Metal & Copper Roofing Blog

Copper Roofs Facts & Fun

Fact or Fiction: Copper roofing is rated for resistance to the highest winds in Underwriters Laboratories' tests (UL-90).

Answer: Fact! Each year high winds cause billions of dollars of damage to buildings. Now architects and contractors have a benchmark specification for roofing that meets the most demanding wind conditions, and fortuitously, copper roofs just happen to exceed that benchmark by quite a bit.

Missed the first one? Here's another try.

Fact or Fiction: After initial installation the value of your copper roof depreciates very little over time.

Answer: Fact again! In North America alone, approximately one half of the copper consumed annually comes from recycled material. Copper’s recycle value is so great that premium-grade scrap has at least 95 percent of the value of primary copper from newly mined ore.

And just for kicks, here's a fun little quiz on copper roofs.

1. What's the most enduring copper icon in U.S. history?

a) The Statue of Liberty
b) The Space Needle
c) The Gateway Arch


2. Philadelphia's Christ Church is the oldest copper-roofed church in America, dating back to when?

a) 1929
b) 1866
c) 1727


3. Copper protects itself from corrosion by forming a distinctive
______.

a) patinant
b) patina
c) pertina


4. Only two naturally occurring metals have distinctive colors. One is copper. What's the other?

a) silver
b) mercury
c) gold


5. What makes copper so environmentally friendly?

a) Because of its inherent value, copper roofing doesn't end up in landfills but is salvaged and recycled.
b) Copper roofing has one of the highest recycling rates of any engineering metal.
c) Copper's recycle value is so great that premium-grade scrap has at least 95 percent of the value of primary copper from newly mined ore.


Answers: 1)A 2)C 3)B 4)C 5)ABC

Topics: copper roof system, copper roof products, copper roof facts, copper roofing, copper roofs