There are many terms and expressions a roofer may use when discussing your roof and the repairs it may need. Some of these are easily understood, but for those people who are not in the roofing industry some are more obscure.
There are, like many other industries, common words that have a particular meaning when applied to roofing. Often there are good reasons for this specialized language but it also serves to make roofing something of a closed "club" and it can be intimidating for the uninitiated.
As a customer we want you to be able to make informed choices and we want to be able to help answer your questions as fully as you require. To help our customers feel more at home on our website, in our stores and in conversation with their roofer, we will be publishing a short series of articles covering some of the basic roofing terms and over the course of the series we will try to explain some of these terms.
Batten
A batten is a strip of wood which is used on the roof where the roofing material is attached to.
Cladding
This is the material which can be used to cover an exterior wall.
Cornice
The cornice is the part of the roof which projects from the side walls of the home.
Course
This is the term used to describe each row of roofing material such as tiles.
Decking
This is the surface normally found on a flat roof where the roofing material is applied.
Dormer
A dormer is usually a window or other structure protruding from the roof.
Downspout
A downspout is the water carrying device from the guttering to the drain below.
Dry rot
Dry rot can be found in some roof timbers that have seen a fungal attack. It is usually caused by a build up of condensation. We will continue this glossary in the next article.
