Tile Roofing

Tile roofing is a great choice for roofs that experience hot weather or exposure to salt air. They can also be ideal for climates in which infrequent rains dump large amounts of water in a short time, since many styles are excellent at shedding rainfall from cloudbursts. If you’re considering tile roofing for your home, be aware that these roofing systems are very heavy and can break under certain conditions. For a lighter tile roof, try concrete tiles, which don’t typically last as long as clay tiles but cost less and put less weight on the house structure.

 

Metal Roofing

Due to the popularity of metal roofing systems, metal offers another alternative to heavy tile materials in construction. If the structure cannot handle the pounds per square foot weight of heavier sheet products, metal may be the answer. Metal roof tiles offer an almost unlimited choice of shapes and colors. While steel tiles make up the majority of metal roofing, other types of metal roofing include aluminum roofing and copper roofing.

 

Wood Shingle Roofing

Of all the materials used in roofs, wood is one of the oldest used for roofing.  The first homes in colonial America were made of wood, and even today, wood is a very popular roofing material for some country houses. Logs—pieces of wood split into thin, cone-shaped boards and stacked in layers to create a waterproof roof—were typically cut by hand as a roofing material until the early 1800s when industrialization and sawmills emerged making it possible for creating shingles from sawn wood. This is the main difference between a log and a shingle – shingles are made by splitting, shingles by sawing. Today, both wood shingles and shingles are available as roofing materials, although shingles are the most common.