The reader will understand that no attempt is made to treat this subject in detail nor strictly from the architect’s viewpoint. A casual observation will make it self-evident that the structures on farms have received little attention as to beauty of form, economy of construction, or adaptation of means to ends. Like many others, I have noted all this and have made a somewhat careful study of the causes which usually have produced this want of harmony, durability, adaptability and economy in the construction of rural homesteads.
The many illustrations of detail are designed to emphasize underlying principles. Principles are always the same: details may be varied to suit conditions. While the numerous illustrations are meant to explain the details, it is believed that they will also give help to a large part of the rural population who have had little opportunity to secure any adequate instruction in the art and science of home building.
Usually the cellar would better be extended under the entire house, although it is neither wise nor healthy to store large quantities of material in it which, if not cared for, may decay and vitiate the air in the rooms above. If the cellar be properly constructed there is no objection to storing family supplies of fruit and vegetables for the winter in this partly underground room. Large quantities of vegetables held for future sale should not find storage in the house cellar. Now that the floors of houses are made tight, often double with paper between, and carpets or rugs to cover them, the cold no longer enters the cellar through the floor. The cellar wall may therefore extend upwards on three sides, well above ground, that opportunity may be given for the introduction of light and air. With only single-glazed cellar windows, no building paper, and floors and boarding of unseasoned lumber, the pioneer was compelled to place the cellar well under ground, or bank the walls with manure if the winter’s supply of vegetables was to be made secure.
Fig. 43. Cellar under the upright only.
Fig. 44. Cellar under the entire house.
A common form of the foundation for farm houses is shown in Fig. 43—a main structure, reinforced by a wing which, in most cases, has no cellar under it. Fig. 44 shows the cellar under the whole structure. If the walls of the unexcavated wing are placed 3¹⁄₂ feet below ground, as they should be in a cold climate, and extend 2 feet above ground, it will take more stone to construct the foundation walls of the house with a cellar under only a part than when it extends under the entire structure. The stone saved by leaving out the wall between the two sections of the house will more than suffice for building the walls of the wing to their full height. In the latter case, it would cost slightly more for excavation than in the former. Since cellars, when appropriately used, are in some respects the most useful and cheapest rooms in the structure, there is no economy in not placing them under the entire house. A cellar may be divided by 4-inch brick walls into various rooms, corresponding in shape to those above, thereby securing for the partitions in the superstructure, separate compartments, in order that the vegetables, fruit, milk, and furnace may be separate one from the other.
Fig. 45. A footing course under the cellar wall.
Fig. 46. Showing a layer of material to stop vermin.
To prevent rats from entering the cellar under the walls, either one of two methods may be adopted. A footing-course projecting beyond the outside of the wall arrests the rodents, for having dug down to it they have not sufficient intelligence to dig around the footing-course (Fig. 45). Or the desired result may be accomplished by placing a thin layer of refuse broken glass against the outside of the wall two to three feet from the surface of the ground (Fig. 46). Cellars would be much improved if they had higher ceilings. At least 7 feet should be allowed between the cellar floor and the under side of the overhead joists. All cellars should have concrete floors and plastered ceilings, for both warmth and cleanliness. In an extremely rigorous climate, the upper angle of the wall should be lathed and plastered as shown in Fig. 47.
Fig. 47. Protecting the cellar from frost by plastering across the upper corners.
If the front cellar wall and the greater part of the side walls extend 2 to 3 feet above the earth, a good sized window (which may be single- or double-glazed) can be secured. The rear walls should extend not more than one foot above ground. If the earth slopes rearward, then grade up to the wall until not more than two steps will be necessary to reach the kitchen floor; it is easier to climb a gentle ascent than steps. The front steps are used but a comparatively few times, while the rear ones are used many times, so it matters little if the front of the house is several steps above grade.
It makes a visitor unhappy to know that the busy housewife must descend three steps, walk forty feet and ascend two steps to reach the well platform, then reverse the journey, to secure the drink of cold water desired (Fig. 48). The illustration in Fig. 49 shows how the farmer solved the difficulty by building an elevated plank walk from the kitchen to the well. Fig. 50 shows how he might have solved it in another way.
Fig. 48. The daily route to the well.
Fig. 49. A short-cut to the well.
Fig. 50. An elevated earth walk to the well.
The hillside wall may be kept dry and the cellar free from water by drainage or by backing the wall with loose rubble stone, or by both (Fig. 51).
Fig. 51. A rubble stone backing and a drain at the bottom.