Focus

Nearly 25 years ago, NRCA published One Hundred Years of Roofing in America. The book's publishing coincided with NRCA's 100th anniversary in 1986. A reading of the book, which is to be updated and rereleased next year for NRCA's 125th anniversary, reveals the industry's resiliency and how loyal contractors can be to their choice of materials.

This month, METALCON International 2010 will be held in Las Vegas and showcase new developments in the metal industry as it celebrates its 20th anniversary. But many attendees may be unaware of the successful and storied history metal has had in the roofing industry.

According to One Hundred Years of Roofing in America, some of the earliest metal roofs can be traced to 1763-64 when copper was imported from England to roof New York City Hall.

Zinc also was a popular roof covering, and it began to gain traction in the early 1800s. An 1818 advertisement for zinc roofs in a Virginia newspaper stated: "It has been sufficiently ascertained by experiment, both in this country and Europe, that this valuable invention has introduced a better covering for houses than any other materials that have heretofore been in use."

But it was the introduction of tinplate that truly made people notice metal roof coverings. One of the earliest buildings covered with tinplate was the Exchange Coffee House of Boston, which was built in 1808.

"Like other materials used in those early years, such as thatch, wood shingles, tile and slate, tin was destined to be one of the materials that launched the 19th century roofing industry," the book says.

Since then, there have been countless adaptations to metal's uses as a roof covering, and changes in technology have broadened the scope of metal roof systems. METALCON International 2010's educational offerings showcase the diverse spectrum of metal's uses. There are sessions dedicated to metal's use with roof-mounted photovoltaic systems, residential applications for metal roofing, the sustainability of metal and re-covering existing roof systems with metal.

If you are attending METALCON International 2010, I urge you to take advantage of the educational sessions and trade show—what is new today may soon be part of history.

Ambika Puniani Bailey is editor of Professional Roofing and NRCA's senior director of communications.