70 
House & Garden 
APESTRIES 
with Histories 
The value of tapestries for wall decoration, 
casement hangings and furniture coverings has 
been appreciated for centuries. Lee Tapes¬ 
tries, painstakingly woven and hand colored, 
are faithful reproductions of historic pieces, 
and offer a distinct interest element in addition 
to decorative charm. 
Inquiries invited through your Decorator 
May we send you our 
new booklet “A**-— 
“Tapestries with His¬ 
tories” 
All fabrics imported 
from England — Petit 
Point, Gros Point and 
exquisite needlework 
ARTHURH LEE 8 SOUS K5 
Makers of Fine Fabrics 
32 SOUTH WABASH AVE. 2 WEST 47th STREET 
Chicago New York City 
BIRKENHEAD 
England 
If You Are Going to Build 
(Continued from page 68) , 
pie, or green are most interesting. But 
where the roof is to cover concrete or 
wooden walls variegated slate is more 
interesting, furnishing a contrast with 
the flat tone of the house. Slate now 
can be had in so wide a range of colors 
that it is practically possible to have a 
roof on your house in your favorite 
color, one that will not only suit your 
walls but harmonize with your garden. 
Picture a tapestry brick house with a 
rich moss-green slate roof, in uneven 
sizes, with irregular edges, the window 
and door trim also bright moss green 
and the door of Flemish oak with 
wrought iron trim; or a concrete 
house, warm gray with rose roof and 
Holland blue shutters and wood trim. 
It has been said that slate is the most 
permanent roof covering; in any case, 
slate roofs over six centuries old are 
in existence today. And the methods 
of laying slate on some of the old Eng¬ 
lish houses give an effect that for pic¬ 
turesqueness can only be equaled by the 
rye thatch. In ordering thatch roofing, 
the technical name should be given, 
the thickness desired, the exposure to 
weather, and the color. In England, 
the old roof craftsmen designed each 
individual roof by laying the stones out 
on the ground just as they would be 
placed on the roof. Pieces of various 
sizes, thicknesses, shapes and coloring 
were thus woven into a tapestry thatch 
of stone with round valleys and won¬ 
derful graduated effects. Happily for 
the lovers of beautiful roofs today this 
same result can be secured in America 
by the use of drawings and specifica¬ 
tions, which manufacturers are glad to 
furnish the builder. The irregular slate 
is particularly interesting with the half¬ 
timber construction house, and of course 
with brick it is immensely desirable. 
To get the best results from a sloping 
slate roof it should be laid on one 
thickness of heavy tarred roofing felt, 
of a kind approved by the architect. 
All slate should be fastened by galva¬ 
nized wire nails of suitable length for 
the various thicknesses. 
Because of its great practical value 
we cannot omit a description of inlaid 
slate. This is specially important for 
flat roofing that is to be walked on. 
Small slates 3" x 6" are pressed into 
pure, high-melting bitumen, mixed with 
rock asphalt, onto a backing of roof- 
felt. Inlaid slate is easily applied over 
board construction. Cutting the slate 
so small increases the strength SO per 
cent. Inlaid slate is not affected by 
contraction or expansion and for that 
reason some architects substitute it for 
copper gutters. It is an especially im¬ 
portant roofing on the top of a house 
where roof gardens are to be laid out 
or playgrounds established. 
Wooden Shingles 
If you wish to secure a simple home¬ 
like quality, coupled with a look of 
age and interesting color, the wooden 
shingle will continue to commend it¬ 
self. It belongs to the small farm¬ 
house, to variations of Colonial styles, 
and can be adapted to the English Cot¬ 
tage type. Now that it can be made 
fireproof and durable in color its popu¬ 
larity is steadily on the increase. It is 
difficult for those who are deeply in¬ 
terested in the true Colonial architec¬ 
ture to use any roof covering except the 
wide, hand-rived white pine shingles 
which are so durable and in a curious 
way possess great dignity. But these 
are not always to be had, and so many 
of our new Colonial houses are adopt¬ 
ing the machine-made shingle,—red or 
white pine, cypress, redwood, all have 
their vogue. 
In most localities the staining 
and painting of shingle roofs is essen¬ 
tial for permanency. And in addition 
to the treating of shingles for durabil¬ 
ity they are fireproofed, thus becoming 
one of the really practical, inexpensive 
roofs. 
Many people who have a keen color 
sense—and the number is ever increas¬ 
ing, happily—depend upon their roofs 
as well as their flower garden for in¬ 
teresting color effects. This is especially 
true where the house is white concrete 
or clapboards painted white. And the 
variegated shingles in the market today 
help to solve your color scheme. Al¬ 
most every color can be found, from 
rose to purple red, from blue to bright 
red, and I understand that even yellow 
and orange are being made permanent. 
Almost every maker of shingles has 
his own idea today of the wood to be 
used and the method of treating the 
wood—red cedar from British Colum¬ 
bia, close grained and with sapless 
heart is considered very fine indeed, as 
is also red cypress and white pine. 
Shingles are sawed thick and thin and 
in all standard sizes. They are packed 
and delivered in bundles. Many shin¬ 
gles today are thoroughly creosoted and 
color stained three-quarters of their 
length. Laying two or more shingles 
at random gives a distinctive and pleas¬ 
ing effect; with shingles as with slate, 
the mixing of colors in the laying of a 
roof brings about a fine old weathered 
softness that is very much liked. 
Shingle Laying 
In laying wooden shingles to the best 
advantage the rafters should be cov¬ 
ered with strips fi" x 2" and these 
strips are laid on in the same method 
that the shingles are. No sheathing is 
used, as otherwise the drying process 
would not be so swift. The shingles 
are laid directly on these strips and 
nailed in place. Cypress shingles are 
usually 18" long and 7/16" thick at the 
butt. Other woods are more apt to be 
cut 16" and S/16" in thickness at the 
butt. On hip roofs add 5 per cent for 
cutting; on irregular roofs with dormer 
windows add 10 per cent. 
Fireproof roofing has developed enor¬ 
mously in this country to meet the 
heavy fire loss that has come from our 
frame houses and unprotected roofs. 
These asbestos shingles are in the main 
made of asbestos rock fiber and ce¬ 
ment united under great hydraulic pres¬ 
sure. They are fireproof and water¬ 
proof and not liable to break from the 
timber, and require no painting. They 
are so light in weight that a heavy sup¬ 
porting structure is not necessary, but 
they must be laid on a solid board 
sheathing. It is stated with much pride 
by some of the manufacturers of asbes¬ 
tos roofing that the shingles can be laid 
directly over an old roof, but I find 
that most architects and builders prefer 
laying them on a new wooden surface 
covered with felt. 
This asbestos roof covering is ex¬ 
tremely interesting, made in imitation 
of tile as it takes the irregularities of 
the old hand-made tiles with style. It 
also is made closely to imitate the slate 
used in Tudor England. It is, however, 
more generally seen in imitation of shin¬ 
gles, gray, red, and blue, and in com¬ 
binations of red and gray, brown and 
green. These shingles, in combined col¬ 
ors, are most picturesque and practically 
as durable as the shingle thatch or the 
ordinary wooden shingle. To people 
who think of their roofs in terms of 
color the variegated asbestos shingles 
offer an opportunity to build a roof 
that will suggest an autumn flower gar¬ 
den. We are assured that after much 
study and investigation and experimen¬ 
tation these asbestos roofs have been 
made non-fadable and impervious to 
wind and rain as well as sun. 
{Continued on page 72) 
