Sunday, January 11, 2009

Corrugated construction

Visiting Louisiana, I was surprised at the number of respectable houses in upscale neighborhoods with corrugated steel roofs. Lasts longer in a wet, semi-tropical climate, my Sson explained; "eminently practical." Not so, here in the egalitarian west, where corrugated says shed, unless it's on a river bottom tar paper shack.

Certainly the case here in Prescott, where there's a fair amount of corrugated iron to be seen if (and only if) you occasionally prowl the alleys as I do. Some in good shape, some that has seen much better days.

Corrugated iron was good enough for older garages or workshops, though the desert dew really brings out the inherent rust.

Of course, these old-fashioned iron structures are a photographer's delight. Not just the rust, but also a good dose of paint, peeling artistically.

Not to overlook the pattern possibilities of all those parallel dark and light lines. One of these days, I'll show you some of the Louisiana corrugated.

8 comments:

Antipodean Curmudgeon said...

Up until the eighties, ceramic or concrete tiles were de riguer for roofs in most of Auzzie. The advent of zinc-alum and/or colourbond corregated iron came to the fore (our humble abode included). Now it is dead common. It is installed with 2'' fibreglass insulation underneath, so tin roof 'drumming' by rain is eliminated. My shed recently was re-roofed with iron--replacing its asbestos predecessor.

Hermano

Gerald (SK14) said...

a great essay on the photogenic properties of corrugated iron.

azlaydey said...

Your photos and writings help others to look at things in this world with a different perspective.......Thank you

Granny J said...

bro -- that's all stuff that I really didn't know about roofs! Thanks for the intel.

hyde -- corrugated is such an interesting subject, as an exercise in engineering, as a building material and, of course, as a photo subject. Believe it or not, I've been fascinated with it since I was a little kid.

azlaydey -- as somebody once said, to me, "you have a funny way of looking at things..."

Anonymous said...

We have an old shed on our property that had a corrugated roof (hey, it was there when we bought the place). No more, it was blown off by the heavy windstorms we had earlier this winter. We replaced it with plywwood, roofing felt, and rolled roofing.

Granny J said...

I've noticed that one standard way to save flat top corrugated roofs from the winds is old tires... Not the sort of thing that neighbors would appreciate...

jockamo said...

One of my favorite things: the sound of rain on a tin roof.

Granny J said...

rd -- it is a wonderful sound, at least in the Land of Little Rain. I sleep under a "cathederal" ceiling that is built into the side of a hill -- so I hear not only the rain, but also the javelina as they frolic on moonlit nights.

 
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