Asphalt roll roofing

[citation needed] Due to its light weight compared to shingles, roll roofing is regarded as an inexpensive, temporary material.

To avoid penetrating the exposed membrane with nails, adhesive or "lap cement" must be used at the bottom edge to keep it from being lifted by the wind.

Later, in Germany, paper was coated with varnish, surfaced with finely ground mineral matter, and used as a roofing material.

In the United States, asphalt was used to waterproof duck fabric in the early part of the nineteenth century.

The first asphalt shingles, mineral-surfaced, were made in 1901, and about this time slate grain less were first used as a surfacing material.

The shingles produced in 1939 were sufficient to cover more than 1,000,000 dwellings, assuming an average size of 10 squares per roof.