A lath or slat is a thin, narrow strip of straight-grained wood used under roof shingles or tiles, on lath and plaster walls and ceilings to hold plaster, and in lattice and trellis work.
Sawn lath, seen from the back with hardened plaster from the other side showing through. Sawn lath became popular after the introduction of the circular saw in the 19th century.
Roof laths span across between the rafters and support the wood shingles.
Riven lath, each piece has been split from a log
Bostwick Steel Lath Company advertisement for steel truss loop type metal lath in 1920
Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat, rectangular shapes laid in courses from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive course overlapping the joints below. Shingles are held by the roof rafters and are made of various materials such as wood, slate, flagstone, metal, plastic, and composite materials such as fibre cement and asphalt shingles. Ceramic roof tiles, which still dominate in Europe and some parts of Asia, are still usually called tiles. Roof shingles may deteriorate faster and need to repel more water than wall shingles. They are a very common roofing material in the United States.
A shingle roof in Zakopane, Poland. With an area of 6000 m2 (1½ acres), it was one of the largest wooden shingle roofs in Europe.
Heinola Rural Parish church, in Heinola, Finland. It was completed in 1755 and built most likely by August Sorsa. Close-up of the wooden shingle roof. The patterning is said to originate from Islamic architecture.
Japanese roof with shingles partly laid and the nail box.
Slate roofers guild emblem as an ornament made with slate roof shingles, Meerbusch, Germany. Note the hip shingles act as a ridge cap.
