Archive for February, 2011

Understanding The Different Types Of Roof Trusses

Roof trusses, usually fabricated from wood, frame house roofs during construction or renovation. There are many different types of roof trusses, and all of them support the other material that’s used to construct the rest of the roof. They help support and spread out the load to the exterior walls.

Let’s look at the different types of trusses that are in common use.

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Roofing Materials – What Are the Differences

As long as people have lived in houses, roofing has been a necessity. Roofing can be made of many different materials, which each have their own weatherproofing properties. As time has progressed, new roofing materials have been created that are even more effective than their predecessors. Roof construction has existed for thousands of years, and was a huge factor in the human transition to sedentary civilizations.

Domestic architecture has had an immense variety of forms throughout the history of civilization. Homes likely started as constructions of bricked mud, sometimes reinforced by plant stalks. Roofs also can be made out of thatched plant stalks to seal a home from weather. Thatched roofing consists of dried plant stalks that form straw. Wheat straw and rye straw can be used. Thatching itself is a process that involves stacking crisscrossed layers of straw to form a tight seal.

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Polycarbonate Roofing Sheets For DIY’ers

Polycarbonate roofing sheets have many uses around the home. While probably not your first choice for house roofing, there are many more applications in which they can be used. Many home building projects can benefit from their use. Let’s look at some of these applications and find out why these sheets are so desirable and durable.

Polycarbonate is a lightweight but extremely durable plastic. It is nearly unbreakable and in fact in some instances it is bullet-proof. It can withstand almost any weather from tropical to frigid, and is one third the weight of acrylic. Music CD’s are made from polycarbonate and if you have ever tried to snap a CD in half you know how strong it is. Many skylights are also made of polycarbonate.

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