_Setting Batter Boards, Posts, and Sills._--The first step in actual
construction was to mark off the lot and set the batter boards. These
were made by driving three stakes to form a right angle about four
feet from the point where each of the four main corners of the house
was to be located. Two rough boards, one for each side of each angle,
were nailed horizontally to each of the four sets of stakes, with their
upper edges all brought to the same level. It is very important to set
these batter boards with accuracy, since their function is to carry the
lines which mark the dimensions and level of the ground floor. In the
present instance their first use was to locate the concrete posts on
which the sills of the house were to rest. Twenty-two of these posts,
which were 4 feet long and 8 inches square, were put in position by
first setting moulds or boxes, the interior dimensions of which were
those of the posts, 3 feet deep in the light soil and filling them with
a mixture of concrete and crushed rock. It was not thought necessary
to remove the moulds after the hardening of the concrete. In fact, the
sills were framed and placed in position resting on these boxes before
sufficient time had been given for the concrete to harden. The sides of
the boxes, however, were scored with a saw cut so that they could be
easily broken off just below the ground, exposing the projecting ends
of the concrete posts for about one foot. The sills were of 6 by 8-inch
first quality spruce. They were set on the 6-inch face, the two long
sills being spliced over posts, using a long halved joint. Mortise
and tenon joints, draw-bored and pinned, were used at the corners. The
floor timbers of 2 by 8-inch spruce were gained into the sills with
the top faces flush with the top of the sill and crowning (_i. e._,
bending) upward if at all. The spacing of the floor timbers was taken
off at the sill on a strip of furring--spruce, 7/8 of an inch thick
by 2 inches wide--which was moved out to the centre near the line of
bridging and lightly nailed, bringing crooked timbers into line. The
bridging was then nailed in, the outside last to prevent springing the
sills.
[Illustration: Plan A. Framing details]
Referring to the accompanying sketch (Plan A) it will be noticed that
the corner posts and centres were not mortised into the sills, but were
simply butted on and heavily nailed or spiked. There was a time when
carpenters would have regarded such a method as altogether wrong; but
those were the days of great corner posts and heavy studding, placed
two or three times as far apart as is the practice now. It was thought
that placing the studs 16 inches on centres, which is the common
practice in modern house framing, removed the necessity of mortising
into the sill. Mortising is still recognized, however, as a good thing
to do and is sometimes practised by first-rate carpenters. Plan A
also shows how the outside walls were trussed over openings; and Plan B
shows how the corners of the building were tied by the lapping of the
double plate, and how the ceiling timbers and rafters were placed on
the top of the plate.
[Illustration: Plan B. Details of cornice, sill, and roof
A SHINGLES
B ROOF BOARDS
C RAFTER 2" × 6" 20" O.C.
D PLATE 4" × 4"
E ROUGH BOARDING
F STUD
G FRIEZE
H CROWN MOLD
I BED MOLD
J CEILING JOIST 2" × 6"
K GROUND
L LATH & PLASTER
M BASE
N FINISHED FLOOR
O LINING FLOOR
P FURRING
Q SILL
R CONCRETE POST 8" × 8"
S CORNER POST
T HIP RAFTER 3" × 8"
U FLOOR JOIST
]
The window frame details are shown in a series of cuts (Plan C) which
for the sake of completeness are drawn to show also the interior
finish, not usually represented in the framing drawings. A detailed
description of these features of construction is unnecessary, since
the dimensions and relations of the various elements and the technical
terms by which they are known are all clearly indicated in the
illustrations.
[Illustration: Plan C. Details of interior finish
A OUTSIDE CASING I HEADER Q SURBASE
B BACK BAND J CORNER BLOCK R SILL 1-3/4" TH'K
C HEAD K ROUGH BOARDING S INSIDE CASING
D STOP 1/2" THICK L SHINGLES T SOFFIT
E SASH 1-3/8" ditto M WEIGHT U BED MOLD
F LATH & PLASTER N PULLEY STYLE V FINISHED FLOOR
G GROUND 3/4" TH'K O PARTING STRIP W BASE
H STUD 2" × 4" P STOOL CAP X LINING FLOOR
]
In the same series of cuts a detail of the base is shown which includes
the framing, the base board, and the lath and plaster. It should be
stated, however, that a substitute for lath and plaster was recommended
to the student architects--a new product in paper board especially
designed for walls and ceilings, which it was decided to use. The use
of this material removed the necessity of the "grounds" shown in the
drawings and always needed as a nailing base for the wood trim when
the walls and ceilings are lathed and plastered. In the detail of the
dado cap, which will be found on the page of construction drawings,
the dotted lines show how the cap was to be expanded into a plate rail,
requiring the addition of brackets with a bed moulding between, in the
finishing of the walls of the dining-room. Among these drawings will
also be found a detail showing a section of the beamed ceiling finish.
It will be readily understood that none of the finishing work called
for in the detailed drawings was begun until the rough carpentry on the
house was practically completed. All the rough work, which included
framing, boarding, shingling, laying of the lining floors, and putting
up partitions, was assigned to boys of the woodworking sections of the
vocational school. This is an elementary industrial or trade school,
admitting from the grades below the high school boys who have attained
the age of fourteen years and wish to learn some mechanical trade.
It represents a new and promising experiment in American education.
The building of this house furnished an excellent opportunity for the
boys of this school to show the honesty of their purpose in enrolling
themselves to learn the fundamentals of a trade and thus prove their
right to have the chance.
So the house was built by the combined efforts of the boys and
girls of the public schools of this New England city, unassisted by
professional architects or paid labourers. How they carried out with
their own hands the designs for decorating and furnishing the house is
told in the succeeding chapters of this book, which also suggests wider
applications of the principles of household decoration as possible to
be made in the homes of clever boys and girls throughout the country.
To carry out these suggestions will mean work--but work of a kind that
gives pleasure to the worker and to many others. It was work for the
young designers and builders of whom this story tells, but they said
it was "great fun," and there really is no pleasure quite equal to
that found in doing with one's own hands an exceptionally good thing.
The true craftsmen of all time have found it so. One of these master
workmen, Stradivarius, the violin maker, so George Eliot tells us, made
his confession thus:
" ... God be praised!
Antonio Stradivari has an eye
That winces at false work and loves the true,
With hand and arm that play upon the tool,
As willingly as any singing bird
Sets him to sing his morning roundelay,
Because he likes to sing and likes the song."