The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-03-06
PAINTING SINGLE ROOFS.

commendable practice to paint shin
giles. We never could understand
why certain builders have persisted
in advocating not to paint shingles,
except we judge them to be influenced
by mercenary motives. Every intel
Iligent builder is aware of the fact,
that shingles and siding, when not
painted, will wear out very much
sooner than if they had been protect
ed by generous covering of paint.
Hence, reasoning from selfish policy
it is. better not to paint shingles, be-
cause the paint will promote their du-
rability, and whatever promotes their
durability tends to diminish the labors
of the craft, and thus curtail the reve
nue. of civil architects.
The house in which the writer was
born, was covered with shaved pine
shingles in the year of 1805,at which
time the roof received a generous
coatofoil paint made oflinseed oil and
Venetian red. After twenty years
had elapsed, another coat of paint
nearly black was applied, and it is
now good roof for an old one. 1t
does not leak, and the only repairs on
it have consisted of single added
here and there, where portion of a
poor single was worn out. If the
roof had not been painted, the butts
of most Of the courses would have
been worn entirely away; and, if such
long periods had not been allowed to
intervene between the times of paint
ing the roof would have been a good
one, even after the elapse of hum
dred years.
Some one once suggested, that, if
the roof is painted, the paint will
cause the water to back up beneath
the next course of shingles above,
which will thoroughly saturate the
two courses, and thus the decay of
the roof will be FASTENED. That is
unmitigated nonsense. There is not
a word of truth in the assumption.
On the contrary, when the surface
is painted, the water will glide so
quickly away that it will not be drawn
back between the courses Of shingles
half so readily as it will be when no
paint has been applied.
The true way to paint a roof is to
apply paint Of some kind to both
sides of the shingles. It is quite as
important that the underside of every
single be covered with paint as the
surface, to prevent the water from be-
ing drawn up between the courses by
a capillary attraction. If good shin
giles are painted on both sides, and
good paint is applied to the roof once
in ten years,it will continue leaktight
for more than a hundred years.
When it is not desirable to save
the water for drinking, coal tar is an
excellent and cheap paint for preserv-
ing shingles, and it will pay well to
smear roof with this material once
in four or five years. When roofs are
not painted, moss is liable to collect
at the butts Of every course Of shin
giles, which promote their decay more
s rapidly than alternate rain and sun
) shine.
When oil paint is used for painting
shingles, it is always better to employ
some light color rather than black, as
the apartments of the attic story, be-
meath a black roof, are liable to be
uncomfortably hot in the summer {;
, and more than this, as black paint alb
serbs more heat than any other color,
neither the paint nor the shingles will
: endure as long as if the roof had been
covered with some light colored paint.
q metallic roof covered with light
colored paint will last much longer
than if it had been paint for a roof is