First of all, we are only taking this part of Chicagoland as an example and there is nothing special about any of the roofs found on any of the buildings located there. This particular city dates back to 1834 when two brothers settled the land around a Native American village on the banks of the Fox River. One of its earliest buildings was a riverside mill with another mill soon being constructed on the opposite bank of the river. Many other factories followed and, in 1856, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad located its roundhouse and locomotive shop there. Certainly, there is a long history of commercial roofing In Aurora IL. However, by the 1980’s, most of these plants had closed or relocated elsewhere.
Heavy Engineering & Manufacturing Plants
Those early industrial roofs would all have been significantly different from the residential roofs of the time since the buildings would have resembled very large sheds constructed to keep the weather out from the enclosed area where the machinery and workers were “housed”. Functionality rather than aesthetics would have ruled their design.
Today’s Business Buildings
Commerce has not left the region but, as its scope changed, so did the demands put upon commercial roofing In Aurora IL. For example the offices for a professional firm (lawyers, accountants, doctors, etc) might well be housed in a building that was once residential and it would have kept its residential roof. Many offices are also located in multi-story buildings which are more than likely to be topped off by a flat roof (which could even include a helipad). Likewise, although often single story, shopping malls and supermarkets also tend to be flat roofed whereas hotels, hospitals, churches, schools and country clubs can (and do) have a variety of roof designs – some of which can be identical to residential roofs.
Roofing Materials
Most residences have pitched roofs where the under structure (rafters, beams, trusses, etc) is covered by such as shingles and rain water runs into gutters which feed it down drain pipes. Flat roofs have something called a deck to close off the otherwise open top of the building.
The deck may well be of reinforced concrete supported on metal girders and beams but, it will not be waterproof and will, almost certainly have apertures cut through for various services within the building. Such a roof is likely to utilise some form of membrane to make it watertight. The membrane may be rubber or plastic based – possibly in the form of a quick setting liquid. Alternatively, bituminous materials can be spread over the flat surface to form a seal.
Browse the site showalterroofing.com for more information.
