The Shingle

Shingle, dranița, dranița, yța, praștina are traditional names for the wooden product used for roofing, widely used in ancient architecture in our culture.

The term 'shingle' has a Nordic-German or Anglo-Saxon origin, so we have similar names in German - schindel, in English - shingle, in Czech - sindel, in Hungarian - zsindely, in Greek - schiza. Other international names are: French - bardeau, Italian - scandole (from Latin - scandula), Spanish - tejas, Portuguese - telhas. The name 'shingle' is generally associated with the nut-feder joint pattern, which is also found in Germany as traditional shingles, and in our area it is generally found in the Ardeal region, but also in the Prahova Valley, in a shorter and wider version. Dranița is a longer (40-80 cm) and thicker shingle, and the term is used mainly in the Moldavian area. Praștină is a regionalism used in Oltenia. Shingle is shorter (under 40 cm) and thinner and is generally used south of Vrancea.

We have chosen the general name shingle for this product in our country because it has the same root as the most commonly used international term - shingle. In fact, this term is used by all international shingle companies, also dictated by the fact that the members of the American-Canadian Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau are the world's largest producers.

Brief history

The appearance of this product in human culture can be traced back to the Iron Age, when the saw was first used to cut wood shakes. The essential stage in the evolution of the shingle is the fitting stage, i.e. the transition from the wooden nail to the iron nail. The history of the metal nail dates back to the Eneolithic period, when it was a very expensive product due to the technology of hand working. This remained true until the advent of industrialization with the production of the square nail, and then the wire nail, which we still use today. The fact that in 18th century wooden churches no traces of iron hand nails can be seen in the remaining lattices, and the fact that there is a large distance between them, can be explained by the existence of a shingle of about 90 cm, which had a wooden nail at the top, which was laid on the lattice like a nose tile.

We come back to the advent of the industrially produced wire nail, which led to the drastic cheapening of the fastener and the transformation of the shingle. In the West, this manifested itself in the installation of the shingle with a concealed nail (covered with about 2-4 cm of shingle top). The distance from the mounting point of the nail to the exposed end of the shingle implies the thickness of the shingle in this area (e.g.: 45 cm shingle in three layers, with an exposure of 15 cm and a distance to the nail of 17 cm, the thickness of the shingle in the exposed area should be 9-10 mm; 60 cm shingle in three layers, respectively 12-13 mm).

In our space, it is generally practiced to use shingles in small thicknesses of 4-6 mm, regardless of the exposure and the use of nails (2-3 pieces) to the exposed end of the shingle (the advantage is that thick material is not used for the product and, in addition, even if the material when splitting results twisted, in thicknesses of 4-6 mm, it can be brought to flatness thanks to the nails applied in plain view). All these advantages in fact only contribute to the depreciation of the product because of the degradation of the wood material in the nail penetration area. In addition, in our practice, we use a technique of overlapping the shingle laterally, which is also part of the 'involutive' aspect of this product.

Method of production and processing

The wood from which the shingle is made is made of spruce, fir, larch, chestnut, oak, acacia (the European species are listed in ascending order of value) and red/white cedar or other types of resinous wood specific to North/South America. As beech dominates the structure of our forests, it is common to find areas where beech shingle is produced (but this should be avoided because of its low resistance to external factors).

The first stage in the processing process is to select the right tree and cut it into the size of shingle. It is important that the wood is harvested in the cold season when the trees are not in sap. Shingle can then be produced by splitting on the fiber or by mechanical cutting. In our country, and in Europe in general, the material is split on the grain. This traditional process gives the wood a longer life, as it exposes the hard part of the wood, i.e. the lignin, does not hide certain defects or imperfections in the wood and does not warp over time (small knots are acceptable for some species if they are not visible). The Americans actually call Shake shingle shingle obtained by splitting and Shingle shingle obtained by mechanical cutting. There is much to be said about the mechanical processing technique and the resulting quality grades.

After splitting, the raw product of shingle undergoes the processing operation at the shingle chair, where the desired finished product will be obtained. It should be noted that for good behavior of the material it is necessary to shear the shingle at the visible end. This can be done manually or mechanically, but it is preferable to do it manually. At the visible end the shingle can take various shapes. The term 'duckbill' refers to a type of end-working that is unique to our shingles.

Read the full text in issue 1 / 2016 of Architecture Magazine