68 
House & G a r d e k 
THE NEW SHINGLE S 
Show Metal, Wood and Composition Handled in Novel 
Fashions for Roofs and Walls 
T HE shingle does not stand still in these 
days of new fashions in building. It 
has a fascinating way with it, and bends 
and curves over roof and wall into a variety 
of new effects. It is sometimes colorful, often 
indestructible, and in shapes that take on the 
beauty most desired by architects and builders 
of imagination. There is not only a tile 
shingle today but a thatch shingle and metal 
and rubber shingles, and of composition 
shingles, usually fireproof, there is literally 
no end. 
The older, more middle-aged shingles have 
already won their spurs in house-building— 
from the broad white pine, hand-rived variety 
down to the shingles with every rich tone of an 
autumn wood blended into a mellow, seductive 
surface. Among the composition shingles, the 
asbestos varieties loom large with their mys¬ 
terious woodland hues and picturesque surfaces. 
While the Spanish rose-color, hand-made tiles 
still seem the essential covering of certain types 
of Spanish and Italian models, we import the 
shining emerald green tiles from China for 
some of our great summer palaces, and there 
are home lovers who will not build an Italian 
house without Italian tiles, or a California 
bungalow without tiles from California, if pos¬ 
sible from the roof of a disintegrated old Mis¬ 
sion building. 
But these specialized roofs are not in the 
main the things we are looking for. There is 
a perfect whirlwind of home building sweeping 
over this country and the great mass of people 
who have decided to own a home are people 
who have saved money to put into this invest¬ 
ment, people who want houses from six thou¬ 
sand dollars up to forty thousand. This group 
of home owners are not looking for elaborate 
and fantastic covering for their houses. They 
want the best modern roofing, weatherproof, as 
economical as is consistent with good building, 
appropriate to their architecture and durable. 
B ECAUSE of this very widespread de¬ 
mand for home building, roofing, in¬ 
teresting and practical, is developing 
along as many lines as there are varying types 
of architecture. A great variety of metal 
and composition shingles seem to be having 
their innings this season, and there are new 
developments in asbestos, asphalt, rubber 
and wood. Some shingles are purchased in 
exactly the tone that they will carry for years 
to come. Others are known to weather into 
tints quite different from the original surface; 
bright orange copper, for instance, will weather 
a frosty green like a Roman patine; certain 
shades of green slate will weather yellow and 
brown; asbestos frequently mellows from bright 
shades to the tints of a November woodland. 
And all this is known and understood; in pur¬ 
chasing shingles, all their temperamental ways 
are explained to the buyer. He is taken into 
the confidence of the manufacturers these days, 
HENRY COMPTON 
and so far as it is humanly in his power, the 
buyer is helped to understand all that the dif¬ 
ferent roofing materials may accomplish, as 
well as their vagaries and lovely whimsicalities. 
T HE copper shingle was until a year ago 
a type of metal roofing practically un¬ 
known. We had seen, to be sure, mag¬ 
nificent copper roofs of frosty green in China 
and Japan, some of them at least five centuries 
old. These Oriental countries prized their cop¬ 
per roofs, and even when a temple was torn 
down, the copper roofing was saved for a new 
building venture. In Egypt, too, and in Assyria 
copper roofs furnished immunity from heat 
and dampness. But the copper shingle -—that 
is a new development, and one of the most prac¬ 
tical and economical that building industry 
has accomplished in this country. These shin¬ 
gles may be obtained in the natural, vivid 
orange tone which will weather to rich varie¬ 
gated green; or they may be obtained in warm 
tones that make jewel-like roofs, suited in var¬ 
iety to almost every building material. For in¬ 
stance, there is a blue, like the turquoise from 
India, and a green that is the shade of a vivid 
hue in a peacock's feather; there are olive 
greens and browns and yellow browns and 
brown reds. In fact, the whole gamut of red- 
brown tones that frost brings to maple and oak 
are found in these copper shingles. And the 
color is not painted on, but inherent in the 
original surface. A velvety texture is given by 
the chemical treatment that also produces the 
color. 
Until recently the laying of a copper roof was 
a costly operation, but since shingles have been 
substituted for the large copper sheets, the ex¬ 
cessive cost of installation has been wiped out. 
It is well to remember that pure copper is 
practically indestructible, hence the initial cost 
is the only one. Also it is exceedingly light in 
weight, which means that the sub-roofing need 
not be so heavy nor so expensive as is sometimes 
deemed essential. Of course, with the copper 
shingles all flashings and fittings must be of 
copper, including copper nails; sometimes, as 
in the case of the flashings about the chimney 
and along the ridges, the copper is left to 
weather until it finally achieves the frosty green 
so jewel-like. Or it may be treated to match 
any of the colors of the roof. As a matter of 
fact, the use of copper flashings for every sort 
of roof is coming to be more and more regarded 
as a necessity in well-built houses. 
The copper shingles are put in place over 
sheathing boards, which are laid tight without 
open joints. Under this, of course, is the 
customary coat of sheathing paper, which is a 
benefit to any roof. In assembling these shin¬ 
gles, they are interlocked in a manner which 
allows for the expansion and contraction of 
metal, yet they are weather-tight. The ques¬ 
tion of ventilation is also taken into considera¬ 
tion, as are moisture and wind. 
Zinc shingles are another development of 
metal roofing which is encroaching upon the 
interest of all thoughtful builders. Zinc, 
like copper, has been used successfully in the 
past in the form of large sheets, but it is only 
recently that the interesting silver-gray zinc 
shingles have been put upon the market, and 
the new pre-oxidized zinc shingles have much 
the effect of silver maple or pale gray slate. Of 
course, these shingles can also be painted, but 
with the fashion just now for so much silver 
color, most builders prefer the gray surface. 
The zinc shingles are also interlocking and 
weather-tight, and to prevent sweating of the 
roof, each shingle is designed to form a venti¬ 
lating space between it and the roofing board on 
which it is laid. The exposed surface of this 
shingle is a perfectly plain square, and the oxi¬ 
dation gives this surface a feeling of depth and 
beauty. Naturally, with the zinc roofing, zinc 
leaders, gutters, valleys, flashings, etc., are 
used, and the zinc spouting, which has been so 
widely employed in European countries for a 
hundred years, is now coming into fashion here. 
These zinc fittings are distinctly picturesque 
and have an ornamental value, especially 
where they come in contact with brick, stone, or 
wooden walls. Although zinc roof and fittings 
are very practical and easily installed, they 
are definitely economical. They are practica¬ 
ble for public as well as domestic buildings. 
A TAPERED shingle is one of the new de¬ 
velopments in composition roofing. It is 
not only practical and durable, but years 
of scientific experiment have developed it intq 
one of the most beautiful roofings now on the 
market. This shingle is made of pure asbestos 
fibre compressed with cement in water by hy¬ 
draulic pressure, and colored with iron oxide. 
This process of compressing in water renders 
them color-fast, an objective greatly to be de¬ 
sired. They are also fireproof and weather¬ 
proof. 
Because no two of these shingles are alike, a 
most attractive variation in a weathered effect 
is obtained for the finished roof. Not only is 
there irregularity of color, but the part of the 
shingle exposed is roughened so that the roof 
has the beauty of age from the start. These 
shingles are all tapered as are wooden shingles, 
and the edges are beveled. The color of the 
tapered shingle is rich and mellow, a warm 
silvery gray and a sort of rosy terra cotta. A 
beautiful effect is gained by the combining of 
these tones. These roofs are peculiarly inter¬ 
esting on houses finished with pale gray cement 
and a black trim. 
B EAUTY and permanence are the two 
qualities that every home builder is seek¬ 
ing in selecting a roof. For many years it 
has been possible to have either a beautiful roof 
or a durable one, but the asbestos shingles are 
(Continued on page 84) 
