[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.