Shingles: pros and cons of the material, examples of use

The shingle is a type of shingle that is not tongue-and-groove, that is, it does not have a longitudinal cut on the edge for entering the groove. Such a shingle is made by sawing or chipping off dies from a wooden chock. Most often, shingles are made from larch, aspen, spruce or pine, that is, relatively inexpensive wood species. Another name for shingles, shingles – shindel.

We wrote in detail about the features of a wooden roof, which is created from shingles and shingles. Indeed, shingles have found the widest application precisely as a roofing material. However, its scope is much wider. The facade, finished with such rather thin wooden planks, will also turn out to be beautiful, original, and durable. Moreover, such a house will perfectly fit into the surrounding landscape and will look very environmentally friendly..

Usually shingles of standard sizes are used in construction and decoration:

• 6 to 15 millimeters thick.
• Length from 20 to 80 centimeters.
• Width from 6 to 25 centimeters.

We would like to emphasize that the shingle, created by hand by chipping, is a higher quality and more beautiful material, it preserves the entire structure of the tree, the fibers of which are minimally damaged. But the process of making chipped shingles is very time consuming, requiring certain skills. Therefore, sawn shingles are popular, which are much cheaper, although the service life of this material is slightly less..

In addition, the chipped shingles can be of different sizes, look not as neat as the sawn one created on the machine in the factory, which turns out to be smoother and exactly matches the given shape..

The shingle has a fairly large scope of application:

• Roofing material, we have already touched on this topic.
• Facade finishing.
• Interior decoration. Yes, despite its apparent simplicity, shingles can become a material for creating, for example, a headboard, ceiling decoration, one of the living room walls, and so on..

Advantages of shingles as a finishing and roofing material:

• Ecological cleanliness. Natural wood can be safely used even to decorate the ceiling in the bedroom, it will not harm the inhabitants of the house in any way.
• The shingle is not afraid of sunlight, wind, precipitation, temperature changes, therefore it can be used for finishing unheated rooms, balconies, loggias.
• The variety of wood species allows you to experiment with different shades of shingles, create beautiful combinations and whole pictures from it.
• The shingle is absolutely sealed, absorbs noise well, if used on the facade – it will make the rooms warmer and quieter.
• For shingles, no additional vapor barrier is required, as, for example, for a block house.
• Wooden plates weigh a little, they are mounted simply, reliably, so that the whole process can be done by hand, without special equipment.

Since shingles are made from natural wood, this material is classified as combustible. However, this problem can be dealt with using special impregnations. This method also helps prevent wood rot. As a result, due to processing, the shingles last longer..

The disadvantages of shingles include precisely the need for special processing, otherwise the material is exposed to biological effects, can rot and turn out to be fire hazardous.

In addition, the price of shingles is not that low – from 650 to 1650 rubles per square meter, depending on the thickness and manufacturing method, so the material cannot be called cheap..

In general, taking into account all the advantages, the shingle deserves attention not only as a roofing material, but also as a finishing material, natural, durable.