The Carrie-Steele Pitts Home in Atlanta received a heartfelt birthday gift for the children’s home 123rd year anniversary. On October 15, 2011 more than 100 volunteers installed new roofs, painted, made repairs to electricity, carpentry and plumbing for the residential apartments and spruced up the landscaping.

Volunteers

The Rebuilding Together project volunteers; CNA global business insurer, NRCA National Roofing Contractors Association, Land Improvement Contractors of America and the Georgia chapter of Mechanical Contractors Association of America were on board for a day of major repairs and renovations. Chris Grundy, television DIY star, and radio personality James Carey were also there to help out.

Over 20,000 Children Passed Through This Home

The Carrie-Steele Pitts home is the oldest child care home in the United States. The home has provided for over 20,000 of Atlanta’s children and young adults with all inclusive care, education and shelter.

CNN and Rebuilding Together

“CNA and all of our construction association partners are proud to provide the elbow grease for these rebuild day renovations,” said John Tatum, vice president – Construction, CNA. “The repairing of damaged roofing, replacing windows and doors, installing new bathroom facilities, flooring and interior walls, will serve as a wonderful commemoration for all of the work and the strong impact CSPH has had on the children of Atlanta.”

Rebuilding Together is a non-profit organization. With a network of over 200 affiliates they provide free rehabilitation and critical repairs to the homes of low income Americans.

Most roofing materials are fire-rated by standards writing organizations. You may have noticed a UL on the roofing material for Underwriters Laboratory, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) or the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM).

Class

Class “A”, being the most fire resistant, is able to withstand severe exposure to fire originating outside the building. Class “B”, is able to withstand moderate exposure to fire originating outside the building. Class “C”, is able to withstand light exposure to fire originating outside the building. And unrated, which is the most vulnerable roof.

To determine the fire ratings, roofing material is set on fire in a laboratory. A burning piece of wood is set on top of the testing material and then set on top of a roof structure mock up.

Fire Rating

• Class A roof coverings include composition shingles, clay tiles, slate, concrete, steel or copper roofs. Ceramic and concrete roofs are heavy and weaken building structures creating a higher risk for collapse.
• Aluminum roofs can have a Class A if installed with a fire resistant underlying material.
• A fire retardant treated shake roof has a Class B rating, but can qualify as Class A if a fire resistant material is used underneath the shakes. If you cannot find the fire rated documentation from the manufacturer, assume your wood shake is unrated.
• Recycled rubber and plastic roofing shingles and shakes usually have a fire rating of Class C. Manufacturers can increase the fire rating if a fire resistant underlayment is used.
• Green roofs, there are no current fire ratings for these plant covered roofs. Naturally fire retardant sedums and succulents do not pose a risk to spreading the fire. If you use natural grasses on your roof, you can assume they are the same risk as grasses in your yard. If the plants are dry, they will burn and potentially spread the flames.
• Thatch roofs have been used for literally thousands of years. Fire danger is reduced by using aluminum barrier foil, fire retardant spray and non-combustible underlayment.

Check the Packaging

Check the fire rating class on the packaging of the roofing materials you are purchasing. Ask if there are ways to increase the fire rating, such as special underlayments or fire retardant sprays. Also check with your homeowners insurance and make sure the roofing material you are considering will be covered under your current policy.

As long as man has been around there have been a need for shelter and protection from the elements. Throughout history roofs have been made from available resources.  Cavemen covered their structures with sod roofs covered with earth and plants.  These early shelters provided good insulation unfortunately they were not vermin or waterproof.

Research has shown the first known glazed clay roof tile was used in China 5,000 years ago. Greece and Babylon used flat earthenware roof tiles between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. The Romans brought variations of the Greek clay tiles to England as early as 100 BC.

Around 735 AD thatched roofs were developed and used.  Wood shingles were introduced 300 years later. In an effort to prevent spreading fires, the 12^th century King John issued a law in London that citizens were to replace their thatch and reed roof coverings with clay tiles.

Industrial production of clay roofing tiles began in the 19^th century.  One hundred years later concrete roof tiles were first used, when first introduced in the early 1900’s the practice was to add a pigment to resemble clay roofing tiles.

In the early 1970’s Germany began developing and marketing the first green roof systems. Asphalt also became available in the 19^th century.  It quickly became a popular product due to the ability to mass produce it at a reasonable cost.

Most of the changes in roofing materials have developed in the last 200 years. Although people generally still use the most available materials for the region. Wood and metal are used in the southern part of North America, slate in the northeast, wood in the Midwest and tile in the southwestern part of North America.

Now we are seeing technological advances in glass, polymer and smog absorbing tiles.  Who knows what will be common roof coverings in our near future. With a trend in energy savings we will undoubtedly see a emergence in earth friendly roof top materials.

Nashua New Hampshire, high school students design and build a re-usable roof for the Nashua Fire Department at their fire rescue training facility at the city landfill.

Nashua high school administrators approached the fire department with an offer to let the students work on the fire department building. The students designed a reusable 48 square foot box that fits inside one of the four hatches on the gabled roof.

Five students in the building construction class showed up this Saturday at Four Hills landfill and installed shingles on the roof they had moved from their school. A crane will set the roof on top of the 3 story concrete building later this month.

The structure is used for training for Nashua and other area firefighters who regularly set the building on fire.

The new design’s replaceable openings can be changed out, so when the firefighters ventilate for smoke and gas by axing their way through the ceiling, only the reusable boxes will need to be replaced.

Replacing the roof has cost the city $10,000 to $15,000; the new design will cost approximately $3,500 to rent the crane and materials.