Shingles

“ An idea of it may be imparted by taking a dozen shingles and laying them on a level, as you would upon a roof, with the butts lapping a couple of inches only. Consider this the bed of a river with the water flowing over it from the thin end of the shingles, the butts being from three or four feet to ten in thickness. At each butt, or where the rock breaks abruptly, there is a scarcely perceptible motion of the water; immediately beneath is a deep hole, growing shallower as the next butt is reached ”

“ For roofing some non-absorbent material is best. Wood shingles are possibly the most common in this country, although they are rapidly being replaced with composition shingles. The wood shingles are somewhat absorbent and are inflammable. ”

“ LETTER XXXVIII. From the Architect. WHEN THE DOCTORS DIFFER.
DEAR JOHN: Your economical reasons for using shingles would justify cheap jewelry and rag carpets. Try to be consistent. I should object to slate on a log-barn or shingles on a stone-house. I hope you furnished your honest carpenter with a stout jack-knife, and required him not only to lay the shingles right side up, but to lay the upper ends close together, leaving them apart at the butt. Gutters are troublesome truly, but often indispensable; there is no resource but to have them thoroughly made. Poor ones are worse than none. ”

“ If you desire to make your own shingles, saw up a hemlock, pine, or spruce log into billets of one foot four inches long, then with a froe and a mall (Fig. 179) split the shingles from the billets of wood, or use a broadaxe for the same purpose. ”

“ The longest of these shingles were from 9 to 14 feet, and were those at the greatest distance from the vallum. Two other cuttings exposed two jambs of a gateway, and the layer of shingles was found to extend from the inside through the gateway to the length of 7 or 8 feet outside; they were larger and longer than any of the others. ”

“ We advise against the use of our shingles on roofs of less pitch than five inches to the foot, unless the lap is increased. As a rule, we think any roof that can be walked over with safety is too flat for shingles of either wood or metal.
Cut F.
Should there be a gutter formed at the eave, let the shingle rest on it as you would in using the ordinary wood shingle. ”

“ Remember, no cleats or springs are necessary in using our shingles. The lock is simple and perfect, with corrugations across the top, and bracing corrugations across the exposed end of the shingles, which stiffen and hold the shingles firmly to the underlying courses. They are easily applied, and any one who can lay a wood shingle can lay these. We furnish them in four sizes, made from charcoal roofing tin, painted both sides and unpainted, galvanized tin plate, which is superior to galvanized iron, cold rolled copper, and steel plates. ”

“ So Davie held his breath and one of the shingle men came and held him by the arms when the foreman had set him down upon the boards.
Then the foreman stepped upon the staging and put his arm around David again.
"There!" said the foreman. "You've climbed your first ladder. Now we'll see about the shingling."
There was a whole bundle of shingles on 66–68the staging, and another bundle that had been opened, and the shingle men had thrown a good many of these shingles up on the roof, so that they would be handy. ”

“ The National Sheet Metal Roofing Co., of New York City, have for the past eight years been manufacturing these shingles, and their use on a vast number of public and private buildings in all parts of the United States and Canada attest their superiority. Thinking that our readers would be pleased to see the process of making these shingles, we illustrate on pages 65 and 75 views taken from photographs of their paint and store room. The process requires two press operations for each shingle, and each press averages a turn out of 4,000 square feet (which is 40 squares) per day. ”

“ One of our exchanges mentions an experiment which was made twenty-seven years ago, of dipping shingles into hot linseed oil prior to nailing them on the roof: and although they have not been painted, they are said to continue perfectly sound as when first put on. They were of the common pine, and as much exposed as roofs in general. This instance may be sufficient to establish the fact that shingles thus prepared, will last longer without painting than they could possibly be preserved by painting in the usual way. ”

“ It is the broad, thin, split or sawed shingles, found in all markets, which we contend are more expensive than our metal shingles. These do not last, on an average, more than fifteen years, and after [27] ten years the repairs are a continual expense until removed and replaced with new material, which is not often done until some of the woodwork is badly damaged, and ceiling cracked and stained from frequent leakages. On the other hand, tin shingles will last for any length of time, if painted once in every five or six years, and show no perceptible wear. ”

“ Shingles cost from $4 to $6.75 per thousand, according to material and grade. Dimension shingles—those [Pg 49] cut to a uniform width—if of prime cedar, shaved, 1⁄2 inch thick at the butt and 1/16 inch at the top, will cost about $7.75 per thousand, but since such shingles are usually 6 inches wide, less will be required per square.
A fairly good workman will lay about 1,000 shingles per day of 8 hours, on straight, plain work; while in working around hips and valleys, the average will be about 700 per day. ”

“ Shingles are the most trouble, as they have to be split first, and 12,000 shingles to be split, bored and put on is no simple matter. Regarding the gable ends of the hut, if possible it is best to board them up with weatherboards, but if impracticable then of course slabs must be used, and nailed on to the gable ends.
For the chimney, a good plan is to make a sort of wall of stones a few feet in height all round the inside of the slabs, then above the slabs weatherboard it right the whole way up. All doors must be made of sawn wood. ”

“ Shingles furnish a much better roof covering than slate, both in the matter of conduction of heat or cold in the extremes of summer and winter and also in resistance to fire. The heat of a slight fire underneath the roof will cause slates to crumble; and the same result will be obtained by heavy sparks falling and burning upon the roof. Some people treat shingles by boiling them under pressure in a solution of salt and chloride of lime, for the purpose of antiseptic treatment and also to render them fireproof. ”

“ A square of shingles is 6 ft. x 6 ft., and takes 600 shingles to cover. In this plan I have allowed joists for flooring, slabs to be used for the purpose. The one house is as easy to build as the other, the only difference being in size, and that is very slight. If you can afford to build your house of sawn timber, so much the better for you, as a house so built is far preferable to one of the slabs, though I have seen the roughest hut (externally) made beautiful with the aid of canvas or cretonne inside. ”

“ When they burn and are carried about by the wind, they have commonly what is called a dead coal, which does not easily set fire where it alights. The roofs made of these shingles can easily be cut through, if required, because they are thin, and not very hard; for these qualities the people in the country, and in the towns, are very desirous of having their houses covered with white cedar shingles, if the wood can be got. ”

“ A thick growth directly over a shingle roof allows organic matter to accumulate on the shingles, so that vegetation develops and the roof decays more rapidly than if exposed to sun and wind. Again, and it is no trivial matter, a house whose roof is easily accessible from trees is apt to become infested with squirrels, who get into the attic, run through the walls, and become a great nuisance. ”

“ Among the orders given me, was one for thirty thousand loose cedar shingles, which, when landed on the beach, I learned were intended to re-cover the church. All the ladies in the town soon assembled at the place where the shingles were landed; [Pg 168] rich and poor, some dressed in silk, and others with fine muslin gowns, having hoops in their hands, which they stuck full of shingles, and laying them on their backs carried them to the church, when they were taken by the carpenters, who put them on the roof, not allowing one of them to be carted ”

“ The same rules that govern the laying of slate or the common wood shingle along valleys, or about chimneys and dormer windows, are applicable to ours, except the tin shingles are bent up against the sides of chimneys, which cannot be done with wood or slate. ”

“ Just as storms can make trouble below stairs, roof and eaves may develop faults. Where the roof is of wooden shingles, one of the usual causes of leaks is a cracked shingle. When this chances to be directly above a slight space left in laying the roof for expansion between the shingles of the next course, rain, instead of flowing off the roof, runs through this crack and wet plaster results. ”

“ Should anything fall on our shingles it would probably dent them without causing a break; but should it perforate them, the shingles can be replaced by another, or a leak can be soldered, and fire from an adjoining roof cannot more than injure the paint. They will cool off rapidly, retaining their shape. ”

“ Dividing 14,400, the number of square inches in a square, by the exposed area of 1 shingle, in square inches, will give the number of shingles required to cover 100 square feet of roof. For example, it is required to compute the number of shingles 18 in. × 4 in. needed to cover 100 square feet of roof. With a shingle of this length, the exposure will be
then, the exposed area of 1 shingle is 4 in. × 5 in., or 20 square inches, and 1 square requires
14,400 ÷ 20 = 720 shingles.
Fig. 5
An allowance should always be made for waste in estimating the number of shingles required. ”

“ Where a straight-edge is used, it is usually a piece of lap siding or clapboard, and is held in place by being lightly tacked.
Fig. 103. Shingling. Toe Hold
In using the chalk line a man for each end is required. The line is chalked and snapped for three courses at a time. The mechanic, after a little practice, is able to keep the butts of the shingles straight and to sight them so that they shall follow the chalk line mark. On long courses a third person may be utilized in chalking and in laying shingles. ”

“ It is extensively used for shingles, the manufacture of which forms one of the important industries of the State. The clear logs are sawed into lumber used for siding, interior and exterior finish, moldings, tank stock, and similar purposes. Common logs are utilized for shingles. In many localities the entire tree is cut into 52–inch bolts, which are hauled to the mills or floated to them down the streams.
The western red cedar makes excellent posts and rails for farm fences. The young trees are used for telegraph and telephone poles.
WESTERN HEMLOCK (TSUGA HETEROPHYLLA) . ”

“ All such roofs first show decay in the cross seams, and this, while the body of the plates shows no sign of decay. Our shingles have no cross seam, and are sufficiently ventilated to prevent condensation of moisture; while a glance at their construction shows at once that the difficulty caused by contraction and expansion is successfully overcome. Our shingles do not require the skilled labor which is necessary to lay the flat lock or standing groove metal roofing, while the time required to lay a given surface is much less. ”

“ THINGS ARE ONLY GOOD OR BAD BY COMPARISON. Walter’s Patent Metallic Shingles Compared with Slate.
Our shingles are not one-sixth the weight of slate, which greatly reduces the cost of the frame-work of roof. They readily conform to the shape of a roof, which slate will not do. Slate is not thoroughly fire-proof, as heat from an adjoining building on fire will cause the slate to crack, which would destroy the best roof in a few minutes, leaving the sheeting exposed. ”

“ These patches of old tin or new shingles do not look handsome on an old roof, but they serve their purpose in keeping out the rain and snow and preventing moisture from rotting the timbers. The weather will soon tone down the color of the new shingles so that they will not be noticeable and you will have the satisfaction of having a dry roof over your head. There is only one thing worse than a leaky roof and that is a leaky boat. ”

“ Our shingles are free from the many accidents to which slate roofs are liable, such as cracking from shrinkage of wood-work to which they are attached; breaking, caused by necessary repairs to the valleys or chimneys ”

“ The roof should be sheathed with seven-eighths by four-inch material; where exposed to view, with five-and-one-half-inch beaded flooring. Where deck framing is required, posts and purlins are necessary, size according to weight to be carried.
Where shingles are used for roofing, they should be laid four and one-half inches to the weather for sixteen-inch shingles, with two nails to each. It is best that shingles should be dipped in stain, oil, or paint before they are put on the roof. The durability of shingles is not increased by being painted after they have been laid. ”

“ The roofs are commonly covered with tiles or shingles: the latter of which are made of the white firtree, or Pinus Strobus (Linn. sp. plant. page 1419.) which grows higher up in the country. The inhabitants are of opinion [250] that a roof made of these shingles is as durable as one made in Pensylvania of the White Cedar, or Cupressus thyoides (Linn. spec. plant, page 1422.) ”