The term “roofing supplies” covers a wide range of materials and items necessary for roof construction and maintenance. This means not only shingles but molding, lumber, pipes and vents, roofing cements, ladders and all the useful tools including roofing nails.
One of the most important roofing supplies is, of course, the top roofing material. This is generally the roof as people see it and includes wood shingles, ceramic tiles, asbestos shingles, metal roofing sheets and tiles, rubber roofing sheets and shingles and a lot of other types of materials. Location is a prime concern when selecting roofing material, so that the roof will stand up to the local elements and issues that impact a roof.
The frame or support structure of a roof is lumber. This usually consists of a triangular truss and a lattice of beams. The frame serves as the base for the roof which is laid over the top. Other lumber elements include the cornice, part of the frame that overhangs the wall, the fascia, which is the underside of the cornice, the eave, beam ends of the wood frame that allow water to drip away from the roof, and the soffit, or underside of the eave.
Pipes and vents stick up from the roof. They help the house breathe and are also the escape routes for smoke from a fireplace or cooking hood, as well as for hot air from the attic. The bottoms of pipes and vents are always sealed with a boot, or metal strip, including a lead based or plastic sealant. These pipes and vents have one way shields sealed with rubber so that the air or smoke can escape, but water doesn’t get into the pipe or vent.
Roofing tools include the ladder to climb up to the roof, as well as other tools used for maintenance, installation and removal. These include mundane items such as a broom and bucket to hold waste shingles, a slater’s hammer complete with a hammer as well as an ax and blade, a slate cutter to cut through shingles, seaming pliers to grasp shingles, and a hip runner to install the ridge cap, the portion of the roof that caps the seams.
Roofing nails must be long enough to extend through the shingles and go further to about 3/8 inch below the underside of the shingle. Anything that interferes with the nails biting into the wood can cause the nail to spring out of the shingle and eventually the loss of shingles. This includes shingles with ridges, some under shingle materials, and of course nails that aren’t long enough for the roofing material. A skilled roofer can drive a roofing nail with one solid hit. A homeowner doing it themselves will find that they can drive the nails with one hit after only a few minutes.
Roofing supplies aren’t as simple as they first seem. But with a little planning, you’ll have everything needed for a quality roof.




