7ol. LXVI. No. 2996. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 29, 1907. 
WEEKLY, *1.00 PER YEAR. 
IRON ROOF FOR A BARN. 
What Paint Sticks To Iron ? 
I am building a large barn on my farm and would like 
some information about roofing. After some study of the 
subject I have considered the advisability of putting on a 
galvanized iron roof painted on the inside to protect it 
from rust due to steam and moisture from stock and crops. 
The main reason why I would prefer an iron roof if I can 
fix it so it will be certain not to rust out is for the protec¬ 
tion from lightning it would afford. Can you tell me the 
right kind of paint to use on galvanized iron? I am in¬ 
formed that ordinary paint does not stay on, and wish to 
use something regarded as permanent. e. h. p. 
To make roofs lightning con¬ 
ductors, to answer the last ques¬ 
tion first, if he will provide two 
things with this roof it will be a 
perfect protection against all 
forms of lightning except what is 
known as ball lightning—that 
which goes like a round ball near¬ 
ly horizontally through the air, 
and when it comes in contact with 
anything bursts with great de¬ 
struction. We had a set of five 
barns once burned by such a bolt. 
Our nearest neighbor sat looking 
out towards our barns and saw 
the stroke. He said the ball looked 
as large in diameter as a wagon 
wheel and that it sailed along not 
very rapidly and when it struck 
the cupola of our barn it burst 
and seemed to cover a half acre, 
and immediately the whole barn 
seemed afire. We found fine 
splinters for rods in all directions 
from that barn. Now, the two 
things to make the sure protec¬ 
tion are, first, a number of sharp 
points erected on various parts of 
the roof, and full and ample con¬ 
ducting material from roof to per¬ 
manent moisture in the ground. 
As to the paint, coal tar, pitch, 
any paint with a good coat will 
be a protection to the iron while it 
lasts, but rust soon finds its way 
under them in places, and they 
scale off. By far the most dur¬ 
able paint I have ever found for 
any metallic surface—for all sur¬ 
faces, for that matter—is what 
is known as “Rossie” paint. It 
is simply iron ore ground very 
fine and comes from the town of 
Rossie, St. Lawrence County, 
N. Y. If you get it on your 
hands you can’t wash it off with¬ 
out soap, and painted on any 
metal it adheres very firmly and L 
very durable. I am confident that 
two good coats put on the under 
side of any metal—galvanized es 
pecially—would be almost as last¬ 
ing as the iron. The same is by 
far the best paint to use on the 
upper side. While it is not as 
bright and of a darker shade 
than Venetian red, it is many times more durable for 
the outside of all buildings. The fact is, Venetian 
red, ochre, umber and all the cheaper paints are simply 
and only earth, “ground rock,” and there is not a par¬ 
ticle of metal in any of them, and they color when put 
on, but do not form any body. Rossie is oxide of iron 
and combines with oil to form a firm metallic coat. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. j. s. woodward. 
So far as I know or have been able to set? m ?J(peri- 
ence galvanized iron roofing needs no paint on the 
under side to keep it from rusting. I do not believe 
that first-class iron of that kind will rust in your in¬ 
quirer’s case. There are a good many roofs of that 
kind on buiidings around here, and I never knew of 
one having to be replaced from rust. One I know 
of in this city has been on for a bit over 20 years, and 
I heard the dealer who put it on tell last Fall that 
not one nickel had been paid out on it since it was 
laid. However, this is on a house and of course it 
would not get as much moisture as one would on a 
stock barn. Yet I should not paint one for myself, and 
* 5 t 
THE STARS IN THE OLD FLAG. Fig. 241. 
that is the material I should use by all means for a 
roof on a barn or house. I do' not know that my 
opinion as to whether iron roofing is a protection 
against lightning is any good or proves anything, but 
I have read a good many articles and opinions to that 
effect, and have reason to believe that it is, and I 
should use iron roofing on buildings for that reason. 
There are a great many buildings burned by fires set 
by lightning, and in this vicinity I have never known 
of one that burned or was struck that had a metal 
roof. . There may have been some, but I have been 
looking for cases of the kind for some years. If the 
reader does wish to paint the iron he uses, which will 
not hurt it at least, the best thing I know of in every 
respect is the common Venetian red and boiled linseed 
oil. To back up my opinion in this I Have the word of 
a personal friend, a painter of repute and many years’ 
experience, who says it is the best paint for metal and 
I will not look farther for a paint when I have occasion 
to use one on a metal roof or any other metal work. 
Michigan. r. c. angevine. 
Galvanized iron for the roofing 
of barns and other out-buildings 
is probably the best form of metal 
roofing that has been put upon the 
market, chiefly because of . its 
greater power of resisting rust. 
When painted iron is used on the 
roof of dairy barns, especially 
where no provision is made for 
ventilation other than allowing 
the moisture to pass upward and 
condense on the under side of the 
roof, the effect of such moisture 
is to cause painted iron to rust 
out rapidly; even the moisture 
from curing hay has a tendency 
to cause this rusting. None of 
the ordinary paints is permanent 
protection against rusting. Even 
the best asphalt paint is not an ab¬ 
solute protection, for the reason 
that, in applying it with a brush, 
it is practically impossible so to 
spread it as not to include under 
the asphalt paint many tiny air 
bubbles. These air bubbles, when 
they come to expand with changes 
of temperature, blow minute open¬ 
ings through the paint. These 
may be almost or quite invisible 
to the naked eye, but when mois¬ 
ture condenses on the surface the 
effect of capillarity is to draw the 
moisture through the opening into 
contact with the naked metal, and 
rusting begins and spreads from 
these openings as a center until- 
the paint flakes off. Where iron 
has been well galvanized the gal¬ 
vanizing furnishes the most com¬ 
plete protection against rusting, 
under ordinary roof conditions, 
that has been devised. It cannot 
be said, however, that it is an ab¬ 
solute protection against corro¬ 
sion under the conditions of barn 
roofs. If an effort is made fur¬ 
ther to protect the metal against 
rusting an asphalt paint is likely 
to be the best which can be used. 
When it comes to the matter of 
lessening the liability of danger 
from lightning there is no ques¬ 
tion but that the metal roof, 
whether galvanized or painted, 
provides the best opportunity. 
It should be understood, however, that no method of 
protecting buildings from lightning has yet been de¬ 
vised which has rendered complete immunity from 
stroke and injury by lightning. Instances are on rec¬ 
ord where systems of protection have been installed 
which, in the judgment of experts, were regarded as 
absolutely safe, and yet damage under those conditions 
has resulted. The facts seem to be that injury from 
lightning can be greatly reduced and oftentimes ef- 
