The Construction of the Small House / A Simple and Useful Source of Information of the Methods of Building Small American Homes, for Anyone Planning to Build

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.