Shingle is a wooden tile designed for roofing residential buildings and various outbuildings. Thin even planks with a length of about 40–45 cm, width of 5–12 cm. The thickness of the thinnest die is about 3 mm, and the thick one is about 10 mm. It is made from ordinary logs. All that is required in the process: a sharp wedge-shaped blade and a percussion instrument - a mallet or hammer.
Raw materials
As raw materials, conifers with smooth fibers are perfectly suitable, which are well split: larch or pine. Soft deciduous wood is also used: aspen or linden. But the strongest and most practical are considered to be dies made of durable wood - oak or beech. To ensure water-repellent properties, increase resistance to decay, exposure to adverse weather conditions, the finished plates are coated with natural impregnations or soaked in varnish.
Advantages and disadvantages of the material
Wooden planks, overlapped in several layers, form a dense reliable coating. Completed in accordance with all the rules, it serves for a long time, does not crack, and withstands high temperature extremes. Wooden roofs do not interfere with air exchange, do not create a greenhouse effect, do not emit harmful substances, maintain a healthy microclimate in the room, and well retain extraneous noise. Natural color, texture of natural material are beautiful. Such roofs look very picturesque, original.
In addition to decorativeness and environmental friendliness, the benefits of shingles include practicality, ease of processing, the possibility of its independent manufacture, versatility. She can trim not only roofs - walls, facades, fences. It is easy to restore shingles by polishing the roughness. Disposal of obsolete coatings also poses no difficulties.
The disadvantages are: significant fire hazard, painstaking manufacturing, low productivity when laying large-scale surfaces, high risk of marriage due to improper processing of wood.
Production methods
The name of the boards indicates the method of its production. Fighting, that is, stabbing, pinching by hand, has always been considered a special skill, requiring certain skills and a trained eye.
- For the manufacture of shingles or handwork, even logs without knots are chosen. They are cleaned of bark, cut into logs of the required length: about 40–45 cm.
- To produce thin shingles, chocks are sometimes soaked overnight in water, then working on wet wood. Swellable fibers are more easily affected.
- Holding the block in a stable position, determine the required thickness of the die, and then drive the ax into the array.
- With one hand they lead the blade along the block, with the other they tear the layer of fibers from the array.
Handmade shingle is obtained even from the upper side - the one that is separated by a blade. Where the separation of fibers occurs, it is rough, embossed.
This work requires special accuracy, it takes a lot of time and effort. A linden or aspen chocks manual pinching very poorly. To facilitate the process and increase productivity, the mahalas were made - special mechanical machines. Their system consists of two logs fastened by a kingpin. One serves as a support for the logs, in the other they fix the blade. The wood is driven away on the mahal, getting even boards of a given thickness.
Machine-made and hand-made shingles from the same raw materials have different technical characteristics.. Even with the same thickness. The first one looks more even, but more fragile, since its fibers are cut by a blade. Moisture penetrates into places of cuts more easily, decay occurs faster. Pinch is unpretentious in appearance, but somewhat more flexible, stronger, since it has whole fibers.
Kinds
Options are:
- shingles: a triangular wooden profile, the thickness of one edge is less, and the other has a longitudinal groove for bond strength. For its manufacture, the material is cut in the radial direction, the shingle roof is considered one of the most practical and durable;
- Shindel: Western European dies made only from thick larch logs. They are first divided into quarters, then into thin blocks, then planed each, giving the necessary length and thickness. Then trim the ends.
The edges of the dies can be cut evenly, obliquely, diamond-shaped, rounded, at different angles. Curly sections provide the most decorative look for the finished roof.
Modern materials imitating shingles
The construction industry today offers a lot of materials that have little external resemblance to a real wooden shingle. Goods imitating natural material are convenient in operation, cheaper, but do not have the properties of natural wood.
The following options are made:
- copper shingles: painted metal geometrical profile imitating shingles, in the form of squares, scales or rhombuses, equipped with special mounts. Such a tile is fireproof, resistant to destruction, but does not have high soundproofing qualities;
- plastic wood siding: used for decoration of facades, has good moisture resistance, lightweight. The disadvantages include low environmental friendliness;
- polymer imitation of PVC: it is similar in quality and appearance to natural shingles, it contains wood shavings, but resins and mineral additives are capable of releasing toxic substances.
Each type of coating has its own advantages and disadvantages. Natural material has clear advantages over the most skillfully executed imitation.
Mounting
Only pitched roofs can be covered with shingles; flat roofs for this material are completely unsuitable. Snow, rains very quickly destroy them. The angle of inclination should be about 15 °. It will provide moisture drainage, withstand wind loads. The maximum slope slope allowed for wooden tiles is not more than 45 °.
First, a crate of beams or thin poles 5–6 cm thick is nailed. Its pitch can be up to 10 cm. A continuous web can be used, but about 5 mm should be left between the strips to ensure air circulation.
A layer of waterproofing is laid on the roof frame. Usually apply roofing material. In residential premises, you can additionally insulate the future roof with a lightweight porous foam, covering it with a film on top.
Fix the boards in layers overlap. With a two-layer coating, the overlap is ½ of the length of the dies, with a larger number of layers it is proportionally reduced: with three layers it is ⅓ of the length, with four - ¼. The dies are stacked so that the fibers of the material are directed downward.
For household buildings, two layers of shingles are sufficient, for residential premises - at least three. The five-layer roof is considered the thickest.
The shingles on the roof are stacked from bottom to top, with a cornice overhang in the direction of the ridge. This is usually done from left to right. It is necessary to ensure that the row lies flat, without distortions. There should not be any gaps or gaps in the row spacing. For fastening the planks, special potato nails treated with drying oil are used. After the coating is laid, the overhang is additionally covered with boards around the entire perimeter and another row of dies is placed. The skate is also fixed with boards or special wooden tiles.
Additionally, the wooden roof is covered with several layers of paint. It is updated from time to time. If you want to preserve the natural pattern and color of the material, you can use water-repellent transparent varnishes.
With proper installation and timely updating, a wooden roof can last about 30–40 years.
Cost
The final price of natural material depends on the type and quality of the feedstock, the production method, purpose and margin that the seller makes. The thickness and width of the dies matters. A whole shingle for roofing and exterior wall decoration is the most expensive, its cost is about 2000-3000 p. for 1 square. m. Beech, cedar or oak shingles are valued up to 4000 p.
Decorative panels for interior work are cheaper: depending on the size, their cost varies from 400–1900 r.
Simulated materials made of metal, PVC or plastic, taking into account the technologies used, have no less cost than natural shingles.