The Ancient art of Tile roofing is truly ancient. Tile Roofing dates back over five thousand years. it’s probably older than that, but it’s difficult to tell since early tile roofing was very similar to the tiles used as flooring and paving. Another factor causing difficulty with getting an accurate date for the start of tile roofing is the fact that it was easier to pull tiles off ruins and old buildings and put them on a new building than it was to make new roofing tiles.
The Earliest examples of tile roofing come from both greece and china, but since it was very difficult to dig up information regarding the ancient chinese art of tile roofing i’ll have to focus on the ancient greek tile roofing. As with most things greek, the romans saw the greek tile roofing and decided to copy it, and they spread this construction concept as far as thier influence spread, all over the mediterranean and into the middle east as well.
tile roofing spread like wildfire across the globe, only hindered by the amount of work it took to be a tile roofer and by the difficulties with transportation. These issues were largely taken care of by the industrial revolution. The First Practical power driven tile machine was developed in the 1920s in denmark. The machine was called the Ringsted, about five years later an englishman ordered a ringsted and quickly came up with thier own improved version of the device.
The average Tile roofer became a much more common thing after the creation of these devices, they made tile roofing quite common across europe, by the 1960s more than eighty percent of all houses in england had tile roofs. Modern tile roofing is typically chosen for a few reasons, not only does it conjure up either a mediterranean look and feel to the home or an oriental look and feel, but it also provides excellent fire protection, and tile roofers know tile roofing provides great insulation, keeping you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Tile Roofing is also known for it’s endurance, typically lasting over 75 years.
