Thursday, July 11, 2013

Concrete Tiles For Roofs - A Brief History

By Woodrow Finley


Tiles have already been employed to cover roofs for over 5,000 years but it is only comparatively lately that concrete roof tiles [http://roofingworks2010.co.nz/] have come into the market. Their history comes from about the world, starting in Bavaria in the 19th century. Some roofs produced in this time nevertheless stand, giving unquestionable proof of the longevity of a concrete tiled roof.

These tiles were brought to England, Holland and other Countries in europe in the early 1900s, where it became common to add a coloured pigment towards the tiles surface so that they imitated clay roofing. They were all made on hand operated machines. The first power-driven machines were coded in Denmark in the 1920s. This machine, called the Ringsted, moved cast-iron moulds under a dispenser that poured in the concrete mix. Shortly after this machine came to England, an engineer named William Powell invented a new machine which was a considerable improvement to the Danish one.in 1930, H. A. Wilkinson, who had been managing his father's tile factory in Surry, England, chose to remove all the remaining handwork the machines required and designed a much more efficient one. Improvements continued to appear every year and the industry developed quickly.

82% of all roofs in Great Britain were made with concrete roof tiles by 1961, 60% in Australia and 30% in Germany. Recent estimates indicate that around 90% of roofs in Europe and also the South Pacific Basin have concrete tiles, with China, Japan and America percentages rising.

Monier has been Australia's leading concrete roof tile brand for over 60 years. The present 'reinforced' tiles originated in Joseph Monier, who invented and patented a wire reinforcement system for his concrete flowerpots. It was adopted by a German company in 1885, who developed a whole system for reinforcing concrete. This was referred to as 'Monierbuilt', or 'Das System Monier'. The Monier brand first arrived in Australia in 1901 by a German who setup a concrete pipe manufacturing company within the Darling Harbour, while using Monier patent. This company experienced many changes and finally in 1936, the company Cement Linings Ltd was established. This was the foundation for that Monier Company. This changed to Monier Limited by 1979 and had set up many businesses employed in the building and construction industry.

Concrete roof tiles [http://roofingworks2010.co.nz/] often cost more to set up than other roofing options but considering their extremely long lifespan it is almost always worth the investment. Modern concrete mixing techniques permit the tiles to fit various style requirements and could be made almost any colour. Thanks to all the improvements across the timeline concrete tiles now look spectacular and last a lifetime. They are well worth installing on your roof.




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