_CONSIDERATION OF THE STAIRCASES._
It was time to give the details required for the execution of the
staircases. Eugène had told Paul to prepare these details; but Paul,
as may be imagined, had not been very successful in accomplishing his
task, and had only furnished an _imbroglio_ perfectly unintelligible to
others as well as to himself, notwithstanding the summary hints given
by the architect in chief.
“Come,” said Eugène, “we must apply ourselves to this work together.
Branchu and the carpenter are asking for details.
“Let us take first the principal stairs, and mark their walls (Fig.
39). For the height of the ground floor we have 15 feet, including the
thickness of the flooring; and the steps ought not to be more than
6 inches high, each of them: we must therefore reckon thirty steps
from the level of the ground floor to the level of the first floor.
In breadth or in _tread_—the term used by builders—a step ought to
be from 10 inches to a foot, to give an easy ascent. Thirty steps
therefore require an extension of from 25 to 30 feet. I think I told
you this before, when we drew the plan of the ground floor. If we take
the middle of the space reserved for the steps, on our plan, we find
exactly 30 feet; marking therefore the steps on this middle line, and
giving them 11 inches tread, we can get two landing-places in the
angles at A, A′. We will make these steps wind so as to avoid sharp
angles near the newel. The first step will be at B, the last at C.
At D, under the stairs, we will make the partition, which will allow
us to form the water-closet at A´. Since at the landing-place, A, we
have ascended eighteen steps (each 6 inches in height), we shall have
8 feet 6 inches under the ceiling, which is more than sufficient.
We will light it by a window, E. The two windows, F, will light the
staircase and follow the level of the steps, as the elevation shows.
For nothing is more ridiculous than to cut across windows by the steps
of a staircase; and although this is done constantly, it is one of the
absurdities which a builder ought to avoid. From the servants’ passage,
G, the water-closet will be entered by the door H.
“Let us now draw the elevation, or rather the vertical projection of
these stairs. This is how we proceed: we draw the walls in elevation,
then divide the height to be ascended into as many parts as there are
to be steps, as I do at I. Projecting these divisions horizontally on
the elevation, and the ends of the stairs vertically with the walls and
the newel, indicated on the plan, we get, by the meeting of these two
projections, the section of the stairs along the walls and against the
newel.
“There we have it; the last step is then at K, on the level of the
floor of the first story. To reach the second story, we have 13 feet
3 inches to ascend from one floor to the next. Giving 6⅛ inches to
each step, we get twenty-six steps, minus a fraction which is not
worth counting. We shall therefore preserve in plan the drawing of
the first revolution, starting from the step, L, which gives thirteen
steps to the point M. From this point we will draw the thirteen
remaining steps to complete the number twenty-six, as I have marked on
the supplementary plan at N. Then for the elevation we will proceed
as above. We shall thus get the general section from V to X for the
two stories. The drawing being completed, the next question is of
what material the steps are to be made. Contained between walls and
a newel, which is a wall itself, we can, if we think well, make them
each of a single block of stone. However, that is scarcely practicable
in this neighbourhood, because we should have difficulty in procuring
hard, compact, fine stone, suitable for this object. We will therefore
content ourselves with making the first step only of stone, and the
others of wood, covering them with good oak board; and to avoid
inserting them in the walls, we will provide a projecting-string in
stone, forming a bracketing along the walls and the newel, to receive
their _ends_, as shown here (Fig. 40). We will lath these steps on the
underside where they are to be left in the rough, and plane them only
on the face, or riser, A. That they may be firm in their place, we will
fasten them with stays, B, which will be covered by the boards forming
the tread, and will be fixed into the holes, C.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.]
“As regards the servants’ winding staircase, we will make it of hard
stone, each step carrying a portion of the newel, as sketched here
(Fig. 41).
“Now try to put these instructions in a regular form, that you may be
able to give the details readily to the mason and carpenter.”
With considerable labour Paul succeeded in making a tolerably complete
drawing from the indications furnished by his cousin: but the latter
was obliged often to help him; for his clerk was not an expert in
elementary descriptive geometry, and these projections presented
difficulties at every turn. Paul got into confusion with his lines,
took one point for another, and would many a time have abandoned
compasses, square, and drawing-pen in despair, if Eugène had not been
at hand to set him right again.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.]