SHAKE SHINGLES - RELICS FROM THE PAST 

If your current house has wooden shake shingles on the roof, save them. They may become a collector's item.

It's no secret that their days are numbered. There is litle point in risking the loss of a $300,000 home due to a rustic cosmetic design. Now you don't have to. Several European companies are producing various fireproof non-asbestos, impact-resistant roofing tiles in non-fading colors and they're guaranteed (with transferable warranty) for up to 50 years! They cost less, are termite-proof, don't shrink or expand and weigh less than traditional shingles. They can be shaped into many forms and are available in a copperasphalt combo.

One long-lasting (50 years) tile is made from fibre cement, a modern roofing material produced in Europe in quantity (Plant planning for U.S. manufacturing is already underway). It was developed as both a replacement for the combustible wooden and the carcinogenetic asbestos-based shingle. The former has already been banned as a fire hazard in Los Angeles City and the latter is running into resistance everywhere from environmentally-sensitive homeowners.

Canadians once well-liked everywhere as considerate, tolerant, responsible world citizens are now risking their reputations as our governments continue to push deadly asbestos overseas and combustible (yes, even with fire retardants that reportedly evaporate within a decade, leaving the wooden shakes as they were before being impregnated). In the City of Los Angeles were there are hundreds of serious roof fires each year, building inspectors claim they haven't the time to regularly check the millions of shake roofs in their area before they "dry out".

The cement-fibre shingles shown here are made in Switzerland with a slurry material that resembles grandma's pancake mix. Run through a roller press, the mixture produces large sheets that are dried and bonded in an autoclave (much like the ceramic houses now constructed in Japan in 40 minutes). Cut, packaged, shipped and applied like regular tiles, cost is about half that of natural slate with similar wear and fire-resistant characteristics. The carbon fibre cement mixture is so strong it is now being used for curtain-wall construction in Japan on 40-storey office buildings. According to the Insurance Information Institute o f California some companies there give a discount for fire-proof shingles as opposed to a higher premium for wooden shingles.

Italian manufacturer Tegola Canadese uses a new rolling technique that produces copper sheeting one-tenth the previous thickness, trade-named "Prestige". Roofing costs about US$3.50 a square foot installed -- a dramatic one-third less than traditional standingseam copper roofs. More information: Cement-fibre shingles - Richard J. Stark, FibreCem Corporation, Suite 212 - 7 Woodlawn Green, Charlotte, NC 28217. Phone: 704/527-2727.

Copper shingles - Makielski Reed Corp., 9015 Woodyard Road, Clinton, MD 20735. Phone: 301/856-3900.

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