The Construction of the Small House - A Simple and Useful Source of Information of the Methods - of Building Small American Homes, for Anyone Planning to

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Title: The Construction of the Small House - A Simple and Useful Source of Information of the Methods - of Building Small American Homes, for Anyone Planning to - Build
Author: Walsh, Harold Vandervoort
Language: English
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THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SMALL HOUSE

A SIMPLE AND USEFUL SOURCE OF INFORMATION
ON THE METHODS OF BUILDING SMALL AMERICAN HOMES,
FOR ANYONE PLANNING TO BUILD

BY
H. VANDERVOORT WALSH

INSTRUCTOR OF CONSTRUCTION IN
THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE,
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
THE AUTHOR

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1923

Printed in the United States of America

Published February, 1923

[Illustration]

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. PRESENT-DAY ECONOMIC TROUBLES 1
II. GENERAL TYPES AND COSTS 7
III. ESSENTIAL STANDARDS OF QUALITY IN BUILDING MATERIALS 20
IV. TYPES OF WOODEN-FRAME CONSTRUCTION 38
V. CONSTRUCTION OF THE MASONRY AND WOOD DWELLING 49
VI. SAFEGUARDS AGAINST FIRE IN DWELLINGS 69
VII. POOR METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYED BY
UNSCRUPULOUS BUILDERS 81
VIII. ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF GOOD PLUMBING 94
IX. METHODS OF HEATING 109
X. LIGHTING AND ELECTRIC WORK 121
XI. CONSTRUCTION OF THE TRIM 130
XII. LESSONS TAUGHT BY DEPRECIATION 141
XIII. SELECTING MATERIALS FROM ADVERTISEMENTS 150
XIV. ROOFING MATERIALS 158
XV. PAINTING AND VARNISHING THE HOUSE 177
XVI. LABOR-SAVING DEVICES FOR THE HOME 185
XVII. CONCRETE WORK AROUND THE HOUSE 197
XVIII. CLASSIFICATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE ARCHITECTURAL
MOTIFS USED IN SMALL-HOUSE DESIGNING 208
XIX. TRADITIONS OF BUILDING FROM WHICH OUR MODERN
METHODS ARE DERIVED 219
XX. TRADITIONS OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOORS AND
WINDOWS 236
XXI. BUILDING THE SETTING FOR THE HOUSE 245
XXII. FINANCING THE CONSTRUCTION WORK 258

CONSTRUCTION OF THE SMALL HOUSE

I PRESENT-DAY ECONOMIC TROUBLES

Immediately after the war the housing shortage made itself very
evident, because the landlords discovered that it existed, and realized
that they had it within their power to exact extortionate rents.
Statisticians got busy and put their heads together and informed the
public that within the next five years there would have to be built
some 3,300,000 new homes to properly house the people. The building
magazines likewise were predicting great things in construction, and
all in the building industry were looking for fat years of prosperity,
for here was the need and there was the pressure of the high rents.
Why should not the thousands of families that had waited build
now, when they saw their money going to waste in high rents? All
kinds of advertisements were sent out to urge the public to build,
and own-your-own-home shows sprang up in every large city, and one
could find plenty of builders who would say that one should build
immediately, before prices went higher.

And seeing the poor, unprotected home-builder, the greed of human
nature seized all in the building industry as it had entangled all
other business lines, and the price of materials leaped into the air,
and the cost of labor became swollen, and all had that bloated and
enlarged look which comes over the face of him who is sure of his meal.

[Illustration: Before the war he planned for this]

At the end of 1918 the average cost of all building materials was up to
175 per cent over that of 1913, but by the first quarter of 1920 they
had gotten up to 300 per cent increase over 1913 prices. Lumber had
gone up 373 per cent. Labor had also risen to 200 per cent.

Mr. Average Citizen found that the home he had been saving his money
to build had flown from his hand, like a bird. The sketches and plans
he had prepared for a nice little $10,000 home now represented an
investment of $20,000 or more. In fact, if he expected to build at all,
he had to be reconciled to a small house of six or seven rooms, which
would cost him not less than $10,000 or more, or as much as the large
house which he had planned originally to build.

Then what happened? Mr. Average Citizen did not build. The confidently
predicted building boom which the building material manufacturers had
looked for did not materialize. Prices were too high, and the public
could not be made to believe that they would not come down, and the
public was right.

[Illustration: Now his plans have shrunk to this]

The light began to break as well as the prices, and we find the cost
of building materials dropping suddenly. By the end of 1920 they had
reached the 200 mark. By March, 1922, they had reached the 155 level,
and are still going down with slight fluctuation.

But during all of this time we heard all kinds of theories as to how
the problem should be met. Some architects went so far as to predict
that people could no longer build individual houses for themselves;
that the day of the small house was over. They claimed that the only
solution was in the construction of group houses. Such groups would
eliminate much of the expensive street paving as ordinarily required,
and cut to a minimum the water supply-lines and sewage systems.
Semi-detached houses in groups were capable of saving the cost on one
outside wall, one chimney, one set of plumbing pipes for each house in
the group. The heating could also be reduced to a community basis, and
the land so distributed that the best air and light could be had with
the minimum waste.

Many architects conscientiously tried to reduce the cost of
construction of the small house by inventing cheaper ways and methods
of building. However, the estimates came in just as high, because
the average small contractor who builds the small house was afraid
of innovations, since there was too great an element of risk, and he
was conservative. To meet this difficulty some architects attached
to their office organization construction departments by means of
which they were able to build according to their economical plans and
secure the advantage of the saving in cost. This was held by many
to be unprofessional. Other architects secured lower bids by having
a written agreement with the various contractors who were competing
that, if they received the contract, the owner would be responsible for
and pay for any increase in labor or material prices which might take
place during the period of erection. Likewise the contractor agreed to
give the owner the benefit of any reduction in prices which might take
place during the time of erection. This simple understanding seemed to
relieve the contractor of nervousness, and his bids were often lower.
Still other architects claimed that the cost of construction could only
be reduced by standardizing all of the parts. Certain mills had secured
high-class talent to design stock doors, cornices, windows, columns,
and the like, and the results were very satisfactory, both artistically
and economically.

This problem of the cost of the small house was very acute, and,
although it has been relieved somewhat by the decreasing prices at this
time, yet it will always be an integral part of the problem of building
the small house.

In fact, to properly design the small house and build it economically
requires the greatest care for detail. Many well-established architects
will not bother with this architectural problem, for the time required
to consider all these small details is greater than they can afford to
give in proportion to the fee they receive. For this reason most of
this work is done by the young architect or by the speculative builder,
who generally shows very bad taste in selecting his design, while the
young architect is apt to be somewhat inexperienced in his knowledge of
construction.

The very first thing that must be considered in the problem of the
building of the small house is the question of money, because this
determines what kind of a lot can be purchased, how large the house
can be, and of what type of construction it can be built. Experts on
financing say that the cost of the house should be such that it can be
paid off in full within fifteen years. This means that the cost of the
proposed home must be arranged to come within definite limits. Methods
of approximately determining the cost of a house in its preliminary
sketch stages will be considered later, but it is sufficient to say
here, that once this first problem is solved carefully, other matters
are much easier to take care of. If one knows the cost, the question
of borrowing money is made easier, and one is not misled into wild
fancies of larger houses than possibly the pocketbook could afford. The
worst mistake that a young architect can make is to lead his client
to believe that he can have a certain design for less money than will
actually be the case. It is always best to overestimate the cost in the
beginning than to underestimate it.

“But,” says the client, “I can buy a house and lot at ‘Heavenly Rest
Real Estate Park’ for that price, and on the instalment plan, too. I
don’t see why the cost of a house built from your plans should be so
much greater than this.”

And that is a big question to answer, one which this volume will
attempt to make clear, one to which only a knowledge of construction
can give a real and satisfactory answer. It is the old story, that a
well-built article is bound to cost more than a poorly built one; but
how to know the well-built article!

II GENERAL TYPES AND COSTS

_Types of House Construction_

TYPE I

[Illustration: Type I Wooden Frame]

All small houses may be classified into four types, according to their
construction. The first type is the commonest and is the wooden frame
structure. This has exterior walls and interior partitions built of
light wooden studs, and the floors and ceilings framed with wooden
joists. The exterior walls may be covered with clapboard, shingles,
stucco, brick veneer, or stone veneer. The roof is generally covered
with wooden shingles, although slate, tile, asbestos, and asphalt
shingles are often used. These houses are the most numerous, because
the cost of wood in the past has been so much less than other materials
that they appealed to the average builder’s financial sense. However,
the cost of such dwellings to the country as a whole has been very
high, for they are extremely dangerous when attacked by fire. More
than twenty-two millions of dollars are wasted by fire each year in
these houses. They also cost us a great deal in up-keep. It would be
interesting to see what was the total cost per year to repaint them
and keep the roofs in order. It certainly would run into the millions.
Although wood increased from about $30.00 per thousand board feet to
about $85.00 in the Eastern markets from pre-war days, and is now
dropping below $55.00, yet the wooden house is still listed as the
cheapest, for the cost of other materials has also increased, as brick
from $10.00 per thousand to $23.00 until very recently, and cement from
$2.00 to $3.25 per barrel. In any comparison of cost the wooden frame
building is taken as the base or cheapest type of construction,
although it is the most expensive in up-keep and fire-hazard of
all. Until the price of wood increases in excessive proportion to
other materials, there is no doubt that this type of house will be
the commonest. However, there is much that can be done to make them
more fire-resisting, and, although we cannot look to the speculative
builders to use such methods, since they increase the costs slightly,
yet the architect should not overlook them.

TYPE II

[Illustration: Type II Masonry and Wood]

The second type of dwelling which is next in vogue has exterior walls
of stone, brick, concrete, or terra-cotta, and interior floors,
partitions, and roof of wooden frame construction. These are very
slightly more fireproof than the wooden frame structure, and as a
class they are more costly in the beginning, but require less expense
in up-keep. They resist attack from external fires better than the
wooden frame building, but if the fire starts within, they will burn
just as readily. Although the fire loss per year of this class is not
nearly as great as for the first type, yet it must be appreciated that
there are not so many of them. The chief advantage of the masonry house
of this second type lies in the lowered cost of up-keep, longer life,
and saving of heating-fuel in the winter. A great deal of literature
has been circulated by brick, cement, and hollow terra-cotta tile
manufacturers by which the public has been educated to believe that
this type of structure is much more fire-resisting than it is. Of
course this campaign of education was intended to stimulate interest in
their product, and it had no unselfish motive back of it. The result of
this propaganda is evident in the public belief that such houses are
fireproof houses, while as a matter of fact they are not.

[Illustration: Type II · Masonry walls · Interior·Wood]

TYPE III

The third class of dwelling is quite rare, and very few small houses
are built that could be classified under it. Some builders call them
fireproof houses, although this is erroneous. These buildings have
walls, roofs, floors, and partitions built of incombustible materials,
but the finished floors, the trim, windows, and doors are of wood. The
exterior walls are of masonry construction, and the construction of
the floors and roofs consists of steel beams with terra-cotta arches
or concrete floor slabs, spanning in between them, and the partitions
are of terra-cotta, gypsum, metal lath and plaster, or other similar
materials. They may also be built of reinforced concrete throughout,
or any other combination of these materials. There have been very few
examples of this kind of construction used in the small house. It is an
unfortunate condition that it is more adaptable to the costly mansion
than to the average house of the middle-class citizen, for the high
cost of construction of this character, in most cases, permits it to
be used only by the wealthy man. Examples where such houses have been
built generally show an investment of $30,000 or more, or, if they
were built to-day, $50,000 or more. Those attempts to use this form
of construction in the small house have been made by large building
corporations, and have been chiefly represented by concrete houses of
very ugly design.

[Illustration: Type III. Walls, floors, partitions fireproof, but
windows, doors and trim of wood.]

TYPE IV

The fourth and last type of dwelling is the ideal fireproof house, but
it is so costly that very few examples exist. This type can be termed
fireproof with accuracy, for all structural parts, including doors,
windows, and trim, are of incombustible materials. Metal trim is used
or wood that has been treated to make it fire-resisting. This latter
class of construction is so out of the reach of the average
home-builder, on account of its cost, that its value cannot be
thoroughly appreciated. Practically the only examples in existence are
large mansions, built by wealthy clients.

_Cost Does Not Indicate Fire-Resistance._—In this classification of
buildings it would almost seem that the cost of a building indicated
its fireproof qualities. This is not true, however. There are many
expensive dwellings which are just as great fire-traps as the less
expensive ones. In both cases the fire hazards are the same, if they
are built of the same type of construction. In fact, we could build a
$60,000 dwelling according to Type II, and also a $10,000 one according
to Type II, and make the latter more fire-resisting than the former by
using certain precautions of construction in which the spread of fire
is retarded.

Except in unusual cases, the construction of the ordinary dwelling
will be either according to the first or second type, and any fire
precautions that are desirable must be applicable to them. Most
comparisons of relative costs are made between the dwellings included
under these two types, and the difference will be mostly a difference
in the kind of exterior walls used in the construction. In fact, if any
comparisons are made between different kinds of buildings, as to their
relative costs, it is essential that only one feature be made variable
and that all others be kept the same.

_The Question of Costs_

Ever since the closing of the war the problem of knowing the cost of
the construction of the small house has been a very intricate one, and
no sure estimates could be made, until the plans were completed and let
out for bids. Previous to the war, when costs were somewhat stabilized,
it was possible to predict with a reasonable amount of accuracy the
cost of the dwelling when the plans were still only roughed in.

In order to show the fluctuation in prices, an example of a seven-room
frame house of Type I can be mentioned. This house was practically 30
by 34 feet, and had a cubical contents of about 29,100 cubic feet and
an area of 2,640 square feet. In 1914 this house cost $5,529.00, but
at the peak of prices in 1920 this house cost $12,815.00, which was an
increase of 131 per cent. In the spring of 1922 this same house cost
$9,502.00 to build, which was about 71 per cent over that of pre-war
prices.

With a heavy pressure of needed construction in dwellings, the cost
of materials seems to be settling down to a very gradual decrease in
cost, so that the present rates show a more stable curve of decline
than those of the latter part of 1920 and during 1921. The unfortunate
factor which is noticeable is that certain building interests believe
that a building boom is inevitable, and therefore that it is the time
to hold up prices again. Wherever this has happened a building boom has
been headed off.

_Cubic-Foot System of Estimating_

The average client, in spite of the difficulties above mentioned,
insists upon securing from the architect an approximate idea of how
much of a house he can have for $12,000.00, etc., or whatever sum he
has been able to save for his small home. In order to approximate this
figure, the architect must use the cubic-foot system of estimating. Now
under changing conditions of prices this system is rather inaccurate,
so that it should be used with great care. Any figures which are given
here are bound to be only approximations, due to the fact that they
are more or less of a local nature and must be given at this time of
writing. _The only satisfactory way of using the cubic-foot system of
estimating is to secure prices from one’s own locality on work recently
finished._

[Illustration: Front Elevation Type II]

If the approximate cost of a house of Type I is desired, observe some
recently erected house of that same character, secure its dimension,
and calculate its cubical contents and then its cost per cubic foot. In
order to be consistent, the method of computing the cubage must be the
same in all cases. The following is recommended as a uniform basis:

1. Determine total area of the building on the ground
floor, including all projections.

2. Determine the average height of the building from
the cellar floor to the average height of the roof.

3. Multiply the above together for the cubical
contents.

4. Open porches may be added at one-quarter their
cubical contents, and closed ones at their full
value.

[Illustration: Side Elevation. Type II]

_Prices per Cubic Feet Near New York for Two-Story Dwellings,
June, 1922_

Type I 32 to 38 cents per cubic foot
Type II 38 to 42 cents per cubic foot

_Factors Influencing the Selection of Materials_

From what has been previously stated, it will be noticed that, as a
rule, the architect in selecting the kind of material with which he
will build his house is limited on account of expense to the first
two types of construction—namely, the frame dwelling and the masonry
house with wood interior. The latter two fire-resisting types are
better fitted to the larger mansions, where expense is not so important
an item. Undoubtedly the comparative costs between the various kinds
of exterior walls will have much to do with the selection; but more
often the local conditions will outweigh these considerations. In some
places a house built of stone will be the best and most economical;
in others, where there is an abundance of good sand, the cement house
will be suitable, while those located near brick centres will find this
material adaptable.

The ideal method, of selecting a material of construction purely from
an æsthetic point of view, is not always possible. But, after all, is
not the most abundant local material the most harmonious to use for any
one locality? Nature adapts her creations to the soil and the scenery
into which she places them. All her animals are marked with colors
which harmonize with the woods or fields in which they live. In fact
this harmony is their protection, and in the war we imitated it in
our camouflage painting. It is astonishingly evident, in the New York
Museum of Natural History, how far more beautiful are animal tableaux
which are set in painted scenery, representing accurately their natural
habitat, than those which are exhibited alone in the cases, without
a suggestion of their surroundings. Their marks and colorings seem
ridiculous when they are separated from their natural surroundings.
The same principle holds true in selecting the material for the small
house. A stone house, built of native stone, in a stony, rugged region,
is the most harmonious of all. A cement house in a flat, sandy country
always seems in accord with the scene. A brick house in hills of clay
most certainly appears the best, and a wooden house, near the great
outskirts of the timber-land, is a part of the inspiring picture. Why
are so many of the old colonial houses so charming? One of the reasons
is the careful use of local materials.

_Some Principles of Economical Design_

In the first architectural studies of the house, since this problem
of cost is ever with us, it is well to be familiar with some of those
broad and general principles of economical design.

The lower we keep our house to the ground, the less will be the expense
of labor, for, when work must be done above the reach of a man’s hands,
it means the construction of scaffolds and the lifting by special
hoists of the materials. This is not so important a consideration
with the light wooden frame building as it is with the masonry house.
Wherever we have brick, stone, or concrete exterior walls, for the sake
of economy they should be built low. Mr. Ernest Flagg has found this
to be so very true that, in houses which he is constructing at Dongan
Hills on Staten Island, he has carefully limited the height of all
walls to one story, and starts the construction of his roof from this
level. Of course, at the gable end of the house, it is necessary to
carry them up much higher. Now, the starting of the roof from the top
of the first floor makes all the second floor come within the roof, and
this heretofore has been impracticable, on account of the great heat
generated under the roof and the inability of dormer-windows to
ventilate the rooms properly. Mr. Flagg has solved this problem by
inventing a simple roof ventilator which is located on the ridge of
the roof, and serves the purpose of both lighting and ventilating.
So successful has this been, that the space which in most houses is
called the attic, and is wasted, has been made available and livable.
What he has accomplished by these ventilators is the ability to
start the roof at the top of the first floor, and thus lower the
exterior walls and set the attic in the place of the second floor and
make it very livable. Not only does this principle of design save
considerable money, but it follows one of those great laws of beauty,
so prevalent in nature. It makes the house low and nestling in the
landscape, thereby harmonizing it with the surroundings. The house of
the uncultured speculator stares blatantly at you and is proud of its
complete isolation and difference from the landscape; but the house
of those who have taste is modestly in harmony with the surroundings.
The ugly house thrusts into the air without close connection with the
ground, while the comely one cuddles in nature’s lap. Is it not strange
that this principle of economy is a law of beauty?

There are other features of economy in design which should be observed.
The simpler and more straightforward the design, the cheaper it is and
the more beautiful it can be made in the hands of the good artist.
Simplicity is the highest art, as it is also the most economical thing.
Likewise the cost of a house can be reduced by shaping as nearly to a
square as possible, and reducing the outside walls to the minimum. The
semi-detached house in the group plan accomplishes this in the best
manner, and gives to the whole structure that low, long skyline that is
so very pleasing. This also makes one soil-line and one chimney do for
both houses, a great point in economy. Some architects believe these
group houses are the only economical solution of the problem of the
small house.

III ESSENTIAL STANDARDS OF QUALITY IN BUILDING MATERIALS

_Materials Used_

It will be remembered that the commonest types of small houses are
the wooden frame house and the masonry-and-wood house. Now it is
essential that certain definite qualities be required of all materials
of construction which enter into the building of these houses, and
although there are many facts covering the standard qualities and
methods of manufacture, yet one cannot expect to remember all of them.
It is sufficient if one knows those qualities which mean satisfactory
building and durability when applied to the structure.

Of the large number of materials which enter into the construction of
a house, the following are the most important and should be maintained
at a high standard: wood, clay products, cementing materials, metals,
glass, and paint.

WOODS

It is possible to enter into a long discussion of the classes,
qualities, methods of conversion, defects of wood and similar subjects,
but these are not pertinent to the main idea, namely, the essential
qualities of woods which are used in the construction of the small
house. There is a prevalent impression abroad that the supply of wood
is becoming so depleted that it will in the future be used only for
special ornamental features. This is wrong, for we still have enough
virgin forests left to supply the country for several generations, and
with the growth of forestry we will maintain a certain source of supply.

[Illustration:

Waney edges
Knots
Star and ring shakes

Common timber defects]

We have two classes of woods on the market which are used in different
parts of the structure, according to their special qualities. These are
commercially known as hard and soft woods, although this is not a very
scientific distinction, since some of the soft woods are harder than
some of the hard woods, and vice versa. Scientists have more accurate
names than these, but as the above are so well established, there is no
doubt as to what is meant.

In the market, lumber is not only classified according to the above,
but according to the species of tree it comes from, and also according
to certain standard grades of the same kind. These grades are
determined by the presence of certain defects. The recognized defects
are knots, shakes, checks, splits, streaks, pitch-pockets, stain, rot,
wane, warp, cupping, mineral streaks, pith on the face of the board,
and worm-holes.

Various large lumber associations issue rules governing standard sizes
and classifications for woods to be used in construction. The best and
the next best are the usual grades which are used for the interior
and exterior trim of houses. These grades have many designations, as
“clears” and “selects,” or “A” and “B,” or “No. 1” and “No. 2,” or
“firsts” and “seconds.”

The grades used for the rough framing, such as studs, joists, rafters,
subfloors, and sheathing, are not so good. They are designated as “No.
1 common” and “No. 2 common.” A poorer grade still, known as “No. 3
common,” is sometimes used for cheap temporary structures.

For the details of grading and standard sizes of lumber, one should
possess Circular 64 of the United States Department of Agriculture on
“How Lumber is Graded.”

Next to the grading of timber, the most important factor of quality is
the relative durability of the various woods, for upon this depends to
a large extent the choice of them for special places. The table on page
23 is taken from a government classification.

From this table it will be noticed that the soft woods as a class are
relatively more durable than the hard woods. This is true, because of
the fact that the structure of soft woods is simple, while that of the
hard woods is complex. When the former become wet and expand and then
dry out and shrink, the structure is not stressed internally as much as
is that of the hard woods, and they are therefore much more capable of
withstanding the action of the weather. Also certain of the soft woods
have natural properties of resisting dry or wet rot.

Certain species of woods are, therefore, selected for particular
parts of the house according to the needs of durability, strength,
appearance, and local supply.

Rough wooden framing requires a wood that is fairly abundant and
strong. The soft woods are generally used, and those which are
classified as _durable_ in the table are the most used.

RELATIVE DURABILITY OF THE COMMON WOODS

For rough underflooring and sheathing the cheapest and most abundant
local wood is used. Durability is not essential.

For shingles the most durable woods must be used, such as cypress,
cedar, and redwood.

Lath are generally cut from waste slabs, and should be of some soft
wood like spruce or of one of the softer hard woods. Siding should be
made from one of the soft woods, especially those which are classed as
durable in the table.

Porch columns and the like require very durable woods. They should be
hollow except for very small ones. Built-up columns of interlocking
type are usually specified, but the lumber used should be thoroughly
kiln-dried so that the joints will not open.

[Illustration:

Edge grain
Flat grain

Difference in the cut of flooring boards.

The flat grain in the softer woods is not durable.]

Flooring should be capable of resisting wear and should not splinter.
The hard woods as a class are more adaptable than the soft woods,
although yellow pine and Douglas fir are used a great deal on account
of their cheapness. These latter are divided into two grades: “flat
grain,” in which the annual rings are almost parallel to the surface,
and “edge grain,” in which the annual rings run almost perpendicular
to the surface. The latter is more desirable, since it wears better.
The flat grain splinters off, due to the layers of soft spring wood and
hard summer wood. Oak flooring comes plain and quarter sawn, which is
practically the same as the cut of yellow pine, but since oak is strong
either way, the wearing qualities are not very different. Maple is also
an excellent wood for flooring, since it is hard and smooth.

Door and window frames may be made from many kinds of wood, although
the soft and more durable woods are generally accepted as the best.
Specially hard and durable woods should be used for the thresholds.

Doors which are to be used on the exterior should be of a soft and
durable wood. The choice of wood for interior doors is limited only
by the taste of the designer. The doors which stand best the warping
effect of steam-heat in the winter are constructed of white pine cores
with a veneer on the exterior made from some hard wood.

Sash and blinds require a soft and durable wood. Sash are subject to
the drying of steam-heat on the interior and cold and dampness on the
exterior. Sash built of yellow pine sapwood have rotted in a few years,
and while soft maple, birch, and basswood have been used, they are not
durable, although easily worked. White pine is considered to be the
best for sash and blinds.

The selection of woods for interior trim depends only upon the
designer’s taste, since neither relative durability nor strength
is a requirement. The harder woods in the past have been used more
extensively for interior trim than the soft, because of their
supposedly better and richer appearance, but this is not so true
to-day, for new methods of treating such woods as cypress and yellow
pine have shown them to be fitted for the best artistic places. Of
course hard woods are not dented from knocks by furniture as easily as
the soft woods, and in this way retain their appearance longer.

CLAY PRODUCTS

_Bricks._—In considering the essential qualities of bricks for the
small house it must be appreciated that those bricks which are used on
the exterior must be able to resist the effects of weather and produce
the best artistic results, while those which are in the interior of
walls or chimney need not be held up to such rigid standards. The
determination of the resistance of bricks to frost and weather action
is quite simple. A brick which struck by a hammer gives a clear ring is
one which has been well burned and has no soft spots, cracks, or weak
places. Such a brick can be said to be satisfactory for exterior use,
provided that it has the proper form and color desired and is not so
overburned as to be twisted and warped. Another requirement sometimes
specified is that the face brick made from soft clay should not show
a percentage of absorption in excess of 15 per cent, and for the
stiff-moulded or dry-pressed bricks not more than 10 per cent. This,
however, cannot be a hard-and-fast rule, due to the variation of clays.

Certain red bricks, unless they are burned very hard, show, when
built into the wall, a very ugly white surface discoloration, called
“whitewash” or efflorescence. This is not entirely due to the brick,
since the mortar that is used may sometimes produce it. If it is due to
the brick it can be discovered before the brick is used in the wall, by
placing a sample brick on edge in a pan containing one inch of either
rain or distilled water. As the water is absorbed by the brick, the
white discoloration will develop on the top surface after several days
of standing if it contains the salts which will cause the whitewash.
Those bricks which have been very hard-burned will not discolor under
any circumstances. If after passing this test the brick wall should
develop whitewash, it can be laid to the mortar. In order to prevent
any such occurrence it is necessary to waterproof the joints around
window-sills and between the foundations and the wall, so that the
minimum amount of water will be soaked up into the wall when it rains.
An expensive addition of 2 per cent of barium carbonate to the mortar
will tend to fix the soluble salts which cause this efflorescence.

[Illustration: Method of testing a sample brick to see whether it will
have a tendency to whitewash]

_Hollow Tiles._—Hollow terra-cotta tiles covered with stucco or brick
veneer are being used more extensively than ever, due to the cheaper
cost of laying them, since they are larger units, and also to the fact
that they build a cellular wall. Wherever these tiles are used for
bearing walls it is important that they be hard-burned, but the softer
ones may be permitted in non-bearing partitions. Tiles for use in outer
walls should be hard-burned, free from cracks, straight, and should not
show a greater absorption of water than 10 per cent. As these tiles
are intended to support loads from floor-joists, it is essential that
they should have the correct proportion of voids to solid shells and
webs. The maximum width of any voids should not exceed 4 inches and the
thickness of any shells or webs should not be less than 15 per cent
of this measurement. In tests it has been shown that tiles laid with
webs vertical are stronger than those with webs horizontal, but this
difference in strength is not of very great importance in the small
house, where the loads are very light. The chief thing to avoid in the
setting of tile, when they are vertical webbed, is the dripping of
mortar to the bottom and the insufficient spreading of it over the ends
of the webs and shells. This can be overcome by laying wire lath over
each course, and then buttering the mortar on the inside and outside
edges. The mortar is prevented from falling out of place by the lath,
and because it is not continuous through the wall, any penetration of
moisture through it is stopped.

[Illustration: Showing the use of metal lath in the joints of
vertically webbed hollow-tile, to prevent the dropping of the mortar
into the voids and also allow the separation of mortar joint]

_Cementing Materials_

The most important cementing materials which enter into the
construction of the small house are lime, cement, gypsum, and their
various mixtures, as mortar, plaster, and concrete.

The various technical requirements for good lime and cement are very
strict and detailed, and for the small house it is customary to cover
their qualities in the briefest manner by referring to the standard
specifications of the American Society for Testing Materials.

Slaked lime should be made from well-burned quicklime, free from ashes,
clinker, and other foreign materials.

Dry hydrated lime should be the finely divided product resulting from
mechanically slaking pure quicklime at the place of manufacture.

The specifications of the American Society for Testing Materials
covering the quality of cement should be followed where large purchases
are made. Where small quantities are to be used, the reliability of the
dealer must be the basis of purchase.

As mortars and concretes made from these materials are as important as
the cements or limes, it is essential to have definite standards for
them.

_Lime mortar_ should be made of 1 part by volume of slaked lime putty
or dry hydrated lime and not more than 4 parts by volume of sand. The
use of hydrated lime is recommended, since the poor qualities which are
apt to develop from careless slaking of quicklime are thus avoided. It
also comes in smaller packages, and if the entire quantity is not used
at once it may be stored without deterioration. It is only necessary to
mix the hydrated lime with water until it becomes a paste, and then add
the necessary sand. The purpose of adding sand is to increase the bulk
and to reduce the shrinkage which pure lime paste will develop as it
hardens. Pure lime paste, without sand, will shrink, crack, and develop
very little strength. By introducing sand this contraction is reduced,
but the addition of too much will decrease the strength slightly.
However, this decrease of strength is very little. A mortar made of 1
part lime to 6 parts sand is nearly as strong as one made from 1 part
lime and 3 parts sand. The maximum amount of sand to be used is
generally governed by the ease of working, and not so much by the
strength. A lime which is too sandy will not spread easily on the
trowel.

_Cement mortar_ is, of course, a stronger material and can be used in
damp places where lime mortar would deteriorate. The theory of mixtures
of both cement mortar and concrete is to proportion the materials
so that they produce the most compact substance. For instance, in
the cement mortar the cement should just fill the voids between the
particles of sand, and in concrete this cement mortar should just fill
the voids in between the larger aggregate, and this larger aggregate
should be so graded in size that it makes the most compact body. It
used to be thought that certain definite numerical proportions, as laid
down by theory, of the various ingredients would hold true for all
kinds of sands and aggregates. For instance, the proportion of 1 part
of cement, 3 parts of sand, and 6 parts of aggregate was thought to be
the best for ordinary use under all conditions. But extensive tests
by the government have shown that the only real way to determine the
correct proportions of mixtures is to experiment with the particular
sand and gravel that will be used, and to test them to see what
ratios give the most compact mass. It has also been found that round
aggregates, like pebbles, produce the strongest concrete, since the
particles flow into place better than the sharper aggregates, which
formerly were considered necessary because of the supposed idea that
they made a better mechanical bond with one another. The proportion of
water is also important, a quaking mixture producing the best results.

It is customary in small work, however, where no experiments can be
made on various mixtures to determine their proper proportions, to
follow the old rules of thumb for amounts.

Cement mortar should be made of cement and sand in the proportions of 1
part of cement and not more than 3 parts of sand by volume.

[Illustration:

Good. Very compact
Bad. Not compact because of poor grading of aggregate

Good and bad concrete]

If cement-lime mortar is to be used it should not have more than 15
per cent by volume of the cement replaced by an equal volume of dry
hydrated lime. The addition of hydrated lime to cement mortar improves
its working qualities, making it slide more readily on the trowel and
also increasing its waterproofness. Its strength is not decreased
within the limits prescribed.

In concrete work it is as important to have good sand and aggregate
as cement. Sand should be sharp, clean, coarse quartz. The sand used
should not, when it is rubbed in the hand, leave the palm stained.

Gravel which is used as an aggregate should be free from clay or loam,
except such as naturally adheres to the particles. If there is too much
clay or loam, it should be washed with water. When bank gravel is used
the best results will be obtained if it is screened from the sand and
remixed in the proper proportions for fine and coarse aggregate. For
ordinary mass concrete the size of aggregate should vary from ¼ inch to
2 inches, and in reinforced work should not exceed 1¼ inches.

[Illustration: STUCCO ON METAL LATH OVER WOOD STUDS]

The best proportion of parts to use must vary according to the
requirements, but for the small house good results will be obtained
by using 1 part of cement, 2 parts of sand, and 4 parts of gravel or
broken stone.

_Stucco Work._—Stucco is really a Portland-cement plaster used on the
exterior, and its success depends a great deal upon the quality of
materials employed and workmanship. All stucco to a greater or less
degree cracks, but the problem is to make the cracks as small as
possible. The government is carrying on an extensive investigation
of the problem of stucco through experiments on fifty-six exterior
panels which have been under observation since 1915. Each one of these
panels has been spread upon a different base or made with different
proportions. So far only two panels have been found to be entirely
free from cracks, although many are practically uninjured by the small
cracks which have developed. It is therefore quite evident that as
a rule it must be assumed that the stucco will crack to a certain
extent, and in order to cover such defects a rough surface is the
best. As to proportions of mixtures, there is a great variation of
opinion. The commonest is 1 part of cement, 2½ parts of sand, to which
is added about ¹/₁₀ part of hydrated lime by weight of cement. For a
more detailed account on stucco, send for the Progress Report issued
by the Bureau of Standards on the Durability of Stucco and Plaster
Construction.

_Plastering._—The qualities of internal plaster depend upon the
construction of the wall, the methods of application of the plaster,
and the quality of the plastering material.

[Illustration: Scratch coat is for bonding; brown coat for plasticity;
finished coat for appearance]

The walls and ceiling to which plaster is to be applied must be so
constructed as to be practically rigid under the loads that they will
carry. Since plaster is not elastic, any slight change in shape of
the surface will cause it to crack. The common backings which are
satisfactory for plastering are wood lath, metal lath, and masonry,
such as concrete, terra-cotta tile, brick, plaster board, etc. Wood
lath makes the least rigid back of all, and for this reason is not
considered the best, although it is the cheapest. Unless the wood laths
are wet before the plaster is applied, they will absorb the moisture
from the plaster and swell, thus cracking the wall. Metal lath for this
reason is superior. Masonry walls should be made rough to give the
necessary key for the plaster to cling to. In brick walls the joints
are raked out, in concrete walls the surface is picked, and the outside
of terra-cotta tile is marked with grooves for this purpose.

The best results in plaster are secured with three coats. The first
coat is called the scratch coat, and is intended to form a bond
between the wall itself and the plaster. It should be pressed into
the apertures between the lath to secure a good bonding key, and its
surface should be scratched with a tool to give the required bond
between it and the next coat, or brown coat. The brown coat forms the
main body of the plaster and averages about ¾ inch to ⅞ inch thick. The
finished coat is then added on top of this and is intended to develop
a plane surface with the desired color. Each coat should be allowed to
dry out and then be wet before the next one is added. If wood lath is
used, this drying and wetting will cause the lath to shrink and swell,
so that cracks will be developed in the scratch and brown coats. These
should be filled in before the finished coat is added.

The materials which should be used in the various coats depend upon the
requirements which are necessary for each one. As the most important
characteristic of the scratch coat is strength, and that of the brown
plasticity, and the final coat appearance, the materials must be
proportioned accordingly.

SCRATCH-COAT PROPORTIONS
Hydrated lime 133 parts by weight
Sand 400 “ “
Hair 1 part “

BROWN COAT
Hydrated lime 100 parts “
Sand 400 “ “
Hair ½ part “

FINISHED COAT
_Smooth Finish_
1 part by volume of calcined gypsum.
3 parts “ lime paste.

_Metals_

The most used metal in the small house is the so-called tin-plate or
roofing tin. It is not a true tin-plate, for it contains 75 per cent
lead and 25 per cent tin, applied to a base of soft steel or wrought
iron. It comes in two grades, IX and IC, the former being No. 28 gauge
and the latter No. 30 gauge. The lighter is used for roofing and the
heavier for valleys and gutters. The tin does not entirely protect the
base metal, so that it is necessary to paint both sides before it is
applied.

Galvanized iron is another form of sheet metal which is extensively
used for work on the small house. It consists of sheet iron or steel,
covered with zinc. This coating should be free from pinholes or bare
spots, and of a thickness to prevent cracking or peeling. If the
coating is sufficient and well done, it is superior in lasting quality
to the ordinary tin-plate.

Copper, since the war, has come back into use again as a sheet metal
for the small house, for its cost has dropped within reason. In
order to meet a certain popular demand a light grade of copper sheet
roofing has been placed on the market, although it has generally been
considered that sheets weighing less than 16 ounces per square foot
were not suitable for roofs.

_Glass_

There are two kinds of window-glass used, double thick and single
thick. The former is ⅛ inch thick or less, and the latter is ¹/₁₂ inch
thick. It is customary to use double thick in all window-panes over 24
inches in size. The grading is AA, A, and B, according to the presence
of defects, such as blisters, sulphur stains, smoke stains, and stringy
marks.

Plate glass is used only where the expense will permit. It is different
from window-glass in that the latter is made from blown glass, while
plate glass is made from grinding and polishing down sheets of rolled
glass.

There are quite a number of other minor materials which enter into the
construction of the small house, but they are more or less identified
with the mechanical equipment and the finishing, and will be considered
under these headings.

Sheet lead weighing 5 to 6 pounds per square foot is often used for
counter-flashing. Leaders and leader heads of cast lead have been made
practical by one company, which has developed a method of hardening the
lead.

Zinc, like copper, is again being urged upon the public by the
manufacturers since the war demand is over. Zinc spouts are usually
made from No. 11 zinc gauge, which is equal in thickness to No. 24
steel gauge.

There is hardly any need to mention the durable qualities of copper,
zinc, or lead. Wherever the cost permits, one cannot deny that
materials of such durable nature are the proper ones to use.

IV TYPES OF WOODEN-FRAME CONSTRUCTION

_Types Explained_

[Illustration: BRACED-FRAME]

There are no sharp distinctions between the various types of
wooden frame construction. But in order to classify certain tendencies,
we will arbitrarily define four types. To these we will give the names
of braced-frame, balloon-frame, combination-frame, and platform-frame.

The braced-frame is the oldest type, and originated in Colonial days
in New England. It was developed under the influence of a tradition of
heavy, European half-timber construction, and also nourished by the
abundance of wood directly at hand. The fact that nails were not made,
except by hand, urged the carpenters to use methods of fastening which
required as few as possible. Because of these factors, then, certain
definite characteristics of this type of wooden frame construction
manifest themselves in the use of timbers, far larger than necessary
for safety, and joints consisting of mortises and tenons.

As the sawmill became mechanically more rapid, and as nails were being
turned out by machines more plentifully, the Yankee who went West
on adventuresome trips, and cared little for a permanent dwelling,
devised a system of light-frame construction which became known as
the balloon-frame. This was put together with the greatest speed, and
required only nails for fastening all joints. The timbers which were
used were standardized to one size, namely, 2 inches by 4 inches.

[Illustration: CORNER CONSTRUCTION OF BRACED-FRAME

MORTICE & TENON JOINTS]

Now, both of these types had advantages and disadvantages which were
bound to influence later builders. Those who had been accustomed to
build according to the braced-frame system found that lumber was
becoming scarcer, and that nails were cheaper than they formerly were.
Certain features of the balloon-frame appealed to them, such as its
greater speed of construction, its smaller timbers, and lightness.
On the other hand, those people who had lived in houses constructed
according to the balloon system of framing found that they were very
flimsy, that fires quickly consumed them, that rats and vermin could
travel freely through the walls, and that, after all, they were only
the most temporary sort of shelter. These folks looked back at the
old methods of building, and saw the good features of solidity and
permanence. We had, therefore, the growing together of the two systems
of construction into a type which we call the combination-frame
dwelling.

[Illustration: BALLOON-FRAME COMBINATION-FRAME]

However, progress did not stop at this point. The houses built
according to this newly devised system were found to settle unevenly,
which cracked plaster ceilings and walls and made doors and windows
into leaning parallelograms. The cause of this was found to be due to
the natural shrinkage of wood as it dried out. Now, all wood shrinks
mostly across the grain, and not with it, so that the amount of
settlement of any wooden wall depends upon the amount of cross-section
of wood which it contains. If there is more in the interior partitions
than in the exterior, it is certain that the floor-joists will settle
down on the inside ends more than the outside. This is exactly what
happened. It occurred not only in the combination-frame but in the
braced and balloon frame. Various devices were introduced to avoid this
defect, but all were more or less incomplete. Nevertheless, it all
led gradually to the development of the fourth type of construction,
which is called the platform-frame, for lack of a better name. This
frame solves the problem of uneven settlement in the wooden structure.
It also makes the location of the windows of the second floor
independent of those of the first floor, which is not the case with the
balloon-frame, for in this type the studs extend in one piece from the
sill to the plate, requiring the centring of the windows of the second
floor over those on the first.

The methods which are used in constructing the small house of to-day
are not as simply classified as the previous description would lead one
to believe. The old New England braced-frame has practically gone out
of existence, yet many of its features remain. The balloon-frame is
used only in the cheapest sort of structures, yet many of its details
are found in the modern dwelling; The combination-frame in all its many
varied forms can be called the advanced type.

_Study of Detail in the Combination-Frame_

The illustrations show the four types in their entirety. But in order
to fully understand the combination-frame, it is necessary to know what
features of the braced-frame and balloon-frame are used to-day.

THE FEATURES OF THE BRACED-FRAME WHICH HAVE SURVIVED

1. _The use of the girt_, because it permits the location of the
second-floor windows at any point irrespective of the first floor
windows. This cannot be done when a ribbon-board is used, for this
requires studs which extend continuously from sill to plate, and if
any windows are to be located on the second floor, they must be placed
directly over those on the first floor. The ribbon-board does not
act as a stop for either vermin or fire, as does the girt. However,
fire-stops can be introduced in connection with the ribbon-board, if
the extra expense is no hindrance.

2. _The use of the sill_, because it serves as a firm foundation for
the outside studs and first tier of floor-joists. The balloon-frame has
no sill, for the floor-joists are set directly upon the top of the
foundation-wall, and the exterior studs are built on top of them.

3. _The use of the corner braces_, because they stiffen the frame.

[Illustration: TYPICAL FRAMING OF “WAR HOUSES.”]

FEATURES OF THE BALLOON-FRAME WHICH HAVE PERSISTED

1. _The use of small timbers_, or the standardization of the 2 by 4 for
all parts except the sill, because of economy. The corner-posts are
made of three 2 by 4’s, and the plate is made of two 2 by 4’s.

2. _The use of the nailed joint_, because of its cheapness and its
greater strength. It will not rattle loose when the timber seasons, as
does the mortise and tenon joint in the braced-frame.

3. _The use of the ribbon-board_, in place of the girt, for those
houses which are to be stuccoed, and a rigid, outside wall-frame is
desired from sill to plate.

4. _The use of diagonal sheathing-boards_, to brace the frame instead
of the corner-pieces. The reasons for this are not very certain, since
diagonal bracing with sheathing is not always effective, while it is
extremely wasteful.

The combination-frame includes all of the present-day methods
which make use of selected features of both the braced-frame and
balloon-frame, such as were noted above. There are no rules to follow.
In certain sections of the country one type is favored more than the
other. Where a house is to be covered with stucco, the balloon-frame is
a better type to use than the braced-frame, since it gives a stiffer
outside wall as a backing for the stucco.

_Platform-Frame_

[Illustration: PLATFORM FRAME]

It will be noticed in the illustration how different is the amount
of cross-section of wood in exterior and interior walls of the
combination-frame, a thing which causes the unequal settlement
previously alluded to. In order to reduce this to a minimum, it is
often specified that the studs of all interior partitions be carried
down to the top of the cap of the partition below or to the top of the
supporting girder, thus reducing the amount of cross-section timber.
This is not a complete cure, however, although it is a big improvement.

The real solution of the difficulty lies in the use of the platform
system of construction. In this system the first floor is built on top
of the foundation-walls, as though it were a platform. A sill, called
the box-sill, is constructed for the exterior support of the ends of
the floor-joists by laying down a timber the same size as the joists
and setting another one on the extreme edge in a vertical position. The
angle thus formed makes a resting-box into which the floor-joist can
be framed. The interior ends of the floor-joists should be supported
upon a steel I-beam upon which has been placed a 2-inch-thick timber.
The I-beam should be supported upon steel-tube columns which have been
filled with concrete. On top of the floor-joists should be nailed
the underflooring, laid diagonally. The first floor then appears as
a perfectly smooth platform. Now wherever there is to be erected an
interior or exterior partition, a 2 by 4, called the sole piece, is
nailed directly on top of the rough flooring. This serves as a sill for
the studs of the partition, which are now erected vertically upon them
and capped with double 2 by 4’s on the top. Now the second floor is
built on top of the partitions in the same manner as the first, and a
new platform is constructed, so to speak. Upon this is then erected the
partitions of the second floor, and on this the floor of the attic. In
fact, this construction proceeds floor by floor, and each floor is an
independent platform. If the drawings are examined it will be noticed
that the amount of cross-section of wood in any one bearing partition
is identically the same as in any other. The dwelling built in this
way, then, cannot settle unevenly, and the cracked plaster and twisted
doors will be eliminated.

[Illustration: CLAPBOARDS OVER WOODEN STUDS]

_Features Common to All_

There are certain features which are common to all types of frames. For
instance, the framing around all doors and windows requires the use of
double 2 by 4’s or the use of one 4 by 4.

These framing studs around the window are set 5 inches higher and 8
inches wider than the dimensions of the finished window. Those about
the door-openings are set 2 inches higher and 4 inches wider.

[Illustration: BRICK VENEER OVER WOODEN STUDS.]

All use sheathing-boards of ⅞-inch stock to cover the outside of the
studs, and these are usually 6 inches to 8 inches wide.

The usual spacing of studs is 16 inches on centres, and they are
generally of 2 by 4’s, although where any pipes or flues are run
through the partition they should be 2 by 6’s.

Interior stud partitions should be bridged or braced once in their
height, and partitions which run parallel to the floor-joists should
have a capping-board, so that the proper nailing for lath can be
secured. In fact, at all intersections of partitions care should be
exercised that the required nailing for lath is provided.

In the construction of roofs the average spacing of rafters is 20
inches on centres. They should be doubled around all openings. The
ridge is usually of a 1-inch by 10-inch piece. The size of the rafters
varies with the length of span and load. They are usually 2 inches by
6 inches for short spans and light loads, and 2 inches by 8 inches or
2 inches by 10 inches for long spans and comparatively heavy loads.
Valley rafters must always be deeper and heavier than the rafters and
should be designed as a girder. The hip rafters do not carry any great
load, but are often made deeper to fit the incline cut of the jack
rafters.

All floor-joists are spaced 16 inches on centres, and should be
bridged. The following is the table commonly followed for good house
construction, although lighter work is most often specified:

SPAN TIMBER

12' and under 2" × 10" cross-bridged once.

12' to 15' 2" × 10" doubled every other one, if good stiffness
is desired, and bridged twice.

15' to 20' 3" × 12" and of long-leaf yellow pine, crowned at
centre ½", and bridged three times.

20' to 25' 3" × 14" of long-leaf yellow pine, crowned at the
centre 1" for the 25' spans, and bridged four times.

Floor-joists should be doubled around all openings larger than 3 feet,
and joists should be hung from the header beam by metal straps.

There are many precautions which should be taken to prevent the spread
of fire in the wooden frame house, but those will be considered as
a special subject. Likewise the discussion of certain defects of
construction which are commonly found in the speculative house will be
dealt with later.

V CONSTRUCTION OF THE MASONRY AND WOOD DWELLING

In one of the previous chapters it was pointed out that the type of
construction next in general use to that of the wooden frame house was
the dwelling of masonry and wood. This was designated as Type II, and
defined as a building with exterior walls of stone, brick, concrete,
or terra-cotta, and interior floors and partitions of wooden frame
construction.

The difference in construction between the wooden frame structure
and the masonry-and-wood building is mostly in the material used for
the exterior walls. The interiors of both types are constructed in
practically the same way, the floors being of light wooden joists and
the partitions of wooden studs.

The oldest varieties of the masonry houses in America are represented
by the stone and brick dwellings of Colonial days. These are so
substantially built, and often so artistic in conception, that they
have become common models from which to draw inspiration. The concrete
house of the monolithic or block type, and that of hollow terra-cotta
tile, is a modern development.

_The Stone House_

The stone house is very adaptable to all those regions where this
material can be secured from the excavation of the cellar or from some
neighboring road improvement. Sometimes an old stone wall serves as a
source of supply. Because of the native character of this material it
will always be in harmony with the landscape.

In building the wall of stone there are a number of things to be
observed, where success is desired. The wall should be well bonded
together, the lintels over the windows should be strong, the
foundations should be adequate to prevent cracks, the method of laying
should be artistic, and the form of jointing in harmony with it.

All native stones used for rubble wall construction have certain
characteristics of color and formation. Certain stones will split
easily into long, flat shapes, others seem to have very little
lamination and break into jagged, irregular patterns, while others are
so soft that they lend themselves to easy shaping in squared blocks
of regular size. Sometimes, even, the neighborhood may be filled with
round field stones, which can be used to imbed into the face of the
wall and produce a surface of round bumps. Whatever is the character of
the native stone, it should be used in its simplest form and not forced
into imitation of some other type. The soft brown sandstones which are
seen in some Colonial houses are easily cut and squared; but to cut
up a hard stone into such carefully shaped blocks, in imitation of
this Colonial work, would not only be a waste of money but a waste of
artistic effect.

METHOD OF LAYING

According to the way in which the stone naturally lends itself, we have
various types of rubble walls. The commonest is the rough rubble wall
in which the stones have neither regular shapes nor regular sizes, or
even courses. The wall is composed of large stones and small stones
(the latter are called spalls, and fill in the interstices between
the larger stones). The joints of mortar between the stones may be
plastered roughly over the surface, covering much of the face of the
stones themselves, or they may be roughly but neatly pointed with
white mortar, or the joints may be raked out. Where the stone has a
natural tendency to cleave into long, flat shapes, the rough rubble may
become more regularly coursed in appearance. All of these types are
respectively illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.

[Illustration: Fig. 1. Rough Rubble—Plastered Joints

Fig. 2. Rough Rubble—large white, roughly pointed joints]

[Illustration: Fig. 3. Rough Rubble—trowled joints]

[Illustration: Fig. 4. Rough Rubble, or ledged work Raked Joints.

Fig. 5. Cobweb Rubble—tooled joints—no spalls]

A softer stone, which can be dressed with the hammer, may
be treated in two different ways: It may be shaped to fit closely,
without using any spalls to fill up the interstices, and, thus,
appear as a cut-out puzzle; this is called “cobweb rubble.”
However, the more dignified treatment is the squared, uncoursed
rubble, in which the blocks are cut to rectangular shape and the
joints pointed with a tool. Figures 5 and 6 illustrate these.

A wall built entirely of field stone depends upon the mortar
for its strength. It appears the best when the joints of the
surface are raked out, permitting a large part of the stones to
project outward. Figure 7 illustrates this kind of rubble wall.

When the rubble wall is built with very carefully squared stones,
and in regular courses, it partakes more of the monumental character
of ashlar work and draws away from the rustic value of rubble. In
determining the amount of cutting which is to be done, the character of
the building should be considered, remembering that the smoother and
more finished the wall, the more monumental is its appearance.

[Illustration: Fig. 6. Square uncoursed Rubble tooled joints

Fig. 7. Field stone Rubble raked joints]

[Illustration: Bond stone every 2' in ht. and 3' in length]

MORTAR, BOND, AND THICKNESS

[Illustration: Thickness of rubble-stone wall]

The kind of mortar which should be used for the rubble wall depends
upon its location and desired appearance. All foundation-walls,
and all walls which are subject to dampness, should be built with
Portland-cement mortar. Lime mortar may be used in walls above grade,
although cement mortar, or cement-lime mortar is superior. As the
strength of a rubble wall depends more upon the mortar than the bond,
it is well to use the best. However, care should be taken that the
wall is well bonded. A wall which consists of two faces, not bonded
together, should not be built. A bond stone which carries through from
one face to the other should be set into the wall every 2 feet in
height, and every 3 feet in length. This bond stone should be flat and
about 12 inches in width and 8 inches thick. The usual thickness of
walls for dwellings not over three stories in height is 16 inches, and
the foundation-walls are made 8 inches thicker than the wall above or 2
feet.

The footings under a stone wall should be of concrete, not less than 12
inches thick, and should rest upon solid ground at a depth equal to,
or greater than, the frost-line below the surface, unless solid rock
occurs above this point. The width of the footings should be such that
it projects outward on both sides of the wall at least 4½ inches.

FURRING

The interior of all stone walls, and in fact all masonry walls, will
show condensation of moisture over the interior surface, and if they
are plastered directly on the interior the decorations will be ruined
by the collection of so much water. The cause of this condensation is
the same as that which forms sweat on the exterior surface of a glass
of cold water. In order to eliminate this disagreeable feature, all
masonry walls are furred on the interior before the lath and plaster
is applied. The furring makes an air space between the wall and the
plaster, and all dampness is prevented from penetrating to the interior
surface of the plaster. To further increase the damp-proof qualities of
a masonry wall they are sometimes built hollow, as, for example, the
hollow brick wall, or the hollow terra-cotta tile wall. This air space
also serves as an insulator for heat, preventing the escape of heat
from the interior of the building in winter and the penetration of it
into the structure in the summer.

[Illustration: 10. Furring Strip]

The commonest type of furring is the 1-inch by 2-inch wooden strip,
nailed to the joints of the masonry or to wall plugs inserted in
the joints. Metal furring strips are also extensively used, and
occasionally hollow terra-cotta furring blocks.

_Brick House_

Like the stone house, the brick dwelling is one of the oldest types
in this country. Examples of early brick houses show a taste for good
brick, which later died out on account of the introduction of the first
American machine-made bricks. These early machine-made bricks were
extremely ugly, due to their perfection of geometric shape, smoothness
of surface, and monotony of red color. Later improvements in the
manufacture of brick have released this material for extensive artistic
use. The surface was given a varied color and texture, and the form
was not made so machine-like. To-day we have a variety of bricks which
range in colors through reds, yellows, buffs, greens, blues, and even
dark violets. Textures of wire-cut bricks are rich and varied, and, if
properly handled, can produce the very finest architecture.

[Illustration: 11. Running Bond and method of Bonding

14. Flemish Bond]

[Illustration: 12. English Bond]

[Illustration: 13. Dutch Bond or English Cross Bond]

BONDING AND CONSTRUCTION

The thickness of brick walls for dwellings not higher than three
stories ought to be 12 inches, although 8 inches is considered by many
experts to be quite thick enough for small houses. If the foundation
walls are of rubble-stone they should be 8 inches thicker, and if of
brick or concrete they should be 4 inches thicker. Usually the walls
will be faced with some variety of face brick, in which case they
should be bonded into the wall. If a running bond is used, the face
brick should be bonded into the backing at every sixth course by
cutting the corners of each brick in that course of face brick and
putting in a row of diagonal headers behind them, and also using
suitable metal anchors in bonding courses at intervals not exceeding
3 feet. Where Flemish bond is used, the headers of every third course
should be a full brick and bonded into the backing. If the face brick
is of different thickness to that of the common brick backing, the
courses of the exterior and interior should be brought to a level bed
at intervals of about eight courses in height of face brick, and the
face tied into the backing by a full header course or other suitable
method.

[Illustration: FISKLOCK BRICK]

FUNDAMENTAL BONDS IN BRICKWORK

It is very easy to understand the bonds in brickwork if the fundamental
forms are known. There are, in reality, but two real bonds: namely, the
English and the Flemish bond. The so-called running bond is no bond
at all; while the common bond is found only in common brick walls,
and uses a bonding course of headers every sixth course. The Dutch
bond is only a slightly altered arrangement of the English bond, and
is produced by merely shifting the centring of vertical joints of the
stretcher course. By arranging these fundamental bonds in varying
manners a decorative pattern can be produced on the wall of brick.

[Illustration: 15. Brick Joints]

TYPES OF JOINTS

Here, again, as in the stone wall, the mortar joint plays a great part
in the final effect of the design. It can be safely set forth as a rule
that the rougher the texture of the brick used, the rougher and wider
should be the joint. For the smooth-faced brick the joint should be
small and finished with a tool. For a rough-faced brick the joint
should be large and rough in texture. The various forms of brick joints
in common use are shown in the illustrations.

[Illustration: 16. Lintel Construction]

LINTEL CONSTRUCTION

In the construction of lintels in either the wall of brick or stone,
the introduction of either wood or steel is necessary for strength.
Where the openings are less than 4 feet in width, timber lintels are
used at the back of the lintel or arch, which are cut to serve as a
centre for a rowlock or keyed arch. Any face brick may be supported by
using a small steel angle. Where lintels are wider than 4 feet, steel
I-beams, channels, or angles must be used. Where the span is more than
6 feet, it is necessary to build in bearing plates for the support of
the ends of lintels.

_The Ideal Brick Wall_

It would be well to mention here the new type of brick wall which is
being advertised widely by the Common Brick Manufacturers Association.
This wall is claimed to be very suited to the small house, and no doubt
it would be, if it were possible to secure the co-operation of the
local mason.

This type of brick wall is built hollow, and arranged as shown in the
drawings. There are no continuous mortar joints from the exterior
to the interior through which moisture can penetrate. There are
many features of advantage which the following table shows, but,
unfortunately, not all mason contractors will give the owner the
advantage of the reduction in cost which this wall permits.

[Illustration: 8" IDEAL WALL 12" IDEAL WALL COMMON BRICK]

For 100 square feet of wall, 8 inches thick, the following materials
are required:

FOR SOLID BRICK WALL
1,233 bricks.
2.6 sacks of cement.
2.9 bags of hydrated lime.
.7 cubic yards of sand.
9 hours of a bricklayer’s time.
10 hours of a mason’s helper’s time.

FOR IDEAL ALL ROLOK WALL
904 bricks.
1 sack of cement.
1.2 sacks of hydrated lime.
.3 cubic yards of sand.
8 hours of bricklayer’s time.
6 hours of a mason’s helper’s time.

_Hollow-Tile House_

The past decade has seen an increasing use of hollow terra-cotta tile
as a building material for the walls of the small house. It has many
advantages which have made its popularity increase, such as its larger
and lighter construction unit, reducing the labor of setting, its
cellular wall features, and its availability. There is much information
published by the manufacturers describing the correct construction, but
always, of course, with an eye to advertising the material.

However, there has been much conflicting testimony made concerning
the practicability of hollow-tile construction, and some of the
disadvantages should be noted. As a rule, they have proved to be strong
enough to support the weight of the structure imposed upon them, but
in the Southwest, where tornado winds are prevalent, these walls have
been criticised because of their lack of stability and their porosity.
Hollow-tile walls have been thrown down while those constructed of
brick have stood, and driving rain-storms frequently make the inside of
the walls wet.

The stability can be increased by filling them with concrete, but the
allowable strength cannot be considered to have been raised. Tests have
shown that this filling does not increase the strength, because of the
difference in the elasticity of the two materials.

TYPES AND CONSTRUCTION

There are two types of hollow terra-cotta blocks, one which builds with
cells vertically and the other which builds with cells horizontally.
This latter is generally an interlocking tile. The strongest wall for
vertical-load resistance is built with vertical-cell tiles.

[Illustration: 20. Support of floor-joists 18. 12" Hollow-tile wall
Cells Horizontal]

All hollow-tile should be laid in Portland-cement mortar, and the webs
should be arranged so that they build over one another. The bearing of
floor beams and girders on walls, built with blocks of vertical cells,
should be made by covering the tile with templates of terra-cotta
slabs, filling them with concrete or protecting them with plates of
steel. Where chases are required for pipes they should not be cut into
the wall, but special blocks should be used to build around them. All
lintels under 5 feet should be constructed with tile arches, reinforced
with concrete and steel rods inside of their webs.

[Illustration: 17. Vertical cell Hollow-tile wall]

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST DAMPNESS

[Illustration: 21. Construction of lintel]

[Illustration: Brick Veneered Hollow-tile wall]

In order to prevent the penetration of moisture the mason should butter
all joints on the inside and outside edges, leaving an empty space
between, in order to insulate against the transmission of moisture
through the joint. To prevent the collection of mortar in the cells of
the tile, due to droppings during construction, the spreading of metal
lath over the top of each course of tile will accomplish this and
also make the strength of the wall greater. Although it is often
recommended that hollow-tile be plastered directly upon the interior,
yet this is not safe in those sections of the country where there are
driving rain-storms. For this reason it is advisable to fur them on the
interior. It is also recommended that a waterproofing compound be added
to the stucco applied to the exterior. Another fact should be observed:
namely, that all door and window frames, since they are of wood, will
tend to shrink and thus open up the joints and permit the leakage of
rain-water. Oakum should be stuffed behind all brick moulds to prevent
this. Care should also be taken to make drips under all sills, so that
no water will leak into the interior of the wall. All belt courses
should also have steep washes. Stucco should not be carried down to the
grade level, but a course of solid material, like brick, concrete, or
stone, should be built at this point.

VENEERING

It is sometimes customary to veneer walls of hollow-tile with brick,
especially those tiles which are of the interlocking type, since a
better bond can be secured. In any case, any brick veneer should be
bonded to the backing with a row of headers every 16 inches, or be
attached with metal ties. This veneering should not be considered as
part of the required thickness of wall.

WALL THICKNESS

The thickness of hollow-tile walls should be the same as for walls of
brick. The construction of light 10-inch and 8-inch walls, while strong
enough as a substitute for a frame dwelling, is not strong against
weather or fire. The only justification for thin walls is the slightly
reduced cost of materials. Hollow blocks, as a rule, are not used
for foundations, although they are satisfactory under buildings not
higher than 40 feet. It is better to fill such walls with concrete and
waterproof them on the exterior.

_Concrete House_

The development of the concrete house has been stimulated by large
corporations erecting towns of them in one locality. The erection of
concrete houses by individual builders cannot, as a rule, follow those
systems which are adapted to group construction. The use of large
precast units may be satisfactory for a development of a hundred or
more houses, but it is not economical for a single operation. The use
of heavy steel forms for casting monolithic houses of concrete, while
under certain favorable labor conditions may be satisfactory for a
small job, yet as a rule is better adapted to large enterprises. Such
steel forms are represented by the Lambie forms and the Hydraulic
forms. Even wood forms of heavy construction, like those used in the
Ingersoll system in work at Union and Phillipsburg, are not adapted
to an operation involving less than fifty identical houses. Another
system, combining both the precast and the cast-in-place work, called
the Simpsoncraft system, is not economical for small operations. This
uses thin precast slabs for walls and floors, and precast concrete
beams. The precast parts are tied together by casting in place
reinforced studs of concrete.

Practically the only available systems which are useful for the small
operation are (1) monolithic houses, built with light, portable steel
forms or wooden forms, and (2) the concrete block house.

BLOCK HOUSE

[Illustration: 25. Typical Concrete block wall]

The concrete house, especially that built of blocks, often has the
defect of being damp on the interior, unless precautions have been
taken to avoid this. It is always best to fur the interior of walls,
although there have been cases where the blocks have been waterproofed
and the interiors remained dry. Usually those blocks which are cast
in a very dry state are porous, while those which are poured show
considerable compactness. The great difficulty in using concrete blocks
lies in the inexperienced and inartistic work of the large number of
“would-be manufacturers,” whose only claim to the product consists of
having purchased a machine which will turn out so many blocks a day
and reap them an advertised fortune in a short period. A thoroughly
reliable concrete block can be made, if there is used plenty of good
cement, clean aggregate with proper proportions of fine and coarse to
secure density, sufficient water to make a wet mixture, and then the
product kept damp while curing. The surface should also be finished in
some artistic manner. A good method consists in applying about an inch
of white cement and showy aggregate to the outer facing of the block,
and then, when the block has been set into the wall, finish it off with
a stone-tooling machine, such as a pointer, operated by a pneumatic
hammer. Blocks, also, should be of the hollow-wall type, so that an air
space between can be secured for ventilation and insulation.

MONOLITHIC HOUSE

The commonest method of building monolithic walls of concrete is to
use wooden forms. These are built in sets of panels, one for the
exterior and the other for the interior face of each course. These are
successively raised, one above the other, in pouring the walls. Mr.
Ernest Flagg, architect, has developed a remarkably simple system of
concrete-wall construction with the wooden form. Roughly broken stone
are set against the inside of the forms, used for the exterior face of
the wall, and the rest of the wall is filled up with concrete. By
raising the boards which are used for the forms, as each layer hardens,
the wall can be erected without skilled labor and yet have the
appearance, on the exterior, of a stone wall. Of course it is necessary
to point the joints of the stone work after the forms have been removed.

[Illustration: 22. Typical monolithic wall construction

24. Stone faced concrete wall developed by Ernest Flagg]

Of the light steel forms, the most important on the market are the
Metaforms and the Morrill forms. The Metaforms, originally the
Reichert forms, are composed of individual form units. All units are
standardized and interchangeable, and equipped with the necessary
clamps and locking devices. These units are built of sheet steel,
strongly reinforced, and measure 2 feet square. A single course of
Metaforms is composed of an inner and outer shell of plates. As the
work progresses the bottom course is taken off and placed above for
the next, there being usually three courses of forms in operation.
The Morrill form is also a sheet-steel form, only it uses a hinged
“swing-up” construction, by which the lower courses of the form can be
swung up into position for the new course as the work progresses.

The Van Guilder double-wall machines have been gradually
increasing in use throughout the country. They are not for
sale, but the company establishes a contracting organization in
different centres. The machine is a steel mould which is moved
along and upward as the concrete wall is tamped in it. It builds
a double wall in tiers. Each tier is 9 inches high and 5 feet
long. A complete circuit of one tier is made around the wall,
and then the next tier is begun on top.

[Illustration: 23. A double monolithic wall built by the Van Guilder
machine.]

VI SAFEGUARDS AGAINST FIRE IN DWELLINGS

_The Necessity for Safeguards_

The majority of small houses will be built of either wood-frame
construction or of wood-and-masonry construction for many years to
come, in spite of the propaganda favoring fireproof dwellings, for the
cost of materials and labor are so adjusted that houses of this better
type cannot be built by the average citizen. In fact, 90 per cent of
the houses erected to-day use wooden studs and floor beams.

This method of building costs the fire insurance companies about
$60,000,000 a year. The actual loss must be even greater than this, for
not all houses are insured.

We might as well face these facts frankly and accept the next best
means of preventing this enormous annual loss of dwellings by
establishing safeguards against this fire dragon at the most vulnerable
parts of the building. We must place the armor of protection where
it is needed most, and set up the safeguards against fire where the
dangerous enemy attacks.

On examination of the insurance reports upon this question, we find
that 96 per cent of all the fires originate inside of the houses. The
most important cause of these fires is defective chimney construction.
Bad fireplace design, careless flue construction, and poor masonry work
in the chimney are responsible for many a tragic fire and a total loss
of furniture, clothes, and household goods of well-meaning citizens. It
is true that this is a cause of fire which may be prevented by building
good chimneys and fireplaces, but there are other causes that are not
so easily regulated, such as explosions from kerosene, short circuits
in the electric iron or vacuum cleaner, careless throwing around of
burned matches and cigarettes, and many other accidents which are bound
to occur in spite of all precautions. When such fires start, there is
only one thing to do: extinguish them in the quickest possible manner.
But this cannot be done easily if the walls and the floors of the house
are so built that they act as hidden passages and flues for the flames
to creep insidiously throughout the building, breaking out in the most
unexpected places and entrapping the unwary in dangerous positions. The
way that many dwellings are constructed makes it possible for a fire
to start in the cellar over the smoke-pipe from the furnace, in the
dead of night, creep silently through the floors and up the interior
partitions to the attic and second floor, until suddenly, bursting
forth in all its fury, it has the sleeping inhabitants ensnared in a
box of fire that has cut off their escape. The terrible heat has eaten
away the strength of the bearing partitions, the floors collapse, the
stairs are encircled with a writhing flame, and smoke and fire issue
from everywhere as suddenly as though they had been spontaneously
produced. There is no time to fight such a fire as this; about all
that can be done is to escape in safety, and then the history of such
conflagrations tells of the tragic death of many children left behind
in the excitement.

It is this fearful danger of the secret entrapping of fire that it is
possible to eliminate from the wooden house. At least we can make this
demon element come out into the open, where we can see to fight him. We
can set safeguards against his passage through floors and walls,
up stairs, and behind wainscots. In most cases where houses are so
protected a fire can be quickly extinguished by the fire department or
by a chemical fire-extinguisher kept in the house.

This business of setting up fire-stops when the house is being
constructed should be known. The closing of the passage between the
plaster, furring strips, and masonry wall, the blocking of continuous
ways through exterior stud walls and interior bearing partitions, the
filling in of the hollow spaces behind wainscots, the protecting of the
under side of stairs, and many other precautions can be provided for in
the plans and specifications without adding much to the expense.

_Placing of the Fire-Stops_

There are two general places where these fire-stops should be
constructed: in the vertical walls to cut off concealed drafts and in
the horizontal floors to act as barriers between one floor and the
next. A fire which starts in the cellar can be confined for some time
from spreading upward if the ceiling is covered with metal lath and
plaster and all the possible vertical openings in the walls are stopped
with concrete, mineral wool, or other effective material. On the other
hand, a fire which starts in the attic may spread to the lower stories
by sparks dropping down inside of the partitions, unless they are
properly fire-stopped.

It is very important, however, to have fire-stops carefully built,
for when gas is heated to the temperature of combustion it will pass
through very small crevices, setting fire to the materials on the other
side. It only requires a temperature of 1000° F. to ignite wood, and if
the air is this hot, although it may appear harmless, it will set
fire to whatever combustible material it touches. For this reason,
fire-stops carelessly installed are as good as none. As an example
of this, blocks of wood are sometimes used between the studs as a
fire-stopping material, but, as it requires time to fit this material
in place, small cracks are often left between the blocks and the studs,
which permit the heated gases easily to pass through them to the other
side. This is also true when bricks are used for fire-stops. As the
average stud is only about 3¾ inch wide, and the average brick is
4 inches, it is impossible to fill the space between the studs with
bricks, laid flatwise, but they must be set on edge, leaving a wide
crevice which must be filled in with mortar. This is often poorly done
or omitted entirely, making the brick fire-stop inadequate.

In enumerating the places where fire-stops should be built, the most
important ones are the blocking of the space between the plaster and
furred brick wall at each floor level and the closing of the air-space
in exterior stud walls at each floor (Figs. 1, 2, 3). The filling in
of the hollow space at the base of every interior stud partition is
likewise necessary (Fig. 4). A wooden cornice banks up the heat from
any neighboring fire, and it is advisable to fire-stop the space around
the ends of the rafters where they join with the ceiling-joists over
the plate (Fig. 5). Where the second floor of the house projects out
over the porch, it should be filled with fire-stopping material, not
only for safety against fire but also to keep out the cold in the
winter (Fig. 6). The pockets into which sliding-doors roll should
be lined with gypsum board, not only as a fire retardant but also
to prevent cold drafts from coming out of these pockets (Fig. 7).
The plaster should be carried down behind all wooden wainscots as a
fire-stop (Fig. 8). The space between the stair carriage should also
be closed at each story (Fig. 9), and all chases and ducts should
be filled at each floor level. Wherever exposed pipes pass through
horizontal parts of the house they should be run through sleeves.
Wherever hot-air flues go from one floor to the next they should be
packed around with incombustible material (Fig. 10), and all registers
in floors should be insulated in the same way. The space between
floor-joists and chimneys must also be filled in with fire-stopping
materials.

[Illustration: Fire-stopping of furred off space in brick wall

Fig 1

Fire-stopping of furred off space in brick wall

Fig 2]

[Illustration: Fire stop at base of exterior stud wall

Fig 3

Fire stop for interior bearing partition of studs

Fig 4]

[Illustration: Fire stop at end of rafters

Fig 5

Fire stop in ceiling of porch roof where 2nd floor projects over

Fig 6]

[Illustration: Fire-stop of sliding door

Fig 7

Fire-stop of Wainscot

Fig 8]

[Illustration: Fig 9

Fig 10]

_Materials to be Used_

It is not necessary to use expensive materials for fire-stops, but they
should be carefully placed. Materials like mineral wool are the best,
since they expand as the wood shrinks and fill up the space. Concrete
which is held in position by strips of metal lath is also excellent.
The concrete or mortar used can be made from refuse material, and need
not have any great strength. Old bricks are satisfactory if they are
slushed into position with mortar which fills all the crevices. Gypsum
blocks are good except for damp location, where they absorb moisture
easily and, holding it, induce dry rot in the surrounding timbers.
Asbestos board, gypsum board, and metal lath and plaster are suitable
for covering large areas, such as cellar ceilings, over the boiler.
In fact, fire-stopping can be cheaply done with odd-and-end bits of
material which usually go to waste around the building.

The details of constructing these fire-stops are best shown in the
illustrations, and no further descriptions will be necessary.

_Chimney Construction_

In view of what was said in the first part of this chapter, the
construction of a chimney by approved methods is also a safeguard
against fire. It can be considered a rule that every chimney should
be lined with a terra-cotta flue, that every chimney should be
an independent structure of its own, with walls thick enough for
stability, capable of standing upon their own foundations and not hung
from any part of the structure, that all woodwork of the building
should be framed far enough from the chimney to make no contact with
it, and, finally, that all the smoke-pipes which enter into the flues
should be proof against leakage of flames and heat of such intensity as
to cause combustion.

In the past this need of lining the flues of a chimney with
terra-cotta flue tiles was not considered important, but to-day it is
a well recognized fact that no chimney is safe without this protective
lining. There are many instances where chimneys are built without this
lining and show no fire dangers, but the action of flue gases is slow
and sure, and the mortar is attacked gradually, with the resulting
disintegration of the brickwork, through which the flames eventually
find their way to the surrounding wood timbers. It is found that even
where terra-cotta flue linings are used the hot gases from the burning
of natural gas as a fuel break down their resistance and they crumble,
so that in such cases the flue linings should be made of fire-clays.
From practical experience the minimum thickness allowable for any of
these flue linings should be 1 inch, and the joints should not be made
with collars.

When setting these linings they should be laid in cement mortar, not
in lime mortar, for this disintegrates under the action of gases from
burning wood. The joints should be struck smooth on the inside, and the
space between the lining and the brickwork filled in solid with mortar.
Wherever two flue linings are run within the same chimney space, the
joints should be staggered or offset at least 6 inches. Two linings,
however, in one chimney space should be the maximum number permitted.
Where more are required, each group of two should be separated by
brick walls of at least 4 inches, which are well bonded into the
outside walls of the chimney. This is in order to give stability to the
chimney and also prevent any fires in one flue spreading to others. The
thickness of outside walls of the chimney around the flues should not
be less than 4 inches if built of brick or reinforced concrete, but
if built of stone they should be 8 inches. Wherever there is no flue
lining of terra-cotta, such as in the smoke-chamber, the thickness of
the masonry from the interior to the exterior should never be less than
8 inches.

If chimneys are built of reinforced concrete, the reinforcements should
be run in both directions to prevent cracks during the setting of the
cement or from temperature stresses. Where concrete blocks are used,
reinforcements should run continuously around the blocks, and the shell
of the blocks should not be less than 4 inches thick.

Wherever the walls of dwellings are of brick and 12 or more inches
thick, they may be used to contain chimney flues. If it is necessary to
corbel out the flues from the wall, they should not extend farther than
4 inches from the face of the wall, and the corbelling should not be
done with less than five courses of bricks.

Next in importance to the correct lining of flues is the proper
construction of the foundation under chimneys. There are often cases
where it is necessary to cut off the chimneys below in part or in whole
to supply room on the first floor. This should be avoided as much as
possible, but if it cannot be done it should be supported by steelwork
from the ground up.

[Illustration: Fire place

Fig 12]

Another mistake that is continually made is to cut off the chimney
at too low a level and cap it with only a plastering of mortar. All
chimneys should be carried at least 3 feet above flat roofs and 2
feet above the ridge of a peak roof and properly capped with stone,
terra-cotta, or concrete. If they are not capped, and the bricks
improperly tied, the mortar joints will be loosened by the action of
the weather and the heat issuing from the chimney, and eventually
the bricks will be moved from their position, leaving the top in a
dilapidated condition.

This extension of the chimney through the roof leaves a joint which
must be covered with flashing to prevent leaking. The usual method of
building a tin-covered cricket behind the chimney, and protecting the
other sides with tin flashing counter-flashed is very satisfactory; but
the practice of corbelling the brickwork out over the roof, in order to
cover over the joint, is extremely bad. When a chimney built in this
way settles, the corbelled-out parts catch on the roof, and the whole
top of the chimney is lifted off, leaving a crack through which the hot
gases pass to the wooden rafters. See illustrations on pages 145 and
170.

If there are any fireplaces to be built in the chimney the walls should
never be less than 8 inches thick around them. It is best to line them
with fire-brick of at least 2 inches in thickness. Hearths should
extend in front of the fireplace at least 20 inches to prevent sparks
from falling on the wooden floors. These hearths should be supported
upon trimmer arches or be constructed of reinforced concrete. It is
important to keep the woodwork of any mantel away from the opening at
the top at least 12 inches and at the sides at least 8 inches.

[Illustration: Fig 11]

In fact, no woodwork should be permitted to come in contact with any
part of the chimney. Wooden beams and joists should be kept at least
2 inches from the chimney and at least 4 inches from the back of any
fireplace. This space, as was previously stated, should be filled in
with fire-stopping material. Where a chimney is on the line with a
wooden stud partition, it is better to plaster directly over the
brickwork of the chimney than to carry studs over it on which lath and
plaster is constructed. By using metal lath over the brickwork the
danger of cracks can be eliminated. Where a base-board must be carried
along this wall in which such a chimney occurs, the plaster should be
carried down behind it and then asbestos board should be placed behind
the base-board to prevent too much heat coming in contact with it.

If these precautions are taken in the construction of the chimney and
the correct methods of fire-stopping employed, the house of wood can
be made less of a fire-trap than it is to-day. None of these devices
require much additional expense, and should, on this basis, have a
broad appeal.

VII POOR METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYED BY UNSCRUPULOUS BUILDERS

It would be an endless task to list and describe all of the possible
faults of construction which an unscrupulous builder might use in the
erection of a small house, and, indeed, it would result largely in
rehearsing all of the details of good construction, and then reversing
them, showing that instead of doing the correct thing it was done
quite the opposite way. But there are certain obvious and glaring
faults of construction which are employed by speculative builders with
one purpose in mind, namely, to reduce the cost but maintain a good
appearance.

An intentional and clever disguise of poor construction is, at heart,
the dishonest thing against which this is written. The defects of
construction which are either the result of ignorance or unskilled
labor, while they are bad enough, are not malicious, but those defects
which are intentionally planned are simply systems of stealing, and
they are usually found in the so-called speculative house, which the
unwary public buys in preference to securing an honest house, designed
by an architect. And it is this system of dishonest construction that
makes the speculative house seem, on the face, cheaper than the honest
house.

Indeed, it is the whole intention of such dishonest methods of building
to make the house seem, on the face of it, substantial, good-looking,
and honest, but to hide, beneath the glamour of its exterior,
weaknesses of structure which will cause all kinds of failures after
a few years of standing. So long as the house stands together until
the builder has sold it to some unsuspecting buyer, that is all that
interests him.

In observing some of these dishonest methods of construction it is well
to keep in mind that they will appear on the exterior well done, but
that their faults are hidden, and intentionally planned to reduce the
cost for the builder.

In order to systematize our observations along these lines let us
imagine a house which we will inspect in an orderly fashion. We will
begin with the cellar and proceed upward to the roof. This house is an
ordinary frame dwelling upon a stone foundation.

[Illustration: The Fake Leader The Poorly Made Floor]

Entering the cellar-door, the first thing we notice is that at the
base of the stairs leading to this door is a puddle of water left from
the last rain-storm. Upon inquiring concerning it we learn that in
every rain-storm, and especially during the winter when the ground is
frozen, the surface water flows down the steps, collects in the areaway
in front of the cellar-door, and overflows the sill into the cellar
itself—all because the builder had omitted a drain-pipe in the centre
of this area to save money. Becoming interested in this matter of
drainage, we look around at the areas under each of the cellar-windows
and find that the drains have been omitted from these, and that a few
broken pebbles were thrown into the bottom to give the impression that
the water could drain off into the soil, and all this to save money and
deceive the buyer. Inspecting the ground around the foundation-wall we
notice that about each leader the earth has been worn down by dripping
water, as though the leader had backed up and the gutter had overflowed.
Inquiry shows that such is the case in every rain-storm. Apparently
the outlet for the leader has been stopped up, so, in order to find
out whether this is true, we need to remove the lower section of the
leader from the terra-cotta pipe to look into it, for often it becomes
clogged at this point with leaves and dirt. Breaking away the cement
joint and pulling gently upon the sheet-metal leader, we suddenly find
that it crumbles in our hands, and that the leader consists of a coat
of paint holding a few particles of rust together. Yes, cheap, thin,
so-called galvanized-iron leaders to save money and deceive the buyer!
But continuing our search for the stoppage we poke our cane into the
section of terra-cotta pipe projecting above the ground which received
the leader, and find that it stops short. Twisting it around to remove
the material which seems to block the pipe we find, much to our
surprise, that the entire section of terra-cotta pipe breaks off, and
then, looking closer, we find that this pipe does not connect with a
cast-iron drainage-pipe leading to the plumbing system or to a dry
well, but had merely been stuck into the ground to give this appearance
and to save money and deceive the buyer. No wonder the leader backed up
and the gutters overflowed in a rain-storm!

By this time we have become very suspicious of the house, so that when
we finally go down into the cellar our attention is attracted to a
section of the cement floor near the furnace where the large ash-cans
are standing. The top surface has cracked under the weight of the
cans, and it appears to be in thin slivers of cement. Leaning down and
prying under one of these cracked pieces with a knife, a thin slab
of concrete, about a quarter of an inch thick, is lifted up from the
floor, and beneath this slab we find about 2 or 3 inches of tamped
ashes, and then dirt. We marvel that this floor has lasted even as long
as it has with so much water running into the cellar in damp weather.
Think of it, 2 inches of ashes and a quarter of an inch of cement
mortar on the top, when the correct method of building is to lay about
6 inches of cinders for a foundation, then 3 inches of concrete on top
of this, and finally a top coat, 1 inch thick, of cement mortar over
all.

Looking up from the floor we are rather impressed by the clean,
whitewashed effect of the walls of the cellar, and one would hardly
believe that it was a damp one, but around the windows and at certain
points in the wall the whitewash is streaked with black, as though
water had leaked in. Going over to these places in the wall it is
quite evident that during the winter and damp season water has soaked
through these crevices. Poking around with a penknife we are amazed
at the ease with which the knife penetrates the mortar between the
joints of the stones. Working at it a little harder with the knife
soon shows that if the cellar were a prison it would not be very hard
to scratch one’s way out through that wall. Suddenly, without warning,
one of the stones in the wall drops out onto the floor, and we get a
view of the construction within. For certain it is one of those stone
walls built up with two faces, not bonded together, except by mortar
which seems to be made up of mud and a small trace of lime, which lime
has disintegrated with the constant dampness to which it has been
subjected. A piece of the mortar we find can be crumbled easily in
the hand. This is evidence of the employment of the cheapest kind of
labor for the masonry work and the cutting down of expense in using
poor materials. We only have to look closely to see that there is
developing a long diagonal crack in the wall, and we can imagine that
if the contractor built so poor a wall above the ground, the chances
are that there is no footing beneath it. Near at hand a large bulge
is noticeable, and when we hit it with a hammer the whole thing has a
rotten sound, for the inside face is bulging inward from the load upon
it and the uneven settling of the foundations.

Looking up now at the neatly whitewashed ceiling we cannot help but be
suspicious of the plaster beneath the surface, so going over to that
part of the ceiling above the smoke-pipe leading from the furnace to
the chimney we jab our cane against it, and, as we expected, a big slab
breaks off and crashes to the floor, revealing partly charred wooden
lath beneath, which have been baking in the heat rising from the
smoke-pipe, and which would eventually catch fire. Examining the
plaster very closely we observe that in addition to being a very thin
coat it has no hair in it to act as a reinforcement for the plaster key
which held it to the lath base.

But being rather inquisitive about the construction hidden behind the
plaster, and having broken some of it down, the removal of the few
lath is worth the look behind them. And there we see the girder which
supports the floor-joists resting upon the chimney instead of on a
special pier or column. This saved the contractor the cost of the pier
or the column, but the owner would probably lose his house some day by
fire creeping through the joints of the brickwork of the chimney to the
ends of this wooden girder, for it was quite evident that the mortar
used in the chimney was not much better than that used in the wall, and
it is well known that lime mortar disintegrates under the action of hot
gases from burning wood.

Turning our attention now to other parts of the cellar, we notice that
in the floor of the laundry a place had been broken into, and upon
inquiry we find that this hole was dug by the plumber in repairing a
stoppage of the system of drainage-pipes under the floor. It seems that
the contractor had omitted placing any clean-outs in the pipes which he
had laid under the cellar floor, and the owner’s wife, by accident, in
pouring a pail of wash water down the water-closet in the cellar had
allowed a rag to go down with it, which clogged up the system, so that
the waste from the kitchen-sink began to back up into the laundry-tubs.
As there was no way to get at the pipes, the plumber, in cleaning out
the system, was obliged to break through the floor and cut out a hole
in the pipe to run a wire through to the clean-out on the house-trap.
The contractor who built the house had saved about fifteen dollars in
omitting this clean-out, but the owner lost fifty dollars in plumbers’
bills before he repaired this defect.

[Illustration: Fresh Air Inlet Under Window]

Another defect was also found by the owner in the system of
water-supply. There had been installed only one shut-off cock for the
entire building, so that whenever a new washer had to be placed upon a
faucet on any fixture the entire system had to be turned off. As most
of the faucets throughout the house were of very cheap design, this
had to be done very often, until one day the owner had turned the main
shut-off cock once too often for its strength, and the handle broke
off. He was obliged to call in the plumber to turn the water on again,
as well as install a new shut-off cock.

Questioning the owner further, we learn that a disagreeable odor of
sewage enters the dining-room windows during the summer months when all
the sash are open, but as he admits he knows little about plumbing, he
isn’t sure of its cause, but he thinks it comes from a pipe which opens
directly beneath one of these windows. When we investigate we find that
it is the fresh-air inlet of the plumbing system of the house. The
contractor had saved money on piping by carrying this to the nearest
outdoor point, which happened to be directly under the window of the
dining-room, so that whenever any water-closet was flushed in the house
a puff of foul air was blown out of this pipe in the most convenient
place for it to enter the house if the windows were open. Instead of
spending the extra money for piping to carry this fresh-air inlet well
away from any windows, the contractor had put in the shortest length
possible.

After looking at this pipe we glance at the porch near by and notice
that it is beginning to sag. So, crawling under the porch, we find that
instead of masonry piers under the porch columns, there are wooden
posts driven into the ground, and that not only have these begun to
settle under the weight but also have rotted away considerably near the
ground, where they are subject to dampness. While we are under here we
notice that the floor-joists are small, 2 by 4 inch timbers, and have
sagged a great deal because of their extreme scantiness for the span
over which they are placed.

In fact, as we walk up on the porch it vibrates under our weight, and
when we enter the house we notice the same weakness, only to a slightly
less degree. The owner says that in the beginning the floors were stiff
enough, but that this weakness had been getting worse each year. It is
evident that there is faulty bridging and too small timbers. Probably
in the beginning the nails of the upper flooring helped to stiffen the
beams, but as these became worn in their sockets the joists lost this
additional strength. This lack of proper-size framing timbers saved the
builder money but would cost the buyer a pretty penny some day.

But we are astonished at the excellent appearance of the floors, for
by this time the things that are good are more surprising than the
things that are bad. Then it occurs to us that of course the floor
would be good, for this is part of the house which is visible and
helps to catch the buyer’s eye. But later, when we go up-stairs, we
notice that the floors are not so fine, but are the common flat-grained
boards which sliver off and catch in your shoe if you scuffle. The
owner also points out the kitchen as one of the biggest fakes he has
seen. It has an oak floor, and when he had bought the house he had
been deeply impressed with the luxury of having an oak floor not only
in the dining-room but also in the kitchen. But he is not so keen now,
for with constant scrubbing the cheap varnish and filler had come off
and the pores of the oak have been exposed, so that now the floor is
the greatest catch-dirt ever invented, and to make matters still worse
the oak had been poorly seasoned, the boards had shrunk, the cracks
opened, and there is no underflooring below to prevent the dust and
dirt from sifting through these cracks from the hollow space between
the floor-joists. The owner says he is about to install a new floor.
He also admits that the varnish which gave such a fine surface to the
dining-room and living-room floors when he first saw the house was so
poor, and scratched so badly, that he had to have the floors completely
done over.

[Illustration: THE DEFECTIVE PLASTER]

Glancing around at the walls of the living-room and the dining-room we
notice that the wall-paper has cracked in a number of places, pulled
up, and curled away. It is extremely ugly and unkempt, and we remark
about it to the owner. He says that he is completely discouraged about
it, that he has tried everything to make the wall-paper stay down, but
that as soon as the winter comes on, the steam-heated air on the inside
and the cold air on the outside seem to draw the paper up and away,
pulling the surface of the plaster with it. He has glued large pieces
of paper which have curled up in this manner back into position again,
but the plaster was so weak that as soon as the paper began to peel
off, the top layer of plaster pulled away with the paper. In fact,
examining one example of this, we observe that the paper which had
sprung loose from the wall has underneath it a thin coat of plaster
about a sixteenth of an inch thick, showing that the glue had fastened
the paper to the plaster, but the plaster itself had given way. This
type of plastered wall is the result of using cheap materials, and it
is another evidence of the extremes to which contractors will go to
save money and deceive the buyer.

As we pass by one of the pockets into which the sliding-doors roll we
feel a draft coming out of it, and we question the owner whether the
house is cold in winter, and he admits it is worse than we suspect.
He informs us that it is especially cold on the second floor in those
rooms where the floors project over the porch. We ask him whether
he has noticed any drafts coming in through the cracks around the
base-boards and trim, and he points to these cracks, showing us bits
of cotton which he has plugged into them. We suspect that what is the
trouble is the omission of sheathing-boards over the studs between the
roof of the porch and the ceiling-joists where this roof intersects
with the house wall, and also the failure to fill with cinders the
space between the floor-joists of the projecting part of the room which
extends over the porch. That this is true the owner admits, for he had
noticed it while repairing a few shingles on the roof of the porch. The
contractor had saved a little money by this trick, and no one could
tell that he had done it by merely looking at the exterior.

[Illustration: Where The Cold Air Gets In]

This same line of inquiry leads us to ask the owner about the
heating-plant, and we find that the house cannot be properly heated.
We therefore suspect that the radiation is too small, so we calculate
the required size of a radiator for one room, and find that the one
actually installed is too small. Yet, as the owner says: “When he
bought the house, how was he to know that there was not a large enough
heating-plant?”

We inquire then whether he has any trouble with the fireplace, which we
presume he must use to help out on cold days. He admits he cannot keep
it from smoking badly. So we go over to it and run our hand up into the
throat to feel around, and find that there is no smoke-chamber, and,
what is more, the flue is only about 4 inches by 8 inches, and is not
even lined with terra-cotta flue tile. We inform him that he will never
have a good fireplace draft until that chimney is rebuilt, and that the
size of the flue looks more like the vent for a gas-log than anything
else.

We then went through the house noting as many defects as we could,
which were beginning to make their appearance. For example, we find
that all the doors are badly sagging, showing that the blocking has
been omitted from the back of the jambs where the butts are screwed on.
The putty in the windows is crumbling out, as though it were clay. All
the thresholds are of soft wood and are wearing badly. The trim in many
places was springing and twisting, due to the use of cheap and poorly
seasoned wood and the omission of enough nails. Some of the door-stiles
are made of two pieces which have opened up at the joints and left ugly
cracks. All the stairs squeak badly, indicating that they had been
poorly built. Some of the balusters have worked loose and rattle in
their mortises, and the hand-rail shakes when it is grasped.

We notice a number of stained ceilings, and inquire about the roof.
We are informed that it has leaked badly in the valleys, where the
tin is not wide enough to prevent the water which runs down one slope
from washing up under the shingles of the adjoining slope and over the
edge of the flashing tin of the valley into the house. We learn also
that the shingle roof of the porch, which has a very slight incline,
continually leaks, and looking out upon it we notice that the shingles
are set nearly 7 inches to the weather instead of less than 4 inches,
as they should be for so small a pitch.

We notice that it has leaked around the windows, and, observing the
top of the trim on the exterior, note that there is no flashing over
it to throw off the water flowing down from the clapboards. While we
are examining the windows the owner volunteers to tell us about his
experience with the windows on the second floor. After he had bought
the house he found that only one window in each bedroom had any weights
and sash-cords in it, and that he had to buy these for all the other
windows when he discovered it. He says he never thought of trying each
window before he purchased the place.

Just then we happen to be looking at the lock on one of the doors, and
we spy one of those back-handed locks which never holds the door closed
and which always catches and keeps one from closing the door unless
the knob is turned. It is a right-hand lock placed upon a left-hand
door. We recognize in this the contractor’s efforts to use up all the
second-hand odd bits of hardware which he possessed.

By this time we find ourselves so disgusted with the sharp tricks of
dishonest building that we call a halt at looking farther, but we feel
quite convinced that there is a real difference in quality between such
a speculative house and the honest house of an architect’s designing,
and, what is more, we feel convinced that there is a real reason for
the architect’s house costing more in the beginning than such a house,
but that in the end the cheap speculative house is the most costly
proposition which a buyer can invest his money in.

VIII ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF GOOD PLUMBING

_The Problem_

There are three things which will affect the plumbing system of the
small house; namely, the existence or non-existence of municipal
plumbing codes under which the structure is erected, the existence
or non-existence of a public sewer, and, finally, the type of
water-supply, whether it is public or private.

[Illustration]

If there are no plumbing codes to follow, it is sometimes possible to
save money on the plumbing; but unless the specifications are very
rigid, there is danger of poor work being installed. By saving money is
not meant installing cheap material, but eliminating certain features
which most plumbing codes require and which are not essential in
producing the best possible type of plumbing system. For example, in
most cities the ordinary traps which are required under each fixture to
prevent the sewer-gas from returning into the air of the house, after
the waste water has drained out, must be equipped with back-vent pipes
in order to eliminate dangers of siphonage. The cheap S trap (shaped
like an S turned on its side) without this back-venting will siphon
out, that is, lose its water-seal by atmospheric pressure pushing the
water out of the trap in its attempt to fill a vacuum created by the
discharge from a water-closet on the floor above. By back-venting
these traps, as shown on page 94, this danger of siphonage is
reduced, and, therefore, most codes have adopted this regulation
requiring back-venting. But to-day the market offers certain traps
which are claimed to be anti-siphonable and which do not require
this back-venting, with the consequent result of reducing the cost
of the equipment. Most plumbing codes have not changed their old
regulations, for many authorities do not yet believe in the possibility
of an anti-siphon trap, and so require the use of the back-venting
system. Consequently, wherever the small house is constructed within
jurisdiction of these laws, the plumbing will cost more than where
the anti-siphon trap can be used without the elaborate system of
back-venting.

Likewise, wherever there is a public sewer, the problem of sewage
disposal is simple and cheap; but if the house is not located near
any such public convenience, special methods must be employed for the
destruction of the waste matter. The best is the septic tank (see
illustration) with the small subsurface irrigation tile, through which
the partially purified material from the septic tank is distributed
under the ground for complete purification by air and bacteria. The
other method of disposal—pouring the sewage into a cesspool—is to be
deplored, unless there is possibility of an early construction of a
public sewer, and no drinking-water is secured from the premises.

[Illustration:—SMALL SEWAGE DISPOSAL PLANT—]

The third consideration which affects the plumbing system of the small
house is whether it can draw upon a public water-supply, or whether it
must secure its private supply from a well or a near-by stream or lake.
A private source of supply generally means the erection of a storage
tank. The best type of tank for this purpose is the pneumatic tank,
which is installed in the cellar, and not in the attic, as was the
old-fashioned tank. The water is pumped into this tank, and the air
which is in it is trapped, so that the more water that is pumped into
the tank, the more compressed becomes the air. This springlike cushion
of air gives enough pressure to force the water to any fixture in the
house.

[Illustration:—PLUMBING SYSTEM USING ANTI-SYPHON TRAPS—]

_Simplest Type of Drainage System_

On page 97 is represented the simplest type of drainage system that can
be installed in the small house, but since it uses anti-siphon traps
and no back-venting, it will not be possible to make use of it in all
cities or towns which have plumbing rules prohibiting it. The average
small house does not have room for more than one bath, a kitchen-sink,
a set of laundry-tubs, and a toilet for the servant, generally placed
in the cellar. For purposes of economy it is essential to place all
of these fixtures on the same soil-line, the main pipe which extends
vertically from the horizontal house-drain in the cellar up through the
roof. If the bathroom is so located that the vertical line which serves
its fixtures cannot serve the kitchen-sink or the laundry-tubs, then
a special waste-line or small vertical pipe draining fixtures other
than water-closets, must be carried up and through the roof, which is
extravagant of material. As this waste-line will be only 2 inches in
diameter, it is necessary to increase its diameter to 4 inches before
projecting it from the roof, since it may become clogged in the winter
with frost. But the main soil-line is 4 inches in diameter and needs
no increaser on it. The main house-drain is also made 4 inches in
diameter, and is generally laid under the cellar floor with a pitch
of ¼ inch to the foot. At the junction of the vertical soil-line with
it, and also at any other point where there is a marked change in
direction, the house-drain should be equipped with clean-out holes,
covered with brass screw-caps. Just where the house-drain leaves the
house, a house-trap is installed (see illustration), and back of this
an inlet for fresh air to permit the circulation of air in the system.
The foundations should be arched over the house-drain where it passes
through them, so that any settlement of the masonry will not come upon
the pipe and cause it to be broken.

The material of which the house-drain, soil-line, and waste-line are
made is usually cast-iron, and of a grade known as extra heavy. The
joints are the bell-and-spigot type, which are stuffed with oakum and
then closed tight with 12 ounces of fine, soft pig lead for each inch
in diameter of the pipe. Branches are usually of galvanized wrought
iron or lead, but lead should be limited in use in modern plumbing,
although the term plumbing originated from the Latin word for lead.
The common limitations upon the length of branches of lead pipe are:
8 feet for 1½-inch pipe, 5 feet for 2-inch pipe, 2 feet for 3-inch
pipe, 2 feet for 4-inch pipe. The parts of the branch pipes which are
visible are generally made of brass nickel-plated. The joints between
lead pipe and lead pipe, and between lead pipe and brass pipe, are made
by the common wiped joint. Joints between lead pipe and cast-iron pipe
are made by first wiping the lead pipe to a brass ferrule, a piece of
pipe in shape like a bell with the top cut off, and then inserting and
caulking this into the cast-iron pipe. The joints between wrought-iron
pipes are made with the screw joint, and between wrought-iron and cast
iron with the screw joint, by using connections of malleable cast-iron
which have been threaded.

The usual sizes for branch wastes from the fixtures are as follows: for
water-closets 4 inches, for bathroom-tubs 1½ inches, for lavatories
1½ inches, for kitchen-sinks 2 inches, for laundry-tubs 1½ inches,
and when in sets of three 2 inches. The size of the waste from the
bathroom-tub can be increased to 2 inches with great advantage, if the
additional slight expense is not objectionable.

The vertical soil-lines should be supported at each floor by metal
straps placed under the hub and fastened to the floor-joists. It is
very important to properly flash the base of the projecting portion
of the soil-line above the roof. Wherever the branch soil-line to the
water-closet is connected, a short TY connection may be employed in
order to avoid the projection of the parts of the pipe beyond the plane
of the ceiling in the floor below. However, no short TY connections
should be made in any horizontal pipes.

A very important economical consideration should be noted in laying
out the arrangement of the bathroom fixtures in this connection. The
horizontal branch soil-lines and waste-lines must be carried through
the floor construction, and they should be so arranged that they can
run parallel with the floor-joists; otherwise deep cuts will have to be
made in them. In the case of the branch soil-line it is essential to
place the water-closet as near to the main soil-stack as possible, for
with a 4-inch pipe the joists must be framed around it rather than be
cut, since so deep a gouge would weaken too much the strength of them. A
similar consideration must be given to the framing in stud partitions
which are bearing the loads of the floors above, for too deep cuts in
them, to allow for the passage of pipes, will weaken them greatly. In
this connection it ought to be noted that an ordinary 4-inch soil-pipe
cannot be carried in a stud partition made with 2 by 4 studs, since
the outer edges of the joints of the pipe will project beyond the face
of the plaster, and for this reason some convenient place should be
planned for them in closets, or 2 by 6 studs should be used in the
partition through which they are run.

_The More Complicated Back-Vent System_

The essential parts of the plumbing system remain the same as described
above, but each trap is considered to be siphonable, and must be
prevented from losing its water-seal by the use of back-venting pipes.
Whenever, then, there is an unusual amount of semi-vacuum created
in the pipes by the discharge of some fixture above, the outside
air-pressure can relieve it by passing through the back vents rather
than by forcing out the water-seal in the traps. The usual type of
trap employed is the modified S trap with the small TY connection to
give what is known as continuous venting. Formerly the vent was taken
off from the crown of the three-quarter-S trap, which was too near the
surface of the water-seal, causing excessive evaporation and danger of
clogging, but with the continuous system of venting, the waste-pipe
is a continuation of the vent-line, and the trap enters into its side
through a TY fitting, overcoming the disadvantage of the older system.

The size of traps should conform to the size of waste-pipes, and
usually the size of the branch vents is about the same size as the
waste-lines. However, there are special conditions where this varies.
For venting the water-closet trap, it should be noted that the vent is
not taken from the trap which is contained within the fixture itself,
but is taken from the upper side of the bend (usually of lead) where
the fixture is joined with the piping system, and is 2 inches in
diameter.

[Illustration: PLUMBING SYSTEM USING BACK-VENTING]

Where there are two fixtures, such as the lavatory and the bathtub,
with 1½-inch branch vents coming from the traps, these may be joined
into one main branch vent, which need not be more than 1½ inches in
diameter. The pitch of the branch vents entering into the main vent
should be at an angle of about 45 degrees, so that all rust scale will
drop down into the fixture outlet and be washed away.

The main vent, which runs parallel with the main soil-line, needs to
be only 2 inches in diameter, and should be branched in at the bottom
and the top to the main soil-line, as shown in the drawings. The
material of which both main vent and branch vent is made should be
galvanized-iron piping.

The fresh-air inlet, the house-trap, the clean-outs, and all other
parts of the system are the same as was shown for the simpler method of
plumbing.

_Rain-Water Drainage_

The small house need not drain off its roof-water into the plumbing
system, if the plumbing code does not require it. The simplest and
easiest method to dispose of it is to collect the water in gutters,
lead it down the waterspouts into pipes which terminate in a dry well
in the ground. Small roofs over porches and back doors need not even
have the leaders, but spill the roof-water out onto the ground, where a
stone has been placed to prevent the undermining of the surface of the
lawn by the wearing action of the water stream.

In outlying city districts where the sewers have not yet been installed
it is customary to carry the roof-water in pipes below the level of the
sidewalk to the gutters of the street or to a leaching cesspool which
is independent of the cesspool used for sewage disposal, and which is
practically the same thing as a dry well, for the bottom is made with
gravel through which the rain-water seeps off into the surrounding soil.

Wherever the rain-leaders must be connected to the drainage system of
the house, the sheet-metal leaders are inserted into cast-iron pipes
called shoes at the base, which in turn are trapped on the inside
of the cellar wall and connected with the house-drain. It is always
best to try to trap a group of leaders to one trap rather than use a
separate trap for each leader.

_Tests and Precautions_

There is nothing very complicated in the plumbing system of the small
house. Certain sanitary precautions should be observed in arranging
lines, however. For example, the termination of the main soil-line
should not occur near a dormer or other window, nor should the
termination of the fresh-air inlet be located in the cellar wall under
a door or window. The system when completed in the roughed-in form
should be tested for leakage by filling it with water, and when all
the fixtures are connected and every part of the system is supposed to
be in working order, either the peppermint or the smoke test should
be used to detect any further possible leakage. The peppermint test
consists in pouring hot water and 2 ounces of oil of peppermint into
the top of the system from the roof, after all the fixture traps have
been filled with water, and then detecting with the nose where the
leaks are. If the smoke test is employed, a smoke machine is best. Old
oily rags and tar paper are burned in the machine, which has its flue
connected with the fresh-air inlet, and the smoke is pumped through
the system until it appears escaping from the soil-line extension on
the roof. If there are any leaks, the odor and the smoke stain will
attract attention to them, and if the water-closet traps in the bowls
are defective, the yellow stain of the smoke will make it very evident.

_Refrigerator Connections_

The drainage from the refrigerator should never be directly connected
with the drainage system of the house. If the plumbing code requires
any connection at all, the usual arrangement is to drip the ice-box
water into a lead-lined tray which has a pipe at least 1¼ inches in
diameter that carries the water down to the laundry-tubs in the cellar
and spills it into them. On the other hand, if there are no plumbing
regulations, it is best to drain this water off into a small hole in
the ground into which has been thrown gravel, and this will permit the
water to soak into the surrounding soil.

_Water-Supply Pipes_

If there is a city supply of water, the small house should have a
main supply-line from the water-main in the street of at least ¾-inch
diameter, but this does not give the service that a larger pipe, say a
1¼-inch pipe, does, for often with the smaller pipe, if the water is
being drawn in the kitchen, none will be secured from the faucets in
the second-floor bathroom. The kitchen-sink should have a service pipe
of at least ¾ inch, the tubs the same, and the lavatory ½ inch.

All service-lines should be compact and as direct as possible, and long
horizontal runs under floors should be avoided. Hot-water supply-lines
should be kept at least 6 inches from cold-water lines. There should
be a shut-off at the entrance of the supply-line to the house, at the
base of all vertical risers, and under each fixture. To avoid water
hammer, it is best to take all faucets off the sides of the termination
of pipes, rather than from the ends, for in this way an air-cushion can
form, relieving the pounding action of the water in the pipes.

Supply-lines should never be run in the corners of buildings where they
are in danger of freezing, and they should be kept out of the exterior
walls of houses as much as possible for the same reasons. The packing
of pipes where they pass through the floors will often prevent freezing
caused by cold drafts around them.

_Hot-Water Supply_

[Illustration]

It is generally accepted to-day that the most convenient method of
securing hot water in the small house is with the instantaneous type of
gas-heater, connected with a boiler for storage purposes, but capable
of delivering water directly into the pipes without passage through
the boiler, when a sudden demand is made upon it. These gas-heaters
have a system of Bunsen-burners which heat the water as it passes
through a series of copper coils, and generally the water is warmed to
a temperature of 100 degrees in one passage. They are automatically
controlled, so that when the temperature of the water goes below a
certain fixed standard the gas-burner is lighted by a small pilot-light
until the proper temperature is reached, when it is shut off again.

Although these heaters are arranged to deliver hot water directly from
the coils, yet if they had no boiler to store up the water, much larger
heaters would be required than necessary. For storage purposes, then, a
40-gallon boiler is satisfactory for a residence with one bath and one
kitchen, and if there are two baths a 50-gallon boiler is needed. The
usual location of the boiler and heater is in the cellar.

However, where there is no gas to be used, the coal-heater must
be employed—either the tank-heater or the water-back in the
kitchen-range. The latter was the usual old-fashioned method of heating
the water, and the boiler was located alongside of the kitchen-range.
The size of the water-back was proportioned on the basis of 2 square
inches of heating surface to each gallon storage capacity in the
boiler. The tank-heater is a special coal-burning stove, designed to
serve as an iron-warmer and a water-heater, being usually placed in the
laundry in the cellar. Another method of securing hot water, which is
not recommended, is to place heating coils in the furnace; it obstructs
the fire-pot, chills the fire, overheats the water in cold weather and
underheats it in warm weather, and does not operate at all during the
summer.

_Fixtures_

The modern bathroom fixture may be made of one of three materials: true
porcelain, earthenware, or enamelled-iron. The true porcelain fixtures
are the heaviest, the most durable, and the most expensive. The
material is non-absorbent and white in color, and the surface presents
a gloss which is in reality a form of glass. When it is chipped the
fracture shows the material below as white, and a drop of ink will not
be absorbed by it.

In imitation of the porcelain fixtures are made earthenware ones, but
which are in no way to be compared to the true porcelain, although a
casual glance at them would lead one to think that they were porcelain
fixtures. However, a chip from the surface will reveal the yellow
and porous texture of the earthenware below the glazed surface. The
glossy white surface in time stains and becomes covered with small
hair-cracks, unlike the porcelain fixtures, and for this reason they
are not as sanitary nor as durable. They are cheaper than the true
porcelain fixtures, but this material should be avoided in water-closet
bowls, but is admissible for use in tubs and lavatories.

The enamelled-iron fixtures are considered by most to be superior to
the earthenware fixtures, since they do not craze, are lighter, and
generally more durable. The quality of this ware can be judged by the
absence of roughness, blisters, bubbles, and spots, and freedom from
hair-cracks and peeling. Bathtubs of the modern type made of enamelled
iron have the rich appearance of porcelain fixtures, since the sides
are rolled over and covered with enamel, unlike the old-fashioned
types, which had the interiors lined with the enamel and the exteriors
painted with white paint.

The mechanical operation of the various fixtures is so well
standardized that not much choice is given between the catalogue of
one firm and another. The best type of water-closets are the siphon,
the siphon-jet, and the converging jets, the latter being a more
modern development, which has eliminated the noise of the siphon
action and yet which accomplishes a quick and rapid flushing action.
The lavatories which are most commonly specified are of the pedestal
type, although the modern tendency in sanitary bathroom design is to
eliminate as far as possible all junction of fixtures with the floor,
for it is here that dirt and stains develop. Such arrangements carried
to the extreme would require a sunk bathtub, a lavatory without legs,
and special compartment for the water-closet, but this would be absurd
for the small house. However, the built-in bathtub is far superior to
the old-fashioned tub which stood upon legs, and under which all manner
of dirt could collect.

We often hear the remark that no wonder the cost of living to-day
is so much higher than it was with our ancestors, who knew nothing
about the clean, tile-lined bathrooms with porcelain tubs, white and
glistening lavatories with all the cold and hot water needed, while
in the old days the wooden tub, set up in the kitchen near the range,
was good enough for the Saturday-night bath, and the tin pan, filled
under the hand-pump outside on the back porch, was good enough to wash
the hands in each morning. But although the modern bathroom and the
modern plumbing system is an economic burden to the small house, it is
doubtful if we shall ever see the day when it is abolished in order to
cut down on the cost.

IX METHODS OF HEATING

_System Adapted to the Small House_

The heating problem for the small house was for our ancestors a very
simple mechanical device, consisting, as we all know, of either the
fireplace or the stove. The former method still has a charm which we
are not willing to dispense with, although we do not depend upon its
efficiency to do the actual work of warming, but install some more
complicated system, such as a steam heating-plant, to perform the
practical work. A fireplace has a sentimental and intellectual warmth
that no radiator can supply.

Even the stove has a certain fascination for many, recalling cold
wintry nights when the family sat about the red-hot casting, the women
knitting and the men burning their shoe-leather and smoking. Some
advocates of the stove are so energetic in their arguments concerning
the efficiency of this method of heating that one almost doubts the
defects which lead inventors to manufacture other devices. But the
housewife knows the labor of shovelling coal into three or four
stoves, knows the great clouds of hot, fine ashes which rise into the
atmosphere and settle upon the shelves, the tops of picture-frames, and
the polished surface of the piano.

[Illustration: Warm-Air Furnace with Pipes

Steam Heat—One-pipe]

[Illustration: Steam Heat—Two-pipes

Hot Water Heating]

And the inventor saw the tired, worn look of the housewife, removed the
stove to the cellar and installed tin pipes from this central heater
to the various rooms, and then waited for applause and purchasers. It
seemed so simple, but it did not solve the problem entirely, for when
the wind blew from the north into the windows, it pressed out the warm
air from the exposed rooms, forced it down the pipes up through which
it was supposed to come, and then rushed it up the flues on the south
or warm side of the house, overheating this part and leaving the cold
rooms of the house unheated. The drum of the furnace over which the air
passed to receive its warmth from the burning coal would leak every
time fresh fuel was added, for the odor of coal-gas became very evident
throughout the house. Moreover, the heat was very dry and unpleasant,
so that water-jars had to be set about to moisten the air.

Then came the inventor again with a new device, a steam-boiler, pipes
to distribute the steam, and radiators to give off the heat in the
steam to the room. Here at last was a method of heating which would
supply warmth in the cold parts of the house, even under the windows,
through which the chilliest air penetrated. But the sizes of the
radiators were calculated to heat the house to 70 degrees when it was
zero outside, although the average winter day was much warmer than
this. In this way the occupants of the house were cooked with an excess
of heat during moderate weather, for there was no way to regulate the
amount of heat given off from the radiator; it either was filled with
steam, giving off its maximum quantity of heat, or else it was empty
and cold.

To meet this difficulty presented by the steam-heated radiator,
the hot-water system was developed. Instead of distributing heat
with the medium of steam which under low pressure was fixed at one
temperature, heat was circulated by hot water from the central boiler.
The temperature of this water could be regulated for mild weather by
lowering the fire. However, since the hottest water was cooler than
steam, it required larger radiators and more piping, so that the
initial cost of a hot-water plant was more than that of a steam system.

[Illustration: Simplified diagram of Vapor-vacuum system]

In order to overcome the disadvantages of the inflexible
steam-radiator, inventors finally developed the so-called
“vapor-vacuum” system of steam-heating. In this equipment the air was
driven from the entire length of pipes and from the radiators by the
pressure of the rising steam from the boiler, and forced through a
special ejector which closed when the steam came in contact with it,
preventing the return of air into the interior. Thus when the pipes and
radiators were filled with steam (there being no air left), no pressure
was set up to resist the circulation of the water vapor, and when the
hot steam condensed in a radiator to a thimbleful of water, more steam
was drawn in to take its place, for no air could enter the pipes. In
this way the quantity of steam delivered to the radiators could be
regulated by a special valve with a varying number of ports, and by
turning the valve to a certain position enough steam would be permitted
to enter the radiator to keep it half full, or by shifting the valve
to another point enough steam would enter to fill the radiator to
three-quarters of its capacity. In fact, the requisite amount of steam
could be admitted to the radiator to balance the speed of condensation
and retain whatever level of steam in it was desirable. Thus the steam
system became at once a flexible system of heating, and could meet the
changing requirements of the weather.

[Illustration: Hot water radiator heated by steam]

A further development of the hot-water system then came about. In this
device the radiators were made to contain water, but the heat was
circulated through the pipes by means of steam. This steam was poured
over the surface of the water in the radiator and transferred its heat
to it. According to the quantity of steam poured over the water, the
latter could be heated to various temperatures. Of course the water in
the radiator was the medium for distributing the heat outward from the
radiator itself.

Still another improvement was made upon the hot-water system by
introducing the principle of the closed expansion tank. In the ordinary
system the water is allowed to expand at the top through an expansion
tank, so that the actual pressure on the water of the system is
atmospheric. Under this pressure the temperature of the water cannot be
raised to more than 212 degrees Fahrenheit, for beyond this it boils
and changes to steam. However, in the closed-tank system a so-called
heat-generator is added on the line leading to the expansion tank,
which, by means of a column of mercury, is capable of adding 10 pounds
more pressure than the atmosphere to the water in the system, and thus
raising the boiling-point to about 240 degrees. This generator is so
designed, however, that, although it adds this greater pressure to
the water, yet the natural expansion of the water in the system is
permitted through it in case of emergency. By permitting the raising of
the temperature of the water, the size of radiators can be cut down 50
per cent, which, of course, reduces the quantity of water needed and
permits a quicker heating of the system when the fire is started. Thus
a saving of fuel is accomplished and the disadvantage of the ordinary
hot-water system is eliminated; namely, the long time required to get
hot water in the radiators after the fire is started in the morning
from its banked condition of the previous night.

[Illustration: Pipeless Furnace]

However, the genius of the inventor was not at rest on the problem of
warm-air heating, for he discovered that he could abolish the flues,
which he once thought were essential, and use but one register and one
flue. This is called the pipeless furnace. A register is employed
which has an outer and inner section. The outer section permits the
cold air from the house to pass down through it and over the drum of
the furnace. The inner section of the register permits this hot air to
escape upward and through the house by natural distribution. Thus the
hot air rises from, and the cool air settles back into, the furnace
without utilizing flues. The circulation of this system was found to
be superior to the older method as ordinarily installed, and very much
cheaper to install. In fact, it is the cheapest of all systems of
heating. It is especially adapted to the small, low-cost house.

[Illustration: Hot Water Heating—Boiler in Dining-Room]

To reduce the cost of hot-water heating and make it also available for
this class of small house, the manufacturers produced another type of
water heating-plant. In this device the water-heater was installed
in one of the rooms of the house, like a stove, but the exterior was
designed to serve as a hot-water radiator for the room in which it was
placed. From this heater pipes were taken off to distribute heat to
other radiators, located in adjoining rooms. The principle remains the
same as the former system; the only difference lies in the reduction of
cost by eliminating the boiler from the cellar and utilizing it to heat
the room in which it was placed.

Other attempts to improve the mechanics of heating have been more along
the line of perfecting the operation of valves or the utilization of
other fuels than coal. Gas-radiators have been tried, but they are so
expensive to operate in most parts of the country that they are not
always suited to the needs of the small house. Electric heaters, too,
are not within the pocketbook of the average person owning the small
house. Fuel oil-burners also have been devised to take the place of the
coal-grate. Wherever oil is cheap enough to permit their use they are
great labor-savers, since they eliminate all the shovelling of coal and
handling of ashes. These will be discussed later.

Briefly, then, the available systems for the heating of the small house
are:

_Hot-air.—a._ Furnace with flues.
_b._ Furnace without flues.

_Steam.—a._ Ordinary gravity system.
One-pipe.
Two-pipe.
_b._ Vapor-vacuum system.

_Hot-water.—a._ Ordinary open-tank system.
One-pipe.
Two-pipe.
_b._ Closed-tank system.
_c._ Special open-tank system with boiler used
as radiator.
_d._ Patent system using water in radiators but
steam for circulation.

_Methods Employed in Calculating the Required Size of Heater_

The basis of calculating the required size of any one of the systems
previously mentioned is to assume that a certain temperature of heat
is to be maintained when the weather is zero, and then by means of the
laws of heat transmission estimate the quantity of heat lost per hour
from the house. The amount of heat lost per hour is, of course, the
quantity which the heating system must supply. Knowing this, a system
is installed which is capable of supplying this heat loss.

In such devices as the warm-air furnace the required size can be
computed directly to meet the heat loss, but where radiators are used
the required sizes of these must first be determined to offset the
losses from the rooms in which they are installed, and then the size of
the heater must be estimated to supply sufficient heat to the radiators
and to make up for the losses of heat through the distributing-pipes.

The usual temperature to which the small house is heated when it is
zero outside is 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It is then assumed that a
certain quantity of heat is lost through the walls of the house by
radiation and convection and conduction, and another quantity lost by
the leakage of warm air out through the window-cracks. (The quantity of
heat is measured in British thermal units, called B. T. U.’s.)

To understand the manner by which heat is lost through the exterior
walls, it is necessary to know the meaning of radiation, convection,
and conduction.

By standing before an open fire the heat given off by radiation can be
observed by shutting it off with a piece of paper held between the face
and the fire. This is the transmission of the heat through the ether,
and is similar to the transmission of light, since this heat will pass
through glass, like light.

Convection of heat is illustrated by heating air in one place and
transferring that air to another place, where it will give up its heat
to surrounding bodies.

Conduction of heat is illustrated by heating the end of an iron rod and
noticing that the heat will eventually be transmitted along the length
of it to the other end.

The heat within a house escapes from the interior to the colder
atmosphere of the exterior through the walls, by radiation through the
glass windows and the substance of the walls, by the convection action
of the warm air of the interior giving up its heat to the interior
face of the wall and the cold air of the exterior extracting this heat
from the exterior face and carrying it off, and also by the action of
conduction of the materials of which the wall is composed.

The quantity of heat lost is measured by the number of B. T. U.’s lost
through one square foot of the wall each hour. As the window-glass
loses heat through it more quickly than the wall, it is necessary to
calculate this separately. The process, then, for estimating the heat
loss from a room is as follows:

1. Estimate the number of square feet of exposed wall surface
in the room, including windows.

2. Subtract from the above the area of the windows to find the
net wall area.

3. Multiply this net wall area by the number of B. T. U.’s
which the wall loses per square foot of surface for each hour.

These factors are given in the following table:

Zero outside and 70 degrees
inside—Number of B. T. U.’s
TYPE OF WALL lost for each square foot of
wall surface each hour
Brick wall, furred and plastered:
8" thick 21.0
12" thick 17.5
Frame wall, sheathed, clapboarded,
and plastered 21.7 (with building-paper use
20.3)

Hollow-tile wall and concrete and stone have factors about the same as
for the furred brick wall.

[Illustration: SIDE ELEVATION]

4. Add to this the number of B. T. U.’s lost per
hour through the windows. This is determined by
multiplying the area of the windows by the heat
loss in B. T. U.’s per hour for each square foot of
window, which is 78.8 for single windows, and where
storm-windows are added it is 31.5 B. T. U.’s.

5. This total sum is the number of B. T. U.’s lost
through walls and windows for each hour.

6. To this must be added the heat lost by leakage
through the window-cracks. This is secured by
measuring the length of window-cracks on the
side which has the greatest length of crack and
multiplying this by 168, or the number of B. T. U.’s
lost each hour for each linear foot of window-crack.
For very tight windows reduce above to 84.

7. The total of all the above gives the number of
B. T. U.’s lost each hour from the room when the
outside temperature is zero and the inside is 70
degrees Fahrenheit.

Knowing the quantity of heat lost per hour, a radiator must be
installed which will supply this amount per hour. As the average
steam-radiator supplies about 250 B. T. U.’s per hour from each square
foot of its surface, the number of square feet required for a radiator
to be installed in the room can be found by dividing 250 into the
number of B. T. U.’s which were found to be lost from the room each
hour.

A hot-water radiator gives off about 150 B. T. U.’s per hour for
each square foot of surface, so that the radiator is generally about
one-third larger than the steam-radiator.

Knowing the required number of feet of radiation for the radiator, the
proper size can be selected from the manufacturer’s catalogue.

By lumping the total number of square feet of radiation for all the
radiators throughout the house together and adding 35 per cent to this
to make up for loss through pipes and under-rating of boilers, the size
of the boiler can be selected from the catalogue to fit this need.

To estimate the size of a warm-air furnace, the total quantity of heat
lost from all the rooms of the house should be calculated in the same
way, and then 25 per cent added to allow for cold attics and exposure.
This quantity should then be multiplied by 2.4 and divided by 8,000
to find the number of pounds of coal which will be required to be
burned per hour. By dividing this amount by 5, the grate area of the
required furnace can be found, and the correct size selected from the
manufacturer’s catalogue.

X LIGHTING AND ELECTRIC WORK

_Modern Developments_

When we talk of lighting the modern home, there is generally but one
idea that enters our minds—electric lighting. Even those dwellings
remote from any power-house are installing small generators in
preference to the oil or gas lighting systems.

[Illustration: The modern 50-watt bulb]

Then, too, when we refer to good lighting we no longer think of
glaring bulbs of light, exposing all the harsh glow of the white, hot
filaments, causing one’s eyes to squint and strain to find things in
the corners of the room; but we picture a room flooded with mellow
illumination emitted from fixtures which shield the direct rays of
light from our vision.

Another change that has come about in our conception of good
illumination is the quantity and intensity of the light we expect from
the incandescent bulb. It was only a few years ago that we marvelled
at the yellow light given off by the 16-candle-power carbon-filament
bulb. But to-day if a bulb gave off as feeble an attempt at lighting
as did these old ones we would think it on its way to the graveyard of
lightning-bugs. We cannot talk of 16-candle-power lamps when the glow
of a modern Mazda light is around. We used to specify on the plans
so many 16-candle-power lights for the dining-room or living-room
fixtures, and it is hard to change our habits to refer to the modern 40
or 50 watt lamps which have taken their place in the home.

Thus within a period of not more than ten years our whole conception of
illumination has been jolted out of a rut.

_Indirect Lighting_

Now we have reacted so far in the matter of protecting our eyes from
a direct view of the source of light that some enthusiasts advocate a
system of indirect illumination, concealing the lights so completely
from the eyes that their location is difficult to know. This is
carrying the problem too far beyond its rational limits. Such a system
of indirect illumination reduces shadow to a minimum; consequently the
forms and the beauty of objects in the room are flattened. Moreover,
the eye unconsciously is confused at not being able to locate the
source from which the illumination comes, and, being puzzled, the mind
naturally resents it. For the small house, at least, the system of
indirect illumination carried to this extreme is not at all suitable.

[Illustration: Fig 1]

A type of fixture which develops a partial indirect illumination, and
yet which allows a certain quantity of light to come through direct to
the eyes, so that the source of light is easily discernible is the most
satisfying and most suggestive of home comfort. Such a fixture is shown
on page 122.

_Common-Sense Solution Needed_

Moreover, the lighting of a small house must be studied with common
sense, and no rule of the thumb can be laid down. Certain enthusiastic
illuminating engineers offer typical plans and suggestions for the
wiring of houses, which plans are crowded so full of outlets that they
look like a map of the starry heavens. We have in front of us now such
a plan in which a small living-room is marked to contain four wall
outlets containing two lights each, two more outlets on each side of
the fireplace, a wall plug for attaching a portable lamp or two lights,
and a central ceiling outlet for four lights. In addition to these is
another base plug and floor plug. The room is about 14 by 17 feet, and
if all lights were turned on at once and all base plugs attached to
lamps there would be a possible grand total of twenty 50-watt lamps
in this medium-sized room. Such brilliant illumination might please
the jaded nerves of the tired business man, but his wife would never
consent to such a garish display of wealth-eating current.

The problem of illumination for the small house can be sanely
considered from five different angles: (1) General illumination; (2)
local illumination; (3) ornamental illumination; (4) movable lamps; and
(5) light control.

By general illumination is meant the lighting required to flood the
room as a whole, and not locally in any one corner. The easiest and
commonest method of doing this is to provide a central fixture,
containing from two to four 50-watt lamps, or their equivalent, which
are hidden in some commercial type of semi-indirect lighting fixture.
The type of fixture shown on page 122 is one of the finest, and with
a silk shade around it the warm, cheerful effect of a home is greatly
enhanced by this method of lighting. When this fixture is hung in the
dining-room or living-room a single 200-watt Mazda lamp is employed,
while in the other rooms a single 100-watt lamp is used. In the kitchen
no shade is necessary. Usually in laying out the electric outlets
upon a plan the central dining-room and living-room lights are shown
to carry four 50-watt lamps, and those in the other rooms, in the
hall, and on the porch are marked to have two 50-watt lamps or their
equivalent.

But it is not absolutely essential to have a central light for general
illumination. Some architects prefer to have a certain number of wall
lights controlled by one switch, and obtain a general glow with these
lamps. By securing the right type of fixture which shields the raw
filament of light from the eyes, this method of general illumination
often produces a feeling of comfort and homelikeness unsurpassed by the
other system.

In those rooms where work is done under the central light, such as
the kitchen and pantry, and where opaque, indirect reflectors have
been used throughout the rest of the house, it is essential to provide
direct lighting-fixtures, so that the light can be thrown down upon the
working plane. Translucent reflectors or prismatic reflectors are used,
and a frosted bulb or a porcelain-tipped bulb is most suitable with
this reflector.

Local illumination is intended to give greater intensity of light over
certain portions of the room where work is carried on. Either a wall
light or a special drop light, protected by a reflector, is used.
Such lights are placed conveniently over the kitchen-sink and side
table, over the laundry-tubs and ironing-board, over the coal-bin,
near the boiler and over the work-bench in the cellar, by the side of
the lavatory in the bathroom, over at the side of the dresser in the
bedrooms, inside of closets and alongside of the serving-table in the
dining-room. These local outlets are generally planned to carry two
50-watt lamps or their equivalent.

[Illustration: _Types of Direct Lighting Reflectors_]

Other wall lights than these are usually introduced for ornamental
purposes. The side lights for the fireplace in the living-room, or the
panel lights on the wall, or the bracket lights for the bookcase cannot
be considered more than ornamental features. Not more than one 50-watt
lamp is planned for these outlets.

In addition to the general, local, and ornamental illumination are
those portable lamps which have become more and more a serviceable and
decorative feature of the home. The reading-lamp in the living-room,
the light for the music on the piano, the table-lamp in the bedroom,
and the candle-lamps on the dining-room table are the most used of this
portable type. To properly attach these bulbs, a base-board outlet must
be installed at a convenient place in the room, so that the electric
cord to the light will not have to be too long nor pass across any part
of the floor where it may trip up the feet of some absent-minded member
of the family.

When the lighting of the small house has been considered from these
angles, the control is then the essential problem. The incoming
feeder, the meter, the house switch and service switch, and the
distributing panel must be located conveniently in the cellar. Often
the distributing panel with its fuses is placed on the first floor for
convenience of replacing a burned out fuse when some line has been
overcharged.

The next matter of control is the location of switches. All central
outlets and general illumination should be controlled by a switch at
the entrance-door to the room. The usual type of switch used is the
so-called three-way switch.

[Illustration: _The 3-way Switch to control light at two places_]

The hall light should be controlled from up-stairs and from
down-stairs. The porch lights and the front and rear door lights should
be switched on and off either from the inside or outside of the house.
One light in the cellar should be governed by a switch at the top of
the cellar stairs. And this is about all the complication of control
necessary.

Now, in addition to the lighting of a house, certain floor and
base-board outlets must be provided for attaching various electrical
devices that have become rather common. In every cellar there should be
at least one special power-current outlet for any household machinery
that might be installed. In the laundry there should be at least two
special outlets to which a washing-machine, a mangle, electric drier,
or an electric iron can be connected.

There should be at least one special outlet in the kitchen to which
may be attached a motor for operating the coffee-grinder, egg-beater,
ice-cream freezer, dish-washer, etc. Sometimes an electric refrigerator
may be installed, in which case an outlet must be provided for this
motor.

Sometimes a special outlet is installed in pantry for a dish-warmer or
water-heater.

In the dining-room a floor outlet should be provided for operating on
the table such things as a toaster, chafing-dish, coffee-percolator,
egg-boiler, etc.

In the living-room a floor outlet will be found useful for such
electric apparatus as would be carried on a tea-table or for running a
home stereopticon.

In the bathroom and in the master’s bedroom a special outlet is useful
to connect up such devices as vibrators, hair-driers, curling-irons,
shaving-mugs, electric heaters, etc.

Base-board outlets of the ordinary type should be distributed
throughout the house to provide convenient connections for vacuum
cleaners and fans.

Most of these electric devices require not more than 600 watts.
Electric irons, toasters, chafing-dishes, coffee-percolators, and other
heating mechanisms use up to this maximum of watts, but motor-operated
machines, like fans and ice-cream freezers, require about 100 watts.

As to the kind of wiring which the architect should specify, he has
a limited choice. The knob-and-tube system is the cheapest, but not
the safest. The flexible cable (BX) is better, although slightly more
expensive. Rigid conduits or flexible steel conduits are not suited
to the economic needs of the small house and are not used, except in
special places. For example, an overhead feed wire may be brought in
from the street at the level of the cornice, and then carried down to
the cellar in a rigid conduit on the outside of the house.

[Illustration: Cleat]

[Illustration:

Knob
Tube]

[Illustration:

Flexible Conduit (BX)
Rigid Conduit]

In addition to the wiring for lighting there must be an independent
system for bell service. The current for such a system must be supplied
by dry batteries when the local power company gives a service of direct
current, but when it supplies an alternating current a transformer can
be used and the bells operated upon this energy. In the kitchen there
should be a magnet-operated annunciator, connected with the front and
rear doors and the dining-room push-button.

In laying out the lighting plans for a small house the standard symbols
shown here are used, but a key should always be given to their meaning
upon some part of the sheet, for it must be appreciated that the
contractor can easily forget.

As an aid to laying out the lighting system on the plans, the following
checking list is suggested, since it is simple.

[Illustration: _SMALL HOUSE ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT LIST_]

Unless specified to the contrary, it is usual to assume that wall
outlets in the living-room are to be placed 5 feet 6 inches above the
floor, in bedrooms 5 feet 4 inches, and in halls 6 feet 3 inches. The
usual height at which switches are placed is 4 feet.

Thus, by using common sense and the phrase in the specifications, “All
work shall meet the requirements of the National Electric Code,” and
requiring the contractor to furnish a certificate of approval for the
entire installation as issued by the Board of Fire Underwriters having
jurisdiction in the community, the architect has a reasonable surety of
securing a good and safe system of wiring and lighting.

XI CONSTRUCTION OF THE TRIM

The wood trim, the doors and windows, and the built-in furniture of
the small house can make or mar its appearance more than any other
one factor. Indeed, in no other form of architecture is the study of
these details more important, and yet in no other type of building is
the limitation of cost more exactingly imposed upon the architectural
treatment of the trim.

[Illustration: The kind of stock trim which some mills continue to keep
on hand]

[Illustration: A good Stock Trim

From “Curtis Co.”]

By the very economy demanded in the small house, the architect must
make the mouldings of his casing in the simplest possible forms. The
trim around doors and windows on the exterior and interior can boast
of no special mouldings. In fact the selection must be made from stock
material or else the cost will be too great. Most planing mills have
standard types of trim, but generally they are very badly designed.
However, one cannot go wrong in using a plain board casing ¾ inch by
3⅝ inches, which has slightly rounded corners. The tops of doors and
windows which have this simple casing should be capped with a fillet
⁷/₁₆ inch, a head casing ¾ inch by 5 inches, and a cap mould 1⅛ inches
by 2 inches. This eliminates the mitred corner, which is of such
doubtful value in cheap work, since most wood trim is not properly
seasoned and will quickly open all mitred joints.

To match this simple trim the window apron should be a plain board
¾ inch by 3⅝ inches, and the stool 1⅛ inches by 3⅝ inches. A plinth
block at the base of the door trim in size 1⅛ inches by 3¾ inches by 7¼
inches will match up with a plain base-board, ¾ inch by 7¼ inches, or
one of similar size, with a cyma recta moulding on top.

If the local mill from which the trim is purchased has stock mouldings
of pleasing design, the architect may safely specify them, but he
should not make the economic mistake of demanding specially designed
casing from full-size details of his own. The small house cannot stand
this additional cost.

[Illustration: Any Mill will have the above in stock]

In selecting the trim, it is always important to bear in mind that it
must harmonize with the walls and have no obtrusive appearance, since
it acts with the walls as a background for the furniture. In Colonial
work the painting of the trim white, pearl-gray, or cream is always
the most pleasing, and so the architect should select a wood which
will best take the paint. White wood and white pine are ideal for this
purpose. Gum wood is good, but there is always the chance that it will
not hold its place and twist. Yellow pine is difficult to paint well,
since the hard summer wood has a tendency to stand out beyond the
softer spring wood, making the surface irregular; but this difficulty
can be overcome if a number of priming coats are used to fill in the
grain before the enamel is applied. It is a mistake to finish the
painted trim with a glossy enamel, for this will destroy its quietness
and background effect. A matte surface of paint or an egg-shell enamel
finish is better.

This same principle should be followed in selecting and treating the
hardwood casing which is not to be painted. The trim should never
be finished with a bright, glossy varnish and stain, for nothing is
more ugly in its final effect. Treat the hardwood trim, such as oak,
chestnut, ash, and the like, with an oil stain; rub in a filler,
stained slightly darker, and then shellac. Over this apply a wax
finish, and rub this down with a shoe brush. Varnish manufacturers make
grades of varnish which give the dull effect of wax, and these can be
used, if desired; but why? Many prefer to even omit the shellac and
depend entirely upon the wax for the gloss.

When trim is delivered to the job, it should not be stored in a damp
place nor fitted in place before the plaster is entirely dry. In fact,
in order to protect the trim from losing its shape, as soon as it comes
on the job a priming coat, or filler, should be applied to it, and the
ends and back painted with white-lead and oil. It will be noticed that
all well-designed trim has a gouged-out space at the back to permit
circulation of air around it, and also to make it easier to fit against
a flat surface of plaster.

[Illustration: Stock Bed Mouldings

Stock Crown Mouldings]

Mouldings for the trim of exterior cornices, string-courses, and the
like are often specially designed by architects for the small house,
but it is a much better plan to use stock mouldings, selecting them
to approximate the design that is desired. Through the efforts of
many concerns the market affords many well-designed stock patterns of
mouldings for exterior purposes. The idea is sound, and makes possible
a great variety of designs through the standardization of parts, but at
the same time cutting down the cost.

Likewise the standardization of doors and windows is another economic
aid for the small house.

As a rule, all exterior doors should be at least 1¾ inches thick, and
of white pine, painted. The veneered door is not a very satisfactory
type for outside use, unless, perhaps, it is protected by the porch,
for even with the best waterproof glue there is a considerable tendency
on the part of the veneer to break away from the soft pine core. Some
consider that the 1⅜-inch-thick door is satisfactory for exterior doors
in the small house, but, generally speaking, it is best to use this
thickness only for interior doors.

Softwood doors, 1¾ inches thick, have panels, if they are raised, only
1⅛ inches thick; while doors 1⅜ inches thick have raised panels only
⁹/₁₆ inch thick, and flat panels ⁵/₁₆ inch thick. The latter is quite
evidently too thin for exterior doors.

Interior doors of veneered woods usually have flat panels, ⁵/₁₆ inch
thick, except the one-panel door, which is as thick as ⁷/₁₆ inch.
Such panels consist of three layers, the two outside veneers and
the interior softwood core with the grain running at right angles
to the veneer. The stiles and rails of well-built veneered doors
are made of built-up pine blocks, glued and locked together, with a
tongue-and-groove joint, and fastened at the corners with hardwood
dowels. Strips of hardwood to match the veneered face should be placed
on each edge of the stiles and rails.

[Illustration: Stock Exterior Doors

Stock Interior Doors]

The common-stock sizes of doors are as follows:

2 feet by 6 feet.
2 feet by 6 feet 6 inches.
2 feet by 6 feet 8 inches.
2 feet 4 inches by 6 feet 6 inches.
2 feet 4 inches by 6 feet 8 inches.
2 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 6 inches.
2 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 8 inches.
2 feet 6 inches by 7 feet.
3 feet by 6 feet 8 inches.
2 feet 8 inches by 7 feet.
3 feet by 6 feet 8 inches.
3 feet by 7 feet.

The commonest type of window for the small house is equipped with the
double-hung sash. This sash should be made of 1⅛-inch white pine,
mortised and tenoned at the corners. The meeting rail ought to be
rabbeted so that water is prevented from seeping through, and the
bottom rail ought also to be rabbeted to fit over a similar rabbet in
the sill. The size of the lower rail is usually 3 inches wide, the
sides and top rails 2 inches wide, and the meeting rail 1⅛ inches wide.
It is generally admitted that a window has little architectural charm
without muntins, and these are made ¾ inch wide, as a rule. The glass
of the window is inserted into the sash frame at least ¼ inch, and
its plane is about one-third in from the outside face of the rails.
The over-all dimensions of a window sash are determined by the size
glass used, and as glass is cut in inches, the over-all dimensions of
a sash will be in fraction of inches. For example, a double-hung sash
of twelve lights, each 8 inches by 10 inches, will give a sash opening
of 2 feet 4½ inches by 3 feet. If the lights measure 9 inches by 12
inches, then the sash size will be 2 feet 7½ inches by 4 feet 6 inches.

[Illustration]

The best type of double-hung window-frame is constructed so that the
blind stop is rabbeted to receive the pulley stile, preventing any wind
from blowing through. The pulley stiles are usually made of yellow
pine, but the outside casing and sills should be of white pine. It is
also a good precaution to have the sill rabbeted to receive the ground
strip, so that air cannot come underneath the sill. The use of 1³/₁₆
inch-thick material is common for all parts of the frame except the
sill, which ought to be 1¾ inches thick. A 2¼-inch depth should be
allowed for the weights in the box, and a space of ⅞ inch left between
the stud and the top of the frame. Parting strips are made ⅜ inch wide.

Where the frame is to be built into a masonry wall, the back of the
weight-box is closed in, and a moulding, called the brick mould, should
be provided for covering the outside joint between frame and masonry.
In order to make this joint tight in hollow-tile construction, it is
essential to stuff the back of the brick mould with elastic roofing
cement.

[Illustration: CASEMENT WINDOWS]

There is not much reason to rehearse here the pros and cons of the
casement window. When such windows open in, the screens and blinds are
easier to handle, but the weather is apt to leak in more. When the
sash opens out, screening is difficult, unless some patent operating
hardware is used, but the window is more weatherproof. In either case,
the difficulty of weathering can be overcome to a large extent by not
attempting to keep out the rain, but lead it down and around the
sides, draining it off at the sill. This is accomplished by cutting a
¼-inch half-round groove around the sides and in the sill to act as
a canal for collecting the water which has seeped in. A few ¼-inch
round weep-holes from the groove in this sill outward will drain this
collection of water off. Casement frames are made of heavier material
than those used for double-hung sash, 1¾ inches being common. As the
sash is hung from the sides like a door, its weight must not be so
great that it will cause it to sag, and for this reason it is customary
to limit the width of sash to 2 feet maximum. Some designers believe
that the sash should also be at least 1¾ inches thick.

[Illustration]

Although blinds add to the cost of the small house without apparently
adding practical value, yet they are one of the most useful mediums
of securing variation of color on the elevations. In Colonial days
shutters served to protect the house, and were made solid with only a
small hole in them, generally of some ornate cut-out design, like a
half-moon, flower-pot, etc. To-day we want slats for ventilation. A
good compromise, then, is to make the lower part of slats and the upper
part solid, with a cut-out design. The stiles and rails of the shutter
are made of 1⅛-inch material, the bottom rail being 3½ inches wide, the
stiles and top rails 2 inches wide. Intermediate rails are often made
2½ inches wide. It is best to project the stile 1 inch below the bottom
of the lower rail, so that water collecting on the sill can drain off
underneath the blind.

In addition to the blinds, the window should be equipped with screens.
These should be of copper, for only this material is economical in the
long run. They are usually made of ¾-inch material, and the lower rail,
stiles, and top rail made 1¾ inches wide.

Other mill work of the exterior, such as porch columns, rails, etc.,
ought to be built up from stock mouldings and patterns. There are
numerous concerns selling well-designed wooden columns. The great
danger of using stock columns, however, is in the fitting. Certain
stock lengths are made with well-planned entasis, but if the design
calls for an intermediate length the column is cut short, which
destroys its proportions. On this basis many select square columns, or
thin wooden columns without much entasis. The illustrations show some
common-stock sizes for other outside trim, such as lattice, top rails,
bottom rails, balusters, etc.

[Illustration]

Of the interior mill work the stairs are the most important. For the
small house they should be very simple, not only for economy but for
appearance. Plain round and square balusters, 1³/₁₆ inch, and two to
a tread, simple hand-rail and simple newel post, 3¾ inches, are more
effective than elaborately turned members. The height of the hand-rail
from the top of the tread to the hand-rail on a line with the face of
the riser should be 2 feet 6 inches. The slope of the stairs should
preferably be confined between 30 degrees and 35 degrees, and the
common proportion between tread and riser should be maintained (tread
and riser = 17½ inches).

[Illustration]

The treads should be of 1⅛-inch hardwood, and the risers of 1³/₁₆-inch
softwood, rabbeted into the riser. Outside strings ought to be ⅝ inch
thick where finishing on a ⅝-inch base. Inside strings should be
1³/₁₆ inches thick. Enclosed stairs between walls should have strings
fitted down on treads and risers, but elsewhere inside strings should
be rabbeted for treads and risers. Newels should be housed out over
supports.

[Illustration: This is what the speculative builder spends money on]

A feature of the small house which is neglected too much is the
installation of built-in furniture. There is a substantial quality
about such furniture which no mobile furniture can possess. The
bookcase built into the wall, the window-seat permanently a part of the
room, a charming mantel-piece, good panelling, built-in china-closets,
tables, and benches in the breakfast alcove, a modern kitchen dresser
with the equipment of a portable cabinet, dressing-tables, and closet
shelves and drawers, medicine-cases and radiator enclosures are
features which add so much to the small house that it seems strange
that they are so often omitted. Many a speculative builder has realized
the value of such furniture and sold his house upon the attractiveness
of it. He knows that the young couple who purchases the small house
usually comes from the small apartment, and has little furniture to
spare. Here then is a place to spend money and not to economize.

XII LESSONS TAUGHT BY DEPRECIATION

What happens to the small house after it has been built? This is a
question which should interest both the architect and builder, because
from the answer can be had some very important lessons in construction.

To know where the weather, mechanical wear and tear, fire and water,
begin the decay of the house is to know where to specify materials
which will give the greatest durability to the whole.

This decay is called the natural depreciation of the house, but it
is the architect’s duty to make this as insignificant as possible.
It is essential to study the local conditions under which the house
will have to stand. At the edge of the seashore, where the damp and
salty winds are prevalent, one would be foolish to specify metal for
screens, gutters, valleys, and leaders, which tended to go to pieces
by corrosion. But in a dry locality the specifying of, say, galvanized
iron for these parts would save money on the initial cost, and might
not cause too great depreciation.

Likewise, the choice of the general materials of which the house is
built should be influenced by the experience of the neighborhood.
A wooden house in a seashore resort requires painting very often,
and perhaps a brick house would in the end be more economical. A
wood-shingle roof on a house, tucked away under the dense trees of a
lake shore, would have a very short life, and the use of some more
permanent material would justify the additional expense.

Indeed, on all hands, in every locality, we have lessons to learn
concerning what happens to a house after it has been built, and how it
might have been avoided. To stimulate the reader to observe more in
this direction we will call attention to some of the most obvious ways
in which a house depreciates.

Examine most houses which have stood for ten to twenty years, and
it will be found that the foundations in nearly every case have
settled unevenly, to a greater or less extent. This may be due to
unforeseen causes, such as the action of underground water, frost, and
disintegration of mortar, but generally it is the result of foundations
built by the rule of the thumb. A wooden house seems so light that the
average builder never bothers to consider the footings nor the loadings
on them. Many walls are built without any footings at all, even though
part of them rest on stone and other parts on earth. Now, of course,
nothing serious as a rule comes of this slightly uneven settlement,
but, add it to other things, and the depreciation of the property goes
on rapidly.

[Illustration: Uneven Settlement]

As an example of this, one house might be mentioned which was greatly
marred by the settling of the footings under the porch columns. These
columns supported the second floor, which projected over the porch.
The amount of settlement was only about two inches, but this caused
the windows to lose their rectangular shape, making the operation of
the sash impossible, destroyed the drainage direction of the gutters,
necessitating the relocation of the leaders and the repitching of the
gutters, opened up the crack between the floor and the base-board, and
made a large crack in the plaster wall and ceiling. The cause of it all
was the building of the porch column footings upon filled-in earth,
while the foundations of the rest of the house were upon rock. Uneven
settlement was sure to take place under such conditions.

This same damaging effect of settlement is often noticeable in wooden
frame houses, which have not been properly constructed to avoid uneven
distribution of cross-section wood in the walls and partitions.
Wherever there is a difference of cross-section of wood in two walls
which support the same beams, there is sure to be uneven settling.
The wall which has the greatest number of linear inches vertically of
horizontally laid timbers will settle the most. This will cause sagging
floors, sprung door frames, and open joints.

Many cracked stucco walls on the exterior have been caused by too much
cross-section wood in their framing. A balloon-framed wall makes the
best backing for an outside wall of stucco, because the studs extend
from sill to plate without any horizontal timbers intervening.

But it can always be predicted that the masonry walls and parts of the
house will settle before the wooden walls and partitions. The chimney
will settle more rapidly than the surrounding partitions of wood, and
should, for this reason alone, be built entirely independent of any
other part of the structure. Where the wooden framed wall butts into a
chimney and the plaster is continuous over the brick of the chimney and
the studs of the wall, there is sure to develop a crack at the joint
because of the unequal settlement, unless the plaster is reinforced at
this point with metal lath. Likewise, it is bad to support any part of
the wooden floor upon a girder which bears upon the chimney, not only
on account of the excessive sinking of the chimney, but the subsequent
danger of fire which it creates.

[Illustration]

A very bad method of constructing a chimney was imported from Europe,
years ago, which develops serious fire dangers from its manner of
settling. Instead of flashing and counter-flashing the joint of the
chimney with the roof, this method employed the use of a projecting
course of brick begun at the level of the roof. Thus the part of the
chimney above the shingle roof was made larger than that underneath,
and the outward step was used as a weather lap over the roofing
material, and no flashing was needed to make the joint tight. Now, when
the chimney settled faster than the roof, as it would, the upper part
could not drop, but was caught upon the roof, and lifted from the lower
part. This made a crack through which the hot gases could escape to the
attic timbers and start a fire.

On the other hand, wooden framed walls will settle badly, too, when
dry rot sets into the sills. This is a very common defect in old
houses, and generally, when any remodelling must be done, the sills
have to be cut out and new ones set into place. Dry rot in the sills
is caused by excessive dampness with no circulation of air. Very often
a builder may take great pains to fire-stop his walls around the sill,
but forget to leave ventilation space, and the sill is soon attacked by
the fungus of rot. Unless timbers which come in contact with masonry
are treated with creosote, or painted, they will be subject to dry rot
in the average damp, warm climate.

[Illustration: Solid Column]

Many porch columns rot at their base and permit the settling of the
roof. Solid columns are the least durable in this respect, for in a
short time their core will go bad and the lower part will crumble.
Wood base blocks for columns should be perforated with holes to permit
the seepage of water under them. Cast-iron bases are preferred to the
wooden one, when the column is to set upon a masonry porch floor.

Settling causes many other defects besides those mentioned. The
house-drain may be broken and the cellar flooded with sewage, if the
wall around the pipe has been cemented up and it settles. The pitch of
drain-pipes may be altered so much that back-up action of waste water
may occur; steps may be caused to sag so that they become unsafe;
lintels may be broken.

The movement of the footings by frost is another evil that is
noticeable in many old houses. Sidewalks are cracked, porch stairs
loosened, drains in areas closed. In most cases like this the footings
are not extended far enough below the frost-line, or insufficient
cinder foundations are laid.

[Illustration: Weathered Chimney]

But the action of freezing water leaves its marks on other parts of
the house. Unless some corrugations in leaders are made, the ice in the
winter may burst them. The mortar on copings is loosened by this
action, and on chimney tops, where heat and gases also help, the
brickwork soon breaks down. Many failures of stucco work are directly
caused by frost, and sometimes water leaks into the cells of hollow
terra-cotta blocks, freezes, and bursts out the shell-like sides.
The putty around the window is loosened by the drying action of the
wind, and the prying action of the frost. Water-supply pipes in wall
near the outside are broken when the cold winds freeze them, and the
exposed gas-pipes in the chilly parts of the cellar are often entirely
clogged in a severe winter. Leaks around windows in masonry walls are
started by frost, and it is common to see tile on the porch floor, or
brick borders and bases loosened by the same powerful agent that breaks
boulders from the mountainsides.

The heat of the sun is another destroyer of the house. It is death
on paint, for it is forever baking it in the steam of the dew of the
previous night, and when the body of linseed-oil is gone, the paint is
no good. And it dries out the wood too much some days and spoils the
jointing. It warps boards up and opens the mitred joints. It causes
the wood shingles to crack and shrivel, so that when the next heavy
rain comes the ceilings are stained by leaks. Tar for the roof and soft
cements are caused to run out of place.

Then, too, there is the deteriorating influence of the artificial heat
inside of the house. The fireplace tiles are baked loose from their
mortar beds, cast-iron dampers are cracked, chimneys are clogged with
soot and catch fire, and thimbles which receive the smoke-pipe of the
furnace are broken. But the heat from the radiator does much damage. It
blackens the ceiling above it by hurling little particles of dust up
against it; it warps and twists the wall-paper; it misshapes the doors
and windows, and breaks loose the strips of veneer, and it often spills
water over the floor to ruin the ceilings below.

Added to all of the above depreciation is the natural wear and tear
caused by the tenants. Floors are worn to splinters where they were
of flat-grain wood; thresholds are thinned down, stair tread scooped
out. Plaster is broken by moving furniture, and decorations stained by
accidents of all varieties. Locks, hinges, and bolts are broken.

Particularly is the mechanical equipment of the house subject to
such deteriorating influences. Plumbing fixtures are broken, pipes
are clogged, and joints made to leak through the corroding action of
strong acids poured down the pipes. Radiator valves are turned out of
adjustment, boilers are burned out, and hundreds of other things happen
to this part of the house because of careless hands.

Thus we may say that the important factors of depreciation which an
architect should keep in mind are unequal settlement, action of frost,
washing-out effects of rain-water, corrosion, the heat of the sun, the
artificial heat of the furnace, and the foolishness of tenants.

Unequal settlement can be prevented by carefully examining the
construction, and the action of frost, heat, and sun can be minimized
by the use of proper materials, and the foolishness of tenants can be
partly offset by selecting those mechanical devices which are as near
fool-proof as human hands can make them.

XIII SELECTING MATERIALS FROM ADVERTISEMENTS

In the planning of the construction of the small house, the architect
has many problems of selection, such as the choosing of this brand of
roofing material from among many makes or the specifying of this type
of furnace from among many patterns, and, in fact, the selection of
the best type and the best materials which the market affords in all
branches of structural and mechanical devices. If he does not specify
any one brand, but merely states that the contractor shall use an
approved make of paint or an acceptable brand of hydrated lime, he has
merely deferred his ultimate choice in the matter to a later date,
for in the end he must decide whether the particular make or brand
is acceptable, and in order to do this he must know enough about the
various makes and brands on the market to judge wisely and in a fair
spirit, for the chief motive in back of the contractor’s choice will be
rather one of money than quality.

[Illustration]

The problem, therefore, which confronts the architect in acting as
judge of materials and brands as to their quality is very serious and
extremely full of pitfalls, and outside of his personal experience
and that of his friends, the choice must be made upon the claims of
the manufacturers as presented in advertisements. Now, of course,
the difficulties which advertising literature presents are the
overstatements which are found in them and the suppression of facts
which appear to the makers as derogatory of their product. But if the
circulars of information and advertising statements are collected
for any one type of mechanism or any one type of material or system
of construction, it will be found that the truth of the matter will
be implanted in the accumulated statements of the various concerns
manufacturing these mechanisms or materials. What one manufacturer
does not say another will, and very often a rival firm will reveal the
defects of its competitor’s products by its advertisements. In fact,
if you want to find out what is the “nigger in the wood-pile,” read
the advertisements of a rival manufacturer. Of course it is not good
taste in advertising to knock the other fellow’s products, but general
statements are made which are enough to enlighten the alert reader as
to what should be the good points to look for.

For example, suppose the architect knew little or nothing about what
should be the good qualities of a hot-air furnace of the pipeless type,
but had before him the advertisements of various makers which we will
designate as _A_, _B_, _C_, _D_, and _E_, although the quotations which
are given are accurately taken from real advertisements of well-known
firms, the identity of which we have purposely concealed under the
assumed titles of the letters of the alphabet.

Let us pick up advertisement of (_A_) manufacturer, and select what
appear to be the important statements which occur in it. We read:
“The grate is slightly cone-shaped, which breaks up all clinkers and
makes the fuel roll toward the wall of the fire-pot, where air is
mixed with the gas. This generates a much greater degree of heat than
it is possible to obtain with the old duplex and flat grates, and
clinkers that would form and be wasted in other furnaces are thereby
consumed.” From this the architect has learned to consider the question
of the grate, and certainly he has definitely found out what is the
disadvantage of the furnaces which use the old duplex or flat grates.
It ought to be his aim to ask the manufacturer of furnaces using these
types of grates what they have to say in defense of this indictment.

But let us continue to read: “The ash-pit is large and roomy on
the inside, and is provided with a very large door, which makes it
convenient for the removal of ashes.” It is evident from this that
there are furnaces on the market which have this defect of too small an
ash-pit and door. The architect can then mentally pigeonhole this as a
point to be considered in examining a furnace.

Continuing our reading we come across this statement: “The (_A_)
radiator is cast in one piece, with no joints to be cemented or bolted
together.” This is evidently a reflection upon the weaknesses of other
makes which have radiators that are bolted and cemented together, and
on investigation we soon learn that furnaces often have leaky radiators
which permit the coal-gas to escape into the warm air delivered through
the house. Here is a definite defect to be remembered.

Suppose we turn now to advertisement (_B_), and here we read the
following: “Insulating air-chamber acts as a positive division between
the bodies of warm and return air.” This is certainly a hint of a
possible defect in a furnace. Perhaps not all of the furnaces are
adequately insulated at this division between the bodies of returning
cold air and the outgoing warm air, with the resulting loss of
efficiency and sluggishness of circulation.

Reading on in the same advertisement we find the following: “The
(_B_) smoke-plate is an added precaution against the leakage of smoke
and gas.” Evidently there is some possibility of smoke leaking into
the warm air, or else this device would not have been suggested, and
probably there are some furnaces where this is a very serious objection.

Turning to the next advertisement, (_C_), we read: “Only the best grade
of iron goes into the casting.” This is another consideration; for
evidently, from the following, certain types of furnaces do not use
the best castings, and give trouble. “Breakdowns and imperfections are
reduced to a minimum. The endless series of treatments and repairs is
never required.”

A further reading tells us that “the humidifier is ample capacity,”
which statement suggests the possibility that not all humidifiers are
large enough.

But look what advertisement (_D_) informs us: “No heat lost by being
radiated through casing into cellar.” This is certainly an interesting
point to consider. And reading on we learn: “Long fire-travel in
radiator insures a cool smoke-pipe and there is no fuel wasted.” This
is surely a matter of design that ought to be observed in good furnaces.

Still another fact is brought to light by “Fire-pot—one piece,
heavy-ribbed for purposes of increasing its radiating surface and to
give it greater power of resistance against expansive force of the
fire.”

But here is something none of the other advertisements have told us:
“Steel radiators are preferable for the use of hard coal; cast-iron
radiators for soft or hard coal or wood.” Also: “Radiators can be
turned in either direction, thereby permitting smoke-pipe to be
connected with chimney from the most advantageous point.”

Finally, when we read in advertisement (_E_) the following, “Grate-bars
are quickly removed and replaced. No bolts used,” we wonder whether
other furnaces use bolts, and whether there is a real objection to them.

Taking the information given in these advertisements, we can now make
the following list of points to be considered in selecting any one make:

1. Is the grate so designed that clinkers will not
form?

2. Are the grate-bars easily removable?

3. Is the ash-pit large and roomy and is the door
amply large?

4. Is the radiator in one piece or so well fastened
that it is gas-tight?

5. Is the radiator steel or a high grade of cast-iron?

6. Is the inner casing so well insulated that it
prevents premature heating of the descending
air-currents?

7. What protection is there to prevent the chance
passage of smoke into the warm air-chamber?

8. Is the outer casing properly insulated to prevent
the waste of heat into the cellar?

9. Is the humidifier of ample capacity?

10. How is the fire-pot designed to increase the
efficiency of its radiating surface and how is it
strengthened against the expansive force of the
fire?

11. Is there a long enough passage for fire-travel,
so that no waste of heat is lost up the chimney?

12. Is the radiator flexible enough to permit of
the connection of the smoke-pipe from the most
advantageous point?

Most certainly this is an array of matters to be considered in the
selection of a furnace which no one, except an expert, would think of,
but they are all drawn from the advertisements, and this process of
study is open to any one who is interested in learning the technical
difficulties involved in the selection of this particular mechanical
device. Perhaps not all of the knowledge gained is scientific, but
at least there are stimulating bits of information that should be
investigated.

Let us take one more example of this amusing game of comparing
advertisements as applied to roofing materials. Here we will find many
conflicting statements, but out of the whole battle of words we can
glean some interesting truths.

Turn to advertisement (_A_) and we read the following: “Nearly every
objection to wood shingles as a roof-covering is applicable to slates,
which have still other adverse features. Slates are not fireproof.
Ask the underwriter how the insurance companies regard them, and
especially how, in comparison with clay tiles, they are not permanent,
though more so than wood shingles.... Slates attract lightning, and
while the sun warps shingles and the wind rips them off, slates are
easily broken, and if there is even a slight settlement or vibration,
repairs are necessary. Moisture gets under them, and during the winter
months especially causes them to lift up and break off. When the ice
thaws, the broken pieces slide out, leaving a defective place in the
roof. This will happen every winter with a slate roof, and to keep such
a roof in perfect condition it must be gone over each spring and the
broken slates replaced with new ones.”

Turning to advertisement (_B_) for asbestos shingles we read a
different point of view: “Unfortunately, however, slate, particularly
that which is obtainable on the market at present, does not last much
longer than _clay tile_ or tin shingles.”

But reading from advertisement (_C_) we are amused at the following:
“Slate being solid rock, they simply cannot wear out. They cannot
rust, decay, crack, tear, warp, shrink, disintegrate, melt, burn, or
smoulder. They will not contract or expand under the influence of heat
or cold. They never need painting. They will not attract lightning—nor
will they permit the growth of moss or decaying vegetable matter....
One of the most important advantages is from the insurance standpoint.
Many roofs (not alone wooden shingles) are highly inflammable; but
a slate roof will not ignite from sparks from fire in an adjacent
building, from passing locomotives, or from any other cause. This fact
is so well recognized that insurance companies allow a very substantial
reduction in rates on slate-roofed buildings.”

The contradictory statements here are very amusing, but the truth can
be seen between the lines, that the makers of clay tile really believe
that slate is their real rival, and have searched very hard to pick
flaws in it as a material for roofing. And when the advertisement of
the asbestos shingle manufacturer is read, we learn that slate does
not last much longer than clay tile. But both are insistent upon the
opinion of the fire underwriters, and for this reason we naturally turn
to see what they have to say, and we find that both slate and tile are
under Class A roofing materials, with little difference made between
them. As for the point of attracting lightning, why is slate used for
switchboards if it is as good a conductor of electricity as a statement
of the above type would imply? It is quite evident that one’s opinion
of slate after all this controversy will be about on a par with one’s
opinion of clay tile, and that one will realize that poor grades of
either slate or tile, or poor workmanship, are rather more the causes
of failure than the material itself.

Many more examples might be given of this interesting method of
learning the truth from advertisements, but the principle in all cases
remains the same, so that further quotations would only amuse rather
than instruct.

XIV ROOFING MATERIALS

A roofing material should not be judged by its first appearance, but
rather by its condition after four or five winters have passed over it.
And in choosing the roof for the small house, this is a statement which
applies with even greater emphasis, since the temptation is magnified
to select that material which is low in cost and bright upon its first
appearance.

As an illustration, there are certain types of wood-shingle roofs
which have a charm in the beginning that is apt to disappear with age.
These are constructed of shingles, dipped in many varieties of colored
creosote stains, browns, reds, greens, blues, yellows, and the like,
and when newly laid have a warm, mottled, and colorful texture which
suggests the multiplicity of tone that nature often produces with age.
In fact, the designer who originated this roof was trying to imitate
the aging effect of nature, much as Tiffany glass is an imitation of
the effect of time upon certain ancient glasses; only in the latter
case the operation is the same but the time element reduced, while in
the case of the roof it is a theatrical imitation of nature at work.

And there are many other fads in roofing, all of which have as their
basis the imitation of the weathering effect of nature. Ridge-poles
are constructed with a sag to resemble the settlement which is often
observed in picturesque old houses. Shingles are laid, like the scales
of an armadillo, and ridges, hips, and eaves are rounded to present
the appearance of old thatched roofs. Asbestos shingles are broken
with rough edges, and defective tiles are used—all for the purpose of
giving that ragged appearance which nature develops with age. Now, to
a certain extent there is an element of architectural truth in such
devices, but they should be used with the greatest discretion, for, as
has been previously asked: “If a roof looks old when it is new, how old
does it look when it really is old?”

Before discussing the various methods of laying roofing materials, let
us observe some of them after they have been on the house for a few
years.

Of course, we are all familiar with the short life of the wooden
shingle, which is only about fifteen years. But the life can be
extended by dipping them into creosote stains, either just before
laying or by the more convenient processes of factory dipping. Cedar
has been found to be the best wood for these shingles, since it has
a natural resistance to decay. The old hand-split shingles were more
durable than the modern shingles, for the surface that they exposed
to the weather was the natural cleavage plane of the wood fibres. The
sawed shingle delights in curling and twisting out of a flat plane, and
always seems to split so that the crack lines up with the space between
the shingles on the course above, thus permitting the rain to leak
through. And then the nails either rust away or the wood rots around
them, until individual shingles drop away from the others, leaving
small or large holes in the roof. It is well recognized that the sparks
from a neighboring fire find a ready meal in the punk and rotten butts
of the shingles, and many a house has been burned to the ground because
of this.

The nearest competitor to the wooden shingle in cost is the asphalt
shingle, which is made from roofing felt, saturated with asphalt
compounds, and surfaced, under pressure, with crushed slate of greenish
or red hue. The life of these shingles depends a great deal upon
the thickness of the body. Some roofs, laid with very thin asphalt
shingles, develop an appearance of chicken-pox after a year or two,
for the heating effect of the sun, the lifting force of the wind and
ice cause certain individual shingles to bend up from the plane of the
roof and, in extreme cases, even flap in a heavy gale, like so many
small pin-feathers. But this is not so true of the thicker grades of
these shingles. Often, too, these asphalt shingles bulge under the hot
sun, but this is due to careless laying, for each shingle should be
separated from the other by a small space to allow for this expansion.
It takes a good many years for the crushed slate on the surface to
wear off, but gradually this happens, as also the elasticity of the
body degenerates. Finally, as the surface begins to moult, the shingle
itself becomes stiff and brittle and begins to break off. Of course,
these shingles are superior to wood in resisting sparks from a near-by
fire, and their life is longer, if they have a thick enough body.

That same material used for asphalt shingles is made into roll
roofings. So-called shingle strips are made, which consist of long,
narrow rolls of asphalted felt with the crushed slate surface, the
lower edge of which is cut out to form the lower third of the shingles,
and, when applied to the roof, the appearance is identical to a roof
laid with individual units. Another type of roll roofing is made to
imitate wood shingles, by having a shingle pattern stamped with black
asphalt upon the surface of crushed slate. It is laid on the roof from
the ridge down to the eaves, lapping joints with the next roll about
two inches. At a distance the black pattern gives the camouflaged
appearance of a shingle roof. The chief objection to any of these roofs
is that the long and large areas are nailed down along the edges so
that the sag and expansion of the material raises little bumps and
hills over the entire roof, which, to say the least, is very unsightly.
Then, again, the nails are exposed, and unless they are copper, the
chances are that they will rust away before the roof is worn out,
permitting the edges to become loose and the wind to get under the
material and rip it away from the roof. Moreover, the roll roofing has
only one thickness at any point, while the shingle roofing has either
two or three layers over the entire area of the roof.

The cheaper grades of slate roof, such as one would be tempted to use
on the small house, show weaknesses in aging that should not be used as
arguments against slate roofs in general. These cheap roofs are built
up of poorer grades of slate, and very thin sheets at that, and a poor
grade of nail is used. The effect of weathering on such roofs is to
chip off pieces of slate and to rust the nails, so that whole units
drop off. Generally, too, in these cheap slate roofs, the tar paper is
omitted from underneath, and the wind suction through the roof draws
the snow through the cracks onto the floor of the attic, where it melts
and stains the ceilings below. However, properly selected and well-laid
slate roofs have none of these disadvantages, but then the cost of them
is generally a barrier to using them on the small house.

As with the slate roof, so with the tile roof, the cost is generally
the reason for not selecting it, and yet, from an economical point of
view, in the end they are not as expensive, since with the less durable
roofs one is never sure of how much damage to the interior a leak will
cause. Tile roofs of poor quality have as bad reputations as slate
roofs. Small, thin tile are very brittle, and falling limbs and other
objects often break individual tiles, and it is very hard to replace
them. Unless the tile are laid upon a building-paper the wind suction
is even worse than with slate roofs.

Probably the greatest defects in tile or slate roofs is not in the
material itself, but in the flashings and valley construction. Instead
of using copper the flashings are usually of tin, which is permitted to
rust out because of neglect in painting. Leaks develop in the valleys
and around chimneys in spite of the roofing material.

While asbestos shingles can show great practical durability, even
superior to slate and tile in some cases, yet there are many instances
of ugly weathering. Tile and slate roofs develop warm, lovely tones
with age. Asbestos shingles, since they are chiefly made from cement
under pressure, must necessarily depend for their color upon inert
pigments introduced into their composition at the time of manufacture,
and for this reason their color is apt rather to fade than become
richer with age. Their tendency is to return to the natural color of
the cement. For this reason we see on every hand red asbestos shingle
roofs which have bleached out to sickly and thirsty pinks, and brown
roofs that have blanched to whitish-brown, much like the color which
chocolate candy develops when it is very stale. Then, too, certain
makes of asbestos shingles show, as time goes on, salt-like deposits on
the surface, like the whitewash which appears upon brick walls. This
gives a motley appearance to the roof, for some shingles will develop
this white stain more than others.

The reader should not draw from these statements the general conclusion
that the asbestos shingles should not be used, and that there have been
none made that overcome the above difficulties, but it would be well
for him to observe these defects before deciding upon any one brand.

The manufacturers of tin advise that the tin be painted on both sides
when laid, and thereafter kept painted at four to five-year intervals.
In other words, the tin roof is as good-looking as the paint which
covers it, for it has no color or texture of its own. Can there be much
charm in a roof of this kind? Can one picture a cosey and homelike
small house with either a flat or standing seam tin roof? Perhaps the
flat decks which do not show are satisfactory, when covered with tin,
but those upon which any walking is to be done should be covered with
wood lattice or else the nails of the shoes may punch through the tin
and cause a leak. Tin roofs have their place and their duty to perform,
but they are hardly suited to flat roofs over which is to be done much
walking. Heavy deck canvas, laid in paint and covered with paint,
is the best for this purpose. The ferry-boats give evidence of the
practical wear of this kind of roof.

Tin or galvanized-iron shingles or imitation tiles are often seen
applied to the roofs of small houses. The owner probably admired a real
tile roof, and the nearest approach his pocketbook would permit him to
come to it was the use of imitation tile of tin, copper, or galvanized
iron. Most architects ridicule this peculiar weakness in human nature
which chooses imitation diamonds, glass pearls, oil-paper stained-glass
windows, and pressed-metal tiles, instead of real ones, but they should
look to themselves before they throw stones, and ask who invented the
imitation thatched roof of wooden shingles.

_Shingle Roof_

The wooden-shingle roof is of such old and traditional origin in this
country that it seems useless to describe the essential features of its
construction, yet for the sake of completeness we shall call attention
to the important points to be observed. Cypress, cedar, and redwood
are considered to be the best woods from which to saw shingles. The
grain of the wood should be vertical and show the edge. It is generally
conceded that creosote-dipped shingles which are treated at the
factory are easier to apply than those dipped on the job, and, as all
wood shingles should be treated with some preservative, it is well to
consider them. However, much criticism has been aimed at factory-dipped
shingles, in that they are generally too brittle from overdrying in the
kilns, but this is not true of all makes. The sizes and the weathering
of some of the standard creosoted shingles are as follows:

16 inches lengths, random widths, laid 4½ inches to
the weather, and either 5 or 6 shingles at the
butt ends to 2 inches.

18 inches lengths, random widths, laid 5½ inches to
the weather, and 5 butt ends to 2½ inches.

24 inches lengths, random widths, laid 7½ inches to
the weather, and ½ inch thick at the butt ends.

There are about thirty varieties of colored stains to select from, and
special shapes are cut for constructing the so-called thatched roof,
the shingles being bent to a curve of about 20 inches radius. The pitch
of wooden-shingle roofs should not be less than 8 inches rise per foot
for the ordinary weathering shown in the above statements. The tops of
rafters are covered with shingle lath, with a spacing suitable to the
weathering arrangement of the shingles. There are some who advocate
the use of sheathing to cover the rafters in a tight manner and also
the use of building-paper underneath the shingles, but, although this
gives a tighter and warmer roof, dry rot attacks the shingle much
quicker because of the accumulation of dampness on the under side of
the shingle courses.

The first course of shingles at the eaves should be a double course
with the upper layer breaking joints with the lower, and the shingles
should project about 2 inches beyond the mouldings of the eaves and
about 1½ inches beyond the edge of the gable ends of the roof.

Hips may be finished either with the saddle-board or with a row of
shingles running parallel to the line of the ridge. Hips are best
finished with a row of shingles running parallel with their edges,
which treatment is called the Boston hip. If the courses are carried
to the hip line and mitred, then the joint must be waterproofed by
using tin shingles underneath the wooden ones, these tin shingles
being folded over the hip. The method of flashing around chimneys, at
the base of dormers, and in open valleys will be more fully discussed
in connection with slate roofs, and, since the principles are the
same, what is said for slate roofs in this connection is true for
wooden-shingle roofs.

_Method of Laying Roofs_

SLATE

There has been much made of the so-called European method of laying
slate roofs in recent years, but this type of roof costs more than the
ordinary slate roof, since special heavy slate is used at the eaves,
and the weathering is reduced as the courses approach the ridge, and
special care is taken in blending colored slates. While this type of
roof is very beautiful, it is really, from a point of view of cost,
rather out of the race when applied to the small house, for it will be
hard enough to stretch the estimates of the small house to include even
the ordinary slate roof.

In the preparation of the ordinary slate roof, the rafters should be
covered with ⅞-inch thick, tongued-and-grooved roofing-boards. In
order to prevent buckling, if they should swell with dampness, it is
essential not to drive the joints between boards up too tight. As these
boards are surfaced only on one side, this side is laid against the
rafters and the tongues are placed upward so that a better shedding of
water is secured. Good nailing with tenpenny nails is important, and
all joints at ends of boards should be made over rafters. A cheaper but
not so good a bed for the slate can be made with common, unsurfaced
sheathing-boards. In the cheapest kind of work sheathing-boards are not
used, but only shingles lath.

Over the top of this rough boarding should be tacked 11 pounds per 100
square feet slater’s roofing felt, laid horizontally and lapping joints
3 inches.

The usual commercial sizes of slates are ³/₁₆ inch thick, and of the
following standard sizes: 6 by 12 inches, 7 by 12 inches, 8 by 12
inches, 7 by 14 inches, 8 by 14 inches, 10 by 14 inches, 8 by 16
inches, 9 by 16 inches, 10 by 16 inches, 12 by 16 inches, 9 by 18
inches, 10 by 18 inches, 12 by 18 inches, 10 by 20 inches, 12 by 20
inches, 11 by 22 inches, 12 by 22 inches, and 12 by 24 inches. They
have two holes in each piece for nails, which nails should be 1-inch
copper slater’s nails, or 3d galvanized slater’s nails for cheaper work.

The first course should be started 2 inches below the line of the
sheathing-boards at the eaves, and the necessary tilt is given with a
³/₁₆ by 1 inch cant strip. A double thickness of slate is used for the
first course, the upper layer breaking joints with the lower. At the
gable ends the slate should not overhang more than 1½ inches.

The exposure to the weather for courses of slate is determined by
taking one-half of the length of the slate minus 3 inches.

The ridges of the roof may be finished in two ways, either with the
combed ridge or the saddle ridge. The combed ridge is formed by
projecting a finishing course and a combing course of slate on the
north or east side of the roof 1½ inches beyond the top and combing
course on the opposite side of the roof. Both courses are laid with
slate set lengthwise, the length being twice the width of the slate
used on the roof. This last course is laid in elastic roofing cement,
and the nails are also covered with it.

The saddle ridge is formed by alternately butting the ends of the top
course on one side with the top course on the other, and then doing the
same with the combing course. This makes a zigzag joint which is closed
by the elastic cement used in setting.

The Boston hip is the best. Each course is brought at its upper or
nailing edge to within 2 inches of the hip line. A small strip of slate
then finishes this off by fitting to a mitre cut made on a slate set
parallel with the line of the hip. These hip slates have the lower
corner of their butt ends on a line with the next lower course, and
they are lapped with the opposite hip slate and made tight with roofing
cement.

[Illustration: SLATE ROOF]

Hips may also be finished by bringing each course up to the hip line,
and mitring them with the opposite courses on the other side of the hip.

Valleys should be lined with 16 ounces copper, 4 pounds lead, IX tin,
or a prepared roofing roll weighing 37 pounds per 108 square feet.
Measuring from the centre of the valley to the edge of the slate along
the valley, this distance should be 2 inches at the top and increase ½
inch in every 8 feet length of valley, to widen it out toward the
bottom. The flashing should extend up under the slate on either side
about two-thirds the width of the slate used. If 8-inch by 16-inch
slates are used, this means that the distance should be about 5 inches.
If the slopes of the two intersecting roofs are different, and there is
a chance that the volume of water sweeping down the larger and steeper
incline may be forced up under the slate at the valleys, the metal
lining should be crimped up (inverted V-shape) at the centre, 1 inch,
to form a little dam against the rush of the flood.

[Illustration: SLATE DETAILS]

Flashing used against chimneys, dormers, or other vertical walls
should be bent up 4 inches and extend into the slate courses 4 inches.
All vertical flashings against masonry should be cap-flashed and made
tight with elastic cement. The cap-flashing should extend down over the
flashing 3 inches, and be inserted into the masonry at least 2 inches.

[Illustration]

Sometimes the closed valley is designed for slate roofs, in which
case the valleys must be rounded out with the roofing-boards, blocked
to position. The slate courses should be carried around this curved
valley, but each course in the valley should be covered with flashing
just under the lap of the course above and extend up toward the nails.

TILE ROOFING

Preparations of the roof for the laying of tile should follow similar
lines described for slate roofs. Over the roofing-boards should be
tacked asphalt roofing felt, weighing not less than 30 pounds per 100
square feet and lapping 2½ inches.

The valleys should be lined with this felt, running the entire length,
and then the flashing metal placed on top, secured with clips at
intervals. The width of the valley metal should not be less than 24
inches, and both edges should be turned up ¼ inch the entire length of
the strip. The felt covering the main surface of the roof should lap
over the valley metal 4 inches.

Cant strips must be nailed along the eaves to start the first course of
tile, unless special tiles are provided. Copper nails should be used to
fasten these tiles, and each unit should be locked with the next, as
the pattern demands.

[Illustration: Tile Roof]

Tiles which border the hips should be cut close against the hip board,
and elastic cement used to make the joint tight. All hips and ridges
are finished with specially designed ridge and hip roll tiles, and the
interior spaces should be left empty and not be filled with pointing
mortar as is sometimes done.

ASBESTOS SHINGLES

Asbestos shingles are applied in practically the same way as slate.
Over the roofing-boards should be laid slater’s felt as for a slate
roof, and a cant strip ¼ by 1½ inches should be nailed along the eaves
line to start the first course of asbestos shingles, which should be
a double course and overhang the eaves 1½ inches. The average size of
asbestos shingles is 9 by 18 inches by ¼ inch for the lower layer of
the first course, and 8 by 16 inches by ⅛ inch for the upper layer of
the first course and the other courses. They are laid about 7 inches to
the weather, and the ridges and hips may be finished with the Boston
hip, or by a specially designed ridge and hip roll. Where the hip roll
is used the ridge-pole should project above the roof, or a false one be
added so that a substantial nailing can be had for this tile.

The most widely advertised asbestos shingle roofs employ shingles
which have rough edges, and which have various shades of coloring,
some gray, some red, others reddish brown, and others grayish brown.
The causes which led to the development of this type of roof were the
artistic failures of the first asbestos shingle roofs. These early
roofs were made with shingles which had edges as smooth and sharp as
steel plates, surface texture as slick as a trowelled cement floor,
and colors of either gray or pale red that were so perfectly matched
that at a distance the individual shingles blended into one dead-level
plane, so that the roof of the house looked more like the armored plate
of a battleship than anything else—it was so perfectly made.

ASPHALT SHINGLES

Before laying asphalt shingles the rafters should be covered with
tongued and grooved roofing-boards, and these covered with black
waterproof building-paper, lapped 2 inches.

[Illustration: ASPHALT SHINGLES]

There are two types of asphalt shingle units. One consists of a unit
of twin shingles, so arranged that the butt ends which show to the
weather appear as two individual shingles, and the other consists of
one shingle unit. Both types are usually laid 4 inches to the weather
and nailed with 1-inch galvanized nails No. 10 wire with ⅜-inch heads.
At the eaves should be nailed a galvanized-metal drip edge, and over
this a double course of shingles for the first course. Hips and ridges
are finished with what appears to be a Boston hip, but the shingles are
bent over the hip line. The valleys and gutters are best when they are
lined with strips of ready roofing similar to the shingles themselves.

Asphalt shingles which come in long rolls or units of four or five are
laid in a similar manner, except that, due to their continuous length,
they are unable to expand without bulging up on the roof.

TIN ROOFS

Flat roofs, with an incline of about ½ inch to the foot, should be
covered with the flat-seam roof. The standing seam may be used on roofs
with a pitch not less than 2 inches to the foot. The tin is laid upon
the sheathing-boards without an intermediate layer of building-paper;
in fact, tar paper should never be used. In cities building codes often
require that tin roofs should be laid upon roofing felt ¹/₁₆ inch
thick, placed over the sheathing-boards, but this is a fire precaution
against burning brands which may drop upon the roof, for this felt
cushion gives an air insulation, preventing the quick ignition of the
decking below the tin.

[Illustration: Tin Roofs]

In laying the flat-seam roof a number of sheets are fastened together
to form a long strip of tin. The edges are bent over ½ inch, so that
they can be interlocked with the next strip. The tin is fastened to the
roof with tin cleats that lock into the seams of the sheets and are
fastened at the other end with two 1-inch barbed-wire nails. These
cleats are spaced about 8 inches apart. All the seams are flattened
down, and solder well sweated into them, rosin being the only flux used.

Tin, approximately in thickness 30-gauge, U. S. Standard, is called IC,
and recommended for the roof proper, while valleys and gutters should
be lined with IX tin, approximately 27-gauge. It should be painted on
both sides, before laying, with pure linseed-oil and red lead, or red
oxide, Venetian red, or metallic brown. Two coats should be given to
the exposed side and a third coat about a year later. Before the second
coat is applied the first should have dried for at least two weeks.

The construction of the standing seam roof is shown in the drawings
to consist of long strips of tin, made of standard sheets fastened
together with the flat and soldered seam, but the edges of the strips
fastened to the next strip with the so-called standing seam, which must
run parallel to the pitch of the roof. Cleats, spaced a foot apart, are
used to fasten the tin to the sheathing-boards. One edge of the next
strip is turned up 1½ inches, and then over the top of the edge of the
other strip. The cleat is locked in between the two. The upstanding
seam is then turned down again upon itself, tightly locking the strips
together.

_Copper and Zinc Roofs_

For a while, during the high prices created by the war, the thought
of building a copper roof or a zinc roof on the small house would have
been received with a doubtful shake of the head. This is no longer the
case, however, for the prices of these materials have come down to
within reason, and there is no doubt as to their durability. No one has
questioned the weathering qualities of copper or zinc. The copper roofs
which have shown such practical durability on large buildings have
usually been laid about the same as that described for standing seam
tin roofs. Cold-rolled or soft copper sheets, usually 20 inches wide,
are used for this roof covering, weighing not less than 16 ounces to
the square foot.

This type of roof is rather expensive for the small house, even with
the reduced cost of copper, and for this reason a lighter grade has
been made, and offered for use in the form of pressed-metal shingles of
very flat design. These copper shingles have been treated so that other
colors than the copper shades can be secured.

The zinc manufacturers have also placed on the market zinc shingles of
special interlocking flat design for use on small houses.

It has always been a debated question as to whether pressed-metal
shingles were architecturally permissible. Certainly there are
some forms which imitate the clay tile shingle that are decidedly
inartistic, but the more natural flat patterns are less subject to this
criticism.

XV PAINTING AND VARNISHING THE HOUSE

Actually the process of varnishing or painting the woodwork and
metalwork on the house is the spreading of a thin protective coat, one
thousandth part of an inch thick or less, over the surface, in order
to protect it from the wear and tear of use and weather and decay.
And a marvel it is that any material could be found which spread in
so thin a film could withstand the chemical action of the sun’s rays,
the expansion and contraction of the surface over which it is laid,
the abrasive action of blown sand, hail, and rain, the natural wear of
walking feet and rubbing clothes and bumping furniture, and a dozen
other accidents which conspire to mar the surface of woodwork in the
home.

Is it a wonder that for this protective coat of varnish all experts
demand that the best materials be used? But out of ignorance it is not
always so, for the lower cost of varnish and paint is more evident than
the quality of the substance of which they are made.

The varnishes which are most used in good houses are made of
resins, melted in a kettle and mixed with linseed-oil, and thinned
with turpentine as they cool. They have the peculiar property, when
spread with a brush over a surface, of hardening by a chemical change
brought about by absorbing oxygen from the air, and making a strong,
transparent, protective coat over the substance upon which they have
been applied. The kind of resins[A] have much to do with the quality of
the varnish, since the linseed-oil and turpentine are apt to be about
the same grade in all varnishes. Dark or light varnishes can be made;
hard or soft and elastic surfaces can be produced; varnishes capable
of resisting the wettest kind of weather and those which turn white
under the least dampness are manufactured for various purposes, and
practically in all cases those varnishes which are the best are the
highest in cost.

[A] Varnish resins or gums are imported from countries that the average
man knows little about. The island of Zanzibar furnishes one of the
costliest and finest of gums. It is called Zanzibar copal and is the
gum of a fossil tree. New Zealand furnishes the most widely used gum,
kauri. It is dug out of the ground by the natives. The west coast of
Africa furnishes the gum known as Sierra Leone copal, which is used
much in automobile work.

The cheap varnishes which are the most abundant upon the market, and
which are used for cheap furniture and houses, are made of rosin
and not resin, or are resin varnishes adulterated with rosin. Most
houses erected by speculative builders are finished with cheap rosin
varnishes, but no architect should be guilty of specifying them, for
he should know better than to attempt to save money by purchasing the
poorer grades of varnishes, since the real cost of varnished work is in
the labor rather than in the cost of the materials used. These cheap
rosin varnishes cannot stand up under the sponge test, which is merely
the application of a wet sponge to the surface overnight. The next
morning the rosin varnish will be found to be white and dissolved down
to the wood, and will never recover its appearance. Better grades of
varnish may turn white under this sponge test, but upon drying return
to their original color, but the finest grades of varnish will not be
affected at all. The difference between these varnishes can also be
observed by rubbing the thumb over the surface of such a fine varnish
as is on a piano and noticing that no effect other than a higher polish
is produced, while if the same rubbing is done on a cheap varnish, it
will be crumbled off from the wood. Every one has seen the ugly surface
cracks which develop with age in old doors or upon old church pews in
musty churches of the dark ages of American architecture. In nearly all
cases these cracks are due to cheap rosin varnishes.

Before varnishing or painting any interior woodwork, it is important to
observe all the preliminary precautions, or else failure may result,
even though the work is conscientiously performed in the latter stages.
One of these early precautions is to paint the back of all trim for
doors and windows with some good linseed-oil paint, and apply a first
coat of filler to the outside surface, and all this as soon as it
arrives on the job. This is to prevent the wood from absorbing the
dampness which is prevalent in all new buildings, and as most trim has
been kiln-dried beyond ordinary requirements for construction work,
it is very thirsty for water, and will soak it up quickly from the
atmosphere. This trim should not be permitted to stand in the building
overnight without the priming coat. As the first coat of filler is
linseed-oil, there is not much excuse for not doing this, for it can be
applied very rapidly. Of course where the wood is to be stained with
an oil stain, the application of the linseed-oil before the stain is
applied will prevent the proper penetration of the stain into the wood,
and, as the architect generally insists upon seeing samples of the
staining work before it is applied, the above precautions of protecting
the wood as soon as it comes are often thrown to the winds.

And in connection with this matter of stains, a word may not be amiss.
Most manufacturers make among their many stains certain brilliant-red
mahogany colors, bright Irish-green colors, and horrible yellows. These
are made to meet certain gaudy tastes shown by the public, but of their
use by architects no word could condemn them enough. And on a par with
these stains is the varnishing with no stain at all of yellow pine
trim, an architectural atrocity which is committed on every hand in
small houses. The quiet browns, grays, grayish greens, and the like are
the only safe ranges of color for staining interior trim, for, after
all, the casing of doors and windows must blend in with the walls and
serve as a background for the furniture and not screech at it. And
directly in line with this statement should be emphasized the rule that
highly polished surfaces in varnishes for trim are as much out of place
as brilliant colors. Many architects prefer wax in place of the polish
of varnish, and with good reason. The manufacturers of varnishes make
certain grades which dry with a dull finish, and also show samples of
beautiful dull finishes which can be secured by the laborious method of
rubbing the final coat of varnish with powdered pumice-stone, water,
and felt.

But before any varnishing can be done, and for that matter any
painting, it is essential that the pores of the wood are filled, so
that the surface to be varnished has no soft and absorbent places, but
presents a hard and glossy body. Woods like oak, ash, and chestnut
have such large pores that paste fillers are required to fill them in.
These paste fillers consist of a solid part like pulverized quartz and
a liquid part of a quick-drying varnish. It is rubbed over the surface
of the wood and into the pores and permitted to set, when the excess
is then wiped off with excelsior and, finally, felt. When the wood is
stained with an oil stain, this filler may be colored to match.

Architects are often shown samples of the beautiful finishes which
are possible with the use of this or that manufacturer’s stains and
varnishes, and supplied with specifications by which they are told they
can secure these finishes, but much to their sorrow the results are not
like the samples, and probably never will be. All of these samples are
made under ideal conditions by the most careful experts. Laboratory
conditions and regularity and first-class skill can produce finishes
on a small sample board which could not possibly be reproduced in a
building except at enormous costs. In the first place, there is always
more or less dust blowing around in a newly constructed building, and
not the greatest care is taken in it to provide the exact control of
humidity and temperature required for drying varnishes. And, as every
one knows, the men who do the painting are generally far from being the
most skilful artisans of their trade. It, too, is a big temptation to
put on one or two heavy coats of varnish instead of three or four thin
coats, and there is not an expert living who can tell how many coats
of varnish are on a piece of wood after the work is done. Unless the
architect has observed each step of the application, he cannot deny,
when the painter shows him the finished woodwork, that there are not as
many coats of varnish on it as he required in his specifications. Yet
time will tell the tale, but then it is too late.

However, the treatment of floors and stair treads is the worry of
many an architect, although he ought to remember that in factories
sheet steel is laid on the floors at the doorways, and even this wears
through. Why should he be disheartened if after a year the stair treads
and the patches of floors near the door-sills are scratched down to the
wood through coats of varnish one-thousandth of an inch thick? Even the
best varnish will break down under this abrasion, but only the best
should be used. Cheap floor varnishes are not worth the labor of
laying, and yet how many spend money on them. Some architects, and with
good reasons, prefer finishing the floors with wax instead of varnish.
As a base for this wax, a thin coat of varnish is excellent. Various
manufacturers have different formulas for floor waxes, and they are
more or less complex, but generally turpentine is the softening and
drying material. The wax paste is rubbed into the floor and polished
with weighted brushes—a tedious job. However, it is a job which any
servant or housewife of ordinary intelligence can perform, so that
whenever the floors become worn around the doors or the stair treads
become shabby, the housekeeper is able to repair them easily, and there
is no doubt that a waxed floor is more beautiful than a varnished one.
But remember the slipping and sliding rugs on a wax floor and be sure
to fasten them down.

When examined critically, paint is not much more than a varnish with a
finely ground opaque powder, called the pigment, suspended in it. This
pigment takes away the transparent qualities of the varnish and gives
a definite color to the surface. Enamels actually do use varnishes as
their vehicle or base, but ordinary paint uses linseed-oil, which acts
much like a varnish, in that it has the property of becoming hard and
elastic under the oxidizing effect of the air.

The exteriors of most houses are painted with white-lead or zinc-white
pigments mixed with linseed-oil. Zinc makes a harder paint than
white-lead, but it is best to mix the two pigments together in the
proportion of one-third of zinc to two-thirds of white-lead.

In extensive investigations the U. S. Bureau of Standards suggests
that much saving of money in paint would be made if white paint were
abandoned altogether in favor of dark-colored pigments for exterior
use. Horrible suggestions, but these are the facts in the case! White
and light-tint paints invariably fail on the south side of a house,
before the paint on the other side shows signs of deterioration.
This is because the light of the sun breaks down the strength of the
linseed-oil, which is the body of the paint film. For this reason dark
pigments, which are more opaque, cut off the light and protect the oil
film more than the lighter-colored pigments.

Another common cause of failure in exterior painting is the application
of it to the wood during unseasonable weather, when the surface of the
wood is wet. Paint will only properly adhere to a wood surface when it
is free of any moisture.

Another one of the causes of failure of lead and zinc paints for
exterior work suggested by some authorities is the use of volatile
thinners like turpentine and benzine. They say that such thinners
should not be permitted on the job, for they are a temptation to the
painter. If raw linseed-oil is used, and it is necessary to shorten the
time required for drying, some good drier should be added, say 5 per
cent. This drier should be pale in color and free from rosin. Driers
are usually made of oil combined with a good proportion of lead and a
little of manganese.

White pine, Douglas fir, yellow pine, cypress, or any of these woods,
usually contain some knots, which are sure to damage exterior white
paint unless properly treated. These knots have a certain amount of
pitch in them, which will penetrate through any oil paint and leave an
ugly mark. They should be covered with shellac, which is not affected
by the pitch. Shellac is a spirit varnish made from shellac resins
dissolved in alcohol. The yellow shellac is the strongest, but the
white is used where a light-colored paint is to be applied on top of
it. The pitch which is so bad in knots is often distributed throughout
the wood, as in Southern yellow pine, and this will often cause
the paint to peel off. To prevent this to a certain extent, some
specifications advise using benzol in the priming coat, in order to
make the paint penetrate more deeply into the wood and get a better
grip on the surface.

The priming coat of any painting job should either be pure linseed-oil
or linseed-oil with very little pigment in it. Its purpose is to fill
the pores of the wood before the other coats are applied, for if an
ordinary thick coat of paint were applied to raw wood, the surface
would draw so much oil out of the film of paint that most of the
pigment would be left dry and unfastened upon the outside.

Only after the wood has been given the priming coat is it then time to
putty up the nail holes and other defects, and not before, because the
dry wood, as in the case of paint, will suck out the oil from the putty
and leave it without anything to bind it together. The best putty for
this work is made of linseed-oil with enough white-lead in it to make
a thick paste. The putty which is commonly used, however, is made of
whiting or ground chalk mixed with linseed-oil. This is durable if real
linseed-oil is used, but often some inferior adulterant is substituted.

After the holes are all puttied, the other coats of paint may be
added. At least two good coats should be applied, and three coats give
superior results. Plenty of time should be allowed between coats to
permit thorough drying of the previous one.

XVI LABOR-SAVING DEVICES FOR THE HOME

_The Demand_

The need for labor-saving devices to help in housekeeping is more
evident in the small house than in the larger house, although the
cost of such machinery often prevents its installation in the former,
whereas in the latter it is more to be found, since the person who
builds a large house is apt to have more funds to draw upon. Yet
labor-saving devices really belong to the small house, for the large
house is still run by the servant, but the small one is kept by the
lady of the house. She rightly objects to working in the old-style
kitchen, which was very large and ugly, and the useless up-keep of
many rooms that are really not needed is not to her liking, so that in
practice the small house is in a way a labor-saving device in itself,
since it reduces the amount of house to be kept, and makes the kitchen
small and attractive. Then, frankly, labor-saving machinery is more
becoming to this house, which is in itself designed to save labor, and
money wisely spent upon such devices is by no means out of proportion
to the cost of construction, even if in direct comparison it shows a
larger percentage ratio to the building cost in the small house than in
the large house.

The fundamental needs which demand mechanical power in place of brawn
can be classified into the following:

(_a_) Machines for cleaning.
(_b_) Machines for preparation of food.
(_c_) Machines for moving objects about the house.
(_d_) Machines designed to watch over various household cares.
(_e_) Machines to simplify and make pleasant the toilet.

But before such machines could be developed to a point of usefulness,
some source of power had to be found which could be used by the average
family. This to-day is electricity. If the house cannot tap in on some
public generating plant, then it is not at all too costly a proposition
to install a private generating plant run by a gasolene-engine. The
rapid spread of public-service wires throughout the country and the
increasing demand for private generating plants is evidence that,
where money permits, the people are ready to take advantage of the
power of electricity to reduce the labor of keeping house. This
electric energy which is being more widely distributed has called forth
invention after invention of labor-saving machinery. It would not be
hard to compile a list of some five hundred or more such machines,
good, bad, and indifferent. Pick up any magazine and glance through
the advertisements, and a fairly comprehensive list of housekeeping
machines can be made, or look through some one of the popular
scientific magazines and page after page will be found devoted to new
inventions along this line. For example, in the latter, this is a small
list made from a page of one of these magazines: A combined electric
toaster and heater, a special brush on a long wire handle for cleaning
the drain-pipe of the refrigerator, an electric clothes-wringer which
has rollers soft enough not to break the buttons, a combined crib and
wardrobe, the latter being under the mattress, a dust-pan which is held
in position by the foot, a counterbalanced electric light that can be
hung over the back of a chair and an electric water-heater to fasten to
the faucet.

_Machines for Cleaning_

Under this classification ought to be included machines which reduce
the need of cleaning, for they accomplish the same results, but in a
negative way.

One of the dirtiest and meanest jobs about the house is the sifting
and shovelling of ashes from the furnace. The light ashes are bound to
be tracked through the house on the feet, or float in the rising warm
air to the rooms above, while the sifting process is going on. The
continued need of removing ashes and putting more coal in the furnace
to make more ashes often disgusts the housekeeper so much that the
apartment-house looks very attractive, for here this dirty work is done
by the janitor.

Now the modern oil-burner, suitable to heat the furnace of a small
house, represents a real labor-saving device, because it eliminates
this problem of the ashes, but it requires electric power to make it
practical, since a mechanical movement is necessary to properly atomize
the oil for burning. Looking impartially at the latest inventions along
this line that are now on the market, one cannot help but admit that
they are highly desirable from the labor-saving point of view, if not
always from an economical one. The easy control of the fire of one
of these oil-burners is admirable. In mild weather the flame can be
turned down quite low, burning perhaps only twelve gallons of oil in
twenty-four hours, but if the weather suddenly becomes cold the flame
is easily advanced to meet the conditions. No extra shovelling of coal
is required in cold weather, and the worry of banking the fire in the
evening is eliminated.

But one must not forget the various improvements which have been made
in coal-burning furnaces to eliminate the ash-and-coal-shovelling
labor as much as possible. There is the self-feeding boiler, which
has a large magazine of coal which can be filled once a day and which
automatically supplies the fire with fuel as it burns up. Then, too,
there is the large ash-pit in which the ashes may accumulate for some
time before removal is necessary, or the revolving ash-collector sunk
into the floor below the furnace into which the ashes may be dropped
and taken out in cans.

[Illustration: THE PORTABLE VACUUM CLEANER]

For cleaning purposes, one must recognize the enormous grip that the
vacuum cleaner has had on the popular mind, and nearly every housekeeper
would own one if money permitted it. Perhaps the installation of pipes
throughout the house for a central cleaning-machine in the cellar is a
little too expensive for the small home, but certainly electric base
plugs should be located in the rooms to which the portable type of
cleaner can be attached. Such outlets should be placed in central
positions in order to permit the moving of the machine to all parts of
the various rooms.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: UP-TO-DATE LAUNDRY]

The laundry should be equipped with electric outlets to which an
electric washer can be plugged. These machines usually require
about 300 watts. Electric irons require about 600 watts. If laundry
labor-saving devices are to be bought as a complete equipment,
a small fortune can be spent upon them, for there are electric
wringers, electrically driven mangles for ironing flat work, a special
ironing-board with electric iron attachment, and electrically heated
clothes-driers. A plan of a well-equipped laundry is shown in the cut.

[Illustration: DISH WASHER AND TABLE]

[Illustration: KITCHEN DRESSER OF WHITE ENAMELED STEEL]

If we consider the machines used in the kitchen for cleaning purposes,
a considerable list can be made, but the gas and oil stove and fireless
cooker should not be forgotten, since they accomplish cleaning
in a negative way, for they eliminate the dirt and ashes of the
old-fashioned coal-range. Then, too, the automatic gas water-heater,
and also the oil water-heater, give the best material for cleaning
that is known to mankind—hot water. But as electricity becomes more
available we have the electric stove and the electric water-heater,
which is superior to the gas and oil heater, as far as labor-saving
is considered. Then there is the electric dish-washer, which performs
all the washing, rinsing, and drying operations. The dishes and other
tableware are securely held in removable racks while being washed, thus
preventing breakage. When not in operation this dish-washer can be
used as a white-enamel-topped kitchen-table. One must not forget
the electric silver-polisher and knife-grinder and other smaller
instruments for cleaning that can be operated by a small motor.

_Machines for the Preparation of Foods_

Machines of this kind include a great variety of small inventions
intended to safely store the food, prepare it for cooking, and cook it.
There is the small electric refrigerator, the thermonor which keeps
foods chilled by evaporation of water, the ordinary ice-box, with its
special door to put ice in from the outside, the special receiving-box
in the wall into which the milkman can place his milk-bottles in the
morning or the butcher his meat. Then for the small house is the very
important kitchen-cabinet, with its special place for the keeping of
flour, sugar, dish-pans, and a hundred other things that are needed
to be handy at the time of preparing the food. Electrically operated
coffee-grinders, meat-choppers, bread-mixers, egg-beaters, toasters,
coffee-percolators, chafing-dishes, samovars, frying-pans, teakettles,
radiant grilles, and other similar devices are but a few suggestions of
the multitude of inventions actually on the market and found practical
as labor-saving machines. Why should one sweat at the brow on a hot
summer day freezing the ice-cream when an electrically driven motor can
do the same work at the cost of a few cents? Why should one swelter in
the hot kitchen during the jam and jelly making season when an electric
fan can give the necessary cooling breeze, and the electric stove apply
the heat more to what it is cooking than to the surrounding atmosphere?
Of course the answer is that the cost of such equipment is too high,
but we are gradually learning how to make these articles cheaper, and
also learning how much energy they save us. Old traditions are breaking
down in the kitchen, and the new machines are accepted more readily
than they used to be. No longer does the younger generation think
that what was good enough for father or mother is good enough for it.
Grandmother used to wear her fingers down peeling potatoes and carrots,
and stain them black, but daughter prefers to use a simple scraping
device of hard stones set in a waterproof substance, which acts like
rough sandpaper upon the skins of the vegetables, and then grandmother
used to chop meat in a bowl, but now it is put in at one end of an
electric grinder and comes out hash at the other. The older generation
of cooks were not attracted by labor-saving devices, but the point of
view to-day is different. That is the reason that the small house is
attracting more buyers to-day than formerly, for its small up-keep
and its small and cheerful kitchen are means of escape from too heavy
household duties.

_Machines for Moving Objects about the House_

[Illustration: A TABLE-SERVICE WAGON]

The electric dumb-waiter belongs to this class, but it is not
installed in small houses very often. However, every one can afford the
clothes-chute, which guides the dirty clothes down to the laundry. The
table-service wagon is a very convenient help in serving a meal and
removing the dishes when there is no maid to wait upon the diners. Then
there is the china-closet which opens through to the kitchen from the
dining-room. The dishes are washed in the kitchen and placed in the
closet, and at the next meal they are taken out from the dining-room
side without waste of steps. The old ash-can need not be lugged out of
the cellar if a small telescope hoist is installed, and the coal can
be put into the cellar through a metal coal-chute, instead of through
the window. Wet clothes from the laundry can be hung out of the window
on a revolving drier without going out into the yard, or placed in an
electric drier in the laundry on rainy days. The transportation of
small objects about the house can be very much reduced if machinery for
this purpose is installed in the beginning. Most people think it is
worth the price, and as soon as they see a way to paying for it they
are certain purchasers.

_Machines That Automatically Keep Watch_

There is no need of getting up at five o’clock in the morning to
turn the draft on in the furnace so that the house will be warm by
breakfast. An electric thermostatic control can be made to do this,
and in fact it can be regulated to keep the house in good temperature
all the day. It is not necessary to light a fire to have hot water
if an automatic gas-heater is next to the boiler, which lights the
gas with a pilot-light when the faucet is turned on or when the
temperature gets below a predetermined number of degrees. One does
not need to worry about burning the roast in the oven if an automatic
clock-timer is on it, which turns off the gas after the meat has cooked
the correct number of hours. Food in a fireless cooker never worries
the housekeeper, for it will not burn, and she knows it will be ready
to serve when taken out. She does not have to stay home to let the
delivery boy in with the vegetables, for he can put them into a small
metal box built into the wall, which has a door that permits him to
put his goods in, but does not permit any one getting an arm into the
house, and the ice-man can deliver ice without calling her to the door.
And so it goes; each new invention along this line removes the need of
thinking of the small things about the house and of being continually
on hand and a slave to them.

_Machines to Simplify the Toilet_

We often forget the elegance of the modern bathtub, but think of the
labor of our forefathers when the bath night came around. The water
had to be heated on the stove, the tub gotten out and filled with
cold water from the pump, and then warmed up with the water in the
teakettle, and after all was finished the water and tub had to be
removed. It was quite an event, and there is no wonder that a bath was
taken only once a week. But what is it to have a bath to-day, with
plenty of hot water, a thermostatic control of its temperature, a fine
shower, and a warm bathroom. But such things as a bathroom with its
modern lavatory, water-closet, and bathtub and tiled floor and wainscot
are commonplace things, and are always expected to be installed in a
house. One does not question the advisability of spending money on this
equipment, and so it will be in the future with much of the machinery
which we hesitate to buy to-day on account of the additional cost in
the construction of the house.

[Illustration]

If one is willing to spend the money, electrically operated
shampooing-machines can be installed, curling-irons, vibrators,
ozonators, hair-driers, shaving-mugs, heat-baths, etc., but these
seem luxuries to us yet. But will the next generation look upon
them this way? A very elegant bathroom may also be equipped with
built-in receptacles in the tile wainscot for holding soap, sponges,
toilet-paper, tumblers, tooth-brushes, etc. Fine white-enamelled
medicine-cabinets are not uncommon to see built into the walls. Glass
rods for towels and glass shelves for miscellaneous objects add much
to the practical up-keep of the bathroom. Faucets over the bathtubs
and lavatories are now covered with white enamel and have porcelain
handles, so that the work of polishing nickel ones is done away with.
Water-closet bowls are designed with such deep water-seals and with
such powerful flushing-jets that they do not need the cleaning that the
older types required. Tubs are built into the walls and down on the
floors, so that dirt cannot collect under them, as it did under the old
leg-supported tubs. Thus each year brings forth more improvements that
are helping to reduce the labor of keeping house.

XVII CONCRETE WORK AROUND THE HOUSE

Concrete has become such an excellent servant to the needs of various
objects built around the house that no apology will be offered for
devoting a chapter to its use. Of course, one is familiar with the
artistic flagstone walk with open joints through which the grass is
allowed to grow, and one cannot deny the beauty of brick pavements; but
in spite of these the concrete walk is found about more houses wherever
one goes than any other type, and, although in most cases very ugly,
yet it cannot be relegated to the past even by the most fastidious,
for its existence depends upon very fundamental qualities of practical
serviceability. And likewise, although we may not have seen concrete
walks that had the charm of rubble-stone or brick, yet they are coming
to be used more and more, for they can be made to appear very beautiful
if properly made. Concrete garden furniture, concrete pools, fountains,
garden ornaments, tennis-courts, and other familiar adjuncts to the
lawn about the house, are making themselves evident on all sides. There
is something about the material that lends itself to such uses, for
even the owner of the house can get out and work in it, and need not
call in a contractor.

[Illustration: Rough Cast Finish or Splatter

Dash Pebble Dash]

However, much of the prejudice that exists against concrete is due to
its usual ugly appearance, which is no fault of the material but of the
one who built with it. We see too much concrete that is dull, pasty,
and gray, and marred on the surface with cobweb lines of cracks; but
this need not be. Concrete surfaces can be made as brilliant as any
other material by properly treating it. All that is needed to do this
is to carefully study the methods of producing textures, and texture is
nothing more than breaking up the surface into small patches of light
and dark, so intermingled that they give interest. For example, after
the forms have been removed, the outside of the concrete can be covered
with cement mortar, thrown onto it with a whisk-broom, which will make
the mortar stick to the surface in little lumps and hills. The light
playing over such a surface will cast shadows in the hollows between
the lumps and light up the tops of the lumps. This will give a texture
of interest that is pleasing to the eye. On the other hand, the cement
mortar may be plastered over the surface of the concrete and used as
a sticking bed to hold small pebbles of different colors and shades
thrown against it. These pebbles will be colorful, some dark and dull
and some light or sparkling like glass. Thus a play of broken light
will be thrown back from the surface to the eye, and the observer will
be pleased. Then, too, the outer layer of the cement, which was next
to the forms, may be composed of white cement and some aggregate like
small chips of marble. When the forms are removed it will be found that
this beautiful aggregate will not show, but the entire surface will
partake of the monotonous white or gray of the cement. However, if this
thin coating of cement is removed, then the variety and sparkle of the
aggregate below will be revealed. This might be done by striking the
surface all over with a stone-cutting tool which is used to surface
stones, or it might be done by a scrubbing or rubbing with carborundum
blocks. There are innumerable ways by which texture can be developed
on anything made of concrete, and experimenting in this line is a
most fascinating employment. For this reason, if properly handled,
concrete is particularly adapted to the making of all kinds of house
accessories, since it is also easily shaped in moulds.

[Illustration: Finish made by the Pointer

Finish made by the Bush Hammer]

The materials used for this concrete work have much to do with its
success. Ordinarily there is no need of inspecting the cement, for
most of the well-known brands of cement on the market are about as
reliable as human effort can make them. The materials which do need
consideration, however, are sand and gravel. The one essential of sand
is that it be free from loam, mica, clay, and organic matter. No sand
should contain more than 3 per cent by weight of loam or clay or 1 per
cent of mica. The quantity of loam or other fine impurities can be
determined by shaking the sand up with water in a bottle, and allowing
it to settle. The fine impurities will settle on the top and its
proportional relation to the sand estimated. To determine whether the
sand has much organic matter in it, a 12-ounce prescription bottle can
be filled with sand to 4½ inches and then added to this should be added
a 3-per-cent solution of caustic soda until this solution and the sand
fill seven ounces. The contents should be shaken well and allowed to
stand for twenty-four hours. If the liquid which settles on top shows
a dark color, then the sand has too much organic matter in it, but if
it is clear or slightly yellow it may be used without washing. The
size of sand particles should be such that they will pass through a
quarter-inch screen.

The usual size of aggregates should range from one-quarter inch to an
inch and a half in diameter, and the various sizes should be so graded
that they will make the most compact mass. The common run of bank
gravel must be screened and washed. To make really good concrete that
is water-tight, the grading of the aggregate is most important.

In fact, to determine the various quantities that should be used of
the materials on hand, some method must be adopted to give the quantity
of cement necessary to fill the voids in the sand and the quantity of
cement and sand necessary to fill the voids in the aggregate. A rather
crude way of doing this is to employ water as the measure of the voids.
Fill a pail with sand, and then pour water into it until the water,
which is absorbed by the sand, comes to the same level as the sand.
Note the quantity of water used up. If it represented 45 per cent of
the volume of the sand, then it is known roughly that about 50 per cent
of the volume of the sand ought to be the quantity of cement needed to
fill in the voids of the sand. Thus, one part of cement to two parts
of sand. If now the gravel is measured in the same way and it is found
that the voids show about 40 per cent of the volume of the aggregate,
then, assuming a little more than the water shows, about 50 per cent
of sand and cement will be required to fill up these voids. That is,
there should be just twice as much stone as there is cement and sand.
We finally, then, arrive at the proportion for the concrete as follows:
1 part of cement to 2 parts of sand to 4 parts of gravel.

The amount of water which is added to make the mixture of concrete
should not be too much. It should be of such a quantity that the mix is
mushy but not watery, even when it is to be poured into forms.

_Sidewalks and Porch Floors_

[Illustration: Concrete Sidewalk]

It is generally recognized that one-course concrete sidewalks are the
most successful when built by the average workman, for the slab is
of one uniform body and not two layers, which might not have knitted
together properly. For porch floors and walks these slabs should be
5 inches thick and laid on a good foundation. It is best to excavate
4 inches for the depth of the walk, tamp the ground, and pour water
over it, to note whether it is absorbed or stays on top. If it is not
readily drained off, it ought not to be used as the foundation of the
walk, but should be excavated to a depth of 10 inches to 12 inches.
In this excavation should then be tamped gravel or cinders, and some
provision should be made by which any water that would seep through
this gravel may be drained off. The timbers used for the forms along
the edges of the walk may be 2 by 6’s, held in position with pegs.
Slabs should then be determined for length. Usually they should not be
in excess of 6 feet in any one direction and ¼-inch expansion joints
should be placed in the walks every 25 feet. If alternate slabs are
laid, the forms can be removed, so that the intermediate slabs can
be poured between them. Of course, a partial bond will be developed
between slabs in this way, but these joints will be the weakest point
in the walk, and if settlement takes place unequally and one slab
breaks from the other, the crack will develop at this joint and not
appear on the face. The expansion joints should, however, be real
separations, made with strips of asphaltic felt set between slabs. The
usual mixture for concrete walks should be 1 part cement to 2 parts
sand to 3 parts of gravel. The mixture should not have too much water
in it, and when poured into the forms the top should be levelled off
with a straight stick stretched across from one side of the form to
the other. Too much trowelling should be avoided, since this is apt to
draw excess water to the surface and also cement, which will show hair
cracks when hardened. It is best not to use a metal trowel but a wooden
one, so that a partial sandy surface is made. After the walk has been
laid it should be protected from drying out too quickly by laying over
it 4 inches of earth or two or three layers of burlap, which should
be wet down about twice a day for a week. All walks and porch floors
should have graded tops, so that water will run off of them. This is
usually ¼ inch to the foot.

Sometimes porch floors give trouble from “dusting” and wearing away of
the surface to a gritty and rough condition. This may have been caused
by allowing the floor to dry too quickly or by having trowelled it
too much and drawn cement to the surface. It may be remedied by using
some one of the commercial floor hardeners or by painting the floor
with water-glass solution or boiled linseed-oil. Water-glass solution
should be diluted with 4 to 6 parts of water and applied with a brush
in as many coats as the concrete will absorb. When boiled linseed-oil
is used, it should be allowed to dry between coats, and as many coats
should be added as the concrete will absorb. Both of these treatments
will darken the floor, but the latter will darken it the most, and
appears to be more effective.

_Tennis-Court_

In laying out any other platform construction of concrete, such as a
tennis-court, the same principles of construction should be observed
which were given above for sidewalks. However, more care should be
taken with the drainage and foundation of the tennis-court. Not only
should the 6-inch cinder or gravel bed be laid, but all around the
outer edge of the court should be dug a trench about 18 inches wide and
3 feet deep. There should be laid at the bottom of this a drain-pipe,
with open joints, sloping from the centre of one end of the court
around both sides and joining together again at the middle of the other
end and connected with another pipe to carry off the water of that
drain-pipe to some lower level. The diameter of the drain-pipe should
be about 5 inches and the slope 6 inches from its highest level to its
lowest level. The upper surface of the court itself should slope across
from one long side to the other with a pitch of 2 inches. The division
lines of the slabs should follow as closely as possible the division
lines of the tennis-court. The length of the concrete platform should
be 21 feet greater at each end than the length of the court and the
width 12 feet wider each side. This makes the entire concrete court 60
feet by 120 feet.

[Illustration: Concrete Tennis-Court]

_Concrete Driveway_

[Illustration: Concrete Runways to Garage]

Such driveways may lead to the garage or up to the porch of the house.
One of the cheapest types to the garage is a double runway for the
wheels of the automobile. These runways should be about 4 feet 8 inches
on centres and made 18 inches wide. They should be constructed in the
same way that walks are built.

Where a full-width concrete driveway is built, it should be made about
6 inches thick at the centre and 5 inches at the edges, sloping from
the centre out. At intervals of every 25 feet expansion joints should
be built as was specified for walks.

_Concrete Steps_

The only difficult problem in the construction of concrete steps is the
making of forms. These should be well braced to prevent bulging when
the concrete is tamped into them. The aggregate ought not to be over ¾
inch diameter, so that as the material is tamped into the forms and the
sides spaded, a good surface will be left when the forms are removed.
If the aggregate is too large, some pieces may catch along the forms,
and when they are removed large holes will be found in the risers of
the steps. The treads should be finished with a wood trowel.

[Illustration: Concrete Garden Retaining Wall]

_Small Retaining Walls_

Wherever terraces or lawns need the support of a small retaining wall,
concrete is excellent for this purpose. The foundations of such walls
should be carried down below the frost-line. The usual mixture is
1 : 2 : 4. Drains should be built at intervals along the lower part of
the wall, to allow the seeping ground water to come out. At intervals
of about every 25 feet expansion joints should be made, somewhat
the shape of the tongue and groove in flooring. The base of such a
retaining wall should be at least as wide as ⁴/₁₀ the height of wall.

_Pools and Fountain-Basins_

[Illustration: Concrete Pool]

Such ornaments to the garden are not entirely outside of the
possibilities of the small house owner’s pocketbook. They should have
the exterior walls carried down below frost-level, and the bottom and
sides reinforced with steel. For the bottom woven-wire reinforcement
will answer the purpose and for the sides ⅜-inch reinforcing rods
should be used. These pools ought not to be more than about 2 feet
deep, in which case the bottoms may be made 6 inches thick and the
sides 12 inches at the top and 14 inches at the bottom.

_Ornamental Garden Furniture of Concrete_

[Illustration: Simple Types of Concrete Garden Seats]

There is no great difficulty or secret in making simple garden
furniture of concrete. Generally where the furniture is of simple
lines, the mould can be made of wood. If, say, a bench is to be made,
the top might be moulded as a slab of concrete, and the legs at the
ends as slabs, and all fitted together. If flower-boxes are desired,
the mould would necessarily have to be a little more complicated,
but not greatly so. The one thing to remember in making any of these
moulded bits of concrete is that they should always have embedded
inside of them reinforcing wire lath.

[Illustration: Concrete Vase for Garden]

Of course the making of ornamental pots and vases is rather difficult
and takes some skill. Here the original shape must be modelled in
clay, and a plaster mould made of it, which is shellacked inside and
greased. Special cores must also be designed, and where fine surfaces
are desired various processes of mixing ingredients must be resorted
to. This is a special field of itself, and men who do this kind of work
generally have studied out methods of their own. Some examples of this
kind of work are illustrated.

XVIII CLASSIFICATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE ARCHITECTURAL MOTIFS USED
IN SMALL-HOUSE DESIGNING

There are not many architectural motifs that can be used in designing
the small house, and the ones which are employed over and over again
are fundamentally a part of the construction. The plan must build up
into block forms, because of the requirements of construction, and
the designer has only a handful of shapes that make good roofs, for
the same reason. The varieties of dormer-windows that he can put on
the roof are limited to a few that are capable of being reasonably
constructed. He cannot be original in the forms he selects, for they
have all been thought out before. He should know them as he does the
alphabet and build with them as he builds words with letters.

For example, take the plan of the small house. Can there be much
room for originality here? Usually there are at the most four rooms
which must be arranged on the ground floor of the small house: the
living-room, dining-room, kitchen, and pantry. On the second floor are
generally placed the bedrooms. Does it not seem reasonable to assume
that all of the best combinations of so few rooms must be quite limited
in number, and that the chances are that they have already been thought
out? Many a young designer has labored enthusiastically upon what he
believes is his original layout for a small house, only to find later
that his solution has been already worked out and perhaps a trifle
better. When an inventor tackles any particular problem, his first
step, if he is wise, is to consult the patents which have previously
been issued along this line, and then he will know what has been done.

[Illustration:

Square Plan
Rectangular Plan
“L”-Plan]

[Illustration:

Rectangular Plan with Small Extension
T-Plan]

[Illustration:

Combination of “T”-plan with L-plan
U-Plan]

Try as hard as he will, no designer can get away from the fact that
the cheapest arrangement of rooms in his small-house plan makes a
square unit and builds a square block house, but that such a plan is
one of the most difficult forms to make pleasing to the eye. For this
reason the room arrangement, which gives a rectangular-shaped house,
is more often adopted. But we often tire of too much repetition of the
rectangular house, and designers try to vary it a little. There is not
much leeway here, however. By adding a wing at right angles to the main
rectangle of the house, we can have an L-shaped plan which is easier to
give architectural variety to, but very uneconomical, for the number of
linear feet of exterior wall for a house of this shape is just as great
as that for a house which is a rectangle in plan, as long as the L and
as wide. This also holds true of the U-shaped plan and the T-shaped
plan and the combination of the T and the L shaped plans. In fact, as
soon as the designer tries to get away from the simplest rectangular
shapes in the small house, the economic reins pull him back, and he
must go slow in selecting too picturesque plans. Limited, therefore,
in his possible scope, the real work of the designer should be one of
perfecting the acceptable solutions which have been already worked out.
Only once in a generation are absolutely new arrangements stumbled on.

[Illustration: GAMBREL GABLE]

[Illustration: WALL GABLE HIP ROOF FLAT ROOF]

On top of these various-shaped blocks, which these plans will form, a
roof must be erected. Here again one would think that the architectural
motifs would be quite varied, and yet when the matter is studied it is
not the case. There are only five fundamental shapes of roofs which
can be placed upon these blocks, and two of these types are really the
same, and another ought not to be employed, so that, after all, there
are actually only three fundamental roof motifs to use. These are the
gable roof, the gambrel roof, and the hip roof. The wall-gable roof is
merely a type of end treatment for the gable roof, and the flat roof
is not suited to the average small house in the country or suburbs,
because of traditions.

[Illustration:

A
B

These two houses are ugly as sin, yet are considered very practical.
All rooms on 2nd floor are square and cellars are high and dry.]

[Illustration: C

This house is considered impractical, because rooms on 2ⁿᵈ floor are
not square and are lighted with dormers, and the cellar is low and
partly omitted. But architecturally something can be said of it.]

In the small house the designer has the choice of either placing these
roofs above the second floor or placing the second floor within the
roof. Where the former is selected he sets for himself a very difficult
architectural problem—that of trying to make the proportions of a
house limited in ground area fit under a roof placed too high. This
has rarely been solved with any satisfaction, for in nearly all cases
the house looks too high and stilted. The comparative drawings show
how true this is. Notice how house _A_ and _B_ look stilted, while
house _C_ has a charm which no manner of designing would ever add to
the former. Is it not a fact to be reckoned with that the small house
is best solved architecturally if the second floor is placed within
the roof? Economy of material is certainly secured in this way, and
the construction is greatly simplified. The chief difficulties are to
properly ventilate these rooms under the roof, and to give them good
lighting without making too many and too large dormers. This is a hard
problem, but it has been solved successfully. The Dutch gambrel roof
was developed for this purpose, and there has been no doubt as to its
beauty, except when wrongly used by placing it above the second story
or poking the second floor through it in one long, single dormer.

[Illustration: VARIATIONS OF DESIGN DEVELOPED FROM THE FEW FUNDAMENTAL
STRUCTURAL MOTIFS]

It is quite evident from the above how important the roof designing
is in the small house. It goes without saying that the simplest
arrangement of roofs is the cheapest to build and the easiest to
maintain. Every valley means a leak at some later date, for as
careful as may be the builder, the history of roof valleys shows that
they leak sooner or later. The designer cannot freely mix his roofs
either. Gambrel roofs, hip roofs, and gabled roofs do not go together
harmoniously, without considerable study, and as a general rule they
should not be required to do so. The usual methods of construction of
these types of roofs are indicated well enough in the drawings and need
no explanation. The ridge-poles in all cases are not of any structural
importance, but act as alignments for rafters. For this reason they are
made only an inch thick. Hip rafters have much the same function in hip
roofs. Whenever valley rafters are needed, these must be designed like
floor girders. If dormers are built into the roof, it is customary
to double the rafters around the openings. Where gable dormers are
constructed, one of the valley rafters must be extended to the
ridge-pole, or else the rafters will collapse.

[Illustration: GAMBREL ROOF CONSTRUCTION]

[Illustration: CONSTRUCTION OF GABLE ROOF]

[Illustration: HIP ROOF CONSTRUCTION]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: CONSTRUCTION OF A DORMER]

Even when it comes to the design of dormer-windows, the limits
of originality are quite restricted. The drawings show all of the
possible types that have been used with any success. Variations in
the proportions and the details of these motifs is about all that the
designer can hope for, and yet this is one of the hardest problems to
solve. The correct designing of dormer-windows is a very rare thing to
be seen. How many houses of modern Colonial style have ugly dormers!
They are usually made too large and too wide and fat. The dormer-windows
used in the old Colonial houses were narrow and high, and in those
proportions were their charming appeals. To-day a double-hung window
with weight-boxes is used in these dormers, and the whole width made
too wide because of these additions to the sides. This is a warning
that the designer should be careful in adapting old motifs to modern
requirements. This particular problem has been correctly solved with
the use of the weight-box, but how many times it has not been solved
is evident on all sides. Another unfortunate use of the dormer-window
motif is the extension of the second floor up through the lower slope
of the gambrel roof. This cuts away any legitimate lower section of the
gambrel roof, and in order to preserve it, the designer projects it
outward from the ends of the house, and has it skirt by the side of the
second floor like an added toboggan-slide with no earthly reason for
its existence. Then, too, the prairie-schooner dormer, the semicircle
one, and the eyebrow dormer are certainly types to be used with great
care, for they can become eyesores without effort, and they cost a
good deal to construct. Where the dormer is to be made inconspicuous
the flat-roof type has been successfully employed, but the roofing
material on it should be tin or copper. In some of the trap-door types
of dormers where the pitch is very slight, the roofing material ought
to be of sheet metal. The sides of dormers are made less conspicuous by
covering them with the same material as used on the roof, but this is
not always desirable. However, all vertical joints of dormers with the
roof should be carefully flashed to prevent leaks.

[Illustration: FLAT TREATMENT OF GABLE END]

The treatment of the gable ends of dormers is practically the same as
that required for the treatment of the gable ends of the main roof.
Here again, although on the face of it there seem to be innumerable
ways of treating the gable ends of roofs, yet there are comparatively
few methods. The drawings show about all the possible ways, and any
types which appear to differ from these can be shown to be merely
variations. The simplest method of treatment is to place a small
moulding under the ends of the shingles. A variation of this can be
made by adding a wide board below the moulding or a course of shingles
running parallel with the edge. The classic cornice can be used, but
great taste is needed in handling this motif, for any pitch which is
not of the traditional classic pediment form is apt to look badly. The
verge-board motif comes from half-timber traditions, and is generally
used in a very careless fashion. In general, it usually looks best when
some visible means of support is made a part of the design.

[Illustration: FLAT TREATMENT OF GABLE END]

[Illustration: ADAPTATION OF CLASSIC PEDIMENT]

[Illustration: VERGE-BOARD TREATMENT OF GABLE END]

The shingle imitation of the thatched-roof gable is one of those
amusing architectural fads which do not have very deep roots, and
sooner or later are forgotten.

The wall-gable treatment is very dignified, but is usually associated
with larger houses, but when simplified it has a charm which none of
the other motifs can offer.

[Illustration: SHINGLE IMITATING GABLE END OF THATCHED-ROOF WALL GABLE]

Other than these few, there are no common motifs to use in adorning
the gable end of a roof. This and the previous statements only go to
prove that the originality of design in the small house is limited
within a narrow scope, and that the real beauty is not obtained in
trying to find different forms, but in trying to use the traditional
structural forms in the best proportions and giving careful attention
to the details. In fact, it has been said that house designing is
largely an assembling, into pleasing general proportions, of carefully
designed traditional details.

XIX TRADITIONS OF BUILDING FROM WHICH OUR MODERN METHODS ARE DERIVED

_Importance of Tradition_

The art of building has grown by evolution, like other things in this
world. The carpenter who builds in wood to-day builds according to
certain customs which come down to him from centuries of carpenters.
Modern methods of constructing the small house have all human history
for their background. When we speak of modern methods, we merely refer
to those which are used at this time, as they have evolved from past
experience and been considered satisfactory. To hear some architects
and builders talk, one would think that modern America had the monopoly
on good construction, and that our system of building was newly
invented. How often have we heard remarks like the following from the
self-styled practical man: “The genius of the present age is eminently
practical and constructive. Improvements of every kind and ingenious
contrivances for easily effecting results, which in past ages were only
accomplished by slow, laborious effort, ... etc.”

But they were saying this kind of thing in 1858, for the above is
quoted from a book of this date, so that even the practical man is
traditional in his remarks about building.

There are also too many young men to-day wasting their time
discovering what they think are new ways of building, but which have
been known for centuries and discarded as unsatisfactory. If they would
only study what had already been done, they would save themselves a lot
of trouble.

_Styles of Design Change, but Construction the Same_

The styles in designing houses may change from year to year, or more
likely from generation to generation, but the methods of building and
the traditions in back of them continue on, with only slight changes
which mark the evolution of the art. In as brief a period as we have
had in this country to produce domestic architecture, we can notice
very distinct styles of design, but running through them all are
similar ways of building. Our earliest Colonial houses were built
according to traditions brought over from England. These traditions in
turn had deep roots in Europe, back to primitive days, when houses were
not much more than temporary, movable shacks.

There is, however, one general trend through which building methods
seem to pass. First, we have rather heavy, clumsy ways of building;
this is followed by a long period of experimental cutting down of the
materials of construction and standardization of parts; following this
comes the stage of extreme lightness of construction, when the builders
go as near the limit of safety as possible, and then accidents occur
which tend to discredit the system.

The early English houses were built of heavy oak-trees. Later
half-timber houses used smaller structural members and more standard
sizes. These traditions were brought to this country, but it was soon
found that heavy oak was not necessary for their stability, but that
some of the native soft woods would answer the purpose. The
thinning-down process continued, until we developed the frame dwelling
of balloon construction which is practically built of 2 by 4 pieces
throughout.

We are now having a building code formulated by the United States
Department of Commerce, which is intended to establish the minimum
requirements for small-house construction, so that greatest economy
of material can be secured, but also a precedent set for the minimum
cutting down of material in building. In the compilation of this
code this tendency to reduce the quantity of material used was very
evident in the discussions which centred around the problem of whether
the brick walls for small houses should be 12 or 8 inches thick. In
Colonial days they thought nothing of building them 2 feet thick.
To-day we hesitate at building them as thick as 12 inches. In fact, our
building codes show no uniformity of opinion on the matter, and our
experts disagree. The preliminary form of the above-mentioned code has
settled upon an 8-inch thickness for walls not exceeding 30 feet, and
made additional allowance for an extra 5 feet in height on the gable
end of the building.

The process of thinning down is still going on, as this indicates.

The illustrations representing briefly the historical progress of
styles in domestic architecture in the United States are given to show
how these styles have varied, and impress the reader with the rather
constant undercurrent of construction methods throughout these changes.

In the early Colonial houses the wooden frames were built of heavy
oak timbers which were hewn into shape and dressed down with the adze.
Sometimes rafters and joists were sawn, and the further along we
progress in time the more we find the saw being used.

[Illustration: AMERICAN DOMESTIC]

If we now jump to the period between 1865 and 1889, we find that the
awful atrocities of architecture were being built in the East with
similar heavy frames, although slightly less massive. Where tradition
was less strong in the West, the balloon frame had grown up, but during
the same period houses of equally bad design were built with one or
the other systems, showing that the system of construction had very
little to do with the style of architecture. Even consider the variety
of styles used in modern domestic work, and then one can realize that
all of these different types of buildings are built much in the same
way. Good design has apparently little relation to good construction,
although good design is improved when it expresses the construction. We
often see very beautiful houses set up for moving-picture plays, but
these are built of flimsy stage scenery. We have also seen very ugly
houses which make us curse the builder for having built them so well.

_Fundamental Building Traditions Inherited from England_

It is from England that we have inherited most of our building
traditions of domestic work. The earliest methods of constructing a
home were much the same for all European countries. Woven brushwood
of the crudest sort was undoubtedly the first beginnings of domestic
construction. The next step in advance was, according to a German
theory, invented by a woman. It consisted of erecting leaning poles
and stakes and filling the space between with inwoven wattlework. The
shapes were conical, like the Indian tents, but later the gable roof
shape was adopted because of the greater interior space allowed.

In building the gable-shaped houses the early builders used very heavy
and massive construction for the ridge-pole and its support, for
they believed that this upheld the rafters. This tradition was kept
alive until quite recent times, but now we know that when rafters are
supported at their base, the ridge-pole practically takes none of the
weight and need only be used for ease of erection.

[Illustration: PRIMITIVE TYPE OLD ENGLISH CRUCK CONSTRUCTION]

But to our ancestors the important problem in first erecting the house
was to secure the substantial support of the ridge-pole. Obviously
the erection of two forked trees at either end of the ridge-pole made
an excellent solution, but when the room was long this meant that the
interior had to be cluttered up with interior posts. We find then that
one of the primitive methods in England of eliminating the interior
posts was the adoption of the cruck system of construction which is
shown in Fig. 2. By selecting two bent trees and placing them together
in a shape like a wish-bone, the ridge-pole could be well supported
without interior columns. By placing cross-tie beams on these bent
trees and extending them outward, the plates for supporting the lower
ends of the rafters could be held in position. This permitted the
carpenters to erect the exterior walls independently of the roof, a
thing which they seem to have desired.

There is another variation of the above method of supporting the
ridge-pole, and that is shown in Fig. 3. Instead of selecting a bent
tree, one was secured which was upright for a certain height, and then
which bent to one side with a branch. By placing two of these trees
together, a perfect end was formed for the house. However, this was not
a very good type, since it meant the selecting of very unusual-shaped
trees.

[Illustration: ENGLISH POST & TRUSS CONSTRUCTION]

For this reason the system of post-and-truss construction, which is
shown in Fig. 4, was the natural outcome of the above. Diagonal bracing
at the corners evidently was found to be useful in resisting high
wind-storms, and it was usually employed.

There apparently remained a distrust of masonry walls among the
carpenters, for they continued to support the roofs entirely upon heavy
timber framing, and records show that the exterior walls were built up
after the roof-framing had been completed. There are evidences that the
early types of walls, after the primitive woven brushwood walls proved
insecure, were made like a barricade of trees; that is, they were
merely a continuous line of vertically placed tree-trunks. This, of
course, was a ruinously expensive type of wall when timber became
scarce, and it is no wonder that it grew to a system of construction
like that shown in Fig. 5. Even this required a good deal of wood, so
that the filling of the space between the timbers rather logically
became masonry or plaster on lath. However, the method of building
shown in Fig. 5 has all of the elements of the system of construction
used in framing modern exterior walls. The most important difference is
in the size of the timbers used.

[Illustration:TYPE OF ANCIENT WOODEN WALL ENGLISH HALF TIMBER
CONSTRUCTION]

The half-timber construction of the Middle Ages was only the artistic
treatment of this crude system of building. In drawing number 6 is a
very simple half-timber house which shows practically no attempt at
all to decorate. The construction is perfectly evident, and there are
no curves and carving used to ornament the building, as can be seen on
some of the more elaborate houses of the cities. This simple building
system was the traditional background of the English carpenter, and it
is not at all extraordinary that he brought his methods of building
over to this country.

[Illustration: TYPE OF FRAMING FOR COLONIAL OF FIRST PERIOD

BRACED FRAME AS DEVELOPED FROM NEW ENGLAND COLONIAL]

Even the custom of calling in the neighbors and feasting them when a
house-raising was celebrated came directly from English traditions. The
old post-and-truss construction of the early English houses required
framing on the ground and then lifting into position afterward. Records
show that the people from the surrounding countryside were called in to
help, and their wages of hire were paid by the house owner with a huge
feast. In early Colonial days the nearest neighbors were likewise
called in to help raise the frame, and the host was supposed to feed
the gathering, after the work was finished, and make a jolly party of
eating and drinking—a sort of social debt, but not looked upon as
wages, as in older days.

The hard climate which the earliest American colonists had to face and
also the abundant supply of wood which lay at their very doors were
factors which slightly altered the traditions of building. After the
house had been framed and the spaces between the timbers filled with
plaster or masonry, the exterior was covered over with clapboards
or shingles as an extra covering against the weather. The use of
clapboards or shingles as an exterior covering of course was not new,
for many English farmhouses show that it was used in that country. But
with this difference in exterior appearance, the framing underneath was
the same as shown in Fig. 7.

_Revolt against New England Traditions_

It was only a matter of time when the thinning-down process began to
make itself evident in the traditions of Colonial carpentry, and from
its clumsy beginnings it evolved into the more or less standard form of
construction which we call the brace-frame.

The difficulty of securing good labor in the West, and also the
increasing use of the power sawmill, made it possible and necessary to
standardize a quick and easy method of building which would meet the
great demand for houses in rapidly growing communities.

Quoting from the New York _Tribune_ of January 18, 1855, we have a
very interesting account of the conditions which were then prevalent
that brought about this later variation of the wooden frame structure.
The conditions there described seem almost like our modern difficulties
with labor and materials.

“Mr. Robinson said: ... I would saw all my timbers for a frame house,
or ordinary frame outbuilding, of the following dimensions: 2 × 8
inches; 2 × 4; 2 × 1. I have, however, built them, when I lived on
the Grand Prairie of Indiana, many miles from sawmills, nearly all of
split and hewed stuff, making use of rails or round poles, reduced to
straight lines and even thickness on two sides, for studs and rafters.
But sawed stuff is much the easiest, though in a timber country the
other is far the cheapest. First, level your foundation, and lay down
two of the 2 × 8 pieces, flatwise, for side-walls. Upon these set the
floor-sleepers, on edge, 32 inches apart. Fasten one at each end, and
perhaps one or two in the middle, if the building is large, with a
wooden pin. These end-sleepers are the end-sills. Now lay the floor,
unless you design to have one that would be likely to be injured by
the weather before you get on the roof. It is a great saving, though,
of labor to begin at the bottom of a house and build up. In laying the
floor first, you have no studs to cut and fit around, and can let your
boards run out over the ends, just as it happens, and afterward saw
them off smooth by the sill. Now set up a corner-post, which is nothing
but one of the 2 × 4 studs, fastening the bottom by four nails; make it
plumb, and stay it each way. Set another at the other corner, and then
mark off your door and window places and set up the side-studs and put
in the frames. Fill up with studs between, 16 inches apart, supporting
the top by a line or strip of board from corner to corner, or stayed
studs between. Now cover that side with rough sheeting boards, unless
you intend to side-up with clapboards on the studs, which I never would
do, except for a small, common building. Make no calculation about the
top of your studs; wait till you get up that high. You may use them of
any length, with broken or stub-shot ends, no matter. When you have got
this side boarded as high as you can reach, proceed to set up another.
In the meantime other workmen can be lathing the first side. When you
have got the sides all up, fix upon the height of your upper floor, and
strike a line upon the studs for the under side of the joist. Cut out a
joist 4 inches wide, half inch deep, and nail on firmly one of the inch
strips. Upon these strips rest the chamber floor-joist. Cut out a joist
1 inch deep, in the lower edge, and lock it on the strip, and nail each
joist to each stud. Now lay this floor, and go on to build the upper
story, as you did the lower one; splicing on and lengthening out studs
wherever needed, until you get high enough for the plate. Splice studs
or joists by simply butting the ends together, and nailing strips on
each side. Strike a line and saw off the top of the studs even upon
each side—not the ends—and nail on one of the inch strips. That is
the plate. Cut the ends of the upper joist the bevel of the pitch of
the roof, and nail them fast to the plate, placing the end ones inside
the studs, which you will let run up promiscuously, to be cut off by
the rafter. Now lay the garret floor by all means before you put on
the roof, and you will find that you have saved 50 per cent of hard
labor. The rafters, if supported so as not to be over 10 feet long,
will be strong enough of the 2 × 4 stuff. Bevel the ends and nail fast
to the joist. Then there is no strain upon the sides by the weight of
the roof, which may be covered with shingles or other materials—the
cheapest being composition or cement roofs. To make one of this kind,
take soft, spongy, thick paper, and tack it upon the boards in courses
like shingles. Commence at the top with hot tar and saturate the paper,
upon which sift evenly fine gravel, pressing it in while hot—that is,
while tar and gravel are both hot. One coat will make a tight roof; two
coats will make it more durable. Put up your partitions of stuff 1 × 4,
unless where you want to support the upper joist—then use stuff 2 × 4,
with strips nailed on top, for the joist to rest upon, fastening all
together by nails, wherever timbers touch. Thus you will have a frame
without a tenon or mortise, or brace, and yet it is far cheaper, and
incalculably stronger when finished, than though it were composed of
timbers 10 inches square, with a thousand auger holes and a hundred
days’ work with the chisel and adze, making holes and pins to fill them.

“To lay out and frame a building so that all its parts will come
together requires the skill of a master mechanic, and a host of men and
a deal of hard work to lift the great sticks of timber into position.
To erect a balloon building requires about as much mechanical skill as
it does to build a board fence. Any farmer who is handy with the saw,
iron square, and hammer, with one of his boys or a common laborer to
assist him, can go to work and put up a frame for an outbuilding, and
finish it off with his own labor, just as well as to hire a carpenter
to score and hew great oak sticks and fill them full of mortises, all
by the science of the ‘square rule.’ It is a waste of labor that we
should all lend our aid to put a stop to. Besides, it will enable many
a farmer to improve his place with new buildings, who, though he has
long needed them, has shuddered at the thought of cutting down half of
the best trees in his wood-lot, and then giving half a year’s work to
hauling it home and paying for what I do know is the wholly useless
labor of framing. If it had not been for the knowledge of balloon
frames, Chicago and San Francisco could never have arisen, as they did,
from little villages to great cities in a single year. It is not alone
city buildings, which are supported by one another, that may be thus
erected, but those upon the open prairie, where the wind has a sweep
from Mackinaw to the Mississippi, for there they are built, and stand
as firm as any of the old frames of New England, with posts and beams
16 inches square.”

The above address, which was delivered before the American Institute
Farmers’ Club, has been quoted in detail because of the interesting
point of view of the days of 1855 which it reveals. When Mr. Robinson
had finished there were other comments, especially one by Mr. Youmans,
in which he described early conditions of building in San Francisco.
He also said that he had adopted this plan of building on his farm in
Saratoga County, where he found great difficulty in getting carpenters
that would do as he wished. They could not give up tenons and mortises,
and braces and big timbers, for the light ribs, 2 by 4 inches, of a
balloon frame. Does this not remind the modern reader of comments he
has heard upon all sides these days concerning labor which will not do
what is wanted but insists on doing things in the old way?

Some pertinent remarks were also made by a Mr. Stillman, who testified
that he had seen whole blocks of houses built in two weeks at San
Francisco, and better frames he never saw. He said they were put up a
story at a time, the first two floors often being framed and sided in
and lived in before the upper part of the house was up. Have we any
such housing crisis as this, in these days, or did we do any quicker
building of war villages than that described above?

And now we read from the Preliminary Report on the Building Code
Committee of the United States Department of Commerce the crystallized
tradition of this system of wooden frame construction which was evolved
so many years ago that we sometimes forget the conditions of its making:

“_Exterior Walls._—1. Wood studding shall be 2 × 4
inches nominal size or larger, and spaced not to
exceed 16 inches on centres. All walls shall be
securely braced at corners. The minimum sizes
specified in these requirements shall in all cases
be understood as referring to nominal sizes of
such timbers.

2. Exterior walls, except those of dwellings or parts
thereof not more than one story high, shall be
sheathed with boards not less than ⅞ inch thick.
Sheathing-boards shall be laid tight and properly
nailed to each stud with not less than 2 tenpenny
nails. Where the sheathing is omitted all corners
shall be diagonally braced and such other measures
taken to secure rigidity as may be necessary.

3. Wood sheathing may be omitted when other types of
construction are used that are proven of adequate
strength and stability by tests conducted by
recognized authorities.

4. When joists are supported on ledger or ribbon
boards, such boards shall not be less than 1 × 4
inches, shall be laid into the studs and securely
nailed with not less than 2 nails to each stud.
The floor-joists shall be well spiked to the sides
of the studs.”

XX TRADITIONS OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF DOORS AND WINDOWS

_Windows_

[Illustration: Primitive window]

What are the elements of design in the elevations of the small house?
Surely they are not the five classical orders, as commonly used in
monumental architecture, but rather they are the doors and windows. The
successful placing and careful detailing of the doors and windows of a
small house will have more to do with the architectural attractiveness
of the structure than anything else, for, after all, the most important
part of any elevation is the treatment of the holes in it. The walls
would be plain and uninteresting but for the holes where the doors and
windows are placed. The fenestration cannot be too large or too small,
and here is the problem. We desire plenty of light and air, but we
must also recognize that windows which are too large leave little wall
space in the rooms, are cold in winter, and appear less homelike than
smaller and snugger appearing ones. Then, too, windows which are of
plain, clear glass in very large sheets make these holes appear open
and black, and this is quite contrary to our traditions of the windows
of a home, which should be safe and cosey. The omission of muntins from
the windows of small houses is a great mistake in design, even though
these small panes require a little more work to wash.

[Illustration: Lattice Window]

Our traditions of door and window construction come, as do other
structural traditions, from England. Undoubtedly the earliest
structures had no windows at all, but were lighted by the openings
through the defective construction of the walls and also through the
door. Our ancestors of those days were more interested in protecting
themselves from outside intruders than they were in fresh air and
sunshine in their rooms. When it was safe to build windows they were
only holes in the walls. Some of the old huts, built on crucks, a
construction previously described, had holes in the roofs for windows,
which served the double purpose of letting in light and letting out
the smoke of the fire. We get an inkling of what a window was from the
very derivation of the word itself, which comes from the old Norse
word “wind-auga” or wind-eye. This does not sound like a glazed sash,
nor does the other Anglo-Saxon term for window, “wind-dur,” meaning
wind-door, suggest a closed aperture. Of course these windows were
undoubtedly closed in some way or other in stormy weather or when
danger was outside. Probably a wooden board or shutter was used, which
had a small peep-hole cut in it. These were hung from the top, and when
opened were held in position with a prop on the outside.

There is no certainty of when the smaller domestic houses of England
began to use glazed windows. In 1519 William Horman wrote: “I wyll haue
a latesse before the glasse for brekynge.” This would suggest that
windows of latticework were preferred because of the cost of glass, and
this might have been filled instead with canvas, horn, or tile to let
in some light. But another writer in 1562 says: “Lattice keepeth out
the light and letteth in the winde.” When glass windows were used,
however, the small bits of glass were held in position by lead
in diamond-shaped patterns, which probably were adopted from the
form of the old lattice windows, although later it was found that
rectangular panes were cheaper. But the use of glass in small houses
is comparatively modern, for, before the reign of Henry VIII, glass
windows were rare except in churches and gentlemen’s houses.

[Illustration: An old unglazed window, the early beginnings of sash]

Traditions of stone mullioned windows were very strong, and these
brought about a system of building wooden, unglazed sash which had
mullions made of oak, set in a heavy oak frame. One of these is shown
in the drawings. The word “sash” is derived from the French “chassis,”
and its earliest spelling was “shas” or “shash.” In a book, “Mechanick
Exercises,” written by Moxon in 1700, he mentions “shas frames and shas
lights.” It was these old, unglazed wooden sash which gave birth to the
modern double-hung and casement window.

[Illustration: Crude beginning of the sliding Sash]

As first made, they opened by sliding in their frames, either
horizontally or vertically. If they were built to slide vertically they
were not counterbalanced with weights, as in our modern windows, but
were held in position with a hook which caught in notches cut in the
side of the frame. It is interesting to quote here what William Horman
wrote in 1519: “I haue many prety wyndowes shette with louys goynge up
and downe.”

It is supposed that the idea of counterbalancing these sash by means
of weights, attached by a cord running up over a pulley, came to England
from Holland. This type began to be used about the latter half of the
seventeenth century, and although the early examples were clumsy and
heavy and the groove in which the sash were made to run was worked out
in the solid, yet by the process of years of refinement the modern
double-hung window was evolved. The traditions of these sliding windows
were brought to America in Colonial days, and they proved to be the
most suitable types for our rigorous climate, whereas the windows,
which swung like doors from their sides, called casement windows, did
not prove so weather-resisting.

[Illustration: Modern Double-hung Window

Casement Window Sash swings inward]

To hear some individuals talk, one would almost think that the
double-hung window was a modern, American invention of artistic
atrociousness, and that the casement window was peculiarly English,
having the sole right to artistic merit. As a matter of fact, the
fashion in England for casement windows was an imported one from the
Continent, which never reached certain farm sections of England. In
fact, some years ago certain agricultural laborers refused to live
in cottages fitted with casement windows which had been built by a
district council. The Georgian revival, which had so much influence
upon our early Colonial work, and which is also very much alive to-day
in this country, brought into fashion again the traditional double-hung
window.

Of course there is much to be said against the artistic appearance of
the double-hung window as compared with the casement window, but when
all is said and done we still go on using more double-hung windows
than casement windows, for in the majority of cases they prove to
be more substantial in resisting the heavy winds and storms of our
climate. Every now and again we hear some prominent architect urging
the use of casement windows, and we can find plenty of manufacturers
of casement window hardware telling us to use them, and the makers
of steel casement sash drum in our ears the practical qualities of
steel sash, and one is led to wonder why they are not used more. But
traditions are stronger than advertisements.

_Doors_

There is an ancient English expression, “put t’ duur i’ t’ hoile” (put
the door in the hole), which comes down from the times when the door
was not fastened by hinges and did not swing into place, but had to be
lifted up and placed over the door opening. When the door was opened
it leaned against two stakes driven into the ground, or some similar
support. These old doors were very small, as compared with our modern
doors, and were probably made of light wattle, for we read in some old
rhymes of throwing doors and windows on the attacking enemy. Even when
solid-wood doors were used they were made of one piece of wood. Doors
made of a number of planks of wood fastened together by battens or
ledges were a later type. It was noticed that these sagged when hung
in position and cross bracing was found necessary. These old batten
or ledged doors were swung on pivots of wood which rested in sockets
bored into the lintel and the sill. These pivots were called harrs, and
later were made of iron. The evolution of the hinge idea from the harr
is shown in a series of drawings. For many years these great hinges
became a very decorative part of the door, and great care was taken
with their designing. Our modern butt is quite the opposite in its
characteristics, for instead of being a feature upon the face of the
door it is completely hidden, except the socket and pin.

[Illustration: Primitive Door

Old door of solid wood plank

Batten or Ledged Door]

[Illustration: An old English Ledged Door]

In building the old ledged doors, the planks were set vertically and
held together with battens through which were driven wooden pegs. The
ends of these pegs were chamfered, and a curious mark of tradition can
be noted in the later doors, which were fastened with iron pins that
were also chamfered on the ends, like the wooden pins. Later
construction of doors shows the use of weather-stripping over the
vertical joints and also the use of various layers of planks, with
their grains running at right angles in each alternate layer. The end
timber upon which the harr was placed was thicker than the planking,
and later the timber upon the opposite side was made heavier in order
to strengthen the crude locks. With this change and the moving of the
battens to the upper and lower edges of the door, and the introduction
of weather-stripping over the cracks between planks, there was created
the prototype for the modern panelled door. It was only a slight step
from this to frame the styles, top and bottom rails, and lock rails
around the panels between them.

[Illustration:

Wooden Harr
Iron Harr
Iron Harr
Iron Hinge & Hoolie

Development of the Door Hinge]

[Illustration:

Modern Loose-joint Butt
Loose-pin Butt (9)]

Another type of door that was of traditional construction, and from
the name of which we derive our word hatch, was the so-called
“heck-door.” This door corresponds to the common “dutch-door,” which is
familiar to us in Dutch Colonial houses. It was capable of being opened
in two halves; the upper half could be swung in without the lower half.
This type of door was invented from the necessity of protection against
the sudden intrusion of strangers and also small animals, like pigs and
hens.

[Illustration: Simple Batten Door]

[Illustration: Development of the panel door from the batten door.]

The oldest method of fastening doors was to draw a long bar across
them on the inside, very much like the bars which were used in Colonial
houses in this country. A hole was cut into the jamb into which this
bar could be run when locked, and in the opposite jamb was another hole
into which it could be slid out of the way. The disadvantage of
this type of door fastening was that it could only be fastened and
unfastened from the inside. This led to other devices, such as a bolt
that could be operated from the outside and a latch that could be
lifted by a string, or a hole was cut in the door through which a small
bit of metal could be passed that could be used as a lift for the latch.

To-day we think of locks and bolts and latches as distinct, but this
was not so at the time they were being evolved. Our word lock was used
in the sense of securing the door in any manner. But gradually, as,
step by step, the various mechanisms for locking a door were developed,
the word became limited in its meaning, although we sometimes use it
to-day in the sense of closing the door.

XXI BUILDING THE SETTING FOR THE HOUSE

_Theoretical Features of Ground Arrangement_

There are five fundamentals which should be considered in finishing the
grounds about the small house, for it must not be forgotten that the
finest gem of domestic design will be lost unless it is placed in the
right setting. These five principles are the production of an intimate
relation between house and grounds, the formation of a natural frame
about the house, the building of interesting approaches, the planting
for seasonal effects, and the growing of interesting and beautiful
vistas as viewed from the house.

1.—INTIMATE RELATION BETWEEN HOUSE AND GROUNDS

In considering this part of the problem, the designer must begin at
the very outset to solve it. If the plot is level or capable of easy
conversion into terraces, then the character of the house itself may
be somewhat formal, symmetrical, and dignified; but it would be wrong
to build a house of this kind upon a rolling and rollicking site. This
latter kind of ground demands the picturesque type of house, and the
roof lines should be planned to carry up some of the curves of the
hillocks.

[Illustration: STUDIED PLANTING]

In all cases, however, it is generally recognized that the small house
can best be tied into the surroundings by making it low, say a story
and a half or one story, for one of two stories or even two and a half
offers an ungainly elevation for an architectural composition. In rare
instances have houses of this proportion been artistically finished.
At any rate, the house should be kept as low as possible in the front,
and the ugly, stilted foundations should not protrude above the level
of the lawn. Nothing is so effective in producing a feeling of intimacy
between house and grounds as to keep the level of the first floor only
about six inches above the grade. This, of course, makes it difficult
to light and ventilate the cellar, since any windows in the
foundation-walls would have to open into areas. A compromise can be
made by grading the lawn down at the back of the house, so that enough
of the foundation can extend above the ground to permit of well-lighted
cellar windows.

[Illustration: THOUGHTLESS PLANTING]

Another method by which an intimate connection between ground and
house can be produced is in the blending of wall materials and
foundation-stones. If the walls of the house are of stucco, and the
lower part of them built of rubble-stone, then a gradual transition
can be made from the stone to the stucco by carrying the stucco down
over certain parts of the stone work, so that it flows into the
mortar joints—like the waters of a lake flow into the little
indentations of a rocky shore. This will eliminate any sharp horizontal
line where the foundation-wall of stone ends and upper wall of stucco
begins. As the stone has a natural intimacy with the soil, it easily
makes the transition with the ground, and its effectiveness is very
marked where the site is hilly and parts of the foundation are built
upon little rocky juttings. This same easy transition can be made from
stone foundation to brick wall. It is not possible to do it with the
wooden wall, however.

But perhaps the most widely used method of producing an intimate
connection between ground and walls of the house is with foundation
planting. There is much abuse of this method. To surround the base of
the house with billowy clumps of shrubbery, so that it appears almost
as if it were springing from a bed of clouds, is not at all satisfying.
Nor should the owner have to be everlastingly kept at the job of
trimming down these plants or removing dead ones which refuse to grow
in the poor soil and bad drainage next to the cellar. And the house
should not be made to mourn behind a bed of evergreens, protected at
intervals with sentinel-like cedars, dark and foreboding, against the
wall and sighing and whining in the wind. Rather should a delicate use
be made of foundation planting by using vines, and now and then a small
shrub or little evergreen. The object should be to make a shading and
transition from the green lawn to the walls of the house by carrying
upward upon the walls or against them some of the climbing plants,
that the green of the ground may fade gradually into the white of the
stucco or the red of the brick wall. Public buildings need massive
and impressive foundations, but the small house should be nestled in
Nature’s lap.

2.—NATURAL FRAMING FOR HOUSE

When viewed by the passer-by in the street the planting around the
house should be so arranged that it makes a natural frame for it and
creates a composition for a picture. Regarded from this angle there
should be background trees, trees and shrubbery flanking the sides
along the edge of the plot, a green open lawn stretching forward to
the street, some columnar-shaped trees or lacelike trees wisely placed
to suggest the middle ground, and then a wall or low hedge with low
plantings to make a foreground.

The background trees should be tall and mixed in character, so that
their skyline is not stiff and wall-like. The trees which run along
the edge of the lot ought also to be varied in type. Low shrubs should
fill in the spaces between their trunks, but as they come forward on
the property they should be more scattered, lower and thinner, so that
the neighboring property can be seen, and finally they should end,
allowing a blended connection between the lawns on either side. There
are some who advocate that the site should be completely walled in with
shrubs or fences and separated entirely from the neighboring plots, but
this is not quite in harmony with our traditions, and ought not to be
carried to this individual exclusiveness, although the rear of the lot
may be so screened in.

The green lawn should not be broken with flower-beds, for, taken at its
largest, it is bound to be little, and nothing should be introduced to
break it up. The windings of the front path may be such that clumps
of low shrubbery and a few columnar trees, like cedars or Lombardy
poplars, can be placed along its edge and produce a motif for the
middle ground, like a moving silhouette against the elevation of the
house as one passes by.

The building up of the foreground should be with some low planting
over which one can look. The use of fence or wall is legitimate if it
does not cut off the view. Gates are a little out of harmony with our
American traditions, for they mean that they should be attended by a
gatekeeper, a human tool that is quite extinct in the average home, and
especially in the small one.

3.—INTERESTING APPROACHES

Generally speaking, due to the smallness of the average plot upon which
the little house is erected, the building of a prominent pathway to
the front door directly in a straight line from the street, cutting
the lawn and the property in two equal halves, is not pleasing. The
lawn will be small enough as it is without chopping it into two pieces.
If a straight approach is desirable, it should be made of materials
that will not visibly produce this effect of division. Stone slabs
of greenish color or neutral tones set with open joints, or even
stepping stones, solve the problem. But the straight approach has not
the mystery and picturesque quality of one which curves around the
outside of the lawn, and is framed in with planting, so that the view
of the house is constantly changing as one proceeds.

The roadway to the garage might also be the way to the house. Nothing
looks uglier than the straight cut from street to garage. Planning the
location of this service building so that it cannot be seen from the
street is an excellent step in the right direction.

The material of which these paths and roads should be constructed ought
to be in harmony with the house. Brick paths look well with brick
houses, stone paths and gravel paths look well with stone houses,
concrete paths and roads go well with concrete and stucco houses, for
one naturally associates these materials as being left over from the
building. It is the most natural thing in the world to use up a few
of the bricks for the paths after one gets through building the brick
house, or laying some of the stones to walk upon, after finishing the
house of stone, or using up a few odd barrels of cement for the walks
when the job on the concrete house is over. And being so natural a
thing, there is a likable gesture in doing it.

4.—PLANTING FOR THE SEASONS

The composition of the picture which is the aim in all of this work
about the house, should not be spoiled by careless selection of plants
for the various seasons of the year. It is very unwise to place in the
front of the house tender shrubs and flowers which wither and die in
the winter months or which have to be wrapped in swaddling-clothes. Is
there anything more forlorn than to see a lot of burlap-wrapped or
hay-packed mummy trees or shrubs, standing out on the cold wintry lawn
in front of the house? A few evergreen trees and a few broad-leaf trees
which show delicate limbs when bare, and a few shrubs that hold the
snows that settle upon them are the things to plant in the front of the
house. Leave the tender plants to the garden in the rear.

[Illustration: TYPE OF SMALL GARDEN TYPE OF SMALL GARDEN]

And this garden at the back of the house should be treated in a most
private way. It should be surrounded with a wall or high hedge. There
should be walks, border plantings, a little touch of water, and a
seat in the smallest garden. It should be located so that it can be
viewed from the house and enjoyed. Here all of the fine, delicate, and
colorful flowers and plants can be placed. In the winter months the
protected plants with their ugly clothes will not seem so out of place
in this secreted patch of ground.

5.—IMPROVING THE VIEW FROM THE HOUSE

Next in importance to planning the setting of the house and its
appearance from the street should be the planning of the views from
windows of the house itself. The development of the private garden at
the back is one help which was previously alluded to, but there are
generally ugly things which can be seen from the windows of the house
that need screening out. These ugly objects may be on the neighboring
property, or they may be the drying-yard for the clothes, or the
garage. Whatever they are, a screen of trees can be used to shut them
from the view.

But the most important part of this problem is to make the best of any
view that may be possible from the house. A far-away river, a hill, or
a meadow might be brought to sight by trimming some trees or brush.
Distant landscapes are most satisfying to the eyes, for they rest them.

_Construction of the Lawn_

From what has been said, the importance of the lawn in front of
the house can be appreciated. It is the rug spread out before the
jewel-box. Over it one can view the beauty of the home, and so it needs
the best attention. The very first thing to consider in building the
lawn is to arrange for good drainage and a deep top layer of good soil,
say 18" to 24". Pockets where water may collect and settle must be
drained with tiles placed in the ground. The surface water should be
carefully distributed away from the house.

An ordinary site will have stones and weeds scattered over it. In the
beginning these stones should be carted away and the weeds cut down
with a scythe, and a plough run over the surface to a foot in depth,
unless the subsoil is not sandy and holds water, in which case a deeper
ploughing is better. Then stones and weeds should be taken out of this
earth, not once, but as many times as the earth delivers up stones and
weeds. When this is done, the grading may be started, and this should
be with long, easy grades. Where trees and shrubs edge the lawn, a
slight hollow in the grade will improve it.

This graded soil is not ready for grass until it has been covered
with 25 to 50 loads per acre of thoroughly decayed, composted stable
manure, or, if not this, bone-dust, wood-ashes, superphosphates of
lime, nitrate of ammonia, etc. This dressing should be raked into the
top-soil with the harrow and hand rake, and whatever weeds and stones
come up with this operation should be removed.

Grass seed should then be selected which will give the most rugged
growth for the particular conditions of the site. Often this can best
be accomplished by using a mixture of seed. The different kinds of
grass have qualities suited to certain types of soil. For example,
Kentucky blue-grass, while coarse and not so attractive as some
others, grows vigorously and holds its own in sandy soil. Rhode Island
bent-grass makes good sod in moist climates, and redtop is apt to die
off in a drought.

This seed must be sown liberally to make allowances for loss in
germination, and evenly to prevent patchy growth. About six bushels
per acre is considered enough. All of this must be raked under with a
fine-toothed iron rake and pressed down with a heavy roller. As soon as
the blades are tall enough to be caught in the mower, this new grass
should be cut, for this helps to make it grow thicker and keep down the
weeds. But work on the lawn does not end here. Constant care is the
price of a good one.

_Construction of Roads and Paths_

Attention has already been called to the use of materials for paths and
roads which harmonize with the materials of the house. In a previous
chapter, details were given on the construction of concrete paths and
roads. Therefore other types will be considered here, such as brick,
gravel, and stone.

The driveway to the garage ought to be about 10 feet wide and flare
out to a 15-foot width at the house, where the car is driven up to the
entrance, so that an incoming car can pass by any which is standing in
front of the door. This roadway should widen out into a Y shape in
front of the garage, as shown in the drawings, to permit of backing out
and turning around. A round turning area in front of the garage may
be substituted for this Y-shaped arrangement. Any curves made in the
driveway should have a radius from centre of the curve to outside edge
of the road of 30 feet 6 inches, although a Ford car can run on a road
having a radius of only 14 feet.

If the driveway is to be of gravel and the subsoil is wet or clayey,
drainage must be arranged for along the edges. Trenches 3 feet to 4
feet deep should be dug on either side and 3-inch diameter agricultural
tile laid at the bottom with open joints covered with collars, then a
layer of sod, and then 6 inches of field stone or gravel, and finally
top-soil. Wherever there are pockets that would collect surface water,
outlets should be constructed and covered with iron grating. All the
subsoil tile should connect with one main tile and drain off at some
low point.

For ordinary light traffic the road itself may be built with a
foundation of stones to a depth of 2 feet. This should be covered with
a layer of coarse gravel 2½ inches thick, a top layer of finer gravel
4 inches thick, and rolled with a heavy roller after water or some
bituminous binder has been sprinkled over it. A crown of ½ inch to the
foot should be made, and any grades ought to be kept about 5 feet in
100 feet, and at the most 10 feet in 100 feet.

In the construction of gravel walks the grade should be kept to within
12 feet in 100 feet and be crowned ¼ inch per foot.

The success of the brick walk depends upon the foundation used. A poor
one will permit the bricks to settle unevenly, crack, and break away at
the edges. The bricks themselves may be laid in any number of different
and interesting patterns, such as the basket weave or the herring-bone.
A row of bricks on edge along the outside of the walk makes an
excellent finish.

[Illustration: TYPES OF STONE PATHS]

[Illustration: TYPES OF BRICK WALKS]

The foundations of the brick walk may be built of sand, cinders, or
concrete. The first two give a walk somewhat irregular, and grass can
be made to grow in the joints. To begin the laying of a brick walk,
the earth should be excavated to a depth of 4 inches, and either a
bed of sand 2 inches thick, or a concrete of one part cement to eight
parts sand 3 inches thick should be spread. When the bricks have been
arranged on this bed, sand should be worked into the joints between
them by leaving a layer on the walk for a few days and brushing it into
the crevices.

Where concrete is used for the base, a more rigid walk will result,
and in such types it is customary to use mortar to fill the joints. A
thin 1:3 grout can be brushed into these joints and the little that is
smeared over the surface can be washed off with scrubbing-brush, water,
and 5-per-cent muriatic acid. A better method is to pour grout into the
joints, wiping the brick clean before the mortar sets.

There are a number of different types of stone walks that can be used,
depending upon the character of the stone in the neighborhood. Flat
flagstone walks are usually rather uninteresting, and many prefer the
picturesque effect which is produced by stepping stones. These ought
to be placed about 22 inches apart to make walking easy on them. A
very interesting and much-used walk is made by setting flat stones of
different shapes together, like the pieces of a cut-out puzzle, but
leaving a small space between each stone in which grass or moss can be
grown.

XXII FINANCING THE CONSTRUCTION WORK

The problem of financing the small house is a part of the problem of
building, and to some extent is a very personal affair, and every
prospective owner has his own difficulties and personal solutions.
Those who have saved for a number of years enough money to invest in
this adventure of home-building are quite simply fixed, and all that
they need consider is how large a house they can have for the money
saved.

A method was shown in an early chapter by which the approximate cost
of a house could be determined when the plans were in the rough. This
consisted of studying the houses built in the neighborhood where the
new home was to be erected, calculating their cubical contents and
dividing this into their total cost, so that their cost per cubic
foot could be known. By comparing this result with the figures which
the local builders had offered, a fair idea could be obtained of how
much per cubic foot the new house would run. A few figures were given
for the different types of construction, but nothing certain can be
predicted from them, for, as was pointed out, the cost is definitely
related to the locality and the time.

Once, however, having arrived at a reasonably correct cost figure for
the cubic foot, the question of how big a house is to be had for the
money is quickly determined. Divide this cost per cubic foot into the
total sum of money which is to be used for building the house, and the
allowable number of cubic feet in the new house will be found. If now
the average height of the new house, from the cellar to the average
height of the roof, is divided into this allowable cubic contents, the
allowable ground area for the plan will be known.

For example, suppose the sum that can be invested in the house itself
is $10,000, and it is found that the houses in the locality, of similar
construction, cost per cubic foot about 35 cents. Dividing 35 cents
into $10,000, it is found that a house having approximately 28,570
cubic feet can be constructed. If 8 feet is allowed from cellar floor
to level of first floor, 9 feet from first to second floor, and 13
feet from second floor to the average height of the roof, then a total
average height for the house will be found to be 30 feet. Dividing this
30 feet into 28,570 cubic feet, it will be found that a floor area of
approximately 950 square feet can be had. Now, as the floor area of
the plan of any two-story house is determined by the area required for
the second floor and not the first, the desired sizes of the various
bedrooms should be approximated, and the results added together to see
whether they come within the allowable floor area. Continuing this
example, suppose that the master bedroom is to be approximately 14 feet
by 15 feet, the other three bedrooms approximately 12 feet by 12 feet,
the toilet about 7 feet by 10 feet, the hall about 8 feet by 12 feet,
then by adding the area of these rooms together it will be quickly
found out whether the allowable area has been exceeded.

Master bedroom, 14 feet by 15 feet 210 square feet
Three other bedrooms, 12 feet by 12 feet 432 “ “
Toilet, 7 feet by 10 feet 70 “ “
Hall, 8 feet by 12 feet 96 “ “
———————————————
Total 808 square feet

This number of square feet is within the amount allowed, which is 950,
but additional area must be added to this for closets, say 3 feet by
4 feet for the closet of the master bedroom, and 3 feet by 3 feet for
the closets of the other rooms, and other closets for linen and space
for chimneys and the like, making about 60 square feet, which should be
left for this part of the plan. This makes the area about 868 square
feet, and no allowance has been made for porches or passageways. It
is quite evident from this that the number of bedrooms desired, their
approximate size, and the size of the toilet and closets is nearly
up to the maximum which the limitations of cost will permit. Working
with these approximate figures, the plans of the house can be roughly
prepared, the area required for the second-floor rooms being used as
a basis for the allowable area of the first floor, since it is more
than enough, for the second-floor area of a house, as has been said, is
always greater than the minimum area for the first floor.

When roughly prepared plans and elevations have been arranged on this
basis, the cubage can again be checked, and if it is over the allowed
amount, the size should be cut down; if under, increased. The cubical
contents of porches may be computed at one-quarter of the cubage of the
main portion of the house, but if enclosed with glass they should be
estimated at their full cubic contents.

Having thus roughly arrived at the plans and elevations of the house
which is within the allowed cubage, a rough outline specification
should be prepared in which the essential materials, workmanship, and
mechanical equipment are defined. Enough information will then be had
from which a rough estimate can be secured from a local contractor, or
even the architect may make an estimate, based upon previous examples
of other houses. If this rough estimate comes within the allowable
figure which is to be spent for construction, then the contract
drawings can be safely started, and a reasonable assurance can be had
that the cost of the house will not go beyond the amount of money
available. As most contractors will give an outside price on any
preliminary estimates of this kind, unless radical changes are made in
the plans, it can almost surely be the case that the final estimate on
the contract documents will be less. However, there are often times
when the final figures exceed these preliminary estimates, and one
should always be prepared to shrink parts of the building or withdraw
some of the finest requirements of the specifications.

But one of the prime essentials in financing any building operation
is to be sure that the contract drawings contain everything which is
desired in the finished building, and that none or very few changes
are made in the building after the contract is let and the building
is in process of construction. Alterations from the original plans,
after construction work has begun, come under the bugbear title for
all architects, “Extras.” They always mean waste of money. Likewise,
things which were omitted from the plans and specifications, which
are later found to be necessary, run up extraordinary bills, and the
general impression which most people have that a building operation
always costs more in the end than was originally counted upon is due
largely to the neglect of these factors. Competent architects make such
complete plans and specifications that extras of the “omission type”
are avoided, but most small houses are built from plans that are not
complete, or prepared by architects who sell their services at such low
rates that they cannot afford to take the time to check up the plans
carefully. It is right here that the architect has a real business
point to give the client, namely, that if he does not pay for carefully
prepared plans and specifications in the beginning, he will pay out
much more in the end for extras.

Up to this point the financing of the small house, for the one who
has the money, is not complicated, but this is the unusual condition,
because the average person who builds the small house has not the ready
cash to put into it, for that is the reason he builds a small house.
The average individual who builds the small house generally has a
certain amount which can be invested and the rest must be borrowed, and
there are many who advise that even if one did have the whole amount to
invest, it would be better to borrow some for the building operation,
and keep out as much as possible for investments in other lines where
the money might bring in greater returns.

The problem naturally turns upon where and how much can be borrowed for
the building operation. Here again a very personal matter is involved.
Some will have very close friends from whom they can secure a large
first and second mortgage at a fairly reasonable rate, others may be
able to secure a first mortgage from some financing institution which
will be an amount equal to one-half the total cost of land and house,
and then they may be able to secure a second mortgage from some friend,
for most business houses are not prone to take second mortgages. Often
a greater sum can be raised on the contract system, for by this method
the person lending the money is more certainly assured of securing
quick control of it in case of the necessity of action when payments on
the interest fail. By the contract method, the individual lending the
money holds the deed of the property, and can secure control of the
property more quickly than if he had a mortgage and the owner held the
deed. In many cases where foreclosure of mortgages are found necessary,
there may be a delay of a year or more before the money-lender can
secure control of the property, but if he holds the deed the delay
is shortened, and because of this fact he is apt to lend more money
than 50 per cent of the total value. Of course, in the contract method
the owner secures the deed to the property when his last payment is
made upon the principle and he has wiped out all of his interest
indebtedness.

But probably one of the most satisfactory systems yet devised for
financing the small house is through the various building and loan
associations which have grown to great strength in this country.
These associations not only offer investment opportunities for small
investors, but they make excellent and easy terms for those to whom
they lend money for home-building. The arrangements with these
institutions make the payments on mortgages almost like the payments in
monthly rents, and yet at the same time the principle is continually
being reduced, so that in about twelve years it is completely paid
off. Then, too, one is assured of not being in the hands of some
unscrupulous money-lender, as sometimes one discovers a friend to be,
however trustworthy he may have seemed before this business relation
developed.

These building-loan associations will lend as high as 80 per cent
on the value of house and grounds, provided the character of the
individual in the community warrants it. Their average-size loans have
been computed to be about $4,000. If the minimum payment is adhered to,
the loan is usually paid up in twelve years, although arrangements can
be made by which this can be shortened. The interest charged is from 6
per cent to 8 per cent.

If the money is not secured through the above source, then it is
customary to pay a commission to the agent who secures a loan from
some financing institution or private investor. This commission
differs, according to the locality, ranging from 1 to 4 per cent on
first mortgages, and from 5 per cent upward on second mortgages. If a
contract is desired on a second mortgage, the agent will be obliged to
secure it from some private individual, for first-mortgage companies
will not purchase them. This often leads to discounts of from 15 to 30
per cent on second mortgages and contracts.

It is well for every prospective owner, before he considers financing
the construction of a small house, to sit down and figure out all of
the incidental expenditures which are connected with it, for often some
of the minor items are not taken into account, and they may spoil the
whole scheme. Taking a typical example, the items of expense are as
follows:

1. Cost of the lot.
2. Fee for title search.
3. Tax search and recording fee.
4. Possibly cost of surveying lot, but not always.
5. Broker’s fee for securing mortgage.
6. Interest on each advance of the loan during erection.
7. Cost of the building less the amount borrowed.
8. Architect’s fee.
9. Owner’s liability insurance.
10. Fee for filing plans in Building Department.

_Cost to be Met during Year of Ownership_

1. Interest on building loan.
2. Payment on reduction of loan.
3. Interest lost on owner’s money which he invested in
the lot and building.
4. Fire insurance.
5. Up-keep, usually about 1½ per cent.
6. Taxes on property and water-supply.
7. Possible assessments.
8. Maintenance cost, such as coal, gas, and electricity.

The above list of expenses should be frankly faced in the beginning,
tabulated, and duly considered by every prospective owner of the small
house. There are some architects who for fear of discouraging their
clients from building will not sit down with them and show them a plain
statement of the money they will have to invest, and when all of these
minor items begin to pop up during the progress of the operations, the
client begins to lose confidence, wonders where the next unexpected
bill will come from, and blames the architect for having misrepresented
conditions to him. Any prospective owner who has to be blind-folded to
the costs which he must meet in order to muster up courage to build
ought to be left alone, for he will do the architect no good, but
considerable harm. Individuals who have their castles in the air so
high that they cannot reduce their dreams to dollars and cents before
they begin, ought never to build. These are the kind that start the
cry that it always costs more to build than one ever figured on in the
beginning.

But coming back to the question of securing the building loan, it will
be found that nearly all lenders will insist that the owner put his
money in first. That is, he must meet the first payments to the builder
himself, until he has put in all of his share. The rest will then be
taken up by the financing institution, but always enough will be held
back to assure sufficient funds for the completion of the house and
the payment of all bills. The lender generally states at what periods
of the construction money will be passed over, and this schedule is
generally adopted as the one for the periodic payments to the builder.
Of course the contractor must be consulted on the matter and his
approval secured, but there will be little difficulty on this score,
for he will recognize the power of the financing institution to dictate
the dates of payment.

As to the matter of contracting for the construction of the small
house, there is little doubt that for so small a building the method
of securing one general contractor to assume the responsibility of
the whole work is the best. There are many who believe in employing
day labor, and hiring the services of a supervising builder. The cost
is itemized and the contractor adds a percentage as his share. This
insures better-class work, but in practically all cases it is more
expensive, and no assurance can be had of the final cost.

When the plans are let out to various contractors for bids, there
should be no obligation attached to them that the lowest bidder will
secure the job. This is a protection, for the human element often
enters into relations of this kind, and the lowest bidder may not be
the most trustworthy personage, nor have the best reputation.

When the contract is finally let, there are a number of things which it
should cover that are intended to protect the finances of the owner.
For instance, the contractor should be required to maintain insurance
that will protect him from the claims under workmen’s compensation
acts, and from any other claims for damages for personal injury,
including death, which might arise from the operations of building. The
owner should also maintain a similar liability insurance to protect
himself.

The owner should carry a fire insurance on the entire building and
materials to at least 80 per cent of the total value.

When there is doubt as to the financial strength of a contractor, he
should be required to furnish a bond covering the faithful performance
of the contract and the payment of all obligations.

Then, too, it is customary to set forth cash allowances in the
specifications to cover certain items, like plumbing fixtures,
hardware, and electric light fixtures. The contractor should be made to
declare that the contract sum includes these cash allowances.

Careful understanding with the contractor should be arranged as to the
method by which he will be paid. Generally, as was previously stated,
the financing institution has control over the schedule of payments,
and, once this is agreeable to the contractor, he should be required to
submit to the architect an application for each payment, with receipts
and other vouchers, showing his payments for materials and labor,
including payments to subcontractors, at least ten days before each
payment falls due. It is the duty of the architect to determine the
accuracy of each one of these applications for payment before he issues
the certificate of payment for such amount as he decides is properly
due. There are some architects who make it a practice to hold back a
certain percentage of the first payment, and continue this with every
later payment, until the last, in order to have a club over the head
of the contractor and also a factor of safety, lest the builder has
rendered an application for payment in excess of the amount of labor
and material delivered. This, of course, will cause hard feelings
sometimes, and create friction between architect and contractor, a
thing studiously to be avoided, and for this cause such procedure
should be dropped when the architect knows the character of the
contractor.

The architect should always reserve the right to withhold part or all
of the certificate of payment when defective work is not remedied,
or when any claims are filed, or there is reasonable evidence that
claims will be filed, or when the contractor fails to make payments
to subcontractors, or to dealers for materials, or when there is a
reasonable doubt that the contract can be completed for the balance
unpaid, or when any damage involving liabilities has been done by one
contractor to another. The architect should also hold back the final
payment, if there are any liens existing against the building, until
they are removed.

In order to avoid many of the trivial and annoying expenses which occur
in a building operation, the contractor should be required to pay
for all permits and licenses (but not permanent easements) which are
necessary according to local laws. The contractor should also be made
to pay all royalties on patents, if there are any, and all license fees.

But, probably, the most difficult part of the building operation to
finance are the extras. When something is found to have been omitted
from the plans and specifications, and the contractor did not cover
it in his bid, or when the owner changes his mind and requires an
alteration, then this extra work must be paid for at a high rate, for
nearly all contractors look upon such extras as good pickings. In fact,
there are some contractors who deliberately go over the plans and
specifications to note what extras may be needed, and then counting
upon their profits from these extras, they put in a low bid, so that
they can beat their competitors, secure the job, and then proceed to
make up their losses with bills which they put in for the extras.
Likewise, a contractor who is honest, if he finds himself losing money
on any building operation, will try to ease his losses and gain profit
with the extras.

There must, therefore, be some basis upon which estimates for these
extras will be determined. The values for these extras or changes in
the work may be determined by a submitted estimate and acceptance in a
lump sum, by a unit price named in the contract or subsequently agreed
upon, or by the cost and percentage, or by the fixed-fee method. If
the contractor claims that any instructions, by drawings or otherwise,
involve extra cost under his contract, he should be required to give
the architect written notice of it before proceeding to do the work,
within two weeks after receiving such instructions.

A final problem of financing should be considered, and that is the
emergency which might arise should the contractor neglect to prosecute
the work properly or fail to perform any provision of his contract. If
such is the case, the owner should reserve the right in the contract,
that after three days’ written notice to the contractor he may make
good such deficiencies and deduct the cost from the payment due the
contractor at that time. Of course every contract should provide for
the owner’s right to terminate the contract should the contractor fail
to do his work, or prove bankrupt, or persistently disregard laws, or
continually violate the provisions of the contract.

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Construction of the Small House - A Simple and Useful Source of Information of the Methods - of Building Small American Homes, for Anyone Planning to - Build" ***

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