Practical hints to builders and those contemplating building / Facts worth considering relating to foundation, cellar, kitchen, chimney, cistern, brick-work, mortar, heating, ventilation, the roof, and many items of interest to builders.

by National Sheet Metal Roofing Co.

COMPARATIVE COST.

We are often asked if our metal shingles are as cheap as wood shingles. While we cannot consistently say they are not; still, if we say they are, they refer to our price list, which necessitates an explanation something like this:

We will suppose a dwelling is to be built to cost, say $2,500. Such a house will usually require about 20 squares of roof covering, which, if done with wood shingles, fixes the cost of fire insurance about one-quarter of one per cent. higher than a metal roof during its existence. This extends not only to the house, but all contained in such roofed houses. And this is the case, no matter how good the wood shingles are.

In making this comparison, we will consider such shingles as are generally used in the older settled portions of the country. We are aware that shingles made from well-matured timber, straight-grained, free from sap and wind-shakes, full length, hand drawn to five-eighths of an inch at the butt, four inches wide, and carefully put on make a good, durable roof. But shingles of that kind are only to be had in the thinly settled portions of the country.

It is the broad, thin, split or sawed shingles, found in all markets, which we contend are more expensive than our metal shingles. These do not last, on an average, more than fifteen years, and after ten years the repairs are a continual expense until removed and replaced with new material, which is not often done until some of the woodwork is badly damaged, and ceiling cracked and stained from frequent leakages. On the other hand, tin shingles will last for any length of time, if painted once in every five or six years, and show no perceptible wear.