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Common Roofing Terms
Ben Munger • February 21, 2020
Here's our most common roofing terms listed
When it comes to roof replacement in St Louis there are so many terms you may not have heard of that it may sound like a foreign language! This can make the process of repairing or installing a new roof overwhelming and stressful. Below are a list of commonly used roofing phrases that may help you along the way! Don’t be afraid to ask questions, we are here to help!
Asphalt: A bituminous substance, native in various areas of the earth and composed mainly of hydrocarbon mixtures. It is used in the manufacturing of composition shingles.
Asphalt Roofing Cement: Sometimes known as flashing cement or mastic, is used to bond roofing materials.
ASTM-American Society For Testing Materials: formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services.
Base Flashing: Is used at the joint between the roofing surface and a vertical surface such as a wall or a parapet, guarding against water penetration to the roof deck.
Blend: The mixture on the surface of a shingle that has multiple different colored granules.
Blinding Nailing: When nails are strategically placed so that the heads are concealed by the layers of the roofing materials.
Blisters: Bubbles that can appear on the outward surface of asphalt roofing.
Bridging: When reroofing, this is the process when new shingles follow the shape of the old roof. Some also use the term “butting up”.
Built-Up Roofing or (BUR): This is the most common roofing material used on low-slope roofs. It is composed of alternating layers of reinforcing fabric and asphalt and is finished with a top layer of aggregate, such as stone or gravel.
Butt: This is also referred to as the tab of the shingle and is the part of the shingle that is exposed to weather.
Cant Strip: This is usually used in low sloped roofing, it is a 45 degree beveled wood, fiberboard, or metal strips at the junction of the roof and a vertical surface used to break a right angle.
Cap Flashing: is a material often aluminum or galvanized steel that is used over joints in a roof and wall construction to prevent water seeping in and causing damage.
Caulk: A material that is a waterproof sealant that is used to fill in a gap or seam.
Cement: A substance that sets, hardens, and then adheres to other materials to bind them together.
Class A: Is the highest rating, offering the highest resistance to fire. Examples of Class A roofing covers are, concrete or clay roof tiles, fiberglass asphalt, composition shingles and metal roofs.
Closed Valley: When roofing materials cover the entire valley.
Coating: This is the top layer of protection for the membrane, receiving the impact of sunlight rain, hail and physical damage.
Collars or Vent Sleeve: is a pre-formed flange placed over a vent pipe to seal the roof around the vent pipe opening.
Course: A horizontal unit of roofing running the length of the roof.
Cricket: A ridge structure designed to divert water on a roof around the high side of a chimney or the transition from one roof area to another, the cricket is normally the same pitch as the rest of the roof, but not always.
Cupola: A small tower or dome-like feature projecting from the top of a barn roof. Ranging from large and ornate to small and simple.
Dead Level: When a roof or a section of the roof does not have any pitch.
Deck: This is the roofing material between the structural components and the insulation and weatherproofing layers. The most common types of roof deck are plywood or tongue and groove wood systems.
Double Coverage: When there are two complete layers of shingles.
Dormer: When a window projects through the sloping plane of the roof.
Drip Edge: Drip edge is a metal flashing that is installed at the edges of the roof to help control the flow of water away from the fascia and to protect the underlying roofing components.
Drip Course: The first layer of shingles that slightly overhangs over the edge.
Eave: The edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building.
Exposure: This is the part of the shingle that exposed to weather. They are measured from the butt of one shingle to the next overlapping shingle.
Felt Underlayments: A layer of protection installed between the roof deck and the roofing shingles. There are three different types of felt underlayments, asphalt saturated felt, rubberized asphalt, and non-bitumen synthetic.
Lap: This is the overlay from one surface to another.
Laminate Shingles: This is an asphalt shingle that is made up of a heavier base and multiple layers to create extra thickness.
Lock Shingles: These shingles have a mechanical locking feature but are not very common.
Low Slope Application: This is when you apply shingles on a slope that are measured between 3-4 inches apart.
Mansard Roof: The upright or vertical part of the roof.
Modified Bitumen: This is an asphalt product that can be applied in multiple ways to the roof in hot and cold temperatures.
Normal Slope Application: When shingles are installed between 4 and 21 inches per foot.
Open Valley: A sheet of metal (usually steel, sometimes copper) is fastened to the roof deck. The metal is usually pre-painted to best complement the shingles’ color blend. Roofing shingles are installed then cut and sealed where they overlap the metal channel.
Seal Down: An asphalt strip that is use to bond a shingle to another shingle above. This helps build wind resistance.
Sheathing: exterior grade boards used as a roof deck.
Side Lap: A horizontal lap
Skirt Flashing: A large piece of flashing that is often found at the bottom of an addition or dormer.
Slope: Slope is the incline of the roof expressed as a ratio of the vertical rise to the horizontal run, where the run is some portion of the span. The ratio is always in inches per foot.
Soffit: The underside of an eave that is finished.
Soffit Vent: An opening that is needed to take in the outside air. They are needed to have a good ventilation in the attic.
Span: The horizontal measurement from eave to eave
Square: A measurement that that covers 100 square feet
Square Butt Shingles: Unlaminated, 3 tab, 20 year shingles
Starter Course: The initial shingle products installed on the roof, just before the first course of the finish shingles, which will comprise the visible parts of the roof.
Tab: The portion of strip shingles that have cut outs or slots that give the appearance of being individually applied once installed.
Valley: the intersection of two roof slopes.
Vent: Where air lets out.
Weathering: Changes made to the roof due to outside exposure. Changes such as color, texture, and the efficiency of the over all roof.
If you are looking for a roofing company in St Louis please consider Contemporary Roofing.
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