The reader must not suppose that the roof of my camp was made of flannel
because it shrank, for the whole house, which was made of logs, diminished
in size as the wood became seasoned; so that now each log averages a
quarter of an inch less in width than it did when the house was built
twenty odd years ago. There are just one hundred logs in the house, which
makes the house twenty-five inches smaller than it was when it was built,
but I cannot point out the exact spot where the two feet and one inch are
missing. Neither do I know that this had anything to do with the opening
in the roof about the chimney; but I do know that the opening gradually
became wider and wider until it not only admitted the entrance of numerous
flying squirrels and other varmints but also let in the rain and snow and
consequently it had to be remedied. Neither the flying squirrels nor the
elements can now enter at that point.
The Connecticut Yankees stop the leaks around the big chimneys of the old
farmhouses with mortar or concrete, but at permanent camps cement is not
always handy, and even if one is living in a farmhouse it will probably
necessitate quite a long drive to procure it. If, however, there happens
to be on hand some strips of the various tar roofing compounds, some old
tin, or even a good piece of oilcloth--by which I mean a piece that may be
so worn as to have been cast aside and yet not so perforated with holes
that it will admit the rain--it may be used to stop the leak.
Fig. 291. Fig. 292. Fig. 293. Fig. 294. Fig. 296. Fig. 297. Fig.
298. Fig. 299.
[Illustration: How to lay a composition roof and how to cover space around
flue. (Fig. 295 is on next plate.)]