BY : ASHMAN DANIAL

ASPHALT SHINGLE

Dry looping A jumbo roll of either organic felt or fiberglass mat is mounted and fed into the roofing machine. The base material first passes through a dry looper. Matting is accumulated accordion-style in this reservoir, so that the machine can continue to operate when the supply roll is exhausted and a new one is mounted. Saturation The base material passes through a presaturation chamber, where it is sprayed on one side with hot asphalt to drive out any moisture that may be present. It then goes into a saturator tank filled with hot asphalt. Soaking in the asphalt coats the fibers within the mat and fills the voids between them. Wet looping The matting is again formed into accordion-like folds. While the asphalt coating on the mat cools, it is drawn into the felt, creating an even greater degree of saturation.

ASPHALT SHINGLES

Coating
Coating asphalt, which has been stabilized with powdered minerals is applied to both surfaces of the mat. The mat passes between a pair of asphalt coating rolls. After, a coating of fine mineral particles is applied to the back surface of the mat, which then passes through a series of rollers that embed the coating particles in the asphalt and cool the material. The shingles are finished by cooling and cutting them to size between a pair of coating rolls, which are separated by an appropriate distance to ensure that the desired amount of coating asphalt is applied to the mat. This step may be sufficient to coat fiberglass filaments and fill voids between them; in this case, the saturation and wet looping steps can be bypassed.

Mineral surfacing
Granules of ceramic-coated minerals of the desired color are applied to the top surface of the asphalt-coated mat. A coating of fine particles of a mineral, such as talc or mica, is applied to the back surface of the mat. The

sheet of treated mat then passes through a series of rollers that embed the coating particles in the asphalt and
cool the material.

ASPHALT SHINGLES

Finishing The strip of roofing material is accumulated, accordion-style, on a cooling looper to finish cooling.

Cutting The sheet of finished shingle material then passes into a cutting machine, where it is cut from the back side into the desired size and shape. The machine separates the shingles and stacks them in bundles. Bundles generally contain enough shingles to roof 25-35 sq ft.

Packaging The bundles of shingles are transferred to equipment that wraps them and affixes labels.

CLAY ROOF TILES

Raw materials management

The first phase involves the extraction of clay, the main raw material for bricks, in an environmentally compatible process and transportation to a nearby plant for processing.

Clay pits that are no longer used are returned to serve as a habitat for flora and fauna or create a natural recreation area for local residents, or are restored for use by agriculture or forestry businesses.

Preparation of Clay

The clay is prepared and made workable in a second step by grinding, mixing, wetting and cleaning to remove foreign materials such as stones. Additives (e.g. sawdust) are then added before further production. Technical progress now makes it possible to use lower quality clay that was formerly disregarded as residue.

CLAY ROOF TILES

Shaping

This step involves the actual shaping of the roof tile, where either the prepared clay is pressed through dies by extrudersor pressed into forms and made into pressed tiles. Drying

The drying process prepares the brick for firing by removing the moisture from the soft "green" brick. New and more efficient drying and air stream technologies have reduced the drying period to onethird of the originally required time. This lowers energy requirements, improves product quality and helps to develop new products.

CLAY ROOF TILES

Colouring After the drying process the clay roof tile, except it remains natural red, is either engobed or glazed. Engobed clay roofing tiles have matt, matt-glossy or glossy surfaces. Engobes are applied as clay-containing slips by dipping, pouring over, centrifugal casting or spraying on the still unfired clay tile. Glazed tiles are covered with a very hard continuous glass layer that closed all pores and makes the tile extremely water-resistant. At the same time this glass layer gives the tile its special shiny look.

Firing For Clay roof tiles that are produced with a ceramic surface (engobe or glaze), this is burned in during firing process. The firing of the tiles at a temperature of 900 to 1200C in a tunnel kiln is the final part of the production process. After this step, the finished product is available for use. After firing, brick products are non-flammable and fire-safe for ever.

CLAY ROOF TILES

Packaging The fired tiles are loaded onto palettes with automatic equipment, and normally enclosed with pallet foils. Delivery The plants are located near to raw material supplies and as close as possible to local markets. This reduces transport distances, which makes fast delivery possible and also lowers the environmental

impact.

CONCRETE ROOF TILES

Concrete roof tiles are produced by machine, using the principle of extrusion. The basic manufacturing technique is very simple and it is only as production output increases or special effects are required that the process becomes more sophisticated.

Aluminium moulds which form the underneath profile of each roof tile, are coated with a release agent prior to being fed into the entry end of the extrusion machine.

A mortar mix is delivered from a mixing system into the machine extrusion head. This
mix is extruded between the pallets and a roller, which is mounted inside the head. The roller forms the top surface of the roof tile.

A trowelling slipper is mounted behind the roller and this serves to further compact the

tile and produce a smooth and level surface finish.

CONCRETE ROOF TILES

The final operation of the tile machine is to cut the tiles to length using a vertical cutting

knife.

The freshly extruded tiles, still on their own individual pallets, are loaded into racks and placed in heated chambers for curing.

The conditions inside the curing chambers are controlled to provide a temperature of 30 C to 35 C and a relative humidity of 95% (for 24 hour curing).

Once cured, the tiles are separated from their pallets and taken to a stock holding area for a period of up to 28 days. This extra time allows the tiles to further harden before they are

despatched to their final destination.

CONCRETE ROOF TILES