Galvanized roof was at least laid in 1952 or earlier

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I am replacing my roof. The galvanized is stamped with Tennessee Coal Iron and Railroad Co. They went out of business in 1952. Keep in mind that I live three blocks from the ocean and since 1952 who knows how many hurricanes have passed through.

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...it was fastened with slotted screws.

[Lisa Starr]

Yep. I'm in an area where Slate was a very common roofing material circa 1900. Many, many of those roofs are still in service in our area, despite our freezing weather conditions. Ice is a slate roof's greatest enemy. We also have quite a few Flat Lock Steel/Galvanized still around. These roofs are a testament to the generations of tradesmen before us.

[Frederick Skelly]

That's one heck of a sturdy roof - you get some really scary storms. (I remember your posts describing the last two.) Wish I could see its physical construction - I'll bet there's some things I could learn about building strong. Would also be interesting to see how they attach your solar panels to storm proof them.

Good luck on your big project!

[Frank Pratt]

Ugh, can you imagine installing a whole roof with slotted screws. And those would be driven by hand of course.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Throughout the Shenandoah valley there are hundreds of old houses, sheds and out buildings with Terne standing seam roofs. Usually painted dark Green or red, they have lasted for a century with no problem. A small addition to my grandmother's house has terne roofing. I painted it when I was in high school on a late May afternoon. Dang hot job. The stuff will last as long as kept painted.

[Edwin Santos]

That's pretty impressive! What will you do with the material you are removing?
I hope it can be re-purposed rather than go into a land fill.

Wouldn't it be a great story if the galvanized went on to be a roof again for someone in need? If a roof could talk, imagine what stories yours could tell.

Anyway, good luck with the project,

Edwin

[Jim Becker]

Even in that photo, the material looks really, really well preserved! I bet it's a whole lot thicker than almost anything one can buy on the market today, too.

[Tom M King]

I'm guessing that picture is of the underside??

We have some 5V tin on an old house here that I have not been able to find anyone alive who knows when it was made, or has even seen any like it before. The edges of the sheets are embossed with a chevron pattern, all the way across, so that the lower edge stays tucked down tight to the sheet below.

It's also much softer than modern sheet tin roofing. A corner can be bent back, and forth many times, easily, and not part at the bend. The galvanizing under the bottom still looks like it was dipped last week. All the galvanizing is long gone on the exposed surface, but the rust is very slow penetrating. I'm thinking it's much lower carbon content than what we are used to, these days, just judging by the softness, and slow rusting.

The company that produced Terne coated, Follansbee Steel, that Perry mentioned, went out of business a decade, or so, ago. Roll formed panels made that roofing obsolete.

[Jim Koepke]

Ugh, can you imagine installing a whole roof with slotted screws. And those would be driven by hand of course.

The probably used Yankee push drivers, the cordless screwdriver of the day.

jtk

[Kev Williams]

The Harley Davidson dealership in Lindon Utah was pretty much entirely built from leftovers reclaimed from Geneva Steel before China got the rest of it...
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-- Maybe they'll take your old roof off your hands? ;)

[Malcolm Schweizer]

They found a sheet stamped 1875. Wow.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

So now that I’m home, it turns out the piece had a date stamped at the bottom. Also has a “to” and “from” stamp that is hard to see.

If that is truly the date, then this has been up there for 145 years, but the slotted screws would be unusual that far back for roofing. Nails would be more common. Certainly they could have been added later, and there were also nails. Screws would have been a real luxury item before the 1900’s. My house was built by a wealthy sea captain in 1836. He sprung for other luxuries, such as red brick skinned outer walls, which would be imported from GB, and glass windows. My home was one of the first to have glass windows, hence the street was named “Krystal Gade,” i.e. “Glass Street.” His brother built the one next door, and supposedly they retired here.

I am open to discussions on the contrary, but it sure says 1875. (The 7 is a bit faded). It sure seems to be the date. The fasteners being slotted surely says to me it’s old.

423233 423234423235423236

[Tom M King]

Jan. 8, 1975??? I see now that the intact galvanizing was under an overlap. Is the metal soft, or more typically stiff compared to late 20th Century tin?

Edited to add: I googled "US Steel company history", and found a lot of infomation, including this copied, and pasted:



Founded
March 2, 1901; 118 years ago by merger of Carnegie Steel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Steel) with Federal Steel Company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Steel_Company) & the National Steel Company

[Frank Pratt]

The probably used Yankee push drivers, the cordless screwdriver of the day.

jtk

True. I hadn't thought of that. I remember my dad using one of those extensively. I was amazed at how fast he could drive screws with it.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Jan. 8, 1975??? I see now that the intact galvanizing was under an overlap. Is the metal soft, or more typically stiff compared to late 20th Century tin?

Edited to add: I googled "US Steel company history", and found a lot of infomation, including this copied, and pasted:



Founded
March 2, 1901; 118 years ago by merger of Carnegie Steel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Steel) with Federal Steel Company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Steel_Company) & the National Steel Company




Look up Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Coal,_Iron_and_Railroad_Company

Merges with US Steel, defunct in 1952. That said, the merger was in 1907, so perhaps my 1875 isn’t a date. To have both company names, it seems it would be no later than 1952, but no earlier than 1907.

[Tom M King]

Yes, I saw that. It could well have been made sometime in there, and sat in inventory somewhere, for some unknown amount of time. In any case, 1875 has to be out.

Still curious how stiff the metal is. The only corrugated roofing I've ever seen like that was pretty thick, and stiff. It was still sold in farm stores, around here, in the early 1980's.

edited to add: All the old carpenters that were working for me in the early 1980's, were still using Yankee screwdrivers. I bought the first impact screwdriver they had ever seen-a Rockwell 7563 (if I'm remembering the model number correctly-edited: looked it up, and that's the wrong number). None of them liked using it, to start with. One said, "If that thing knew when to quit, it might be okay", after ringing the head off of a #12 wood screw, back when wood screws were still sold, and some good.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Could be a lot number or something.

I have a tar and gravel roof. Cannot find anyone around here who knows anything about them. Older gentleman at the building supply store told me to look at it every year, and put a little roofing cement and new gravel down if bare spots appear, and he said it would last forever.

Personally I like the standing seam roofs like what was mentioned are common on older houses. Painted or not they seem to last forever.

[Tom M King]

Once a Terne coated roof starts rusting, it's not long for this world. They typically painted them with a linseed oil based paint, which would have to be repainted every couple of years.

My Grandfather's house had it. I don't know of any that lasted over 100 years, and usually not over 50. The last one we replaced was 36 years old. I still see some from the mid 20th Century, but those are on abandoned houses around here, and most likely leaking.

I put a copper standing seam roof on a house I built in 1991. That one should be around for a while. It cost 63 cents a square foot for materials then. 10 dollars now. I was considering putting Terne coated on it, but the break even point was the second time the Terne had to be repainted.

I don't think you can even buy Terne coated metal now. Follansbee steel went out of that business.

[Kevin Jenness]

My dad bought me a Yankee screwdriver- it's been a long time since I used it, but I do have a 1/4" hex drive adapter in it just in case. I have one for a bit brace too which gets used occasionally.

A guy I worked for called them "project destroyers" for the result when the spring-loaded bit slipped off a slotted screw and scarred the work.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

My dad bought me a Yankee screwdriver- it's been a long time since I used it, but I do have a 1/4" hex drive adapter in it just in case. I have one for a bit brace too which gets used occasionally.

A guy I worked for called them "project destroyers" for the result when the spring-loaded bit slipped off a slotted screw and scarred the work.

My grandfather took the spring out of his. I never got to ask him why, but that may be it.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Yes, I saw that. It could well have been made sometime in there, and sat in inventory somewhere, for some unknown amount of time. In any case, 1875 has to be out.

Still curious how stiff the metal is. The only corrugated roofing I've ever seen like that was pretty thick, and stiff. It was still sold in farm stores, around here, in the early 1980's.

edited to add: All the old carpenters that were working for me in the early 1980's, were still using Yankee screwdrivers. I bought the first impact screwdriver they had ever seen-a Rockwell 7563 (if I'm remembering the model number correctly-edited: looked it up, and that's the wrong number). None of them liked using it, to start with. One said, "If that thing knew when to quit, it might be okay", after ringing the head off of a #12 wood screw, back when wood screws were still sold, and some good.

To bend the material, you really have to be trying to bend it. It is like a car fender. I mic’d it at 1/64th inch.

[Tom M King]

That gives me another reason to think that it's not that old. If it has a fairly high carbon content, the faster it rusts away. I can't believe that any tin roof would last as long there, as the same thing here would.

It looks very much like a tin roof on an observatory that my friend, and I built in 1967. That was a very steep roof, and it's been rusted away for some years now, although the little building is still mostly standing.