water-closets. The liquid manure will be easier removed and taken care
of. The usual and much to be condemned substitute for a water-closet is
a =privy=, located close to or at a distance from the house. It rivals
with the leaching cesspool in nastiness and danger to health. It pollutes
the soil, taints the water in the well and contaminates the air of the
neighborhood. A privy must always receive unqualified condemnation. There
are cheap and cleanly substitutes for it, such as the various apparatus
known as =earth or ash closets=. While I should hesitate to recommend
placing an earth-closet inside a cottage, except for the use of invalids,
it is very easy to arrange it so as to be quite near the rear part of the
house, accessible from it by a not too conspicuous, well covered, shady,
dry and sheltered walk.
The shed, in which the earth-closet is placed, should be well-built,
strong and tight, and preferably plastered, so as not to be too cold in
winter storms, but also sufficiently ventilated. A simple earth-closet is
illustrated in the writer’s book, “Hints on the Drainage and Sewerage
of Dwellings.” More expensive closets, with mechanical apparatus for
throwing a fixed quantity of earth after use, are sold and generally give
satisfaction if used intelligently, although plain earth-closets answer
well in the case of inexpensive cottages.
With cottages, provided with earth-closets, the earth-manure can be
advantageously used in the kitchen garden, or else it may be disposed of
to neighboring farmers. The disposal of slop water (kitchen and chamber
slops) may be effected where there are grounds about the house, sloping
somewhat away from it, by =sub-surface irrigation=, consisting in placing
a series of common 2-inch drain tiles in parallel lines, about 10 inches
below the surface of the ground, and distributing the sewage water
intermittently through such a network of pipes into the ground, where it
is acted upon by the vegetation and purified by the earth, acting as a
filter. The details of this system, which answers better than any other
known method of disposal for isolated country dwellings, are given in
the author’s book, quoted before. This system is also practical when
water-closets are used inside the house, but in this case, the solids
should be intercepted in a small receiving reservoir, which must be
frequently cleaned, otherwise the distributing tiles will speedily choke,
and create a nuisance by ceasing to work.
Cottages or suburban dwellings of moderate cost should have as few
=plumbing fixtures= as possible, especially if water is scarce, and must
be pumped to a distributing tank by hand labor. Where there is a system
of service pipes, tanks and fixtures, there will be more or less outlay
for annual repairs, besides the frequent annoyance of apparatus getting
out of order, or refusing to work, or freezing up and bursting. It is
certainly much cheaper to have a properly managed earth-closet and to
confine the plumbing in the house to a kitchen sink, a force-pump, a
tank and a kitchen boiler. Certain advantages, however, of an indoor
water-closet, as regards comfort, convenience and health, must be
conceded. A bath-room with a plain bath-tub is also a great convenience
and an important aid to bodily cleanliness. It pays well to arrange
for it, even where one must forego the luxury of a good water-closet.
If means are not available for a system of hot and cold water pipes,
the bath tub may be filled by pails. A small slop sink or slop hopper
for removing chamber slops is also useful and facilitates the work of
servants. Both sink and tub may be arranged in one room, which should
have plenty of ventilation and direct light by large windows to the
outer air. Even the smallest cottage must have a plain kitchen sink.
Where the kitchen is large, a set of laundry tubs may be arranged close
by the sink; in larger dwellings a special room is generally set aside
for laundry purposes, next to the kitchen, or below the kitchen, in the
basement, and hot water from the kitchen boiler is generally available.
If a =bath-room= is wanted, with a water-closet and a bath-tub, and all
necessary amount of hot and cold water pipes, waste and vent pipes, let
the arrangement be as plain and as open—which does not necessarily mean
unsightly—as possible. Keep all pipes outside of walls or partitions,
have them where you can constantly see them and lay your hands on any
stopcock or other plumbing detail, if necessary. Dispense with woodwork
as much as possible. Arrange every fixture, especially the sink and the
water-closet, open to inspection and accessible to the dust-brush and
wiping cloth of the servants. It is important—for the sake of economy
as well as on account of plain and straight arrangement of pipes—that
the bath-room should be as nearly as possible directly over the kitchen,
so that one waste pipe and one line of vent pipe may answer for both.
A little skill and foresight in planning will usually accomplish this
desirable feature.
Let the kitchen sink be of plain cast-iron, the laundry tubs of wood,
or better, of slate; the bath-tub of wood, lined with 14 oz. copper,
and select a good earthen-ware flushing rim hopper with supply-cistern.
Of course, there is more expensive, more durable and handsomer plumbing
apparatus sold, but the above fixtures, if well set, answer all practical
requirements of a small home. The water-closet should be arranged with
so little woodwork as only a seat resting on cleats; the closet itself
standing on all sides free on the floor. This may be finished in hard
wood or covered with oil-cloth, or with slate slabs. A closet thus
arranged answers well for pouring out chamber slops and for use as a
urinal. For further details on plumbing fixtures see the author’s books
on the subject.
Here are a few approved rules on =house sewerage=, so far as they relate
to plain cottages.
The main house sewer outside the building to be of strong well-burnt,
and glazed vitrified pipe, circular in section, four inches in diameter,
laid in straight lines, or with curves of large radius at changes of
direction. Joints to be made with pure Portland cement. It is important
that no cement remains on the inside of the joint. The bottom part of
each pipe should be tightened with particular care. The drain to be
firmly laid at the bottom of the trench, if necessary, on a bed of
concrete. Grooves should be cut for the pipe-sockets. The depth of the
drain should be about 3 feet. Junctions to be made with Y branches.
Inclination to be, if possible, ½ inch to the foot. Wherever grades are
very flat provide some simple and inexpensive flushing apparatus at the
head of the house sewer.
All the pipes inside the house to be thoroughly gas and water-tight, and
well flushed and ventilated. The house sewer inside the dwelling, to a
point five feet outside of the house walls, to be of heavy iron pipe;
of cast iron, if kept below the floor; of wrought iron or cast iron, if
run along the cellar wall or ceiling. Provide a sufficient number of
access-holes for inspection and for removing stoppages.
The soil pipe or waste pipe to be of heavy tarred cast iron with well
caulked lead joints, or of asphalted wrought iron with steam-tight
screw-joints. Pipes to run as straight as possible from the cellar to the
roof, and to be continued full-size at least two feet above the roof.
Mouth to be left wide open. Size of soil pipe 4 inches; of waste pipe 2
inches.
Provide a running trap on line of main house sewer, inside or outside of
the house. Arrange a 4-inch fresh air pipe, at the house side of such
trap, run preferably some distance away from the house and hidden from
sight by shrubbery.
Branch waste pipes from fixtures to be of heavy lead pipe, 1½ inches
diameter. Joints between lead and iron pipe to be made with brass
ferrules or brass screw nipples.
Each fixture to be separately trapped near its outlet by a self-cleansing
and secure trap. Overflow pipes to be dispensed with as much as possible;
if used to join the waste pipe between the fixture and the trap. Traps to
be either the siphon (S or running traps), in which case siphonage should
be prevented by an air pipe, or else to be anti-siphoning or mechanical
or mercury-seal traps.
* * * * *
The question of how to =warm= our cottage will depend, in the first
place, upon the climate and locality of the proposed dwelling, and
furthermore upon its exposure. Three methods of warming the air of halls
and rooms must be considered, namely, warming by open fire-places, by
stoves and by hot-air furnaces. Direct and indirect heating by steam
and by hot-water apparatus are excluded on account of their cost for
buildings, such as here shown.
Ordinary =fire-places= warm principally by radiation, the heat from
the fire being imparted to surrounding objects or persons without much
warming the surrounding air. The degree of heat varies with the square of
the distance from the grate, and it thus happens that with a fire-place
as the only means of heating a room of an exposed dwelling, a person
near the fire may be nearly roasted, while at the opposite extreme end
of the room the temperature may be almost down to the freezing point. A
further disadvantage is the fact that it heats only the part of the body
facing the fire. The greatest objection to the ordinary open grate fire
lies in the fact that 85 per cent. and more of the fuel is wasted, the
heat from it going straight up the chimney flue. A fire-place generally
causes extremely cold drafts from window cracks, or from door spaces,
especially in very cold weather. On the other hand, if such cracks are
all carefully closed and stopped up, the chimney is apt to smoke. While,
therefore, an open fire-place may be adequate in warm climates, it is
entirely inadequate to warm, _per se_, cottages in our eastern, northern,
and northwestern States.
To say that a very large waste of fuel is incident to warming by
fire-places, is not strictly correct, for the heat is not actually
_wasted_. It forms a good aid to the ventilation of rooms, and we
will see later that, as an accessory of other heating methods, the
fire-place is eminently serviceable, and much to be recommended.
Better, however, than ordinary fire-places, are the improved, so-called
=ventilating fire-places=, which are provided with a large air chamber,
and a sufficient air supply from outdoors. There are several excellent
devices of this kind in the market, and these are, of course, much more
economical as far as burning fuel is concerned, about 35 per cent. of the
heat being utilized. They make splendid ventilators, and are generally
superior and free from defects.
In this country =stoves= of cast iron and of wrought iron are the
usual and most economical means of heating small cottages and suburban
dwellings. It is also, unfortunately, true that, as ordinarily
arranged, they make the worst possible devices for warming the air
of our rooms. Heating should always be combined with ventilation,
that is, there should be a continuous removal of the fouled air and
introduction of plenty of pure air instead, but arranged so as not to
cause inconvenient or unhealthy drafts. A room warmed by an air-tight
stove must soon contain air entirely unfit to breathe, for a close stove
removes practically none of the vitiated air, and there is usually an
entire absence of any provision for introducing fresh air. Less fuel
is consumed, and stove-heating is consequently economical, at least
apparently so, while in reality it causes loss of strength, vigor and
appetite, and general debility and extreme sensitiveness.
If a dwelling is to be heated by stoves, the following precautions must
be observed. Select a good-sized, well-built stove, with tight joints,
and lined on the inside with fire-brick to prevent the iron from getting
red hot and to retain, as much as possible, the heat. A supply of
fresh pure air from the outside must be arranged, carried to a jacket
surrounding the stove, where the air is warmed by contact with the stove,
and circulated in the room. The smoke pipe of the stove should be large,
and must never have a damper to shut off the draft. A valve may be placed
on the fresh-air inlet pipe to regulate the amount of ventilation at
will. For the removal of foul air outlets must be arranged, near the
ceiling of the room, and into the chimney, care being taken to prevent
down-drafts or entrance of smoke, by arranging a self-closing flap valve
at the outlet. It is much preferable, however, to have an extracting
or ventilating flue, arranged in the chimney adjoining the smoke flue
and warmed by the latter, with outlets from the room into such flue.
The stove should have ample capacity to heat the room even in very cold
weather without driving the fire to a red heat. It is a good plan to
supply a moderate amount of moisture to the air by placing a water kettle
or evaporating pan on the stove.
Heating suburban dwellings by =hot-air furnaces= has many advantages
over stove heating. Furnace heating is, strictly speaking, stove
heating, but with this difference, that there is only one large stove,
centrally located in the basement or cellar, from which air pipes of
sufficient size carry the warmed air into the rooms as desired. There is,
consequently, less labor in carrying coal and making fires, less trouble
in keeping up the fire, and less dirt and dust from removing ashes.
Furnace heating is disliked and has often been condemned by many as
detrimental to health, and while such is true of improperly arranged
furnace apparatus, it is, nevertheless, a mode of heating which can be
made perfectly healthy and agreeable. It is impossible to heat a room
well by furnace heat, unless arrangements are made, by an open fire-place
or other outlet into a chimney flue, for withdrawal of the air once
breathed and fouled by respiration. You cannot introduce pure, warmed
air, unless you remove a like amount of fouled air. Another mistake,
frequently made, is to take the air supply to the furnace air-chamber
directly from the cellar. Thus, cellar air, ground air, or air from
sewer pipes, is often sent up in a heated condition into the living and
sleeping rooms.
If warming by a hot-air furnace is decided upon, care should be taken
to select from the innumerable patterns in the market a good furnace.
The furnace should be of the best quality of material of its kind—either
cast iron, wrought iron or soap-stone,—and of a good size, for if the
furnace is small, it will be overheated in extremely cold weather, which
is very objectionable, as it renders the air less fit for breathing, and
is liable to cause cracks in cast-iron, and loose joints in wrought-iron
furnaces. The furnace must be well constructed, the pot must be lined
with fire-brick to prevent the rapid burning out of the iron, the joints
must be few in number and perfectly tight, and this must be made the
subject of a special examination. The furnace should have one or two
large cold air-ducts, leading to the outside of the house, located on
opposite sides of the house if there are two. These air-ducts should
take their supply preferably five or more feet above the surface of the
ground. A slide-valve must be arranged in the cold-air box, to regulate
the amount of incoming air, and where there is danger from impurities
in the air, the air supply should be filtered through a loose cotton
filter. At the mouth of the air box place a wire-netting to prevent
rats or other animals from entering. The box should be constructed of
well-dried, wooden plank, with closely fitted joints. Better, although
more expensive, is a galvanized sheet iron air-duct. It is advisable to
carry the cold-air box along the ceiling of the cellar, where it is in
sight, and not below the ground, where it may and often is filled with
ground water or pools of sewage from broken cellar drains. The size of
the fresh-air inlet should be equal in area to the aggregate sum of all
hot-air flues, leading from the air chamber into rooms. The fresh air
should be kept tolerably moist by arranging an evaporating pan kept
constantly full of water in the air chamber of the furnace.
The furnace must be arranged as centrally as possible, so as to make the
horizontal hot-air flues short, for in these the velocity of the air
current is reduced by friction, especially if the flues are small. The
hot-air flues should, preferably, be kept on inside walls, and must be as
direct as possible, and of ample capacity. The inlets or registers, for
admitting warm air into the room, should not be in the floor, for it is
unhealthy to stand over them, moreover they form receptacles of dirt and
dust, and are unsightly in the floor. The inlets should be placed in a
side wall. To avoid danger from charring woodwork no hot-air flues should
come in direct contact with floor-joists, boards or partitions; all
woodwork should be securely protected by some non-conducting material.
The smoke-pipe must be large and run to a good-sized smooth flue, so as
to insure a good steady draft, which will remove all gases of combustion.
There should be no damper on the smoke pipe, and the fire should be
regulated only by more or less admission of air under the fire grate.
Overheating of the furnace must be avoided, for it unduly dries the air,
and scorches the organic matter in the air coming in contact with the
fire, thus causing a peculiar, disagreeable smell.
An open fire-place in the hall and all principal rooms makes, in
connection with hot-air heating, the most comfortable and pleasant
arrangement for withdrawing fouled air from the room. With the air of
the room introduced at a warm temperature, the radiant heat from the
fire-place is particularly invigorating and comforting. We all love to
gather around a cheerful, glowing fire on the hearth of a cosy home, and
exchange pleasant thoughts or dream away twilight hours in looking at the
flickering light.
If fire-places are not available for ventilation, outlets must be
provided into warm, ventilating flues, arranged parallel to smoke-flues
in chimneys. Chimney flues should preferably not be built against outside
walls, for they are not apt to draw well in such position, unless a
special air space is arranged in the rear of the flue to prevent its too
rapid cooling. Ventilating flues must be without sharp angles, smooth on
the inside and preferably round in section. If they remove the air from a
number of rooms, their cross-section must be proportionately increased.
Bedrooms should never be heated by base burner stoves, but should have
a fire-place acting at all times as an efficient foul-air flue. Halls
must be moderately heated to avoid cold drafts through door-cracks, and
to insure a more uniform heat throughout the dwelling. Bathrooms and
kitchens must be ventilated with special care.
=Ventilation= or change of air in dwellings must go on at all seasons
of the year. It aims at removing the vitiated air in a dwelling and
introducing a sufficient amount of pure air, moderately heated in winter
time, supplied with a proper amount of moisture, and thoroughly and
uniformly diffusing it in the house interior in gentle currents, without
causing undue drafts. Drafts are dangerous to health, because they
rob the human body too suddenly of a part of its heat. In summer-time
ventilation is happily and easily accomplished by opening doors or
windows, and by occasional “air-flushing” by creating cross-currents
through rooms. Fire-places should not be covered up in summer by
fire-boards. In winter-time ventilation should always be combined with
heating.
In the spring or fall of the year we often content ourselves with a small
wood or coal fire on the hearth, and in such a case the easiest way to
provide for incoming fresh air is by admitting air through the windows,
directing the cold current to rise up to the ceiling. This may be done by
lowering the upper sash and raising the lower one slightly, not enough to
leave openings at top and bottom. A better way is, of course, to have a
ventilating open fire-place, such as the “fire-on-the-hearth” stove, or
other apparatus.
The so-called spontaneous or accidental ventilation by air penetrating
walls cannot, practically, establish a sufficient change of air. Its
effect is very much reduced by papering, painting, plastering on the
inside, and by treating the outside walls by some water-proof process, as
is frequently done, as a protection against driving rains.
For details on ventilation, amount of cubic space in rooms, amount of
air-supply required, proper position of inlets and outlets, and other
questions, we refer to larger hand-books on ventilation.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: PLATES.]
[Illustration: PLATE I
Perspective Sketch.
Rossiter and Wright Architects.]
[Illustration: PLATE II
Sketch for Cottage.
Wm. A. Bates. Architect. 149 Broadway, New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE III
Perspective Sketch.
Arnold W. Brunner. Architect. New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE IV
Sketch for Cottage.
Wm. A. Bates. Architect. 149 Broadway, New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE V
Perspective.
Thos. Tryon. Architect. New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE VI
Perspective Sketch.
Arnold W. Brunner. Architect. New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE VII
Suburban Cottage.
Frank F. Ward. Architect. 59 Astor House, N.Y.]
[Illustration: PLATE VIII
Sketch. Design for Cottage-Rooms in connection with a Summer Hotel.
Fredk. B. White. Architect. 294 Broadway, New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE IX
Sketch for Cottage.
Wm. A. Bates. Architect. 149 Broadway, New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE X
Perspective.
Chas. I. Berg. Architect. N.Y.]
[Illustration: PLATE XI
Perspective Sketch.
Fredk. B. White. Architect. 294 Broadway, New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE XII
A Stone & Timber Cottage.
Wm. B. Tuthill. Architect. 52 Broadway, N.Y.]
[Illustration: PLATE XIII
Perspective Sketch.
Thos. Tryon. Architect. New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE XIV
Perspective Sketch.
Arnold W. Brunner. Architect. New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE XV
A Low priced Sea-side Cottage. Perspective Sketch.
Rossiter and Wright Architects.]
[Illustration: PLATE XVI
Sketch for Small Cottage.
Jas. D. Hunter Jr. Architect. New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE XVII
Bungalow with Attic.
Arnold W. Brunner. Architect. New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE XVIII
A house planned to meet the requirements of a 50 ft. suburban lot.
Rossiter and Wright Architects.]
[Illustration: PLATE XIX
Cottage on Side Hill.
Arnold W. Brunner. Architect. New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE XX
A Double Cottage.
Frank F. Ward. Architect. 59 Astor House, N.Y.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXI
Pair of Semi-detached Cottages.
Chas. I. Berg. Architect. N.Y.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXII
Semi-Detached Homes for a Village Street.
Fredk. B. White. Architect. 294 Broadway, New York.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIII
Sketch for a small double house.
Wm. B. Tuthill. Architect. 52 Broadway, N.Y.]
[Illustration: ADVERTISEMENTS]
DURHAM SYSTEM OF HOUSE DRAINAGE.
THE Durham House Drainage Company OF NEW YORK.
MANUFACTURING THE DURHAM PATENT SYSTEM OF SCREW-JOINT IRON HOUSE DRAINAGE
TRUSTEES:
JOSEPH P. DAVIS, Vice-Pres’t Am. Soc. C. E.
RUDOLPH HERING, M. Am. Soc. C. E.
DANIEL P. BRUNER, M. Am. Soc. C. E.
HENRY G. PROUT, M. Am. Soc. C. E.
C. W. DURHAM, M. Am. Soc. C. E.
WM. H. BOARDMAN.
DR. C. FAYETTE TAYLOR.
FLOYD B. WILSON.
CHAS. P. WHITNEY.
C. W. DURHAM, PRESIDENT.
CHAS. P. WHITNEY, SECRETARY.
WM. PAUL GERHARD, CHIEF ENG’R.
JOSEPH P. DAVIS, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HENRY G. PROUT, TREASURER.
H. C. VAIL, GENERAL AGENT.
NEW YORK CITY, 231-235 East Forty-Second Street.
_ALBANY, RICHARD PRESCOTT, M.E. 86 State Street._
_PHILADELPHIA, 114 S. Sixth St. (Ledger Building.)_
_BROOKLYN, 26 Court St. (40 Garfield Building.)_
MECHANICAL PERFECTION IN SCIENTIFIC PLUMBING.
The Durham system of construction for house drains provides absolute
and permanent security from sewer malaria, and relief from expenses for
repairs.
The Durham Companies construct all work with their own workmen, under
the supervision of their own engineers. Expert mechanics are sent to any
distance to execute contracts.
All work is of standard quality, fully guaranteed, and furnished at an
ordinary manufacturing profit, at a cost no greater than is asked for the
best class of old style plumbing. Its permanance renders it cheaper than
the cheapest kind of “skin” plumbing.
The Durham system will be constructed in old or new buildings, including
or excluding the balance of the plumbing work, fixtures and gas fitting,
as may be desired.