By David W Locklear, Owner
Arrowstar Roofing & Construction
www.arrowstarroofing.com
Ahh, how the roofing industry has come a long way since my family began roofing in 1942.
My grandfather, Harley Locklear, recalled that he and my grandmother, Nellie Locklear, completed their first commercial roof in 1942 when they melted tar (asphalt) in a barrel behind a building in western Oklahoma. According to the stories of my youth, they burned firewood under a barrel before carrying the black, boiling tar up a ladder in buckets.
My Father, Bob Locklear, later began helping his father in the roofing business, I can remember our first 2-ton truck was an R.E.O. truck.
Between the ages of 12 and 14, I began helping my dad in the hot tar business at a time when the firewood and barrels were gone and we utilized a small tar kettle with a kerosene burner, melting the tar before hoisting it to the roof with ropes and pulleys.
Our first “pumper kettle” came in about 1968. We really thought we were “up town”. In those days, a hail storm would hit a small town in Oklahoma and our company would go there and usually do every commercial building in town because there were few roofing companies in those days.
I can remember doing an entire school system in Leedy, Oklahoma. The Superintendent happily allowed our entire crew sleep in the gymnasium until the job was complete. A Day before we were to go home another damaging hail storm hit and we re-roofed the same area that we had just completed.
In those days we mopped on with hot tar. one ply of 30-pound perforated felt and flood coated the top. This was all the insurance companies would pay for.
When the mid to late 1970s came, modified bitumen (also known as rubber roofing) came along. Many roofing companies refused to put it on because it “was too good”. Hail could not penetrate it, which in turn caused you to lose repeat customers.
In those days the only shingles were 25year, 3-tab, mostly white, green, and red. The wealthier folks put on wood shingles… LOTS of wood shingles.
Most residential homes had 3, 4 & 5 layers of shingles on them because insurance companies never paid for tear-offs.
Yes, the roofing industry and insurance companies have camea long way. All for the better I might add.
