248 TE GA DENG eee SaiC Ae Ze le Nees, 
The charm of texture is felt strongly 
in building materials. For our roofs 
we have a wide range, from the smooth- 
est slate and tile to the “‘soft roughness” 
of old shingles or the unevenness of 
imported quarry slate. In general the 
more formal the building and garden 
the smoother and trimmer the roof. It’s 
a question of appropriateness and taste. 
Wood shingles give a trim, even appear- 
ance when first laid, but as time goes on 
they roughen and curl up, turn darker 
and become more variegated in color, 
until at last, when the roof is very old, 
that is old for a shingle roof, the effect 
is quite uneven and is often termed 
“nicturesque,” a word, by the way, not 
used now-a-days in the higher artistic 
circles. 
Ordinary slate lays up even and the 
texture does not vary. The color also 
does not change, except in the red va- 
rieties, which darken somewhat. There 
are slates now on the market, both im- 
ported and domestic, which are rough in 
texture with uneven edges and come in 
random widths and lengths, so that 
when on the roof the courses vary, some 
being wider than others. 
Tiles have a smooth surface but the 
general expanse is broken up by the 
shapes except with the shingle tile. 
These are flat tiles like shingles but 
even these are so much thicker than 
shingles or slate that they give strong 
horizontal lines and are very useful for 
this purpose. 
Classifying the various roofing mate- 
rials we have: 
I. Shingles 
1. Wood 
2. Asbestos 
II. Slate 
1. Even and regular 
2. Rough and random 
III. Tile 
1. Shingles or flat 
2. Overlapping edges 
IV. Copper and Tin. 
Formerly wood shingles were split’ 
with the grain which made them more 
durable and also gave a rougher, less 
formal surface than the present sawed 
ones. Split shingles with an old- 
fashioned garden are wonderful, but 
May, 1916 
2 a, CG Zh et fP0 ptt 
pean : % Sang, Were Wizz | oy 
ee G ligt 
>=. nor, 7g ea 
=e Te TN, PG 
— A TE 
they cost double or more than the other 
kind, as they must be split to order. 
They have heavier butts which give nice 
horizontal lines, somewhat uneven it is 
true, but ideal for the small, unpreten- 
tious building. For a trim roof the 
sawed shingles will do. The best quality 
comes 18 inches long and of random 
widths. They are cut from cypress, red- 
wood or cedar trees, the cypress being 
the best, the cedar the more common 
and the redwood confined to the Pacific 
coast. They are laid 4, 444 and 5 inches 
to the weather, and to cover 100 square 
feet it is necessary to have 1,000, 900 or 
850 shingles. On irregular roofs add 
10 per cent. for cutting. 
Asbestos shingles have had some diffi- 
culty in finding favor with the archi- 
tects, due in great part, I think, to the 
fiendish method of laying them diag- 
onally, which destroyed the repose of 
the roof. They now are made to lay 
rectangular and even come with uneven 
edges and a marked texture which takes 
away the machine-made look of the 
earlier ones. They are in grays, reds 
and browns, but by all means don’t 
choose the light grays, they are fright- 
fully glary and ruin the charm of any 
good roof. Asbestos shingles are fire- 
proof and do not expand or contract. 
Shingles are laid over shingle lath, se- 
cure to the roof rafters, no boarding be- 
ing necessary. 
Good slates are hard and tough. Soft 
slates loosen up around the nail holes 
and work out of the roof. If too brittle 
they break in the process of laying. The 
slate colors are blue-black, dark blue, 
purple, gray, green, and red. Some- 
times the dark ones have patches of 
green. The usual run of slate are 
‘smooth surfaced with clean-cut edges 
and cut in sizes from 9 by 7 to 24 by 14 
inches. The heavy, irregular coursed, 
rough edged slates are ideal for the gar- 
| den and although costing more should 
be preferred every time to the smooth 
variety. The roof rafters are covered 
“| with board sheathing on which is spread 
waterproof paper or felt and the slates 
nailed over this with copper or galvan- 
ized nails. One hundred square feet of 
roof will require from 500 slates of the 
smallest sizes to 100 slates of the larger 
dimensions. 
All tile is bound to give a heavier 
feeling to a roof than slate or shingles, 
especially the S and Spanish tiles. For 
this reason light, delicate buildings 
should not receive this roofing material. 
But on the larger, more architectural 
features of a garden, tile is ideal for it 
has a wonderful air of permanency. 
The shingle tile, as we have mentioned, 
give the strong horizontal lines and the 
overlapping edge tile give vertical ones. 
Red is the common color and is the 
cheapest. The green glazed tile are 
nearly twice the cost of the red, for they 
receive a special process in the making. 
Soft tiles are light in color and hard 
tiles darker, for these latter have re- 
ceived more baking. Tiles are laid over 
-boarding and felt, as for slate, and are 
secured by copper nails, but may be laid 
directly on wood purlins and fastened 
with copper wire from a pierced lug at 
the lower end of the tile. 
Copper and tin would only be used for 
very flat roofs and would hardly come 
under this discussion as being out of 
sight from the ground, and not having 
a marked effect on the general scheme. 
However, a word or two may be added. 
Copper is the more lasting by all odds, 
but several times the cost of tin. Both 
are put on over boarding and paper 
with flat or standing seams which are 
soldered. The standing seam, however, 
is used only on roofs of considerable 
pitch, say one third. Tin must be 
painted frequently, the underside re- 
ceiving a coat before laying. Copper 
does not require this. 
Tile in various forms offer a wide field of epics in the selection of suitable roof texture and color. Soft tile are lighter in color than hard tile. They may be flat, 
as shown on left, or interlocking, as shown on the right 
AR th et 
a ty ea th it 
——s 
