Roof tiles made of bitumen?

[James Wilkinson]

I accidentally spotted some A5 sized pieces of roof felt/bitumen (like we use on garages and sheds here in the UK) on an American house, placed to look like tiles. Is that common over there and why?

[Tim Watts]

I believe they are called asphalt shingles.

[tabbypurr]

Shingles are probably the most common roof type there.

NT

[James Wilkinson]

Wouldn't that leak?

[James Wilkinson]

Looks rather cheap and not long lasting.

[Davey]

And they come in big sheets, and the roof is guaranteed for 25-30 years. Usually longer than the company that lays them.

for just one example.

[Andrew Gabriel]

They have a life similar to flat roofs here.

However, there is a different philosophy with housing in various parts of the US. Traditional UK homes were built with a design life of 200 years (that's not 200 maintenance-free years), but it was well long enough that people don't often need to consider a home getting to the end of its life before they get to the end of theirs.

That's much less true in parts of the US. In the area I regularly visited when working for various US companies (California), you quite often see one of their typical single-story homes being bulldozsed and rebuilt. They are much less substantial structures than a UK home, so much faster to erect, but also have a much shorter expected life, and they think much less of knocking down and rebuilding than we do. Felt shingles are also much less likely to come loose in an earth quake and kill passers by in that part of the US. (Mind you, a UK brick built house there would have a very short life).

In some other parts of the US, things like tornadoes mean that houses can be destroyed and need to be quickly rebuilt, so that too can be a factor when you know you might suddenly have to quickly rebuild many homes, and again, you don't want thousands of concrete roof tiles being whipped up in a tornado and hurlded around.

[Huge]

My parents live in rural Pennsylvania, and the mass housing there is essentially well insulated sheds. Wood frame covered with siding and with the asphalt shingle roofing that started this thread. Erected at enormous speed (large parts of it are prefabricated and assembled with nail guns). It doesn't last very long by British standards.

[Tim Watts]

No - they're laid like tiles - or wooden shingles. They are not used on flat roofs.

[John Rumm]

The also have an advantage, they can be laid very fast since they are just nailed on to a fully boarded roof. No need for tile battens etc. With pneumatic roofing nailers, you can get a whole roof finished in a couple of hours.

[James Wilkinson]

Don't they flap bout in the wind?

[Capitol]

Shingles also withstand large hailstones better than tiles. Price however seems to be the main consideration.

[James Wilkinson]

Isn't that pretty crap for sound insulation?

[Tim Watts]

Plus they bend, so that's less flashing and no fiddly mortared bits.

[James Wilkinson]

All builders like flashing :-)

[James Wilkinson]

I see. Still looks cheap though. Mind you so do tiles. Slates are the only decent looking roof.

[Andrew]

That's the whole point. In Tornado alley they are gone in jiffy, but wont kill you. Quick and easy to replace.

More of a problem in North east USA where the racoons can easily rip through them and rummage through your loft.

[ARW]

Just admit that you have been watching The Simpsons.

[James Wilkinson]

ROFL!

[James Wilkinson]

When I'm sat in my house riding the storm, I don't care about the odd strange person who's decided to go for a walk in a tornado, I care about how long they stay on, how many I have to replace, how much it's going to cost.

Or a burglar.