As a rule, houses are built too quickly. The frame timbers are only partly seasoned when placed; the rains which fall before the house is roofed-in and the dampness caused by plastering all conspire to swell and make damp all portions of the wooden parts of the structure. Formerly, the casings of doors and windows and the floors were placed before the rooms were plastered; the better practice of plastering on “grounds”[6] and placing the woodwork after the mortar is dry is now observed by the builders of all good houses. In most cases even these improved methods of construction do not result in securing what is wanted—tight floors and doors and casings which will not shrink and warp out of shape. Nearly all of this trouble may be traced to two principal causes: the lumber which constitutes the inside finish may not be thoroughly seasoned, or the house may be so damp that the finish swells after it is placed. In either case, when the house becomes thoroughly dried out by artificial heat or otherwise, unsightly and dirt-holding cracks will appear. When expensive hard wood polished floors are laid, pains is taken to provide against shrinkage by kiln-drying the floor boards and by laying them where the air and sun unite to take up extraneous moisture in the rooms and in the floor boards used.
[6] Narrow strips of sufficient thickness to receive the lath and plaster, placed on the frame and other places where needed.
Comparatively few persons can afford hard wood floors, but this fact does not preclude having floors without wide cracks, which serve to retain dangerous and filthy material. There is no reason why tight floors may not be made of hard pine or other suitable material, provided a little extra pains be taken in their construction.
The laying of the floors should be the last carpenter work done in the new house. All this implies that a rough, cheap floor has been laid when the frame was constructed. The rough, diagonally laid sub-floor will cost something extra, but it results in so many benefits that it should never be dispensed with.
Windows and door frames must have inside casings, and baseboards, kitchen wainscoting and picture moldings cannot well be dispensed with. All these should be of the simplest and plainest construction. Fig. 82 shows a cross section of a plain baseboard, and Fig. 83 one of complex construction. Two styles of facings are shown in Fig. 84. The one style forms lodging places for dirt; the other reduces dust catching to the minimum. I notice that some of the newer passenger coaches, though most elegant, are built with smooth inside finish. With the exception of the window sills there are no lodging places for dust and cinders. The old-fashioned doors with thin panels, and numerous moldings have been discarded, and those as plain and uniform in thickness as a pane of window glass, substituted for them. The picture molding, as shown in Fig. 85, may serve to support the picture and catch dirt as well. The other illustration (Fig. 86) shows one which may serve quite as well for the purpose desired without forming a dust shelf. If the window sashes are made with plain bevels and not molded, and all other window fixtures, as stops and the like, are constructed in the same way, the labor of keeping the house clean will be greatly reduced.
Fig. 84. Two styles of facing.
Fig. 85. The common but faulty picture moulding.
The wainscoting and the ceilings, if they are made of wood, should be constructed of wide boards, the cracks being covered with beveled battens. The old-fashioned, beaded, narrow ceiling material is not only difficult to keep tinted or varnished, but almost forbids cleanliness.
Fig. 86. A sanitary picture molding.
Most stairs are too steep; some are little better than ladders and more dangerous. The risers in the main stairway should not exceed 6¹⁄₂ inches, nor the steps be less than 12 inches wide. The back stair may have 7 to 7¹⁄₂ inches risers, and 10- to 11-inch steps. The best and most beautiful stair has one or more broad landings. The spiral or “corkscrew” stair is worst of all. The effort to economize space by cramping the stair is almost universal. The difference between a cramped stair and an ample one may not amount to more than 12 square feet of space, equivalent to the top of a small table. True, the children may go up an easy stair two steps at a time, but when their hair whitens they will bless the man who knew the difference between an easy, dignified stair and a step-ladder. Diminish the size of a room, add a foot to the width of the house, do anything rather than cramp the stairway.
As far as possible paint should be kept off the inside woodwork. There are but few varieties of wood which may not be made smooth; and by the use of hard oil, which is really oil and varnish mixed together, all woodwork becomes beautiful and can be easily cleaned. It appears almost sacrilegious to cover the fine grain of our native woods with cheap, adulterated paint. If some of the woods, such as ash, oak and chestnut, be sawed “on the quarter” and properly finished, they become more elegant and are in better taste than any of the imported high-priced woods. The farm house should be plain, substantial, and durable, and in many cases there is sufficient wealth to make it elegant and even refined by decorating the walls with a few fine pictures and providing useful books. We judge people somewhat by the furnishings of the rooms in which they live, and by their appreciation of things which are really beautiful and useful.
The comfort and elegance of the rooms depend quite as much on the plastered walls as on their wooden finish. Few things are more annoying than poor walls, which may fall at any time upon the furniture and rugs, and may even endanger the lives of the little ones. With quick-lime and sand and an honest and efficient workman, a good, durable wall may be secured; provided, however, that the joists and studding are strong enough to prevent vibration when the floors are walked upon or the doors are closed quickly.
In plastering, the green-coat finish should not be adopted, since poorer walls will inevitably be the result than by the scratch-coat method. To the new settler on the prairies living in a covered wagon, the time consumed in building a house was important; therefore the second coat of plaster was put on a few hours after the first. The pressure required to spread, level, and smooth the second coat often disturbed the clinches formed by the first coat. The bond of these mortar clinches being broken or disturbed, the wall was made weak. It is well known that if the bond between the lath and mortar is once broken after the mortar sets, it never reunites. The only safe way to place a wall when the common mortar is used is by the scratch-coat method. This consists in allowing the first coat to become fully dry, having, however, scratched the surface of the plaster slightly soon after it is put on. When it is perfectly dry the second coat is placed, and when this is dry, a third (skim) coat may be added, which should be but little thicker than whitewash. This leaves the wall smooth and nearly white. However, many walls are now finished on the second coat which is left level but rough, and may be tinted by mixing coloring material with the mortar. The quality of the wall depends largely upon the mixing of the mortar and the amount of firm troweling which it receives. The fewer interstices between the particles of sand the better. Firm, persistent troweling tends to reduce interstices, and hence to make the wall firm and strong. Plastered walls are much strengthened by being painted, and wherever such painting is appropriate, as in the bathroom, wardrobe, and kitchen, they should receive two coats of light cream color or other warm-colored paint.
A new mixture, cement and hair, or wood-fiber, has been put on the market, and is likely to be used extensively, for when properly used a stronger, harder, and more durable wall is secured than by using the ordinary stone lime and sand mortar. This cement is sold under a variety of names, and is usually known by the builders under the generic name, adamant or adamant plaster. It is put up in barrel packages, and sells in central New York from $2 to $2.50 per barrel, wholesale. It is mixed in small quantities immediately before using, in the proportion of one of cement to two of sharp sand. One barrel suffices for thirty square yards of two-coat work, three-fourth-inch grounds being used; seven-eighth-inch grounds are required for three-coat work. As mortar made of this material sets quickly, the laths should be thoroughly wet before the mortar is applied, and the rooms should be closed while the work is progressing, or the mortar will harden too rapidly. Not only plastering mortar, but that used for other purposes which depends on cement for its binding force, should not be allowed to dry out rapidly.
One serious objection is urged against walls made of cement mortar,—it being said that they are so resonant as to be annoying. To overcome this objection the walls of one public building were covered with burlap and painted. Notwithstanding the objections raised against cement plastered walls, they are likely to come into common use, since they are so superior in hardness and durability to the old style wall.
Ordinarily, a full year should be allotted for building the house, and it should not be occupied until it has become thoroughly dried out. Perhaps this hint of the unsanitary condition of a damp house may be sufficient for the American. In Germany the law requires that a new house must have been completed a full half year before it may be occupied.