The most expensive roofing is considered slate, and the cheapest roof is asbestos -cement slate, but today the materials located at the democratic middle of prices are in wide demand. The popular metal tile and flexible bitumen tiles are called different branches of the evolution of the roof, they have only part of the name, but there is a soft tile that is somewhat closer to the metal “sister”.
Classical flexible tiles consists of a reinforcing base (cardboard, fiberglass, polyester) saturated with bitumen. The lower edges of the soft sheets have curly cutouts, and protective mineral sprinkling is usually applied to the visible surface. Today, several companies produce a more advanced metallized soft tile, where instead of a layer of stone crumbs they have a metal (copper, aluminum, zinc titan, gold) foil. The selected metal affects the thickness of the foil (minimum value 0.05 mm).
The coating metal almost completely protects the polymer-bitumatic mixture from merciless ultraviolet and thermal radiation, primarily due to the natural ability of the foil to reflect various rays. Foil soft roofing material has much better performance than ordinary bitumen tiles. The accidental fire of a metamous tiles from the sparking of a smoke pipe is almost impossible, in addition, the reinforcing foil increases the strength of the roof in general.
Thin metal foil is much lighter than a layer of stone crumbs, so the overall load on the roofing system of the building falls. The smooth surface of the roof does not delay garbage, dust, does not accumulate moisture, because of which plant seeds do not sprout here, and their roots do not destroy the roofing carpet in the future. The operation of metallized bitumen tiles is much easier, cheaper than classic analogues, and its service life is rapidly increasing. Often manufacturers use copper or aluminum thin foil.
Bitumen tiles with copper coating most often have a scaly or rectangular shape of the edges, they are somewhat different from traditional soft tiles in their structure, there are 8 layers. They include two layers of fiberglass and modified bitumen impregnation, lightweight coating, copper foil, adhesive strip and protective film on top. The famous Tegola company offers the developer a soft tile with protection from zinc titan or the most exclusive option with a gold coating applied.
