I've ripped off my fair share of pitch and gravel roofs, that's definitely not the kind of stone you'd normally use (but it could still be). When you see granules or rocks on a roof, it's usually meant as a heat sink to stop the tar or shingles from cracking and degrading. Otherwise, I've also ripped off slate roofs, and they used lead wide head roofing nails, though at some point they had just tarred over the whole thing, and eventually we put basic ashpalt shingles on it.
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2025
224 points (97.9% liked)
Mildly Interesting
27107 readers
305 users here now
This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.
This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?
Just post some stuff and don't spam.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
This guy roofs.
He's clearly a dog.
Rough
No. Roof.
rogue
Rouge LFG
As much as I respect the standard 3-tab, I'm more engaged by the high-albedo options.
I...what is this fresh language you speak
It's roofer speak. Standard asphalt shingle is properly called architectural 3-Tab. High-albedo means that the roof material is highly reflective, which has a bunch of benefits in terms of environmental applications.
Pitch of that roof would need a membrane under shingles, no?
That size was a style back in the day. The house my dad built in the late 50s had one. I believe they were often lava rock.
This is not a flat roof though, it's sloped.
Slate shingle roofs used to be the norm.
Not in this part of the world though.
But slate is flat and can be overlapped. How would this even work?
you see this all over Europe with clay roofs, they put large rocks to weigh down the tiles to prevent winds from lifting them. But, usually just around the edges of the roof.
Ok that makes way more sense.
Doubt it, thatch and wattle and daub are the norm. Slate needs to be mined, it doesn't just grow near you.
Yes and in some parts of the world it's really easy and cheap to mine surface slate.
I grew up in Phoenix in the early 80s and I saw many of these.
Saw something similar to this in Tempe last year, but I didn't see any lawns like this in the area, I don't think I saw much of any green the 3 weeks or so I was there.
Weird. I a few months ago I stumbled upon two mid century apartments in my town that both had rock roofs.
I wonder OP’s roof didn’t used to be painted.
The Home School of Rock.
Hot rocks in your area
happy cat noises
It's not instead of shingles, that's a tin roof instead of shingles. This is a design aesthetic.
Souns like I'd go deaf at the thought of rain.
A tin roof sounds absolutely wonderful in the rain. My cottage has one.
Phar out. I wonder what they use for waterproofing?
I wonder how they get them to stay in place. It's not a steep slope, but it's definitely not a flat roof. So far I have resisted the urge to ring the doorbell and ask about the roof.
They must have used some type of resin/ epoxy.
They use tar.
You would think the tar would ooze downward on very hot days. (Yes, we get them here.)
The gravel stabilizes the tar somewhat. But yes. And gravel washes off the roof too. And then the roof leaks the next time you get rain. They're typically initially installed with hot asphalt and then patched with tar until the homeowner gives up and buys shingles. There's a good reason you don't see gravel roofs very much.
The roof in the picture isn't just gravel, it's got fist size rocks in it as well. Gravel alone I could understand.
EPDM is the most common material for modern rubber/stone roofs in commercial applications.
Meanwhile, EPMD is an uncommon hip hop duo from Brentwood.
neat