_BUILDING THE HOUSE--GENERAL LAY-OUT_
The reader will understand that no attempt is made to treat this subject
in detail nor strictly from the architect’s viewpoint. A casual
observation will make it self-evident that the structures on farms have
received little attention as to beauty of form, economy of construction,
or adaptation of means to ends. Like many others, I have noted all this
and have made a somewhat careful study of the causes which usually have
produced this want of harmony, durability, adaptability and economy in
the construction of rural homesteads.
The many illustrations of detail are designed to emphasize underlying
principles. Principles are always the same: details may be varied to
suit conditions. While the numerous illustrations are meant to explain
the details, it is believed that they will also give help to a large
part of the rural population who have had little opportunity to secure
any adequate instruction in the art and science of home building.
Usually the cellar would better be extended under the entire house,
although it is neither wise nor healthy to store large quantities of
material in it which, if not cared for, may decay and vitiate the air in
the rooms above. If the cellar be properly constructed there is no
objection to storing family supplies of fruit and vegetables for the
winter in this partly underground room. Large quantities of vegetables
held for future sale should not find storage in the house cellar. Now
that the floors of houses are made tight, often double with paper
between, and carpets or rugs to cover them, the cold no longer enters
the cellar through the floor. The cellar wall may therefore extend
upwards on three sides, well above ground, that opportunity may be given
for the introduction of light and air. With only single-glazed cellar
windows, no building paper, and floors and boarding of unseasoned
lumber, the pioneer was compelled to place the cellar well under ground,
or bank the walls with manure if the winter’s supply of vegetables was
to be made secure.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. Cellar under the upright only.]
[Illustration: Fig. 44. Cellar under the entire house.]
A common form of the foundation for farm houses is shown in Fig. 43--a
main structure, reinforced by a wing which, in most cases, has no cellar
under it. Fig. 44 shows the cellar under the whole structure. If the
walls of the unexcavated wing are placed 3¹⁄₂ feet below ground, as they
should be in a cold climate, and extend 2 feet above ground, it will
take more stone to construct the foundation walls of the house with a
cellar under only a part than when it extends under the entire
structure. The stone saved by leaving out the wall between the two
sections of the house will more than suffice for building the walls of
the wing to their full height. In the latter case, it would cost
slightly more for excavation than in the former. Since cellars, when
appropriately used, are in some respects the most useful and cheapest
rooms in the structure, there is no economy in not placing them under
the entire house. A cellar may be divided by 4-inch brick walls into
various rooms, corresponding in shape to those above, thereby securing
for the partitions in the superstructure, separate compartments, in
order that the vegetables, fruit, milk, and furnace may be separate one
from the other.
[Illustration: Fig. 45. A footing course under the cellar wall.]
[Illustration: Fig. 46. Showing a layer of material to stop vermin.]
To prevent rats from entering the cellar under the walls, either one of
two methods may be adopted. A footing-course projecting beyond the
outside of the wall arrests the rodents, for having dug down to it they
have not sufficient intelligence to dig around the footing-course (Fig.
45). Or the desired result may be accomplished by placing a thin layer
of refuse broken glass against the outside of the wall two to three feet
from the surface of the ground (Fig. 46). Cellars would be much improved
if they had higher ceilings. At least 7 feet should be allowed between
the cellar floor and the under side of the overhead joists. All cellars
should have concrete floors and plastered ceilings, for both warmth and
cleanliness. In an extremely rigorous climate, the upper angle of the
wall should be lathed and plastered as shown in Fig. 47.
[Illustration: Fig. 47. Protecting the cellar from frost by plastering
across the upper corners.]
If the front cellar wall and the greater part of the side walls extend 2
to 3 feet above the earth, a good sized window (which may be single- or
double-glazed) can be secured. The rear walls should extend not more
than one foot above ground. If the earth slopes rearward, then grade up
to the wall until not more than two steps will be necessary to reach the
kitchen floor; it is easier to climb a gentle ascent than steps. The
front steps are used but a comparatively few times, while the rear ones
are used many times, so it matters little if the front of the house is
several steps above grade.
It makes a visitor unhappy to know that the busy housewife must descend
three steps, walk forty feet and ascend two steps to reach the well
platform, then reverse the journey, to secure the drink of cold water
desired (Fig. 48). The illustration in Fig. 49 shows how the farmer
solved the difficulty by building an elevated plank walk from the
kitchen to the well. Fig. 50 shows how he might have solved it in
another way.
[Illustration: Fig. 48. The daily route to the well.]
[Illustration: Fig. 49. A short-cut to the well.]
[Illustration: Fig. 50. An elevated earth walk to the well.]
The hillside wall may be kept dry and the cellar free from water by
drainage or by backing the wall with loose rubble stone, or by both
(Fig. 51).
[Illustration: Fig. 51.
A rubble stone backing and a drain at the bottom.]
BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS
The walls should be placed below the frost line and have fairly broad
bases, standing on naturally or artificially drained earth. Perhaps no
part of the house structure receives so little attention as do the
foundation walls; therefore, I shall enter somewhat into the details of
construction. Bricks which have been recently burned and those which do
not contain considerable quantities of moisture should be thoroughly wet
before they are placed in the wall. If the mortar sets too quickly by
reason of the dryness of the bricks, a strong wall cannot be secured,
however good the mortar may be in which they are laid.
The foundation walls for most houses, however, are made of stones laid
in mortar composed of lime or cement, or a mixture of the two, and sand.
A large proportion of all the sand used for foundation work is markedly
inferior, and the mortar is usually very imperfectly mixed. If water
lime is used with the sand it is frequently old, and if old, inferior.
Even the cements deteriorate somewhat with age, and the common stone
lime is often used after it is partially or entirely air-slaked. If the
binding material be inferior and the sand have quantities of fine earth
or vegetable matter mixed with it, it will be seen how impossible it is
to secure a strong and binding mortar. Even if fresh lime and sharp sand
are used, in accordance with the usual specifications in building
contracts, the mortar bond may still be weak by reason of careless or
imperfect mixing. All mortar, even that used for laying stones and
bricks, should be mixed until a lime film surrounds every particle of
sand. Plastering the outside of the wall below the grade line and
pointing the wall above cannot make a firm, good wall out of one which
has been carelessly laid or one bedded in inferior mortar.
Chimneys may provide for one or more flues. Better draft is likely to be
secured when separate flues are provided for each stove or heater than
when one flue serves for two or more stoves. The diagram, Fig. 52,
shows three flues in one stack or chimney. One is for the furnace,
another for the fireplace, and another for the laundry stove.
[Illustration: Fig. 52. Three flues in the chimney, one of them leading
from a fire-place.]
All chimneys should have broad footing courses, which should rest on
solid earth to prevent settling. They should not be supported by means
of brackets (Fig. 53) or on the tops of small cupboards attached to the
wall. Chimney walls of only 4-inch thickness are not safe; if they be
double, or 8 inches thick, the number of bricks required are increased
by more than 100 per cent, and the cost of the foundation is also
increased. The heavy walls are objectionable by reason of added weight
and cost, and because of the room they occupy. The introduction of
fire-clay chimney lining makes it possible to construct safe chimneys
with 4-inch walls. Then, too, the lining costs rather less than the
extra course of brick, and the completed flue is smooth and of uniform
dimensions on the inside.
[Illustration: Fig. 53.
Chimney standing on a bracket.]
The openings made in the frame for the chimney are often too small, in
which case the chimney is likely to be “hung” on either the joists or
rafters. There should be a clear space between the woodwork and chimney.
If the opening in the frame is too small, the mason will be tempted to
clip the brick where the chimney passes by the wood and then restore the
chimney to its full size when the obstruction is passed. This results in
hanging the chimney on some member of the frame. Should the foundation
settle, the wall may part and sparks may then easily reach the dry wood
in the room or at the roof of the house.
It is believed that the farmer, after reading these lines, may secure a
good wall and one which fulfils the specifications, if he watches the
work carefully as it progresses. If he does, he will have a much better
wall than the average. Since the material and the kind of work desired
vary so widely, it is not wise to lay down any fast rule for the
proportions of the binding material and sand which may be used. It may
be said, however, that the proportions vary from 1 of lime or cement to
2 of sand, to 1 of the former and 6 of the latter.
WOODEN HOUSES--THE FRAME
Almost any variety of wood will suffice for the frame of the house,
provided it does not twist and spring out of shape too much before or
after it is put into the building. Since the sills are to be placed on
solid, continuous walls, they need not be large. The only objection to
box and small sills is that they may allow too easy access of air and
rodents from the walls of the rooms to the cellar, and vice versa,
unless the spaces above the sills and between the studding are bricked
in as high as the top of the first tier of joists. A rough floor laid
before the upright studding is placed is shown in Fig. 54. This first
floor should be laid diagonally, for the one which is laid immediately
upon it should not be placed either parallel or at right angles to the
boards of the first floor, or parallel with the joists. A little
reflection will reveal the reasons for all this.
[Illustration: Fig. 54. The rough floor laid before the studding is
erected.]
Joists should be bridged. Fig. 55 shows the more common method of
bridging. The joists may be 2 × 8 in small, inexpensive houses, and 2 ×
10 or 2 × 12 in large ones, bridged once in a 12-foot span, twice in a
16-, and three times in an 18- or 20-foot span. The bridging is of the
utmost importance and should never be omitted, as it serves to
strengthen the floor joints and prevents the disagreeable trembling of
the floors so annoying in many of the older houses.
[Illustration: Fig. 55. Bridging the joists.]
The studding for a balloon frame is either 2 × 4, 2 × 5 or 2 × 6, and
the length desired. The 2 × 4 studding are too light for an ample
two-story house, and they do not give enough thickness of wall for the
most desirable window- and door-jambs. The doors are not held firmly in
place, and when they are closed quickly by the wind or by children, the
plastering is injured. Studding 5 inches broad, fortified by outside
diagonal boarding (Fig. 56), gives the ideal conditions unless the house
is unusually large, in which case the studding should be 6 inches broad.
The diagonal boarding costs a trifle more in material and labor than the
horizontal, but it is so much superior that the extra expense may well
be incurred. Every board forms a double brace, one where nailed to the
studding and one where the siding or “clap boards” are nailed to the
rough boards and the studs. Nothing has yet been discovered which is so
satisfactory, and which gives such strength and protection to the frame
as does this preliminary diagonal boarding, covered with paper. When
completed it forms a wall open enough to prevent dry rot and tight
enough to prevent the entrance of wind.
[Illustration: Fig. 56. A wall strengthened by diagonal sheathing.]
The second-story joists rest on stringers or light girders 1 × 5 inches,
as shown in Fig. 57. If the girder is set flush with the inside of the
stud, A, the laths must lie directly upon the face of the girt. This
gives no room for the mortar to form clinches behind the lath. This
5-inch girder swells when the mortar is put on and shrinks when it
dries, which may result in a crack in the wall in the angle near A.
Since, by reason of faulty construction, there are no clinches behind
the lath, the plastering becomes loosened, and this is likely to be the
beginning of serious trouble. If the girder is let in so that its face
is not flush with the inside of the stud and then furrowed out with
small pieces of lath, the effects of the shrinking of the girder will be
obviated and room will be left for clinches behind the lath.
[Illustration: Fig. 57. Second-story joist.]
In windy, cold climates, where lumber is at all abundant, a second
boarding may be placed inside, covered with paper and furrowed out with
a single thickness of lath to allow, as in the former case, the
formation of clinches. There is no objection to boarding horizontally on
the inside, if the outside has been boarded diagonally. The term “rough
boarding” has been used, but it should be said that the boarding which
forms the first covering, sometimes called sheathing, should be brought
to uniform thickness and matched or rabbeted.
Wherever greater strength of wall is desired than can be formed by a
single 2 × 5 studding, as at the corners, or by a single 2 × 10 joist,
as where partitions are to be placed, it is better to spike two or more
pieces together than to have pieces sawed of the dimensions desired.
These made-up pieces or timbers are stronger than solid pieces of the
same character and dimensions, since the continuity of the cross-grain
of the wood is broken in the made-up pieces. In the construction of
large bridges the timbers, where exposed to the weather, are made up of
smaller timbers, since they are then not only stronger but more durable
and less subject to dry rot than if they are solid (Fig. 58).
[Illustration: Fig. 58. Construction of a large bridge.]
Plates are made up of material 2 inches thick and as broad as the
studding is wide, doubled, with joints mismatched. This most valuable
principle of building up timbers of several thin pieces is a somewhat
recent practice. Where very large timbers are required, as in trussed or
self-supporting roofs, the timbers of which are not exposed to view,
they are frequently made up of boards 1 inch thick and as broad as the
vertical dimensions desired. This method is sometimes used in
constructing timbers for both houses and barns (Fig. 59).
Roofs of houses are, of necessity, extremely variable, as the house is
not planned to suit the roof, but the roof to suit the house. Flat metal
roofs of all kinds should be avoided, as far as possible, on the farm
house, however well they may be adapted to buildings in the city. Metal
roofs are not objectionable in themselves, but only when they are laid
flat on farm houses.
[Illustration: Fig. 59. A made-up plate, constructed of boards.]
[Illustration: Fig. 60. Showing the principle of construction of Fig.
59.]
The pitch of roofs, like their shape, is also variable. Nothing below
one-third pitch should be used except for special conditions. In Fig.
38, page 127, is an illustration of the common pitch of roofs in fashion
fifty years ago. Some roofs were even flatter than the one shown. The
fashion now is to construct house roofs with nearly or quite half pitch.
While steep roofs are desirable if made of wood, there is some danger
that the change from the nearly flat roof to the steep one will be
carried too far (see Fig. 13, page 95). Various pitches of roofs are
shown in Fig. 61. Steep roofs do not require as strong rafters, thrust
less upon the plates, are more durable, and are less likely to leak than
flat roofs.
[Illustration: Fig. 61. Pitches of roofs.--¹⁄₂, ¹⁄₃, ¹⁄₄, ¹⁄₈.]
Since roofs are of various pitches, they require rafters of various
lengths and bevels. Farmers and many carpenters have much difficulty in
getting the length and bevels of both rafters and braces. Most
carpenters’ squares have so-called brace rules stamped upon their
tongues.[3] These give the length of the brace for the shorter and more
common runs,[4] but they do not give the angles of the ends of the
brace. Then, too, the length is given in inches and hundredths of
inches, and carpenters’ squares are not divided into hundredths, so this
complicated brace-rule is as useful as a steam whistle on an ox-cart.
[3] The short end of the square.
[4] The perpendicular and horizontal distances covered by the brace.
The methods by which the length and bevels of any member of a frame
which departs from any other member at an angle are so easily understood
that the wonder is that all are not familiar with them. For a simple
illustration, let it be supposed that rafters for a building 18 feet
broad, with one-third pitch, are to be laid out (Fig. 62). The rafter,
R, takes the form of a brace. The run is 9 feet horizontally or half the
width of the building, and 6 feet perpendicularly. If the square be laid
upon the stick designed for the rafter, as 6 is to 9, one side of the
square will give the shorter and the other the longer angle or bevel
(Fig. 63). If the square is laid on 12 times at 9 and 6 inches, it will
give the length of the rafter, for 12 times 9 is 108, half the width of
the building, and 12 times 6 is 72, the height of the peak above the
plates. If the square is laid on 18 × 12 inches, the proportion is
preserved, and hence the angles; the square would only have to be laid
on six times.
[Illustration: Fig. 62. Laying out a roof.]
[Illustration: Fig. 63. Laying out a rafter.]
[Illustration: Fig. 64. Laying out a timber.]
[Illustration: Fig. 65. A brace.]
Consider a building 20 feet broad and 6 inches above one-third pitch.
The half of 20 feet equals 10 feet, or 120 inches. Seven feet 2 inches
(86 inches) is the height of the peak above the plate. It is quickly
seen that this problem, like the other, can be solved in more than one
way. If the long end of the square is laid on at 20 inches and the short
end at 14¹⁄₃ inches, and this is repeated six times, both the bevels and
the length will be secured (Fig. 64), for 6 multiplied by 20 equals 120
inches, half the width of the building, and 6 multiplied by 14¹⁄₃ equals
86 inches, the height of the peak. Or the long end of the square might
be laid on at 24 and the short end at 15¹⁄₅ five times, but squares are
not marked in fifths of inches, hence the previous method would be
best.[5] The same results would be reached by laying the square on at 15
and 10³⁄₄ inches; eight steps would then be required instead of six. The
longer and fewer the steps within the limits of the square, the better.
[5] Since the square is laid on, see Figs. 61, 62, in the same manner
as for cutting a stair; each one of these spaces is called a “step.”
If it is desired to cut a brace 3 × 4 feet run, 3 steps, using the
lengths 12 and 16, will give both the length of the brace and the bevels
(Fig. 65). Take a rafter which has a projection requiring a notch to be
cut in the lower side, and the same rule will apply. The line A, Fig.
66, is horizontal and the face of the plate is perpendicular; therefore,
the line B must be at right angles to A. The only thing now to be
determined is how deep the notch shall be, for it is evident that if the
line A represents the long end of the square and B the short end of the
square, the notch will fit the plate.
[Illustration: Fig. 66. Adjusting to the plate.]
[Illustration: Fig. 67. The rafter.]
[Illustration: Fig. 68. The rafter trimmed on the outer end.]
That part of the rafter which extends over the building may be reduced
in size, but usually it is well to leave it entire (as in Fig. 67) if
the house is large. If the lower end of the rafter should appear too
heavy, it may be treated as in Fig. 68. The bevels at the ends of the
rafters are the same as at A and B (Fig. 66).
The outlines of a story-and-a-half house, which form is most undesirable
for various reasons, are shown in Fig. 69. The chambers cannot be well
lighted or aired. The outlines of the room interfere with the placing
of furniture, and such chambers are far more uncomfortable in warm
weather than are those in two-story houses. It will be seen that the
collar-beam, C, must be placed so far above the foot of the rafters in
order to get a fair height of ceiling, that it has little binding power,
and that the building cannot be tied together at the plates in the
center, since the tie would interfere with the door in the cross wall.
It will also be seen that the second-story joists are so far below the
plates that their power to hold the building together is small. Many of
the one-and-a-half-story houses have “sway-backed” peaks because of
this faulty construction. (See Fig. 35, page 124, broken-back house.) If
story-and-a-half houses must be built, then they should be covered by
roofs having at least one-half pitch, in which case the collar-beams
could be placed relatively lower and the thrust on the plates would be
very much diminished by the steeper roof (Fig. 70). One-, two-, three-
or more storied houses are easily and certainly prevented from spreading
since one tier of joists always coincides with the foot of the rafters,
to which they can be securely fastened. Fortunately, the
story-and-a-half house is less constructed than formerly.
[Illustration: Fig. 69. Outline of a story-and-a-half house.]
[Illustration: Fig. 70. Half pitch and an efficient collar-beam.]