Lumber, Plywood, and Other Wood Products - Carpenter's and Builder's Math, Plans, and Specifications - page 85

No. 1 and No. 2. The grades in quartersawed oak are Clear and
Select, and in plain-sawed, Clear, Select, and No. 1 Common.
Quartersawed hardwood flooring has the same advantages as
vertical-grained softwood flooring. In addition, the silver or
flaked grain of quartersawed flooring is frequently preferred
to the figure of plain-sawed flooring. Beech, birch, and walnut
and mahogany (for fancy parquet flooring) are also occasion-
ally used.
Casing and Base —Casing and base are standard items in the
more important softwoods and are stocked by most yards in
at least one species. The chief grade, B and Better, is designed
to meet the requirements of interior trim for dwellings. Many
casing and base patterns are dressed to 11 × 2 1

/ 4 . Other sizes / 16

/ 2 . Hardwoods for the same
purposes (such as oak and birch) may be carried in stock in
the retail yard or may be obtained on special order.
Shingles and Shakes —Shingles usually available are sawn from
western red cedar, northern white cedar, and redwood. The
shingle grades are: Western red cedar, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3;
northern white cedar, Extra, Clear, 2nd Clear, Clear Wall, Util-
ity; redwood, No. 1, No. 2 VG, and No. 2 MG.
Shingles that are all heartwood give greater resistance to
decay than do shingles that contain sapwood. Edge-grained
shingles are less likely to warp than flat-grained shingles ; thick-
butted shingles less likely than thin shingles ; and narrow shin-
gles less likely than wide shingles . The standard thicknesses
of shingles are described as 4

used include 9 × 3, 3 1

/ 4 , and 3 1

/ 16

/ 2 (four shingles
to 2 inches of butt thickness, five shingles to 2 1

/ 2 , 5 / 2 , 1 / 4 , and 5

/ 4 inches of
butt thickness, and five shingles to 2 inches of butt thickness).
Lengths may be 16, 18, or 24 inches. Random widths and
specified widths (dimension shingles) are available in western
red cedar, redwood, and cypress.
Shingles are usually packed four bundles to the square. A
square of shingles will cover 100 square feet of roof area when
the shingles are applied at standard weather exposures.
Shakes are handsplit, or handsplit and resawn from western
red cedar. Shakes are of a single grade and must be 100 per-
cent clear, graded from the split face in the case of handsplit
and resawn material. Handsplit shakes are graded from the
best face. Shakes must be 100 percent heartwood free of bark
and sapwood. The standard thickness of shakes ranges from