Replies

1. 
   DanH | Sep 20, 2008 03:55am | #1

   The term is used for a couple of different things in siding, but have not heard it used as a term for roofing.

   If you're interested, look up the old book titled "Horsefeathers", originally published ca 1960:
   http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780060513375/Horsefeathers/index.aspx

   There is no absurdity that human beings will not resort to in order to defend another absurdity. -- Cicero
1. 
   dovetail97128 | Sep 20, 2008 04:30am | #2

   ""old book...... published ca 1960"" Man you know how to hurt a guy.
   Specially one whose "publishing" date preceded 1960 by a few years.
   They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.

1. 
   DanH | Sep 20, 2008 05:13am | #3

   I read the book when it was new.
   There is no absurdity that human beings will not resort to in order to defend another absurdity. -- Cicero

2. 
   wdb45 | Sep 20, 2008 06:02am | #4

   My thoughts exactly!wdb

2. 
   Jeff_Clarke | Sep 20, 2008 08:04am | #5

   My understanding is that it refers to additional wood strips used to support roofing slate where you have a curve or 'kick' and thus voids under the slate.

   "The matter is somewhat confused because of another known sense of the word. Charles Earl Funk, formerly editor-in-chief of the Funk & Wagnalls dictionaries, gave the title Horsefeathers to one of his books on odd words. He told the story in the foreword of having come across it when having his house repaired by an aged master carpenter. On seeking further information from — of all bodies — the National Board of Fire Underwriters, he obtained the following comments:

   It refers, as indicated in your letter, to the tapered boards laid on wood shingle roofs to provide a flat surface for asphalt shingles to be laid on in re-roofing. The term “feathering strips,” meaning the same thing, is found in some roofing manuals. The term “horsefeathers” is used colloquially in New England and New York. Its use other than in the slang sense is disappearing and it is only the old-timers who now understand it.

   Others have confirmed that this term was indeed at one time in use in the trade, though it is long defunct. One possibility is that it was picked up around 1927 by Billy De Beck or some other writer, who appreciated its comic potential but changed its sense when reproducing it. But my suspicion — based on the early known evidence — is that carpenters around the late 1920s or thereabouts took a word already in existence and applied it to the tapered boards because of the coincidence with the word feathering."

   Jeff

   Edited 9/20/2008 1:25 am ET by Jeff_Clarke

2. 
   Shep | Sep 20, 2008 11:00pm | #6

   The horsefeathers I've used were for filling in the tapered gap between courses on wood shingle roofs, when roofing over with asphalt shingles, to make a relatively flat surface to nail on.

   The feathers were, IIRC, about 5- 6" wide, and about 3/8" on the thick side. I think they were made of spruce.

   I haven't seen them in about 20 years.