CORRUGATED IRON ROOFING [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Snt,—The
substitution of corrugated iron for thatch, tiles, &c., on farm buildings is daily becoming more prevalent, and the invariable answer to any complaint one may make is, "Yes, it is ugly, but it is cheap."
My contention is that it would be quite possible to do away with the ugliness at a very trifling cost. All that is necessary is :— (a) Either to have small rings attached to the nuts of the bolts which screw on the iron plates—pass wire through these, and thatch with a very thin (two inches) layer of straw, dried heather, &e., or (b) nail thin laths of wood horizontally and perpendicularly over the iron, and then thatch by inserting the ends of the straw, &c., under these.
I saw this being done the other day with great success, but whether over corrugated iron or some kind of asbestos I was not near enough to see. Neither of these methods require a skilled thatcher ; anyone can do it. I have myself made a small model to scale.
The complaint that wet would lie in the straw and cause the iron, &c., to perish is not, in my opinion, a justifiable one. It would, of course, be the case with a horizontal, or nearly horizontal roof ; but at the angle at which barn, cow- house, stable, &c., roofs are usually built, the rain would run off (as it does on any thatched house, rick, &e.), and for from causing the iron to decay, it would help to preserve it. The amount of straw, &c., required would be very small.— I am, Sir, &c.,
IcorrA.
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