What you need to know about soft roofing
The popular flexible tiles have their own characteristics. The material consists of fiberglass tiles impregnated with a special bitumen composition and having curved edges.
Fiberglass - an important component - can be ordinary or reinforced polyester. During the production process, the roofing material is sprinkled from the front side.
The topping is made from crumbs: basalt or stone. Thanks to this technology, the surface is more aesthetically attractive.
Soft roofing has the following advantages:
Long service life. High quality material is durable. It can serve its owners for more than 70 years, so the cost of the roof is fully recouped.
Resistant to adverse weather conditions.
Soft tiles do not break under a thick layer of fallen snow, do not allow atmospheric moisture to pass through, and withstand ultraviolet radiation. Performance characteristics are maintained throughout the entire service life.
Aesthetic appearance. Different shapes and a rich color palette open up great prospects for creative solutions.
Flexibility. Elastic material allows you to create complex shapes with many slopes and various decorative elements.
Installing bitumen shingles is easy. For a non-professional, the main thing is to figure out how to cover a roof with a soft roof. Reliable tiles are used for buildings with various purposes.
What is the roof made of?
Soft roofing has a rather complex composition. It contains several layers, which form solid roofing sheets.
So, here are the layers the material consists of:
The base is not woven type. Even earlier, in Soviet times, cardboard or cellulose were used as this material. Over time, the composition improved and it was found that if fiberglass was used instead of a cardboard base, then all parameters would improve.
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The base serves as a reinforcing layer, protection against stretching and damage, and also seals the material. Due to the use of cardboard, the tiles were badly rotted.
Improved bitumen. It has the ability to create a dense layer that helps give the tiles rigidity. This layer is used to thicken the material and bond the roof monolithization. In addition to these qualities, bitumen serves as a water-repellent element.
Colored inclusions from crushed rocks. They create a decorative coating, and also make the tiles stronger and more resistant to external influences. Thanks to stone chips, bitumen is not exposed to sunlight.
The bottom layer is a film protection to prevent the tile parts from sticking to each other. You will definitely need strips for flexible tiles during the installation process.
Underlay carpet
Covering the roof with a soft roof involves installing a lining that is resistant to moisture and mechanical damage. This element is necessary on the surface of the slopes when the roof slope is less than 15 degrees.
Cheap roofing felt is not the best solution. Give preference to the material recommended by the asphalt shingle manufacturer.
Bituminous soft tiles Shinglas photo and video
Soft bitumen shingles are the most popular. It consists of small plates that are cut from sheets of bitumen.
Flexible tiles photo of the roof covering of a modern cottage
The surface is covered with fine stone chips on top and a self-adhesive layer on the bottom. The main advantages are the low weight of the coating and the possibility of installation without additional skills and tools. Each sheet is glued to the roof, and no nails are used at all.
Bituminous shingles photo: castle-style cottage roof
Bituminous shingles can be used not only for a new roof, but also for repairing an old one. In this case, the reconstructed surface must be cleaned of the old coating. When laying bitumen, the seams are treated with sealant.
Roof repair photo: the main advantage of Shinglas tiles is ease of replacement and installation
The shape of bitumen shingles can look like a rectangle, hexagon, rhombus, wave, triangle, oval.
Hexagonal soft roofing Shinglas photo
Dyes allow you to create different colors and textures:
- natural roofing tiles;
- an artificially aged surface overgrown with moss or lichen.
Soft roofing photo of houses with multi-colored tiles
The service life of bituminous shingles is from 15 to 20 years without wear.
Shinglas roofing photo: installation on smooth roof slopes
Its main advantage is the ability to use it on cones or domes, for complex roof structures, for example, broken roofs. It should be taken into account that it should be laid on slopes at an angle of at least 10 degrees.
Tile roof photo: wavy bitumen coating
