Year: 1868

If there is any one part of building,
of any kind, that far transeends in
value all other parts, it is the roof.
Without a good roof it is utterly i'm
practicable :hat other parts Of build.
ing should render satisfactory service.
"A poor roof is an intolerable nuisance
even on a sheep-fold or a dogs kennel.
Whatever the building may be, q roof
that will turn the rains of Summer and
the water from the melting snow that
accumulates on the building in Winter
IS a consideration of primary import
ance to every person who owns dwell
ing house. Leaky roofs may be made
OF the very best Of materials. A build
ing covered with the choicest quality of
pine shingles, if laid by buugler. who
is not careful to "break joint" proper
ly, will leak badly. A few poor shingles
IN various parts of the root, which is
made mostly of the best shingles, will
make a bad roof. Zinc cannot be re-
lied on as a valuable roofing material,
as it will crack. A tin. roof will fre-
quently corrode and crack, and become
leaky, and it will often be impractical
BILE to find the defective places which
admit the rain. Slate is expensive and
heavy. Over ard above these consid-
erations is the one allimportant one,
that where dwelling-houses are exposed
to the heavy accumulations of snow in
winter, water is liable to back up from
the caves and find its way beneath the
shingles down to the inside walls. This
is common occurrence, and the walls
of many fine houses have been nearly
ruined by back water" through the
roof. The only reliable remedy is to
form roof of such material as the in
fluences of the weather will affect but
little, and which will endure for ages,


1t is subject of congratulatiOn that
science has recently enabled builders
to avail themselves of a material fo=
roofing that possesses the merit of
cheapness and durability at the same
time. We allude to the plastic slate
roofing. We have no tin, plsstic slate
or shingles TO sell; but we have seer, in
the City of New York. enough of plas-
tic slate roofs to warrant us in stating,
for the benefit of farmers, that this
material is the cheapest, the most dura-
BILE, and will render the best satisfac.
tion of any material that can be en-
ployed for covering buildings. In com


pany with ]. R. VAN 0RDEN, No. Il
Liberty Street, we went to examine a
number of large buildings in this City
that are covered with plastic slate. And
more beautiful roofs were never seen.
Water may stand and back up for any
length of time on them, and not a drop
can get through TO wet the walls.
Those large buildings seem to be COW
cred by one broad and unbroken piece
of slate, as durable as stone itself, and
to all appearance they will remain per-
fectly waterproof and fre-proof also
for hundreds of years after the men


who made them have been forgotten.


Some parties at first experienced
serious difficulty in making a satisfacto-
ry roof of coal. tar and the -four of slate.
But, by repeated experiments, they
learned that their failures were attrib-
utable to want of skill in mingling the
two substances. Experiments showed
that when the tar and -four of slate
were mingled in the proper proper
tions, the material would reconstruct
readily and form most perfect roof,
which will last as long as natural slate.
N. T. SEMI Weekly Times, Feb. q, '6S.