When the walls of the building are to be covered with shingles it is not necessary to have corner boards, as the shingles can be brought together at the corner and made to finish nicely against each other. The usual method is to allow the shingles on the adjacent sides to lap over each other alternately as shown at A in Fig. 277.
Shingles. Instead of clapboards, shingles may be used for covering the walls of a building, though this method is more expen sive than the other. The advantages are in the appearance of the work, the variety of effects which may be obtained, and also in the fact that the shingles may be more easily clipped in some stain and a greater variety of colors thus obtained. Wall shingles should be laid with not more than 6 inches to the weather, and an exposure of 5 inches is better, but even if 6 inches are exposed, there will be a greater thickness of wood covering any particular spot of the wall with the shingling than there is with the clapboarding, and thus a greater protection from the weather is obtained. The arrangement of shingling on a wall is shown in Fig. 27S. It will be seen that the shingles are in all cases two layers and in some cases even three layers thick. The width of ordinary shingles varies from about 3 inches to about 12 inches, and for rough work these widths may be used at random, but shingles which are called "dimension shingles," rind are cut to a uniform width of 6 inches, may be had and these should be used for any careful work. Also shingles may be obtained which have their lower ends cut to a great variety of special and stock patterns, which may be worked into the wall so as to yield any desired effect. A shingled wall is shown in elevation in Fig. 277. Building paper should be used under shingles in the same way as under clapboards.
Belt Courses. It is often able, for the sake of effect or for the purpose of protecting the lower part of the walls of a building, to arrange a horizontal projecting band or "course," as it is called, which will slightly overhang the lower part of the wall. This is called a "belt course" and usually occurs at or near a floor level or across the gable end of a building at the level of the eaves. A belt course is formed by placing blocks or brackets at intervals against the face of the outside boarding, these blocks being cut to the required shape to support thin pieces of molding. This arrangement is shown in section in Fig. 279. Here, A is the studding, B is the boarding, C is the block or bracket, D is the finish under the block, E is the wall shingling, F shows where the shingles come down over the belt course and the furring G supports the finish and provides nailing surface for the first course of shingles. A similar belt course may be placed on a building with any other kind of wall covering, the ciple being the same in every case, and the 'mpose being always to form a projecting ridge from which the water will drip without ing the wail surface beneath. Sometimes the wall covering is not brought out over the top of the belt course, but is stopped ately above it, and in this case care must be taken to see that the top of the course is well flashed with galvanized iron or copper so that the water can not get through the wall around it. It is best to cover the entire top of the belt course with the flashing and to run it up onto the vertical wall 4 or 5 inches with counter flashing over it. The method of flashing will be explained later.