In the UK most houses have tiled roofs. The tiles last indefinitely, centuries even. The only people who have trouble with their roofs are those that have suffered some kind of damage or who have flat roofs. What’s the point of using wooden shingles? I daresay they are cheaper but te labour costs must have a bearing?
John
In older homes like these, the main remodeling goal is often a more welcoming, more social, and more functional kitchen.
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Replies
Style, mostly. Hey, a massive NEW house near me (in NEW England) has a thatch roof!
No great mystery why wood is not common in the UK. How many acres of timberland remain? Is wood really the best choice for a moist climate? How many wood-frame structures do you have?
Not like wood roofs are particularly common in the US anymore either. Asphalt rules the marketplace here. Hard to beat the cost/benefit ratio for asphalt.
Old wooden roofs were said to be quite durable (50-70 years), but that high quality old-growth stuff is long gone. I doubt one could expect the same sort of longevity now.
Tile roofs are beautiful and durable, but they only start to pay you back in utility value after 25 years or so. In the US, the average length of home ownership is just 7 years. At like 6x the price of asphalt, that's a tough sell. We are all about short-term thinking here. Disposible goods, and such...
Concrete composites and plastic 'pseudo-slate' are getting more popular. Nearby house just replaced section of failed real slates with synthetic slates, and one would never know.
Wood roofs were still popular on the west coast in recent times, but fire codes have pretty much put a stop to that.
Edited 12/12/2003 4:58:55 PM ET by csnow
I was in the UK a few weeks ago, and certainly noticed that most of the roofs were tile. In the US, tile roofing is used in the Southwest, and perhaps elswhere. In the Northeast, asphalt shingles are most common. Cedar may be more common in the Northwest. Slate isn't used much any more. Sheetmetal is popular in some areas, especially those that get lots of snow. I was wondering if it could be that tile is used in the UK because hard freezes are less common than in many places in the US.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
I'd say for the same reason some people in the UK put on thatched roofs - for the appearance. I just put cedar shingles on four wood sheds. And they look great.
The cost between a tile roof and a cedar roof here is in the tens of thousands of dollars (if you can find someone to put it one for you..) Slate roofs to are very high end, one house near me spent 1.1 million Dollars just to put a slate roof and the copper flashing needed..
(yes that is 1.1 million US dollars just for the roof.. {19,000 sq.ft.})
while I dearly wanted a slate roof, it simply was not affordable.
I settled on old growth cedar with heavy copper flashings. because of the steep pitch (as high as 27/12 pitch) I hope to have a 50 plus year roof..
recently saw lodge-pole pine shingles cut to mimic slate. Excellent fake. Lots cheaper (and I;m sure easier to walk on, too. Not to mention lighter. ) Some company outta Guelph, Ont.
Much of architectural detailing and design is dependent on locally available materials and on climates.
As the world shrinks, styles migrate faster, but climate still dominates over some materials. There are many places, especially in the SW US that use tile commonly.
but wood is relatively economical and made from a renewable resource - not that we are in danger of running out of clay yet.
;)
Excellence is its own reward!
It wasn't that long ago, maybe 150 years, that cutting bolts from Cedar logs, then splitting out the shingles was as much a part of a carpenter's profession as milling the trim, building the staircase, cabinetry, doors and windows.
So anyway, a shake roof is kind of like log cabins; we all know there are probably more efficient ways to build, but for some folks, there's a certain charm, or nostalgia to a log cabin - same with a shake roof. A comp roof will last a lot longer and go on a lot cheaper, but sometimes the bottom line isn't the final decision criteria - geez, just look at the clothes we wear and vehicles we drive.
I just put a new white cedar shingle roof on our summer home in Newfoundland last August. The decision was made mostly for design considerations. The house is an 1880 salt box and the cedar roof seemed the most historically appropriate choice.
Also, since summer heat in this part of Canada isn't sufficient to really bond asphalt shingles to the roof deck, the common practice is to gum each individual asphalt shingle with roofing cement. This practice really adds a lot to the labor cost of an asphalt roof. The cost of the cedar roof was probably still more than asphalt but not that much more.
Chip,
Can you post a few photos of your Saltbox?
I am considering building a new house and a Sb is high on the list.
Thanks,
Eric
Eric,
I'm sorry but I can't post pictures. I have a lot of photographs of the house but none were taken with a digital camera. Also, my computer skills are fairly limited and I'm not sure I could do so even if I had the photgraphs in the right format. You might want to do an internet search for typical salt box construction.
Chip
I lived in the UK for a few years and home construction there is so different from here in the US. Houses are smaller (but then whose aren't?), and almost always are some kind of masonry construction - block from what I've seen. Brick is the most popular exterior. Talking to the locals and from my own experience, wood is not commonly used due to scarcity and fire risk. The UK, especially London, has a long history of city-destroying fires and masonry buildings solve much of that problem, especially when you consider how densly packed residential areas are there. Houses are much more expensive (partly due to higher taxes and higher land prices), but people live in them longer and they last forever. More people rent in the UK than here in the US as well.
Andy
firebird.... New England saltboxes were one of my first loves.. as a matter of fact our first house was a saltbox.... i combined two styles..
dutch colonial front... and saltbox rear
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
lots of tile and stone used in the carribean, those people are poor but they build better than us - we have more money but use too much wood that rots, burns, cracks, termites eat it etc - IMHO.
we have all seen
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/h00095.asp
Edited 12/13/2003 2:57:08 PM ET by wain
wain..... yeah... so?.... what are you getting at ? the guy wanted pictures of a saltbox....what's that got to do with peeling paint ?
or was it just my turn in the barrel ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I understand tradition dictates a lot of what folks design into their roofs, but I sure think roof overhangs are a good idea, regardless of style of building.
boy , jim... i couldn't agree with you more.. that was 1972.....nowadays all our designs have overhang... rakes and eaves.. even pent roofs across the gable ends...
protection from the elements....Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Nice photos, Mike. Great looking house. Don't you just love those little rolling scaffolds like the blue one in front of that window? I have a yellow one just like it and use it far more than my mason's scaffolding.
I wasn't being critical of you earlier posts, hope it didn't read that way. It's just that every time the subject of basic design comes up I feel kind of obligated to bring overhangs into the discussion - sooooo useful.
Growing up in New England, then working here in the Pacific Northwest for a couple decades has given me exposure to a lot of conflicting images of what constitutes "good design". I think there are many reasons why a lot of colonial architecture doesn't include overhangs, but every time I see a house out here designed that way I just shake my head.
jim .. met with a prospective client today...big house.... contemporary...
my critique of the preliminary plans included not enough overhang to protect the house..
also brought the conversation around to fiberCement claps with the stain you've been using....
stay tuned ..
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
oooooooh man, you're gonna like that stuff, Mike. That's good stuff.
Had the building inspector come out to sign off my roof and he brings a trainy along with him, right? So after they're done I get chewing the fat with the younger one and I hear the older one (about our age, gnarly hands, looks and talks like he's been in the trades since Christ was a corporal) outside tapping on the siding, right?
So I'm thinking "what the heck is he checking now?"
Sticks his head in the door and says "hey, what kind of siding is this?"
hehehehehehe, that stuff is unreal man. A winner if ever there was. No one believes it when you tell them it's Hardi. Sometimes you just get lucky, that's all there is to it.
wonder why hardie does not market more, to sell more. Do they have trouble now keeping up with demand?
There are neo traditional new neighborhoods here that only allow brick and wood exteriors . 95% of the homes are wood exterior and of course will soon be facing 10k painting and wood rot repair bills.
somehow "merica" is missing out on hardie plank.