Projects & Design
History of Roofing Rite Grade Red Cedar Shingles
By Bob McCrickard. Rite Grade Inspected Red Cedar Shingles on your roof in the early 1900’s meant you had quality inspected product prior to installation. Editor's note: Thank you Bob for sharing your love of roofing history with others in the industry. Back in the day, this trademark was the property of ...
Custom Downspouts - The Art of Rain
Rain gutters and downspouts have been around to control water draining from our roofs for centuries. Rainwater can do much damage to landscaping or the dwelling if not controlled by downspouts or waterspouts directing water out and away from a building. Many architectural stone sculptures depicting some sort of animals can ...
BIRD Shingles History of Roofing
Bird Shingles, one of the oldest manufactures of roofing products in the USA. Starting a business when George Washington was President of our country. The founder George Bird secured a license to build a paper mill using water wheels from the Charles River as the power plants. This plant was near ...
Slate Roof - History of Roofing
Can a Roof last 100 years? Slate Roofs are one of the longest-lasting roofs you could have and are found all over the world. It is not uncommon to see these stone-like roofs last 100-200 years. I recently took this photo from Scotland. These beautifully aged roofs can be found on ...
Roof Art - A Mural for the Sky
Roof Art has been around for years. Normally the artwork is a theme of what the business is. Like different colors of shingles like that of a Minnesota barn, weaved into a 70-foot design of a brown and white dairy cow, or a bright yellow shark on top of a flat ...
Foo Dogs . . . . Up On A Roof
It's an ancient Asian custom to use Foo Dogs on rooftops and entry gates to protect occupants inside from evils. These ferocious guard dogs come from a long pedigree, that interestingly can be found guarding homes in our modern-day neighborhoods. Just down the street from my house is a large pair ...
Staggered Cedar Shakes
This is a unique installation for cedar shakes. A 20 % stagger or 2-inch drop gives a rugged look to a typical heavy shake roof. To gain the proper lay-out instead of running the shake felt at 10 inches, you would lay it out at 8 inches. With the 2 inch ...
History of Roofing Barrett Asphalt Shingles
Today we have an old brochure from the 40’s. The Barrett Ranchline Shingles. These shingles were marketed as ” lowering the look” and making the roof look long-like or like a ranch-style roof. They did this by using only two 18 inch tabs, not like the traditional shingle with three tabs ...
History of Roofing - Hand Splitting Shakes
Hand-Splitting shakes with a mallet and a froe is one way to make shakes but I bet it would take a long time to make enough shakes to do a roof. Today I was asked; I am replacing two rows of cedar shakes above a flat roof tie – in the ...
Unique Copper Covered Bridge Gets Facelift
By Bob McCrickard. Bracklinn Falls Bridge received a much needed rebuild after it was washed away in a flood. Editor's note: While Bob may no longer be with us, he is still sharing his love of roofing with others. Enjoy one of his previous posts Bracklinn Falls Copper Covered Bridge is a cool ...
