of mankind roofing has evolved and developed from the use of twigs and straws to metals and tiles.

The history of metal roofs. Sheet metal was developed during the american revolutionary war 1775 1783. 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. Let s take a look at this journey in order to better understand this concept throughout the ages. Copper roofing arguably the oldest form of metal roofing has been around for thousands and thousands of generations.

In the late 1600s in germany heated steel was first thinned by rolling a less expensive process. The first tin plated steel was produced in the same costly way. Metal roofing in america is principally a 19th century phenomenon. By the 1400s flat copper sheeting began to be used in europe particularly on churches.

Metal roofs are sometimes made of corrugated galvanized steel. Morris created the first sheet metal roof for his own philadelphia mansion. A wrought iron steel sheet was coated with zinc and then roll formed into corrugated sheets. For example a lead roof covered rosewell one of the grandest mansions in 18th century virginia.

Sheet iron was manufactured in america by robert morris who helped finance the revolutionary war in the 1790s. Copper has always been a popular choice of metal for roofing because of its ease of handling and the beautiful way it ages. In america metal roofing primarily took off in the 19th century. We know that around 27 b c the romans used copper metal roofing for the pantheon.

At the turn of the 18th century the first facilities for rolling copper sheet metal were developed in america. 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. Zinc started to be used in roofs in the 1700s and remains popular today as an alternative to copper.

A manufacturer named robert morris created it in trenton new jersey. In around 300 b c copper roofing was installed on the sri lankan loha maha paya temple also known as the mahamuni buddha temple.