The complete roofing kit consists of cement, caps, and nails. The
galvanized caps and nails are the best to use; they won't rust. Square
caps have more binding surface than the ordinary round ones; but we can
mend "with any old thing."
Fig. 291 shows a chimney from which the roof of the house is parted,
leaving a good-sized opening around the smoke-stack. To cover this, take a
piece of roofing compound, tin, oilcloth, tar paper, or paroid and cut as
is shown in the upper diagram (Fig. 292). Make the slits in the two ends
of the material of such a length that when the upper ends are bent back,
as in the lower diagram (Fig. 292), they will fit snugly around the
chimney. You will need one piece like this for each side of the chimney.
Where the ends of the chimney butt against the ridge of the roof you will
require pieces slit in the same manner as the first but _bent
differently_. The upper lobe in this case is bent on the bias to fit the
chimney, while the lower one is bent over the ridge of the roof (Figs. 293
and 294).
To better illustrate how this is done, Fig. 293 is supposed to show the
chimney with the roof removed. Fig. 294 is the same view of the chimney
with the two pieces in place. You will need four pieces, two at each end
of the chimney, to cover the ridge of the roof.
With all the many varieties of tar paper and composition roofing there
come tacks or wire nails supplied with round tin disks perforated in the
centre, which are used as washers to prevent the nail from pulling
through the roofing.
Fig. 295 shows the chimney with the patches around it tacked in place, and
the protruding ends of the parts trimmed off according to the dotted
lines. Fig. 297 shows the way the roofing people put flashing on; but I
like my own way, as illustrated by Figs. 291, 292, 293, 294, and 295. It
must not be taken for granted that every camp or farmhouse has a supply of
tin washers, but we know that every camp and farmhouse does have a supply
of tin cans, and the washers may be made from these, as shown by Figs. 300
and 301. Knock the cans apart at their seams and cut the tin up into
pieces like the rectangular one shown under the hand in Fig. 301. Bend
these pieces in their centres so as to make them into squares, then place
them on a piece of soft wood and punch holes in them by driving a wire
nail through the tin and you will have better washers than those you can
buy although they may not be so handsome.