Asphalt in roofing is thousands of years old dating back to the Egyptians. In more recent times we have seen the use of asphalt become a major component in other construction uses such as road construction as well as roof installations. The manufacture of asphalt was more the byproduct of the refining of oil for gasoline and other petroleum products. A hundred years ago with the cost of gasoline being so low and the refining technology not being as advanced the quality of the asphalt was very high as it contained a substantial percentage of the oil’s quality. Now with the cost gasoline at over three dollars a gallon and with the substantially advanced refining technology there is sufficient reason the further refine the oil to squeeze the most of the more valuable products like gasoline from the crude oil.

Today’s roof asphalt does not have the crude oil content it once had. This reduced oil content causes the installed asphalt to harden and become less pliable. The old higher oil content asphalt provided longer water proofing protection simply because it took longer for the greater amount of crude oil in the asphalt to evaporate out of the asphalt.

As this progression has occurred it has had the effect of raising the price of asphalt and obviously the roofing materials which contain asphalt. This is significant cause in the lowering of market share of asphalt based roofing systems to alternatives such as PVC, rubber and TPO. Obviously asphalt based products track with the cost crude oil and gasoline. That is the same with roofing asphalt products.

Back in the eighties the majority of roofs installed were Built-Up asphalt roofs with a minority of the roof installations going to the new single ply systems. As the material prices began to make the single ply systems more competitive the manufacturers began to make them more efficient to install. The result of these changes is that now the reverse is true.

As the single ply systems became more price competitive other considerations caused the market shift away from asphalt. The installation of a Built-Up roof requires that the asphalt be melted into a liquid form. The melting of the asphalt creates an obnoxious smell in heating the asphalt which cannot be contained. The term Built-Up Roof refers to the fact that the asphalt is heated to 450 to 550 degrees to allow asphalt to be used as an interplay adhesive. This is done with a kettle that allows the asphalt to be heated close to the building to be installed. The heated asphalt is not a carcinogen but it is noxious. Most people within the area who have health concerns real or imagined make using a kettle impractical. As a result of these issues the use of asphalt in roofing is going the way of the dinosaur.