Meaning & use
roofing
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The materials, such as tiles or felt, used to cover a roof.
Grammar: No plural: we need more roofing.
Patterns
- roofing material
- roofing felt
The builder ordered roofing for the new garage.
Cheap roofing can leak after only a few winters.
The storm tore the roofing from the barn.
noununcountable
The work or trade of building and repairing roofs.
Grammar: Often a modifier: a roofing company.
Patterns
- work in roofing
- a roofing contractor
He has worked in roofing for twenty years.
A roofing company gave us a quote for the repairs.
Common combinations
- roofing material
- Slate is a durable roofing material.
- roofing contractor
- We hired a roofing contractor after the hail storm.
- roofing felt
- Lay roofing felt before the tiles go on.
- roofing job
- The roofing job took three days.
- flat roofing
- Flat roofing needs regular checks for pooling water.
Synonyms and how they differ
- roof covering
- Roof covering is a plainer phrase and is often used in technical documents.
- thatch
- Thatch is only one kind of roofing made from straw or reeds, so it is narrower.
- shingles
- Shingles are individual flat pieces, whereas roofing is the whole category.
Word family
Commonly confused: roofing or flooring?
roofing vs flooring
Flooring is the material covering a floor, while roofing covers the top of a building.
Practice
The firm sells tiles, felt and other ___ at low prices.
Choose one answer.
Roofing is uncountable here, so it takes no -s or article. A roofer is a person, not a material.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “roofing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.