It would be an endless task to list and describe all of the possible
faults of construction which an unscrupulous builder might use in the
erection of a small house, and, indeed, it would result largely in
rehearsing all of the details of good construction, and then reversing
them, showing that instead of doing the correct thing it was done
quite the opposite way. But there are certain obvious and glaring
faults of construction which are employed by speculative builders with
one purpose in mind, namely, to reduce the cost but maintain a good
appearance.
An intentional and clever disguise of poor construction is, at heart,
the dishonest thing against which this is written. The defects of
construction which are either the result of ignorance or unskilled
labor, while they are bad enough, are not malicious, but those defects
which are intentionally planned are simply systems of stealing, and
they are usually found in the so-called speculative house, which the
unwary public buys in preference to securing an honest house, designed
by an architect. And it is this system of dishonest construction that
makes the speculative house seem, on the face, cheaper than the honest
house.
Indeed, it is the whole intention of such dishonest methods of building
to make the house seem, on the face of it, substantial, good-looking,
and honest, but to hide, beneath the glamour of its exterior,
weaknesses of structure which will cause all kinds of failures after
a few years of standing. So long as the house stands together until
the builder has sold it to some unsuspecting buyer, that is all that
interests him.
In observing some of these dishonest methods of construction it is well
to keep in mind that they will appear on the exterior well done, but
that their faults are hidden, and intentionally planned to reduce the
cost for the builder.
In order to systematize our observations along these lines let us
imagine a house which we will inspect in an orderly fashion. We will
begin with the cellar and proceed upward to the roof. This house is an
ordinary frame dwelling upon a stone foundation.
[Illustration: The Fake Leader The Poorly Made Floor]
Entering the cellar-door, the first thing we notice is that at the
base of the stairs leading to this door is a puddle of water left from
the last rain-storm. Upon inquiring concerning it we learn that in
every rain-storm, and especially during the winter when the ground is
frozen, the surface water flows down the steps, collects in the areaway
in front of the cellar-door, and overflows the sill into the cellar
itself—all because the builder had omitted a drain-pipe in the centre
of this area to save money. Becoming interested in this matter of
drainage, we look around at the areas under each of the cellar-windows
and find that the drains have been omitted from these, and that a few
broken pebbles were thrown into the bottom to give the impression that
the water could drain off into the soil, and all this to save money and
deceive the buyer. Inspecting the ground around the foundation-wall we
notice that about each leader the earth has been worn down by dripping
water, as though the leader had backed up and the gutter had overflowed.
Inquiry shows that such is the case in every rain-storm. Apparently
the outlet for the leader has been stopped up, so, in order to find
out whether this is true, we need to remove the lower section of the
leader from the terra-cotta pipe to look into it, for often it becomes
clogged at this point with leaves and dirt. Breaking away the cement
joint and pulling gently upon the sheet-metal leader, we suddenly find
that it crumbles in our hands, and that the leader consists of a coat
of paint holding a few particles of rust together. Yes, cheap, thin,
so-called galvanized-iron leaders to save money and deceive the buyer!
But continuing our search for the stoppage we poke our cane into the
section of terra-cotta pipe projecting above the ground which received
the leader, and find that it stops short. Twisting it around to remove
the material which seems to block the pipe we find, much to our
surprise, that the entire section of terra-cotta pipe breaks off, and
then, looking closer, we find that this pipe does not connect with a
cast-iron drainage-pipe leading to the plumbing system or to a dry
well, but had merely been stuck into the ground to give this appearance
and to save money and deceive the buyer. No wonder the leader backed up
and the gutters overflowed in a rain-storm!
By this time we have become very suspicious of the house, so that when
we finally go down into the cellar our attention is attracted to a
section of the cement floor near the furnace where the large ash-cans
are standing. The top surface has cracked under the weight of the
cans, and it appears to be in thin slivers of cement. Leaning down and
prying under one of these cracked pieces with a knife, a thin slab
of concrete, about a quarter of an inch thick, is lifted up from the
floor, and beneath this slab we find about 2 or 3 inches of tamped
ashes, and then dirt. We marvel that this floor has lasted even as long
as it has with so much water running into the cellar in damp weather.
Think of it, 2 inches of ashes and a quarter of an inch of cement
mortar on the top, when the correct method of building is to lay about
6 inches of cinders for a foundation, then 3 inches of concrete on top
of this, and finally a top coat, 1 inch thick, of cement mortar over
all.
Looking up from the floor we are rather impressed by the clean,
whitewashed effect of the walls of the cellar, and one would hardly
believe that it was a damp one, but around the windows and at certain
points in the wall the whitewash is streaked with black, as though
water had leaked in. Going over to these places in the wall it is
quite evident that during the winter and damp season water has soaked
through these crevices. Poking around with a penknife we are amazed
at the ease with which the knife penetrates the mortar between the
joints of the stones. Working at it a little harder with the knife
soon shows that if the cellar were a prison it would not be very hard
to scratch one’s way out through that wall. Suddenly, without warning,
one of the stones in the wall drops out onto the floor, and we get a
view of the construction within. For certain it is one of those stone
walls built up with two faces, not bonded together, except by mortar
which seems to be made up of mud and a small trace of lime, which lime
has disintegrated with the constant dampness to which it has been
subjected. A piece of the mortar we find can be crumbled easily in
the hand. This is evidence of the employment of the cheapest kind of
labor for the masonry work and the cutting down of expense in using
poor materials. We only have to look closely to see that there is
developing a long diagonal crack in the wall, and we can imagine that
if the contractor built so poor a wall above the ground, the chances
are that there is no footing beneath it. Near at hand a large bulge
is noticeable, and when we hit it with a hammer the whole thing has a
rotten sound, for the inside face is bulging inward from the load upon
it and the uneven settling of the foundations.
Looking up now at the neatly whitewashed ceiling we cannot help but be
suspicious of the plaster beneath the surface, so going over to that
part of the ceiling above the smoke-pipe leading from the furnace to
the chimney we jab our cane against it, and, as we expected, a big slab
breaks off and crashes to the floor, revealing partly charred wooden
lath beneath, which have been baking in the heat rising from the
smoke-pipe, and which would eventually catch fire. Examining the
plaster very closely we observe that in addition to being a very thin
coat it has no hair in it to act as a reinforcement for the plaster key
which held it to the lath base.
But being rather inquisitive about the construction hidden behind the
plaster, and having broken some of it down, the removal of the few
lath is worth the look behind them. And there we see the girder which
supports the floor-joists resting upon the chimney instead of on a
special pier or column. This saved the contractor the cost of the pier
or the column, but the owner would probably lose his house some day by
fire creeping through the joints of the brickwork of the chimney to the
ends of this wooden girder, for it was quite evident that the mortar
used in the chimney was not much better than that used in the wall, and
it is well known that lime mortar disintegrates under the action of hot
gases from burning wood.
Turning our attention now to other parts of the cellar, we notice that
in the floor of the laundry a place had been broken into, and upon
inquiry we find that this hole was dug by the plumber in repairing a
stoppage of the system of drainage-pipes under the floor. It seems that
the contractor had omitted placing any clean-outs in the pipes which he
had laid under the cellar floor, and the owner’s wife, by accident, in
pouring a pail of wash water down the water-closet in the cellar had
allowed a rag to go down with it, which clogged up the system, so that
the waste from the kitchen-sink began to back up into the laundry-tubs.
As there was no way to get at the pipes, the plumber, in cleaning out
the system, was obliged to break through the floor and cut out a hole
in the pipe to run a wire through to the clean-out on the house-trap.
The contractor who built the house had saved about fifteen dollars in
omitting this clean-out, but the owner lost fifty dollars in plumbers’
bills before he repaired this defect.
[Illustration: Fresh Air Inlet Under Window]
Another defect was also found by the owner in the system of
water-supply. There had been installed only one shut-off cock for the
entire building, so that whenever a new washer had to be placed upon a
faucet on any fixture the entire system had to be turned off. As most
of the faucets throughout the house were of very cheap design, this
had to be done very often, until one day the owner had turned the main
shut-off cock once too often for its strength, and the handle broke
off. He was obliged to call in the plumber to turn the water on again,
as well as install a new shut-off cock.
Questioning the owner further, we learn that a disagreeable odor of
sewage enters the dining-room windows during the summer months when all
the sash are open, but as he admits he knows little about plumbing, he
isn’t sure of its cause, but he thinks it comes from a pipe which opens
directly beneath one of these windows. When we investigate we find that
it is the fresh-air inlet of the plumbing system of the house. The
contractor had saved money on piping by carrying this to the nearest
outdoor point, which happened to be directly under the window of the
dining-room, so that whenever any water-closet was flushed in the house
a puff of foul air was blown out of this pipe in the most convenient
place for it to enter the house if the windows were open. Instead of
spending the extra money for piping to carry this fresh-air inlet well
away from any windows, the contractor had put in the shortest length
possible.
After looking at this pipe we glance at the porch near by and notice
that it is beginning to sag. So, crawling under the porch, we find that
instead of masonry piers under the porch columns, there are wooden
posts driven into the ground, and that not only have these begun to
settle under the weight but also have rotted away considerably near the
ground, where they are subject to dampness. While we are under here we
notice that the floor-joists are small, 2 by 4 inch timbers, and have
sagged a great deal because of their extreme scantiness for the span
over which they are placed.
In fact, as we walk up on the porch it vibrates under our weight, and
when we enter the house we notice the same weakness, only to a slightly
less degree. The owner says that in the beginning the floors were stiff
enough, but that this weakness had been getting worse each year. It is
evident that there is faulty bridging and too small timbers. Probably
in the beginning the nails of the upper flooring helped to stiffen the
beams, but as these became worn in their sockets the joists lost this
additional strength. This lack of proper-size framing timbers saved the
builder money but would cost the buyer a pretty penny some day.
But we are astonished at the excellent appearance of the floors, for
by this time the things that are good are more surprising than the
things that are bad. Then it occurs to us that of course the floor
would be good, for this is part of the house which is visible and
helps to catch the buyer’s eye. But later, when we go up-stairs, we
notice that the floors are not so fine, but are the common flat-grained
boards which sliver off and catch in your shoe if you scuffle. The
owner also points out the kitchen as one of the biggest fakes he has
seen. It has an oak floor, and when he had bought the house he had
been deeply impressed with the luxury of having an oak floor not only
in the dining-room but also in the kitchen. But he is not so keen now,
for with constant scrubbing the cheap varnish and filler had come off
and the pores of the oak have been exposed, so that now the floor is
the greatest catch-dirt ever invented, and to make matters still worse
the oak had been poorly seasoned, the boards had shrunk, the cracks
opened, and there is no underflooring below to prevent the dust and
dirt from sifting through these cracks from the hollow space between
the floor-joists. The owner says he is about to install a new floor.
He also admits that the varnish which gave such a fine surface to the
dining-room and living-room floors when he first saw the house was so
poor, and scratched so badly, that he had to have the floors completely
done over.
[Illustration: THE DEFECTIVE PLASTER]
Glancing around at the walls of the living-room and the dining-room we
notice that the wall-paper has cracked in a number of places, pulled
up, and curled away. It is extremely ugly and unkempt, and we remark
about it to the owner. He says that he is completely discouraged about
it, that he has tried everything to make the wall-paper stay down, but
that as soon as the winter comes on, the steam-heated air on the inside
and the cold air on the outside seem to draw the paper up and away,
pulling the surface of the plaster with it. He has glued large pieces
of paper which have curled up in this manner back into position again,
but the plaster was so weak that as soon as the paper began to peel
off, the top layer of plaster pulled away with the paper. In fact,
examining one example of this, we observe that the paper which had
sprung loose from the wall has underneath it a thin coat of plaster
about a sixteenth of an inch thick, showing that the glue had fastened
the paper to the plaster, but the plaster itself had given way. This
type of plastered wall is the result of using cheap materials, and it
is another evidence of the extremes to which contractors will go to
save money and deceive the buyer.
As we pass by one of the pockets into which the sliding-doors roll we
feel a draft coming out of it, and we question the owner whether the
house is cold in winter, and he admits it is worse than we suspect.
He informs us that it is especially cold on the second floor in those
rooms where the floors project over the porch. We ask him whether
he has noticed any drafts coming in through the cracks around the
base-boards and trim, and he points to these cracks, showing us bits
of cotton which he has plugged into them. We suspect that what is the
trouble is the omission of sheathing-boards over the studs between the
roof of the porch and the ceiling-joists where this roof intersects
with the house wall, and also the failure to fill with cinders the
space between the floor-joists of the projecting part of the room which
extends over the porch. That this is true the owner admits, for he had
noticed it while repairing a few shingles on the roof of the porch. The
contractor had saved a little money by this trick, and no one could
tell that he had done it by merely looking at the exterior.
[Illustration: Where The Cold Air Gets In]
This same line of inquiry leads us to ask the owner about the
heating-plant, and we find that the house cannot be properly heated.
We therefore suspect that the radiation is too small, so we calculate
the required size of a radiator for one room, and find that the one
actually installed is too small. Yet, as the owner says: “When he
bought the house, how was he to know that there was not a large enough
heating-plant?”
We inquire then whether he has any trouble with the fireplace, which we
presume he must use to help out on cold days. He admits he cannot keep
it from smoking badly. So we go over to it and run our hand up into the
throat to feel around, and find that there is no smoke-chamber, and,
what is more, the flue is only about 4 inches by 8 inches, and is not
even lined with terra-cotta flue tile. We inform him that he will never
have a good fireplace draft until that chimney is rebuilt, and that the
size of the flue looks more like the vent for a gas-log than anything
else.
We then went through the house noting as many defects as we could,
which were beginning to make their appearance. For example, we find
that all the doors are badly sagging, showing that the blocking has
been omitted from the back of the jambs where the butts are screwed on.
The putty in the windows is crumbling out, as though it were clay. All
the thresholds are of soft wood and are wearing badly. The trim in many
places was springing and twisting, due to the use of cheap and poorly
seasoned wood and the omission of enough nails. Some of the door-stiles
are made of two pieces which have opened up at the joints and left ugly
cracks. All the stairs squeak badly, indicating that they had been
poorly built. Some of the balusters have worked loose and rattle in
their mortises, and the hand-rail shakes when it is grasped.
We notice a number of stained ceilings, and inquire about the roof.
We are informed that it has leaked badly in the valleys, where the
tin is not wide enough to prevent the water which runs down one slope
from washing up under the shingles of the adjoining slope and over the
edge of the flashing tin of the valley into the house. We learn also
that the shingle roof of the porch, which has a very slight incline,
continually leaks, and looking out upon it we notice that the shingles
are set nearly 7 inches to the weather instead of less than 4 inches,
as they should be for so small a pitch.
We notice that it has leaked around the windows, and, observing the
top of the trim on the exterior, note that there is no flashing over
it to throw off the water flowing down from the clapboards. While we
are examining the windows the owner volunteers to tell us about his
experience with the windows on the second floor. After he had bought
the house he found that only one window in each bedroom had any weights
and sash-cords in it, and that he had to buy these for all the other
windows when he discovered it. He says he never thought of trying each
window before he purchased the place.
Just then we happen to be looking at the lock on one of the doors, and
we spy one of those back-handed locks which never holds the door closed
and which always catches and keeps one from closing the door unless
the knob is turned. It is a right-hand lock placed upon a left-hand
door. We recognize in this the contractor’s efforts to use up all the
second-hand odd bits of hardware which he possessed.
By this time we find ourselves so disgusted with the sharp tricks of
dishonest building that we call a halt at looking farther, but we feel
quite convinced that there is a real difference in quality between such
a speculative house and the honest house of an architect’s designing,
and, what is more, we feel convinced that there is a real reason for
the architect’s house costing more in the beginning than such a house,
but that in the end the cheap speculative house is the most costly
proposition which a buyer can invest his money in.