I know this isn't ultimatehomepage.com but...

[blingbling]

...can someone tell me what the point of roof shingles are? I do not really understand how they work, and how it is superior to a roof that is unibody in nature.

[johnnynumfiv]

What type of shingles? Asphalt? Clay? Cedar? All depends on the area of where the homes are located. Now a days metal roofs are becoming more common but are still expensive, usually shingles are a cheaper and simpler method of roofing. On how they work, the water flows down by gravity and the shingles will have an overlap that makes the water continue down and not get under the shingle layer. In climates where freezing temperatures are common, a layer of "ice and water" goes on the bottom edge of the roof so any frozen water doesn't work it's way under the shingles and then melts do the roof being warm and geting into the house.

[coolieman1220]

but shingles make no sense to met cause tehy blow off in wind. and then ur house gets soaked. i hate em, my G35 was parked in driveway, neighbors just did roof, windy day, loose shingle blows off and hits car. now car is scratched all the way from glas to wheel arch on driver side rear

[johnnynumfiv]

but shingles make no sense to met cause tehy blow off in wind. and then ur house gets soaked. i hate em, my G35 was parked in driveway, neighbors just did roof, windy day, loose shingle blows off and hits car. now car is scratched all the way from glas to wheel arch on driver side rear

Shingles in good condition shouldn't blow off in non hurricane wind gusts. If it is old, then yes they might come off.

[baddabang]

Jonny pretty much summed it up.

Its a weather barrier for the plywood roof so mother nature doesnt take its toll on the nautural wood. Most common in my neck of the woods are asphault. If it is in good condition the roofing nails and tar strips should hold them togeather. I havent seen many cases where new ones fall up unless the contractor did a really crappy job. It could also be because they just went over the old ones and didnt strip the roof. So the old shingles gave out causing the new ones to fall off.

[zeppelin]

Shingles also dress up the appearance of roofs I find, especially those nice cedar ones. A flat solid roof would look boring in my opinion.

[Esperante]

but shingles make no sense to met cause tehy blow off in wind. and then ur house gets soaked. i hate em, my G35 was parked in driveway, neighbors just did roof, windy day, loose shingle blows off and hits car. now car is scratched all the way from glas to wheel arch on driver side rear

Just like it makes no sense to put paint on cars; it'll all chip or rust off anyways.

[blingbling]

What type of shingles? Asphalt? Clay? Cedar? All depends on the area of where the homes are located. Now a days metal roofs are becoming more common but are still expensive, usually shingles are a cheaper and simpler method of roofing. On how they work, the water flows down by gravity and the shingles will have an overlap that makes the water continue down and not get under the shingle layer. In climates where freezing temperatures are common, a layer of "ice and water" goes on the bottom edge of the roof so any frozen water doesn't work it's way under the shingles and then melts do the roof being warm and geting into the house.

Why can't you just use something such as concrete applied over the roof? You still did not answer my question as to why can't a roof by "unibody".

[baddabang]

Why can't you just use something such as concrete applied over the roof? You still did not answer my question as to why can't a roof by "unibody".

Because house foundations shift overtime as the land under it settels. A solid roof would not flex to compensate for the foundation shift and would crack and fall off anyway. Asphault shingles bend easily and most metal roofs have joints that can expand or contract very slightly. Plus it would be VERY heavy and the house would need to have concrete/brick walls just to support the weight.

[Coventrysucks]

What is a "unibody" roof?

"Shingles" are used as they are quite a good idea.

A flat roof will collect water, whereas an angled roof does not allow any water to settle.

Since the roof of a building tends to be towards the top, a roofing solution that requires as little maintainance as possible is a good idea, that rules out things like plastic, which deteriorate in UV light, and wood, which tends to start rotting unless treated regularly, and felt/bitumen type stuff, which also deteriorates over time.

Stone is quite a good option, as you may have noticed, it resists sunlight, water and wind fairly well. Simply pouring a load of concrete over your roof isn't a great idea since it would be a bit heavy, and would look horrible.

The old method of sticking a bunch of small, overlapping, rectangular tiles of slate, or terracotta, onto a wooden framework has been a roofing success across the globe for hundreds of years, why mess?

[Rockefella]

What is a "unibody" roof?

"Shingles" are used as they are quite a good idea.

A flat roof will collect water, whereas an angled roof does not allow any water to settle.

Since the roof of a building tends to be towards the top, a roofing solution that requires as little maintainance as possible is a good idea, that rules out things like plastic, which deteriorate in UV light, and wood, which tends to start rotting unless treated regularly, and felt/bitumen type stuff, which also deteriorates over time.

Stone is quite a good option, as you may have noticed, it resists sunlight, water and wind fairly well. Simply pouring a load of concrete over your roof isn't a great idea since it would be a bit heavy, and would look horrible.

The old method of sticking a bunch of small, overlapping, rectangular tiles of slate, or terracotta, onto a wooden framework has been a roofing success across the globe for hundreds of years, why mess?

Exactly. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Egg Nog]

Shingles look nice. Especially cedar shakes. Coventry, wood roofing don't need to be treated repeatedly - they don't last as long as the best asphalt shingles, but they'll still last a good while. Shakes (split wood shingles) in particular work better than sawn wood shingles as they don't leave the grain of the wood open (and thus aren't permeated as easily by water). It also naturally depends on the type of wood, but nobody is going to sell shingles made from a type of wood that isn't suited to be used as shingle. Wood roofing around here is always cedar.

Supporting a concrete roof wouldn't be that much of a big deal - keep in mind it doesn't have to be very thick - strength isn't really that much of an issue since a roof needs to meet a certain specification for holding weight anyways (aka snow, ice). It wouldn't be that much of an issue to make the trusses strong enough to cope. That said, a concrete roof would be a hideous retrofit for most residential architecture

If shingles are blowing off your roof and it isn't a hurricane, it means you needed a new roof a long time ago. If your roof is fairly new, then you should call the contractor and get him to bring the roofer back to fix it. (In this case, the roof problem would be the fault of the roofer, not the contractor).

[blingbling]

Hmmm I see the practicality of things now.

How do high-rise buildings deal with these problems?

[johnnynumfiv]

Why can't you just use something such as concrete applied over the roof? You still did not answer my question as to why can't a roof by "unibody".

Water seeps into concrete, then it will freeze and crack in some climates. By unibody I thought you meant metal roofs, where they are just sheets of metal laid on the roof. Can you explain the whole unibody thing more?

[johnnynumfiv]

Hmmm I see the practicality of things now.

How do high-rise buildings deal with these problems?

High rise buildings dealing with what problems? If you are talking about flat roof, they all have built in drainage and the roofs aren't really flat, they are shaped so water will drain. And all the heat rising from the floors below will melt the snow and that will just drain off.