The Kind of a Roof for Your House 
THE VARIOUS MATERIALS ADAPTABLE TO COUNTRY HOUSES-THEIR RELATIVE ADVANTAGES, COSTS, ENDUR¬ 
ANCE, AND FIREPROOFING QUALITIES—IMPORTANT THINGS TO DISCUSS BEFORE THE HOUSE IS COMPLETED 
by Frank Chouteau Brown 
Photographs by Julian Bulkley, Mary H. Northend and Others 
T O paraphrase a well known saying, it may with equal truth 
be said that a house is no tighter than its weakest part— 
and generally that weakest part is 
the roof. But there are other con¬ 
siderations besides mere practical or 
structural fitness that must be taken 
into account in selecting roofing- 
materials for a dwelling, as to-day 
the question of appearance is be¬ 
ing given more and more weight in 
deciding upon questions of house 
building, resulting from an esthetic 
advance in standards of taste for 
which the popular magazines, par¬ 
ticularly those dealing with dwell¬ 
ing construction in an untechnical 
fashion, have had much to do. 
The problem of roofing, then, 
consists first in making the roof 
waterproof or tight; second, in 
making it attractive; third, in the 
question of cost, and fourth—this 
a new point of view that is fortu¬ 
nately spreading with great rapid¬ 
ity,—comes the question as to the 
fire-protective qualities of the ma¬ 
terial. 
In dwelling construction, of course, the flat roof is not an im¬ 
portant part of the problem. Flat roofs often occur over piazzas, 
make the floors of sleeping porches, or occupy portions of the 
main roof known as “decks.” Decks generally occur in design¬ 
ing a large house, when 
it is desirable to keep 
ridge or roof line low 
and increase the length 
at the same time that 
the height of a building 
is decreased. But the 
problem of the flat 
roof so little concerns 
the dwelling that it 
may well be set to one 
side. 
Roofing m a - 
terials for a pitched 
roof, selected for cost, 
run about in the fol¬ 
lowing order: First and 
cheapest, shingles; next 
in price, shingles 
dipped in preservative 
stain ; third, slate of the 
cheaper quality; fourth, 
some of the patent roofs of various compositions; fifth come some 
varieties of roofing tile and the better qualities and the more ex¬ 
pensive methods of laying slate; last, the most expensive types of 
tile roofing. This list might be further expanded by including 
those metals, in the form of tin, zinc, copper and lead, that are 
occasionally used on sloping roofs to obtain a particular effect and 
serve an unusual purpose; but as a 
rule these materials, except in the 
case of metal imitating the form 
of tiles, are generally used upon 
flat roofs. 
First, as to the shingle roof: in 
those localities where shingles of 
good quality can be obtained for 
between $3.50 and $4.50 a thou¬ 
sand there can be no question but 
that this makes a satisfactory ma¬ 
terial for the ordinary dwelling. It 
is generally tighter than most slate 
or tile roofing, because the very 
moisture that creeps into the roof 
crevices and occasions trouble, 
causes the individual shingles to 
expand and so close up the smaller 
crevices through which the moisture 
might run or blow. Shingles are 
also, in the main, attractive in ap¬ 
pearance. If put on without ap¬ 
plied color pigment of any kind, 
they eventually become very dark 
and black in color, but for several 
years previous (in part depending upon the location of the house 
near the seashore or otherwise) they continue to develop varying 
shades of attractive weathered gray. 
The life of the shingled roof varies from ten to twenty years, 
depending upon the 
steepness of its pitch 
and its location and ex¬ 
posure to weather or 
the points of the com¬ 
pass. A flat pitched 
roof will rot out soon¬ 
er than a steep pitched 
roof; shingles laid up¬ 
on a roof overhung by 
trees and much in 
shadow will not last 
nearly as long as when 
the house is open to 
currents of air and the 
drying- rays of the sun. 
The shingles of a less 
perfect grade are, of 
course, shorter - lived 
than those freer from 
imperfections; and as 
the cost and labor of 
laying is the same in both cases, it is generally real economy to 
use only the best quality of seasoned cedar shingles on house 
roofs, particularly if the pitch is flatter than ninety degrees. 
Of shingles to be found in stock, cedar—white or red—is the 
If the slates are graded toward the ridge pole, a more pleas¬ 
ing effect is produced. Notice here also the varying uses 
of metal casements. Charles A. Platt, architect 
Shingles are sometimes laid in double thickness every few courses to keep the house in 
scale. This place shows a good use of horizontal lines across a house. Albro & 
Lindeburg, architects 
