22 
HO USE & GARDEN 
SHINGLES, MASONRY OR STUCCO? 
Three Types of Siding for Clothing The Timber Frame 
The Vital Questions of Application, Utility and Appearance 
T. B. BENNETT 
P RIMARILY, a house is a place of shel¬ 
ter. This is just as true nowadays as 
it was in olden times when human beings 
dwelt in caves and huts. And, although 
the house of to-day stands for something 
more than a mere shelter, yet never should 
it be anything less. The original necessity 
still remains and must be met. 
First of all. a human habitation must af¬ 
ford, to those who dwell therein, adequate 
protection from the weather. Moreover, 
in a climate subjected to extremes of heat 
or cold, it is highly desirable that the walls 
be made wind and rainproof as well as 
non-conductive, thereby assuring an equa¬ 
ble temperature in the enclosed rooms, irre¬ 
spective of variable weather conditions. 
The usual wooden siding used in house 
building—whether of horizontal or vertical 
boards — is made up of 
practically but one thick¬ 
ness of material. In other 
words, the boards are laid 
with a very slight lap or 
“cover,” so that nearly their 
entire widths are exposed 
to the weather. Also the 
boards are simply butted 
together, end for end, thus 
leaving uncovered joints 
through which wind and 
water can penetrate. 
Shingle Advantages 
With shingles the case is 
different. Only about a 
third of their length is ex¬ 
posed to the weather, so 
that there result at least 
three layers of material at 
all points. Furthermore, 
shingles are laid so as to 
“break joints,” one over 
the other. For these rea¬ 
sons shingles, properly ap¬ 
plied, undoubtedly make a 
somewhat more weather- 
tight and non-conductive 
siding than clapboards 01 - 
other forms of boarding. 
Yet the palpable reason for 
the popularity of shingles 
is their roughness of tex¬ 
ture which renders them 
especially adapted to re¬ 
ceive a character preserv¬ 
ing stain of oil or creosote 
ratherthana coat of obliter¬ 
ating though useful paint. 
In Sketch 1 are shown 
two methods of applying 
the shingles. At “A” is the 
common method, wherein 
they are laid tight against 
the paper. The method 
shown at “B” is slightly more expensive, 
though far superior if durability is to be at 
all reckoned with. The wooden strips, in¬ 
tervening between the paper and shingles, 
create numerous air spaces and thus insure 
the shingles against sweating and consequent 
decay. Also these air spaces offer additional 
insulation against the penetration of heat and 
cold. And—because the shingles are nailed 
to the strips—there remains no possibility of 
an occasional shingle being insecurely held 
by nails that might otherwise be inadver¬ 
tently driven into a joint between the sheath¬ 
ing boards. In fact, so highly advantageous 
is this method of applying siding that it 
should be more commonly adopted for clap¬ 
boards and other forms of horizontal or ver¬ 
tical boarding, as well as for shingles. In the 
case of horizontal boarding the strips should 
occur, vertically, over every stud. For ver¬ 
tical boarding their direction should be just 
the reverse. For shingles the strips must 
be put on horizontally and spaced a distance 
from center to center equal to the vertical 
spacing of the shingle courses. Only thus 
is a proper nailing provided for every course 
of shingles. The nails should be galva¬ 
nized ; the life of shingles is the life of the 
nails that hold them in place. 
Cypress, redwood and cedar are the 
woods best adapted for shingles. Those 
split by hand are superior to the machine- 
sawed product, both as regards durability 
and appearance. Cypress shingles are per¬ 
haps longer lived than those of redwood, 
but the advantage of the former is more 
than offset by the exceedingly slow burning 
quality and the richer color of the latter. 
Cedar is probably the most commonly used 
wood for shingles, but it is inferior to either 
cypress or redwood. Spruce shingles should 
not be given any consideration whatever. 
Shakes, which are simply extra long 
shingles, are often used to good effect. They 
are usually about 3' long and laid with an 
exposure of 10" or 12" to the weather. 
Otherwise the foregoing observations and 
considerations, relative to shingles, apply 
equally to the use of shakes. 
Masonry Siding 
Masonry siding, such as stone or brick, 
should be applied as shown in Sketch 2. 
It is secured to the sheathing by means of 
spikes imbedded in the 
joints, the spikes being 
partially driven into the 
sheathing at the comple¬ 
tion of every four or five 
courses of brickwork. Thus 
the mortar of the joint 
eventually hardens around 
the projecting ends of these 
numerous spikes and there¬ 
by anchors the masonry 
siding to the w o o d e n 
sheathing. 
Strange as it may seem, 
masonry siding is not as 
waterproof as painted 
wooden siding. This is be¬ 
cause the masonry itself, 
as well as its multitudinous 
mortar joints, is somewhat 
susceptible to the absorp¬ 
tion of moisture. For this 
reason it is particularly im¬ 
portant that the paper 01 - 
felt membrane, intervening 
between the masonry and 
sheathing, be thoroughly 
waterproof. Also, the 
mortar composing the 
joints should contain only 
enough lime to enable it to 
be used without danger of 
premat u r e hardening. 
Again, the bricks or stones 
should be wetted before 
laying. Otherwise they 
will draw and absorb the 
moisture from the mortar 
and thus render the latter 
useless. All joints must be 
fully and conscientiously 
mortared so as not to leave 
any voids in their midst. 
Merely “buttering” the 
edges of the bricks or 
stones is an entirely repre¬ 
hensible practice. Finally, after completion, 
all joints should be raked out to a depth 
of about YE' and refilled with pure cement 
mortar. This operation is known as 
“pointing” and is done with a tool espe¬ 
cially adapted to the purpose. The 
entire process to be successful calls for 
thoroughness of work. 
When properly handled shakes and masonry combine well, as here, where the 
wide jointed brickwork combines in perfect harmony wth the shakes above 
