From caves, to wood, mud, straw, roofing tiles and roofing slates there has been an on going revolution in the way we cover our shelter.
Each civilization utilized their geographical environment and materials to create different roofs, this created different methods and styles of roofing throughout the world.
Greeks and Romans began to experiment with the idea of creating different roofing styles and this resulted in the Romans introducing tile and slate roofing around 100 BC.
Thatch roofs were utilized and followed around 735 AD, these stayed for many years as the favoured roofing material, however 300 years later; wooden shingles were introduced and became widely used for roofing.
It was during the 12th century that roofing would change forever, King John issued a London law, that dictated every roof in London must be replaced with clay tiles in an attempt to remove the risk of fires spreading throughout London using the previous thatch and reed coverings as fuel.
The mass production of clay tiles began in 1805 and a revolutionary change in roofing began.
Although these tiles prevented the fire risk, they had little or no insulation and they were sloped off to help remove rain water and debris.
It was 100 years later after the roofing industry really began that the first concrete tile was utilized for the purpose of of roofing.
Today slate, tiles and felt roofs are most commonly used materials for roof coverings, this will no doubt change and evolve further throughout time.
