332 



THE FAIi.MEIlY. 



[CnAp. in. 





354. Sawed SliinarScs.- 



SECTION XX.-ROOFS AND ROOFIXG-PAIXTS AND AVUITK WASH FOll 

 FAKM BUlLUlXtiS-XAlLS AXD MOllTAU-FAHM (JAILS. 



^IIATEVER the stylo of building adopted for anv 

 of the tanueiy structmes, a good roof iiovor shourd 

 be lost sight of, for upon that, much of the farm 

 economy depends. A leaky roof on a dwelling de- 

 stroys comfort and property, and is llic soureo of 

 many unpleasant days and niglits to the family, and 

 eometimcs i)roductive of sickness, as well as injury 

 to furniture. A leaky roof upon a barn -will destroy 

 ■ cf every year a, greater value of hay and grain than it 

 would cost to make it tight. It is for this that we give 

 special attention to this part of the farm buildintjs. 

 AVc also give some valuable hints upon painting and 

 whitewashing, because both beauty and economy 

 may be thus promoted. 



-Of all the inventions ever contrived, that of sawed 

 shingles has proved to be one of the least value to the country. The only 

 profit is to the patentee and manufacturer. To every one who has used 

 them, sawed shingles have proved a loss, no matter 'wliat the saving has 

 been in first cost, unless the shingles, previous to laying on the roof, were 

 prepared so as to prevent their saturation with water every time tiie rain fell 

 upon them. It is this repeated saturation of sawed shingles that rots them, 

 and gives us leaky roofs in one fourth the time that split shingles remain 

 sound. It is true that good shingle timber is becoming scarce, and more 

 and more so every year, and that farmers must have something as a sub- 

 stitute. What that something is we know not, but are quite sure, where 

 economy is studied, that it will not be sawed shingles. If they must be 

 used, let the roof have a very steep pitch. On a flat roof we have known 

 them rot entirely through in five years. Another roof, ten years old, both 

 siiiiigles and roof-boards, when taken off, crumbled into a mass of rotten 

 wood, that scarcely bore any resemblance to boards and shingles. 



"A retired mechanic" writes us that he followed liuilding eighteen years, 

 and prefers sawed shingles if they are planed on the upper side, and says 

 that a smart hand can plane from two to tliree thousand a day. "We tiiink 

 a machine might be constructed to plane one side of sawed shingles without 

 adding much to the cost. Without planing or dipping in boiling oil or tar, 

 we do not believe sawed shingles should ever be used by any one who wants 

 a good roof, or who cares for economy. Tiie writer of a letter now before 

 us speaks in very severe terms of the manufacturers of sawed shingles. lie 

 says they are often made of small cross-grained, sapling spruce, and that 



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