PAPER. 379 
The thin hoards for receiving the paper, if of deal, one- 
quarter or five-eighths of an inch is fufficient thicknefs; 
Scotch fir may be half an, inch. Thefe boards are made 
tolerably ftraight at the edges,and nailed on, not as boards 
for flates, in a horizontal direction, but in a direction from 
the eaves to the ridge of the roof, acrofs the rafters. The 
advantage of this mode is, that, in cafe of warping, they 
are not liable to retain the water. They fhould projeCt 
an inch over the lower or cornice rafter. Where there is 
no occafion to walk above, nor any chanceof a mifchievous 
perfon thrufting a pointed inftrument through from be¬ 
low, as in the cafe of barns, churches, granaries, &c. 
common plafter-laths may be fubftituted, nailed on exaCtly 
as the boards, and forms the cheapelt variety of paper-roof. 
As to the fort of paper, any ftrong coarfe paper will do. 
That ufed by button-makers is, perhaps, the bell; unlefs 
a fort made on purpofe by Mr. Swann, of Enfham, Ox- 
fordfhire. 
For the preparation of the paper, a boiler, or cauldron, 
three feet wide and two deep, is required, and mull be 
built over a furnace in the ufual manner. This is to be 
filled, within fix inches of the top, with tar and pitch, in 
the proportion of three parts of tar to one of pitch. The 
fire being applied, when it begins to boil the paper 
is immerled in it, one Iheet at a time ; and, as it is taken 
out, laid on a flack or pile, with a proper inclination to 
drain dry. A little greafe of any fort is put between each 
Iheets to prevent their adhering together. The mixture is 
kept hot during the operation, which muft be repeated in 
a day or two, when the paper is dry. The whole procefs 
requires to be conducted undercover. 
In nailing on the paper, begin at the eaves, and allow 
three inches for being turned down and nailed underneath 
the ends of the boards, which boards project an inch over 
the firft rafter. If the paper is common coarfe wrapping- 
paper, it is laid on much the fame as Hate, fo that when 
finiflied it will remain double thicknefs all over the roof. 
If button-board paper, or that manufactured by Mr. 
Swann, which comes cheaper than button-paper, one 
fheet in thicknefs will frequently fuffice ; only each Iheet, 
as laid down, muft be made to overlap the one previoufly 
laid three inches on the two fides next it. Every Iheet re¬ 
quires four nails ; the proper nails are brads, one inch in 
length, with heads half an inch in diameter. 
The compofition to be laid on the paper confifts of two 
parts of tar to one of pitch, thickened to the confiftence 
of pafte with equal parts of powdered charcoal and whiting 
or lime. It is previoufly well boiled, and kept conftantly 
ftirred ; while (fill boiling, it is carried out in iron potfulls, 
and inftantly fpread or painted over the roof with a 
hempen mop. This muft be done with expedition, as it 
fpeedily cools, and gets hard. When properly laid on and 
dry, the joints of the paper are totally concealed and co¬ 
vered one eighth of an inch in thicknefs by this compofi¬ 
tion, which appears of a fmooth and gloffy black, inclining 
to blue. Strewing fand, forge-duft, or fmithy.afhes, over 
the pitch as foon as laid on, by a large dredge-box, forms 
a thicker coating, and renders it leis liable to melt with 
the fun and run off, or to blaze if the building fhould 
catch fire. 
The advantages of this fpecies of roof, fays Mr. 
Loudon, are, its economy, durability, and elegance. 
“ The economy refults, not merely from the lightnefs 
of the requifite timbers of the roof, but from the compa¬ 
ratively flerrder walls which will fuffice for fupporting it. 
At Tew, I found it coft from four pence to ten pence per 
fquare foot, all exper.fes included. A fquare foot of a 
roof, fo flat as this, is reckoned to cover as much level 
furface as one foot and five fixteenths of a foot of roof 
raifed to the ordinary pitch ; fo that, befides being cheaper 
per foot than the common roofs, five feet in lixteen is 
laved altogether. I found that a (tone Hated roof (at 
Grovalh, the fort common in Oxfordffiire) required four¬ 
teen feet of furface-covering, when a papered roof, with 
a rife of two inches to the foot, would only take ten feet 
4 
and a quarter; a difference of thirty per cent, in quan¬ 
tity. One rafter neceflary for each Hone flat roof would 
make three for a paper one. What the laving may be on 
walls of buildings' lo roofed, muft depend on whether 
Hones, brick, ftud-work, or weather-boarding, is employed. 
Leaft faving can be made when the walls are built of 
ftone, and the height only one ftory ; as from the coarfe- 
nefs of the materials the walls muft unavoidably be made 
of confiderable thicknefs. 
“ Their durability may be inferred from the nature of 
the furface expofed to the air. We have no common 
fubftance indeed more durable than pitch, excepting 
lead. Proof, however, can be had from different build¬ 
ings ereCted and roofed in this way many years ago ; fuch 
as the church at Dumfermline, the prepared roof of which 
has ftood forty, years without requiring any repairs ; the 
roofs of feveral warehoufes at Greenock, Deal, Dover, 
Canterbury, See. which have ftood from ten to twenty 
years. Farm-houfes in Scotland are frequently roofed in 
this way. The extenfive mills, offices, and dwelling- 
houfe, at Enfham, have been covered with it, by Mr. 
Harris of Oxford ; and Mr. Swann, of Enfham, informs 
me, that a roof of paper put up at his mill at Wolvercot, 
near Oxford, has been now done thirteen years, and never 
required the leaft repairs ; whilft a blue Hated roof ad¬ 
joining has been a continual plague, from the Hates being 
in that expofed fituation ; and indeed fo great has been 
the damage fuftained in confequence, that he has an in¬ 
tention of taking ofF the flates and covering it with pa¬ 
per. This will prove what will at firft appear rather pa¬ 
radoxical, viz. that a light paper roof is lefs liable to be 
blown away than a heavy date one. 
“ The flatnefs of thofe roofs being greater than that of 
ft ate, their refemblance to that material in colour, and 
their projection at the eaves, communicate ideas of light¬ 
nefs and Doric ftmplicity, unfelt in viewing any other 
fpecies of roofs. In this refpeCt, and in every other, my 
opinion is fo decidedly in their favour for farm-buildings, 
churches, warehoufes, and fuch edifices as do not require 
conlfant fires in them, that I fhould not ufe tile, even if 
it were to prove confiderably cheaper. For flight mova¬ 
ble edifices, fuch as Dutch-barns, fheep-houfes, field- 
racks, &c. no roofs can be more appropriate. 
“ The only objections I have ever heard made to thefe 
roofs are, the danger of their being blown off by high 
winds, and their liability to accidents by fire. In regard 
to the laft objection they feem to me not fo liable to be 
fet fire to as thatch. Pitch (efpecially if coated over with 
fand or fmithy a flies) will not be lighted by a fpark, nor 
even the application of a (lender flame, as wili that mate¬ 
rial ; though, on the other hand, when lighted, it will un- 
queftionably burn with greater velocity than any fpecies 
of thatching. The other objection may readily be pre¬ 
vented by the builder. Before the roofs at Tew Lodge 
were finilhed, and through the careleifnefs of an unworthy 
man, who undertook part of them by the job, I had an ac¬ 
cident by high wind, but none nas happened fince they 
were completed. I have been thus particular in deferibing 
the manner of conftrufting thefe roofs, to prevent their 
being confounded with fome other modes of applying 
paper and compofition which have proved unfuccefsful, 
and nearly as expenfive as the belt Hate-roofs.” 
The following are the chief of the fources from which 
the above article has been derived.—Montfaucon’s 
Paleogr. Grasc. Mabillon de Re Diplomat. Hardoui- 
nus ad Plin. lib. xiii, Phil. Tranf. in various places. 
Knox’s Hiftory of Ceylon. Le Clere’s Bibl. univ. 
tom. xxiii. Houghton Collections. Du Halde’s China. 
Kerchmayer’s Diff. philolog. de Papyro veterum. Gui- 
landinus de Papyr. raembr. Reim. Idea fyft. Antiq. Lit. 
Maft’ei I(tor diplomat. Journal des Sgavans, vol. xxxii. 
Voff. de Art. Gfammat. Polydore Virgil de Invent. Rer. 
Fabric. Bibl. Antiq. Tranf. of the Soc. of Arts, vol. xxx. 
Farmer’s Mag. for 1808. Landfeer’s LeCtures on the Art 
of Engraving at the Royal Inftitution, Lond. 1807. 
Fofbrooke’s 
