The Roof - Boring, Commonplace and Complex

摘要

Roofs are supposed to perform their function quietly, out of sight and mind, without a whimper. But as this issue's articles on roofing systems show, their impacts are complex and far-ranging. From our terrestrial point of view, it is easy to neglect the roof. We don't interact with it on a daily basis like we do with the windows and doors of the visible exterior walls. But as noted in the article on green roof performance (page 34), most buildings in the U.S. are under two stories and their roofs represent the largest area of their envelopes. Not to mention the fact that more heat energy is lost through roofs than through doors and windows. If all U.S. nonresidential buildings met the 2012 level of code-mandated roof insulation, an estimated 700 trillion BTUs of energy would be saved, estimates the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing.