Shingle Roofing & Slate Roofing Patterns

Shingle Roofing

¶ Roof - Whatever may be said regarding the liability to early decay in shingles, it is nevertheless a fixed fact that they must form, for generations to come, a large proportion of the roofing material used in this country, at least for the cheaper class of buildings. A shingle roof seems to be the natural cover for a wooden house; of good quality it is equally admissible, in an architectural view, for stone or brick houses. There are some instances, however, of exceptions to its application to wooden buildings, arising from other considerations: for instance, in the neighborhood of New Orleans, where slates are preferred on all classes of houses, owing to the greater purity of the water thrown off by a slate roof - an item of importance, where the clouds furnish the water for domestic uses; being imported directly from Wales as ballast, their cost does not much exceed that of shingles.

Slate Roofing

¶ Slate roofing is a branch of growing importance, and deservedly so. Whatever the style of building, if the limits of intended outlay will admit it, we are favorable to its application. Slates of different colors are used in the same roof with excellent effect; a variation of form arrests the eye still more, and gives additional beauty to the combination.

¶ A shingle roof in which some attention has been paid to ornamental or decorative effect is creative of a feeling in the mind of the beholder that something more has been attempted than the mere necessity of construction, and that the result is worthy of the attempt. We give a few examples of various patterns for shingles or slate, in the pictures, the last being one of many pleasing combinations that may be made; it is worthy of observation that the application of this method of roof ornament is very extended, and only ceases when the roof approaches the minimum pitch for the use of slate or shingles.

¶ Of the numerous available slate quarries in the United States, those of Pennsylvania and Vermont are the principal: the former affords the dark slate, with but very little variety of shade; the latter has red, purple, and green, all of excellent quality for working and durability.

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