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UNIVERSITY

OF FLORIDA

LIBRARIES

Bfeo^lneering R'^d Physics LlbraiU

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2011 with funding from

LYRASIS IVIembers and Sloan Foundation

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NEW HOUSES FROM OLD

The Remodeled House

1870

1790

1840

PERMISSION THE NEW YORKER
COPYRIGHT THE F-R PUBLISHING CORPORATION

1910

1946

7:^ >'

SCIENCES

NEW ll6?M:^^FR0M OLD

All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be
reproduced in any form without permission of the publishers.

The quality of the materials used in the manufacture of
this book is governed by continued postivar shortages.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Preface

J. HIS BOOK has been written to provide useful and practical information for
everyone interested in the remodeling of houses. It is addressed particularly
to actual and potential homeowners; but landlords, builders, and other per-
sons who are concerned with remodeling for profit will also find useful facts
and ideas in it.

Good remodeling is always an act of creativeness and very often it is also
an exciting adventure, but these aspects have not been emphasized. Instead,
we have endeavored to present the principles and the information that owners
and prospective purchasers of existing houses should have in order to decide
whether the house in the case is worth remodeling, to plan the remodeling
that is needed, and to understand the materials used in houses and the me-
chanical details of remodeling operations.

The book has two distinct although closely related parts. Readers who are
interested only in learning when remodeling is justified and how to plan it
will find most of the information that they need in Chapters 1 through 13.
The legion of amateur builders, home craftsmen, and Jacks-of-all-trades —
which in these days includes many recruits who do their own repairing and
remodeling because skilled workmen cannot be hired — should read also the
material in Chapters 14 through 29, for it is here that particular attention
has been paid to the anatomy of houses. Even the homeowner who will hire
experts to remodel his house should benefit from reading these latter chapters
if he has time, for they explain many things that are essential to the planning
as well as to the execution of good and economical remodeling.

Since this book is primarily for the homeowner, we have striven to make
it nontechnical. However, it is impossible to write usefully about plumbing,
for example, without calling by name such technical things as joints and
traps. Homeowners who are going to do their own work will need to know the
few technical terms that are used. Others will find it is handy to know them,
if only to talk intelligently to the skilled persons who must be dealt with in
getting the remodeling done.

Because so many materials and methods of construction are found in
houses, an adequate book on remodeling is necessarily a small encyclopedia
of building information. Nevertheless, it is an impossibility for one book to

vi Preface

contain all of the data that might be needed in all cases of remodeling. For
this reason, we have listed in the section entitled Useful Books and Pamphlets
a number of other publications that are helpful. We urge our readers to
make full use of this section, for knowledge acquired through the medium
of print is usually much cheaper than knowledge gained by experimentation
with high-priced building materials.

The foundation of the book was the authors' own experiences in remodeling
frame houses in New England and stone houses in Bucks County, Pennsyl-
vania; but many of the pictures and special data have been graciously fur-
nished by others. Credit for this material has been given adjacent to the illus-
trations and at appropriate places in the text.

R. R. Hawkins
C. H. Abbe

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Contents

Preface v

1. Remodel? 1

When Is Remodeling Justified? — The location — The site. Buying for Re-
modeling. Remodeling Costs.

2. New Houses from Old — Some Examples 9

3. The Chief Types of House Construction 37

Frame Construction — Plank houses — Veneered frame houses. Masonry Con-
struction— Stone — Brick — Clay tile and concrete blocks — Poured concrete.
Problems in Remodeling Frame and Masonry Houses.

4. How to Judge a House for Remodeling 42

The Roof Frame. The Exterior Walls. Chimneys. The Foundation Walls.
Sills, Joists, Girders, and Posts. Termites. Plumbing and Heating Systems.
Other Details.

5. Halls and Stairs 50

Halls — Hall dimensions — Hall floors — Hall lighting. Stairs — Stair dimen-
sions and design — Stair locations — Some technical aspects of stairs.

6. Living Rooms 61

Living-room Planning in Remodeling — Living-room dimensions — Living-
room windows. Fireplaces and Mantels. Bookcases and Other Built-in Fur-
niture. Lighting and Electrical Outlets.

7. Dining Rooms 71

8. Kitchens . ". 75

Basic Principles of Kitchen Planning — Kitchen location — Kitchen dimen-
sions— Windows — Doors. Pantries. Kitchen Equipment — Sinks — Ranges — -
Refrigerators — Food freezers — Cabinets and shelves — Other accessories —
Fans and ventilation. Kitchen Floors. Walls and Ceilings. Lighting. Elec-
trical Outlets. A Place for Breakfast.

9. Bathrooms 92

How Many Bathrooms? Location of Bathrooms. Design of Bathrooms.
Bathroom Fixtures and Fittings — Bathtubs — Bathtub fittings — Shower
baths — Lavatories — Lavatory fittings — Water closets — Miscellaneous acces-
sories. Bathroom Floors and Walls. Lighting and Electrical Outlets.

vii

viii New Houses from Old

10. Bedrooms 109

Average Bedrooms. Bed-living Rooms. Children's Bedrooms. Dressing
Rooms. Sleeping Porches. Problems in Remodeling Bedrooms. Attic Bed-
rooms.

11. Closets and Storage Space . . 123

Storage Space in General. Hall Closets. Bedroom Closets. Linen Closets.
Storage in Bathrooms. Storage in the Kitchen. Storage in the Dining Room.
Storage in the Living Room. Storage in the Basement. Storage in the
Garage.

12. Basements 137

Space Requirements of the Heating System. Space Requirements of the
Garage. Space Requirements of the Laundry. Space Requirements of the
Recreation Room. Special Considerations in Modernizing Basements —
Ventilation — Heating — Lighting and electrical outlets.

13. How to Do Remodeling 144

Should You Employ an Architect? Your Object in Remodeling. Getting
Information on Remodeling. Plans and Sketches — Architectural photo-
graphs— Plan reading. Contracts and Related Legal Matters. Financing
Remodeling.

14. Masonry Work 164

Concrete— Portland cement — Sand — Water — Other ingredients — Cement and
mortar formulas — Estimating quantities — Proportioning the water — Mixing
concrete — Forms for concrete — Placing of concrete — Damp-curing of con-
crete— Finishing concrete — Watertight concrete. Concrete Block and Tile.
Brick. Stone. Repairs to Existing Masonry.

15. Foundations 184

Structural Repairs to Old Foundations. Dampproofing and Waterproofing.
Constructing New Foundations under Existing Houses — Footings — Building
a concrete-block foundation wall. Foundation Details. Foundation Widths.
Footings under Posts. Pier Foundations. Termite Protection.

16. Chimneys and Fireplaces 199

Chimney Elements — Chimney materials — Flues — Chimney dimensions —
Chimney accessories — Smoke tests. Vents. Repairing and Modernizing Old
Chimneys — Mortar joints — Obstructions — Creosote — Flues. Fireplaces. Re-
pairing and Modernizing Fireplaces — The flue — The smoke shelf — The
damper — The lintel — Smoky fireplaces. Fireplace Units.

17. House Framing 212

Types of Frames. Lumber Sizes. Sills. Girders. Joists. Studs. Partitions.
Stairs. Framing around Openings — Openings for windows and doors —
Openings for chimneys and fireplaces — The cutting of framing members.
Reinforcement of Floors under Bathrooms. Roof Framing — Roof-frame re- •

pairs — Rafter layout — Dormers and other openings in the roof — Changes in
roof shape and pitch. Porch Roofs. Nailing. Fire Stopping. Framing in
Masonry Houses.

Contents ^ ix

18. Roofs 243

Sheathing. Flashings — Valleys — Chimneys — Vents — Ridges and hips — In-
tersections. Roof-covering Materials — Wood shingles — Asphalt shingles — ■
Slate shingles — Asbestos-cement shingles — Copper roofing — Terneplate —
Other metals — Built-up roofs — Canvas roofs. Draining the Roof: Gutters,
Downspouts, and Dry Wells. Repairing Roof Leaks. "Weeping" Roofs.
Working on Roofs.

19. Exterior Walls 270

Sheathing — Lumber sheathing — Plywood sheathing — Other types of sheath-
ing board — Application of sheathing board. Sheathing Paper. Siding —
Board siding — Wood-shingle siding — Plywood siding — Asbestos-cement
shingles and siding. Stucco. Stone and Brick Veneer. Re-siding and Over-
walling — Board siding — Wood shingles — Asbestos-cement shingles and sid-
ing— Plywood siding — Stone and masonry veneer. Repair of Siding — Board
siding — Shingle siding — Masonry veneer. Repair of Solid Masonry Walls.
Repair of Stucco. Cornices, Belt Courses, and Water Tables.

20. Windows and Doors . 291

Windows — Types of windows — Window terms and parts. Glass and Glaz-
ing. Double Glazing and Storm Windows. Weather Stripping. Screens.
Modernization of Existing Windows — Weightless windows — Installation of
screens and storm sashes on old windows — Calking of windows. Doors —
Types of doors — Door details. Modernizing Old Doors. Hardware — Window
hardware — Door hardware — Locks and latches — Cabinet hardware — Hard-
ware finishes.

21. Interior Walls and Trim 316

Dry-wall Construction — Wallboards — Application of wallboard. Wall Finish
with Natural Lumber (Paneling). Linoleum Wall Covering. Glass and Tile
on Walls. Bathroom and Kitchen Walls. Basement Walls. Suspended Ceil-
ings. Repairing Old Plaster. Interior Trim. Planning Wall Remodeling.

22. Floors 331

Subflooring. Finish Flooring — Hardwoods — Softwoods. Laying the Finish
Floor. Repair and Modernization of Wood Floors. Linoleum Flooring. Cork
Tile. Asphalt Tile. Ceramic-tile Walls and Floors — Walls — Floors — Setting
ceramic tile in adhesive — Ceramic-tile floors on porches and terraces. Porch
Floors of Wood. Basement Floors.

23. Painting and Papering 355

Paint Terms. Home-mixed or Ready-mixed Paints? — Mixing of paints —
Coloring of paints — How much paint? Application of Paints — Care of
brushes — Spray guns. Removal of Paint — Chemical removers — Chemical
removers. Safety in Painting. Exterior Wood — Blistering and peeling —
Cracking and scaling — Stains — Checking, alligatoring, and wrinkling —
Erosion and chalking off — Defects in the wood itself — How many coats? —
Paint formulas — Applying the paint — Painting wood shingles. Masonry
Walls — Whitewash — Cement-water paints — Oil paints — Resin emulsion
paints. Painting of Stucco. Painting of Metal. Painting of Plaster. Plywood
Walls. Fiber Wallboards. Wood Trim — Clear or natural finishes — Stained
finishes — Painted surfaces. Floors — Finishes for softwood floors — Finishes

X New Houses from Old

for hardwood floors — Special problems in refinishing old floors — Concrete
floors. Wallpaper — Preparing the surface — Estimating paper — Equipment
for hanging paper — Paste — Hanging the paper.

24. Heating 393

Types of Heating Systems — Gravity warm air — Forced warm air — One-pipe
steam system — Two-pipe steam system — Gravity hot water — Forced hot
water. Registers, Radiators, and Convectors — Registers — Convectors — Radi-
ant heating. Fueling Systems — Stokers — Oil burners — Gas. Heating-system
Controls. Heating Calculations — Terminology — Making the heat-loss calcu-
lation— Radiator, convector, and register sizes — Capacities of boilers and
furnaces — Capacities of fueling systems. Installation of Heating Systems.
Repair and Modernization of Existing Systems — Warm-air systems — Steam
systems — Hot-water systems — Combination, or mixed, systems. Ventila-
tion— Humidity — Air conditioning.

25. Insulation 426

Heat Transmission. Effectiveness of Insulating Methods. Insulating Materi-
als. Vapor Barriers. Installation of Insulation — Insulation of the roof — ■
Insulation of the attic — Insulation of walls — Insulation of floors. Sound
Insulation.

26. Plumbing 436

Water-supply Piping. Drainage-system Piping — Traps — Vents. Installation
of Plumbing. Concealment of Plumbing Pipes. Modernization of Old
Plumbing. Cross Connections. Hot-water Supply.

27. Water Supply 458

Quantity and Quality — Tests for quantity — Tests for quality. Springs.
Wells — Dug wells — Digging new wells — Driven wells — Drilled wells —
Cisterns. Water Pressure and Flow. Piping to Springs. Pumps and Hy-
draulic Rams — Pumps — Hydraulic rams.

28. Sewage Disposal 479

Septic-tank Disposal Systems — Septic tanks — The house sewer — The dis-
posal field — The house drain — The outlet sewer — The sludge drain — Care
of a septic-tank sewage-disposal system. Cesspools.

29. Wiring and Lighting 490

Design of Wiring Systems — Volts, amperes, and watts — Types of circuits —
Wiring symbols. Wiring materials — Protection of the wires — Fittings —
Switches — Receptacles — Control-center equipment. Installation of Wiring —
Structural problems — Basic operations in wiring. Modernization of Existing
Systems. Doorbell Wiring. Telephone Wiring. Lighting and Lighting Fix-
tures.

Useful Books and Pamphlets 521

Addresses of Organizations and Publishers ...... 531

Appendix ° . . 535

Index 545

NEW HOUSES FROM OLD

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ONE

Remodel?

HE ULTIMATE REASON for remodeling a house is to enhance its value as a
place to live. This statement overlooks the fact that occasionally houses are
remodeled for use as museums, schools, stores, and other types of structures
not intended as dwellings; but this book does not deal with these rare cases
of special remodeling. Instead, its authors have assumed that you as one of
their readers are concerned with remodeling a house so that it will be a
better dwelling place for yourself or for someone to whom you hope to
rent or to sell it.

Remodeled farmhouses are commonplace sights throughout America.
Some of this remodeling has been done by farmers to improve their own
dwellings, but a large proportion of it has been done by city residents who
have created attractive summer or retirement homes by buying old farm-
houses and applying to them the near-magic touch of remodeling. Remodeled
village and city homes far outnumber remodeled farmhouses, but they are
less conspicuous because a remodeled house in an urban community, if the
remodeling was well planned and executed, fits in with its neighbors and
has the appearance of a house of recent construction. Remodeling as a means
of improving houses for better living is a technique practically as old as
housebuilding itself.

It is the fate of houses, as of most things built by man, to outgrow rapidly
their maximum usefulness. A homeownfer who goes through the mixed pleas-
ure and pain of planning and building a new house usually finds that its
suitability and attractiveness decline markedly in the time of one generation,
if not within a few years. Often it is not the structure that deteriorates;
rather the architecture and interior arrangements become outmoded and old-
fashioned as housing standards change. Obsolescence is the word for this
process, and few houses escape it. One often hears references to the well-
built old houses. There is no doubt that some old houses, like some modern
houses, were well built structurally. Nevertheless, they, too, were extensively
altered and remodeled, sometimes by the original builder and, if not by
him, then by his descendants of the next generation.

2 New Houses from Old

A good example of this obsolescence is furnished by the massive central
chimney with its large fireplaces that was a feature of so many early Amer-
ican homes. At the time that these chimneys were constructed, householders
did not expect their homes to be comfortable throughout the year. In the
wintertime blistering heat on the front side of their persons as they faced
the roaring fire was a comfort — almost a luxury. The drafts at their backs
were just as chilly as drafts are today, but they were considered part of
man's inescapable lot. Use of the big fireplace as a heating device was pos-
sible only because supplies of cheap wood were abundant. As these began
to dwindle, the wastefulness and inefficiency of the large fireplaces were
forcefully impressed on householders; consequently iron stoves were adopted
for cooking and heating, and the fireplaces were bricked up and covered
over. Today, in restoring colonial houses, we usually remove the bricking
and return the fireplaces to their original state, but seldom do we depend
on them for our cooking and heating because we have more convenient and
efficient devices for these purposes.

A later example of obsolescence is the bulky hardwood trim so commonly
used in American homes of a generation ago. Undoubtedly it was durable
finishing material and it suited the taste of its day, but few people con-
sider it attractive now. The modern bathroom still serves the same funda-
mental purposes as bathrooms installed forty years ago; yet a forty-year-old
bathroom, even if it is still in good working order, greatly detracts from
the value and livability of a house.

The point is that it is not difficult to build a house so that it will stand
for centuries with adequate maintenance, but it is impossible to predict the
tastes and needs of future generations or even the future tastes and needs
of the builder of a house. The Chas. Addams drawings that appear as our
frontispiece may be taken as a sly comment on the foibles of the human
animal, but they also serve to illustrate a natural and quite commendable
striving for dwellings that express the standards of their time.

Standards of taste are imposed by the community. The needs of the family
as to space and convenience are individual matters more or less peculiar
to each family. Altering old houses so that they will be satisfactory from
both viewpoints is the proper object in remodeling. In most cases remodel-
ing is combined with repairing, but this is a coincidence, since any house
can be repaired without being remodeled.

From your viewpoint as the person who pays the bills, remodeling may
have many advantages. In many cases it is possible to get an up-to-date and
thoroughly satisfactory place to live for a smaller outlay of money by re-
modeling an old house than by building a new one. In most communities
the best building sites have long been preempted and have houses standing

Remodel? 3

on them. Remodeling offers an opportunity to enjoy the advantages of a
good and fully developed site. If you had to build a new house with a limited
amount of money, you would probably have to make many compromises
with what your family really needs in the way of spacious and convenient
living quarters; but by the intelligent remodeling of an old house, you may
be able to obtain adequate space and conveniences for the same amount of
money or even less. Remodeling also confers benefits on society. Old houses
that are not remodeled are seldom removed. Instead, they remain and be-
come eyesores. Remodeling would bring them up to date and would not
only save them but also save the neighborhood. Even the remodeling of a
single house in a neighborhood that is running down only because the
houses are aged lifts the tone of the neighborhood and usually leads to the
remodeling of other houses. Remodeling also has saved and still will save
many fine old houses that are interesting because of their age. Benefiting
the community by remodeling a house will not put any cash immediately
into your pocket, but you may just as well take credit for the benefit anyway.

When Is Remodeling Justified?

If you are considering the remodeling of a house that you already own
•or the purchase of a house to remodel, undoubtedly one of the main ques-
tions to which you must find an accurate answer is: Is the house worth
remodeling? If the house in question is one that you rent to others or one
that you intend to offer for sale, you will want a dollars-and-cents answer,
and it should be relatively easy to obtain it from bankers, contractors, and
real-estate men in the community. The ultimate test is, of course, whether
the increased price that you can get after the remodeling will be greater
than the price you can get for the house in its present state, plus the cost
of remodeling, plus whatever you want for your initiative and the trouble
to which you are put in undertaking the remodeling operation. If you rent
the house, the test is whether the increase in the rent after the remodeling
will amortize the cost of remodeling at a sufficiently rapid rate to give you
your money back within a reasonable time. Remodeling to increase the
rental or sales value of a house is often very good business. Banks, insurance
companies, and other agencies that lend money on houses resorted to re-
modeling on an extensive scale during the depression of the 1930's to make
foreclosed houses rentable and salable.

However, if you are interested in remodeling a house for yourself and
your family to live in, your approach to the question of whether the house
is worth remodeling will be somewhat different, although you should still
keep your business head and make a sound decision based on good reason-

4 New Houses from Old

ing. The difference is that all of the elements of a satisfactory dwelling
cannot be valued in terms of dollars; therefore, it may be prudent for
you to spend even more on the purchase and remodeling of an old house
located where you want to live than on a new house of equal size and con-
venience elsewhere.

The location. The first major element that should be considered in decid-
ing whether a house is worth remodeling is its location. If you are already
living in the house that you are planning to remodel, you know whether
the neighborhood is satisfactory to you. In fact, a neighborhood that you
know well and like may be the primary factor in your problem of deciding
whether to remodel. The importance of the neighborhood is no less in pur-
chasing a house to remodel than it is in buying a new house. If you were
considering the purchase of a new house in a newly opened real-estate de-
velopment, you would undoubtedly ask yourself such questions as these
about its location. Will transportation facilities be adequate to your needs?
Will there be convenient stores? Will the proposed new school be realized,
or will your children be crowded into an old school located at some dis-
tance? Will sidewalks and pavements be built? Will there be good fire and
police protection? Will the neighborhood be occupied by people who will
make congenial friends and neighbors? Although answers to some of these
questions would have to be in the nature of guesses for a new development,
all of them can be answered with certainty for an old house located in an
established neighborhood.

The site. The next thing to consider after the location is the land that goes
with the house. If it is a city or suburban home, ask yourself whether the
lot is large enough for your needs. Ideas about the spaciousness of grounds
around a house vary from one locality to another, and family requirements
for land vary according to the make-up of the family. Generally speaking,
families with young children require lots that are large enough to provide
play space for the youngsters. Gardening is a hobby that requires space,
also. If members of your family are addicted to it, you will want grounds
large enough to allow them to enjoy themselves. In communities where taxes
on land are relatively high, some homeowners prefer small lots because of
the lower taxes. In some good neighborhoods, zoning restrictions forbid the
construction of new houses on small lots, but old houses built on such lots
before the ordinance was put into effect can usually be remodeled into
modern homes without the purchase of additional land, thus making it pos-
sible for their owners to enjoy the benefits of a good neighborhood without
taking on the higher land tax imposed on new houses.

The trees, shrubs, and other plantings about the house are features of con-
siderable importance to most persons. Streets on which the houses have been

Remodel? 5

built sufficiently long for the trees and the plantings around the houses to
reach a stage of graceful maturity are considerably more attractive than
streets in new real-estate developments where the trees are still mere saplings
and the landscape has a raw appearance. Dealers in real estate recognize
the value of mature trees. Lots with trees on them located where they will
not interfere with buildings sell more readily than bare lots. Residences with
a mature tree or two on the lawn are more salable than similar properties
without trees. Shrubs, young trees, planting, and landscaping all cost con-
siderable money. The average homeowner cannot afford the expense of pur-
chasing and planting mature trees; but if his property lacks trees, he must
buy young ones and wait years for them to grow. Established trees and
shrubs have considerable value, and you may well count it in when you
are appraising a house and land from the viewpoint of remodeling.

The land that goes with the house is even more important in the country
if the remodeled dwelling is to be the center of a farm. In such cases, it is
important to have good farming land that will suit the type of farming to
be pursued. Even small subsistence farms require from 1 to 5 acres of good
land on which vegetables and fruit can be grown without an excessive ex-
penditure of labor and money. Therefore, in buying a farm the land may
be such an important factor in your selection that you will buy a property
that has good land but a house that is not suited to economical remodeling.
However, unless you are buying a large farm for rather extensive farming
operations, it usually pays to continue your search until you find good land
and a sound house combined in one property. In the country, water supply
is another element of almost equal importance with the land.

Many city people who buy farmhouses for remodeling are interested
mainly in retirement homes or summer homes. If this is your case, the land
factor may work to your advantage, since many farmhouses have been built
on land that will no longer provide a farm family with a livelihood. The
farm may have been abandoned because the land is poor or because there
is not enough of it, but the house may still be worth remodeling. Many
such farms have been bought for about what it would cost to erect the frame-
*work of the house alone; and many are still for sale at prices that spell
bargain to families interested in buying comfortable shelter.

Buying for Remodeling

A check list of what you want in the way of neighborhood and community
advantages, land, and water supply is a very useful way of reminding your-
self to investigate all of the details as you are shown various places being
offered for sale. Do not try to make up this list in five minutes or you will

6 New Houses from Old

forget a number of things that are important to you and to your family.
Instead, put down all of the things that you can think of at first, then keep
the list around for a few days and add to it as new ideas occur to you.
When you think it is complete, put it into some convenient form, say a
pocket notebook, that you can carry with you. As you look at houses or
farms that seem to be fairly close to what you want, haul out the check list
and enter the facts about each property in it. Later, when you are out of
reach of the real-estate agent's persuasive talk, you will have a record of
the features of the place that are important to you and, after you have
looked at a number of properties, an impartial starting point for making
comparisons among them.

One further word of warning about your record: take care to check im-
portant matters — for example, taxes — at the official source. Also, if you
must reach the city by train, get a timetable of the railroad that will serve
you. One of the authors once looked at a farm in New England that was
advertised as being four hours from New York. It turned out to be just that
many hours away if one flagged the through express at 3:02 in the morning;
the daytime trains took two hours longer to make the trip.

The structure of the house, its present state of repair or disrepair, and
its adaptability to the remodeling plans you have for it are also very im-
portant. How to judge a house from the viewpoint of its suitability for
remodeling is discussed in Chapter 4. > /

Remodeling Costs

The cost of remodeling depends on many factors — the price and availa-
bility of materials, prevailing wage rates in the building trades, the nature
of the remodeling operation, the requirements of building codes, and a num-
ber of other elements that vary so widely from one locality to another, from
one job to another, and from one period in the economic cycle to another
that precise figures cannot be given in a book of this nature. However, some
general rules on the costs of remodeling can be indicated. Materials and
equipment cost no more when purchased for use in remodeling than they'
do for use in the building of a new house; neither do they cost any less.
Labor rates are the same whether the labor is expended in remodeling or on
new construction. The removal of old construction is an added expense in
remodeling; but in many localities this operation can be performed by un-
skilled labor, and it is, in most cases, a relatively inexpensive operation even
when it is done by skilled labor. In some instances the value of the salvaged
material covers the expense of this part of the work. The installation of
mechanical equipment sometimes costs more for labor than the equivalent

Remodel? 7

operation in new construction because the presence of old construction makes
the operation more time consuming. An example is the installation of a bath-
room under conditions that require special efforts to keep to a minimum
the cutting of floors and walls. On the other hand, any part of the original
structure that can be retained in the remodeled house will represent con-
struction money saved. In prudent and well-planned remodeling a substan-
tial part of the original structure is, of course, retained. Architect's fees in
remodeling are usually higher than for new houses because the architect
must do more work. He not only must concern himself with your ideas and
needs for the remodeled house but must also make a thorough study of the
old house to find out the most economical means of realizing them for you.

Undoubtedly as soon as word gets about that you are planning to re-
model, friends and other interested persons will give you much inexpert
advice against it. You will be told that it is cheaper to build a new house.
The truth about this matter is that if you own or buy a house that is suitable
for remodeling in the way that you wish to remodel it, it is cheaper to re-
model than to build new, provided that your investment in the original
house is not greater than the house and its site are worth. You can, of course,
get gypped in remodeling just as you can get gypped in buying a new house
or in transacting any other business if you go about it without full knowledge
of what you are doing. But if you understand how houses are remodeled and
exercise the same prudence in planning and carrying out your remodeling
as you would in buying land and having a new house built, you will not
get cheated, and your remodeled house will not cost an excessive amount
compared to new construction. We have already referred to the fact that
houses are often remodeled by banks and other business institutions as sound
business procedure. Architects, who are always in a position to compare
the relative costs of new building and remodeling, often remodel old houses
for their own use.

Remodeling operations run the scale from relatively simple jobs, such as
the modernizing of a poorly arranged kitchen, to very extensive jobs in
which the house is practically stripped to its frame and made essentially
new inside and out. Remodeling varies also according to the type of house
that is being remodeled. There is the middle-aged house which is struc-
turally sound but which is adorned outside with useless towers, dangling
porches, and other ugly excrescences and which is old-fashioned and incon-
veniently arranged inside. In thorough remodeling such a house may be
pruned ruthlessly. But different treatment is given to the interesting old
house that has antique features. In the latter case considerable time and
effort are spent on restoring and preserving the original parts of the house.
For example, more money may be spent, and spent justifiably, in scraping,

8 New Houses from Old

repairing, and refinishing the original doors, mantels, and wainscoting in
such a house than Avould be expended on their modern equivalents. Both the
extent and the purpose of the remodeling operation will have effects on its
cost, but this is true also in new construction. No one expects to build a
large and finely constructed new house for the same outlay as for a simple
bungalow built of cheap materials.

Specific procedures and steps in the planning and execution of remodel-
ing will be outlined in Chapter 13, but one special advantage of remodeling
that can be used to keep down costs will be pointed out here. This is the
possibility of remodeling a house not in one comprehensive operation but
pieceineal. If your house is in livable condition, you may wish to remodel it
part by part as your bank account can afford the expenditure or as work-
men and materials become available at prices that you can afford to pay.
Financing charges can be saved if the work is done at a rate that fits your
ability to pay for it out of your pocket; substantial savings on other costs
can be made if you take advantage of slack seasons or other conditions in
the building industry that are in your favor.

Piecemeal remodeling is also an excellent technique to apply in times
of housing shortages. If you can buy an old-fashioned house in a satisfactory
location, be it ever so ugly, it will still be a roof over your head. Once in
possession, you will be in the best possible position to work out a plan for
remodeling and to carry out this plan bit by bit as you can get small lots
of material and equipment. Eventually, even in difficult times, the entire
job will be done, and you will have a modern, convenient, and attractive
house instead of only a hope.

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TWO

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

IM OTHING HELPS MORE in the early stages of planning the remodeling of a
house than the study of successful examples of remodeling. The case histories
illustrated and discussed briefly in this chapter have been selected for their
variety as well as for their excellence. Some show inexpensive houses, others
rather expensive ones. In some instances the structural changes made were
slight; in others they were extensive. Every one of the houses was an indi-
vidual problem — as your house, also, will be — but in each case good results
were obtained first by good planning and then by good execution of the
plans.

Probably not one of these houses will look like your house or the house
that you are thinking of buying. Nevertheless, it is highly probable that most
of them will embody something either that is directly applicable to your
house or that will plant an idea that you can use. For example, you may
not intend to remodel a barn; but you can get some ideas for room lay-
outs from the excellent plans in Fig. 2.17. If your house is encumbered
with an ugly porch, note the different solutions for porch problems that are
illustrated in Figs. 2.3, 2.14, and 2.21. If your problem is location of the
bathrooms in an old stone house built without thought of spaces in the
walls for pipes, note where the baths were placed in Figs. 2.28 and 2.29.

Figs. 2.1 to 2.5. These illustrations show a house in Nashville, Tennessee,
that was remodeled by Bolton McBryde, architect, for his own use. Accord-
ing to the description that was published in the Architectural Record of
May, 1943, this transformation of a nondescript bungalow into a very charm-
ing residence cost $3,500, of which sum a good share was spent for a new
heating system, a summer ventilating system, a fireplace and new chimney,
new kitchen equipment, a concrete floor in the basement, and a new roof.
Neither the interior nor the exterior of the house was changed very much
structurally. Notice that the great improvement in the appearance of the
front view of the house is chiefly the result of the removal of the porch and
the dormer and the addition of an attractive entrance in place of the orig-
inal unsightly front porch.

New Houses from Old

Fig. 2.1. — Front view, before.

Fig. 2.2. — Rear view, before.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

Fig. 2.3. — Front view, after.

Fig. 2.4. — Rear view, after.

New Houses from Old

BEFORE

AFTER

Fig. 2.5.

(Figs. 2.1 to 2.5, courtesy Bolton McBryde, architect, and The Architectural Record.)

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

Figs. 2.6 to 2.10. These figures illustrate a remodeled town house, the
David C. Prince house in Schenectady, New York. The oldest part of this
house was built in the early nineteenth century, and it had been added to
several times. The additions, each of which had been attached to the rear
end of the building, had cut off the view across the gardens and had made
some of the rooms too dark for use. In the remodeling, the service elements —
kitchen, garage, and service entrance — were relocated on the street side of
the property; this new addition also shelters the garden from street noises.
Some of the old additions were removed to open up the west elevation to
take full advantage of the view. The bay window on what had been the
dining room was removed, and large windows were placed in all rooms on
the garden facade. The street fagade of the existing building was not altered,
and no attempt was made to produce a similarity in style between it and
the new addition. The difference in styles emphasizes the period of the orig-
inal house.

Fig. 2.6.

New Houses from Old

FIRST FLOOR PLAN- BEFORE

Fig. 2.7.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

SECOND FLOOR PLAN - BEFORE

Fig. 2.8.

New Houses from Old

VIEW TO
RIVER

SCALE IN FEET

FIRST FLOOR PLAN - AFTER

Fig. 2.9.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

DUE DDDDDDDDDD

ROOF

SECOND FLOOR PLAN- AFTER

Fig. 2.10.

{Figs. 2.6 to 2.10, C. H. Abbe, architect, and Giles I'an der Bogert, associate.)

The original structure is typical of town houses in the older areas of cities
in the eastern United States. As in many such houses, the chief problem
was to let more light into rooms that were too dark to be pleasant living
quarters. The wider-than-average lot suggested the solution and made it
possible to carry out the desired remodeling without reducing the living
areas of the house. The loss of the second-floor screened porch and the
roof deck is more than compensated by the gain of the garden and the
pleasant outdoor terrace adjacent to the kitchen and dining room. The
garage is even more convenient in its new location, and the large portion of
the lot that was formerly given up to the driveway was added to the lawn
and garden. The new location of the kitchen keeps the noise of deliveries
away from the bedrooms and living room.

New Houses from Old

Fig. 2.11.— Before.

Figs. 2.11 to 2.12. At first glance the old farmhouse shown in Fig. 2.11
might be passed up as not being good material for remodeling. However,
the house was successfully remodeled, as Fig. 2.12 shows. The remodeling
was sponsored by the New Jersey Agricultural College, and one of the pur-
poses of the program was to illustrate how dilapidated farmhouses can be
remodeled without the expenditure of a great amount of money. The plans
were worked out by W. C. Kreauger, extension engineer of the college, and
J. F. Shaffhausen, agricultural engineer with the Johns-Manville Sales Cor-
poration. The actual reconstruction was done by hiring carpenters on a
daily basis, and the materials selected for the job were such as might be
used by farmers in the area.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

Fig. 2.12.— After.
{Figs. 2.11 and 2A2, courtesy Johns-Manville Sales Corporation.)

The major changes in the exterior elevation are apparent from the photo-
graphs. The two doors in the front of the house were converted to windows,
and the old center window was changed to become the central doorway.
One chimney was eliminated. After remodeling, the first floor contained a
small central hallway with stairs leading to the second floor, a living room
with fireplace on the right side of the hall, and on the left side of the hall
a small farm office, a dining room, and a kitchen. On the second floor the
new arrangement provided a central hallway, four bedrooms, and a bath.
Asbestos shingles were used both as roofing and as siding material.

New Houses from Old

Fin. 2.13. -Before.

Fig. 2.14.— After.

(Figs. 2.13 and 2.14, courtesy Curtis Contpaiiics, luc, juauufacturcrs of Curtis U'oodzvork.)

Figs. 2.13 to 2.14. A house could hardly be less distinguished than the
inexpensive little bungalow shown in Fig. 2.13. Fig. 2.14 illustrates how by
a good use of imagination and a slight amount of remodeling such a house
can be turned into a dwelling with considerable charm.

New Houses from Old — -Some Examples

Figs. 2.15 to 2.17. The remodeling of a barn into a satisfactory house is
always a major building operation, but it can be done successfully, as these
figures show. A barn has the disadvantage of containing little that is useful
except the frame. However, this is often enough if the frame is in good con-
dition and if the location of the barn is suitable for a house. Barn frames

{Richard Averill Smith.)
Fig. 2.16.~After.

{Figs. 2.15 to 2.17, reprinted from Better Homes & Gardens.)

/ V
New Houses from Old

are originally built to sustain loads that are heavier than those that will be
placed on them if they are converted to houses. The floors are generally
unencumbered with load-bearing partitions, hence rooms can be laid out
with little restriction on the planning.

•^P" ■

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C
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BEORM M

HARNESS
ROOM

COW
BARN

BEFORE

AFTER

Fig. 2.17.
(Figs. 2.15 to 2.17, reprinted from Better Homes & Gardens.)

Figs. 2.18 to 2.19. These pictures show the remodeling of a dilapidated
and unoccupied house at Port Angeles, Washington. The remodeling was
supervised by Philip E. Keene, architect. Originally a single-family house,
the building was converted to two family units. On the first floor the original
front and back parlors became living room and study-bedroom. The old
dining room was converted to a bedroom and bath, and the old kitchen was
simply modernized. The second floor had contained three bedrooms and a
bath, and it was replanned to contain a kitchen and dinette, living room,
bedroom, and bath. The exterior of the house was re-sided with fir plywood
panels that were scored to have some resemblance to board siding. The
dormers were added in the reconstruction.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples] 23

Fig. 2.19.— After.
(,Figs. 2.18 and 2.19, courtesy Dotiglas Fir Plywood Association.)

New Houses from Old

{Reprinted from Better Homes & Gardens.)
Fig. 2.20.— Before.

Figs. 2.20 to 2.225. This example of the remodeling of a poor original
plan into a very convenient two-bedroom house is outstanding for the ex-
cellent plan changes that the architect achieved and for the incorporation
into the remodeled house of the space formerly occupied by a narrow and
practically useless front porch. Eliminating the unnecessary rear stairway
made it possible to have a kitchen of generous size on the first floor and to
construct a well-proportioned bedroom on the second floor above the kitchen.
The relocation of the bath and the provision of a dressing room are also
great improvements. Relocating the main stair to the second floor and adding
a new stairway from the service entrance to the cellar opened up the living
area of the house and provided space for a first-floor lavatory under the
main stair. In addition to the improvements in layout, the street facade is
undeniably more attractive. An alteration of this type increases the value
of a house and improves the neighborhood at the same time that it provides
improved living comforts for the owners.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

Fig. 2.21.

(Reprinted from Better Homes & Gardens.)
-After.

Many lessons in good remodeling can be learned from a careful study
of the floor plans on pp. 26 and 27. The first floor plan is carefully thought
out. Both the living room and dining room are well proportioned and ad-
mirably placed in relation to the outdoor terrace. The kitchen shows good
arrangement. On the second floor, the arrangement of the bath and dressing
room between the two bedrooms is a very convenient one whether the bed-
rooms are occupied by adults or by parents and young children. The bath-
room itself was ingeniously planned to provide a recess for the tub, closet
space in the adjoining bedroom, and a compartment for the water closet.

New Houses from Old

FIRST FLOOR BEFORE

ERf

?ACE

f
>

FIRST FLOOR AFTER

Fic. 2.22^.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

SECOND FLOOR BEFORE

SECOND FLOOR AFTER

Fig. 2.225.

CFigs. 2.20 to 2.22B, reprinted from Better Homes & Gardens.)

New Houses from Old

Figs. 2.23 to 2.29. The C. H. Abbe house, Newtown, Pennsylvania. In this
remodeling, most of the changes on the exterior of the house were in the
nature of repairs rather than reconstruction. The only important architec-
tural change from the original is the raised roof over the vault and the
connection of this building to the main house by means of a covered terrace.
The floor level in the kitchen lean-to, which is typical of the old houses in
this region, was an inconvenient five steps lower than the dining room. The
roof of the lean-to had to be raised in order to raise the level of the floor
and thus eliminate the steps between the kitchen and the dining room. For-
tunately, there was enoughs' floor space so that steps up to the kitchen from
the kitchen entrance door could be placed on the inside. Thus it was not
necessary to change this door or the access from the kitchen entry to the
cellar. Changing the location of the door from the end of the hall off the
living room (Figs. 2.24 and 2.27) to the side, so that it gave access to the ter-
race, constituted another of the alterations to the old stone walls. All of the
new stone required in the alterations of the walls was taken from the bed
of a creek that runs through the property.

Fig. 2.23.— After.

{Figs. 2.23 to 2.29, C. H. Abbe, architect.)

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

FIRST FLOOR PLAN -BEFORE

Fig. 2.24.

As in remodeling many old farmhouses, particularly houses built of stone,
the principal problems were the installation of mechanical facilities that
were not enjoyed by our ancestors — electricity, heating, plumbing, and the
water system. The plan of the old house provided all the area needed for
the required rooms and baths, and no major rearrangement of the interior
was necessary aside from the removal of an unwanted stair. It was pos-
sible to conceal all of the plumbing and heating risers in closets or in
furred-out walls that did not take needed space from the rooms. The hori-
zontal runs of piping under the second-floor baths were concealed by
furring down a portion of the ceiling in the dining room.

New Houses from Old

SECOND FLOOR PLAN - BEFORE

I — ^ 1-=-^

BEDROOM

BEDRM

={[ HALL

BEDROOM

1,=^ K=^

1^^., i"~^ 1^^

HALL

BEDROOM

U^ u^

Fig. 2.25.

THIRD FLOOR PLAN -BEFORE

Fig. 2.26.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

FIRST FLOOR PLAN - AFTER

Fig. 2.27.

New Houses from Old

Fig. 2.28.

THIRD FLOOR PLAN -AFTER

Fig. 2.29.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

Figs. 2.30 to 2.33. The Thornton Lewis house, New Hope, Pennsylvania.
The magnitude of this alteration practically takes it out of the class of
work ordinarily spoken of as remodeling. While the main part of the
original stone house was retained, completely new flooring and plastering
were necessary, and the extent of the additions makes it difficult to visu-
alize the simple farmhouse in the completed building. Nevertheless, the
spirit of the old house has been retained, and the finished house fits ad-
mirably into the surroundings. This example illustrates a type of remodel-
ing quite frequently undertaken when the site of a house rather than the house

- WALLS & STAIR TO SECOND FLOOR -

PRINCIPAL PART OF BUILDING

REMAINING AFTER COMPLETION

OF REMODELING.

®— »-

FIRST FLOOR PLAN- BEFORE
Fig. 2.30.

34 New Houses from Old

itself has been the determining factor in the purchase of the property. In
this case a modest three-bedroom farmhouse without plumbing or other
conveniences has been added to and converted into an estate house that
contains seven bedrooms and five baths. One might ask why the owner did

!:2-fatL.

SECOND FLOOR PLAN - BEFORE

Fig. 2.31.

not plan a completely new house. The answer would be that for this owner,
as for many others who wish to live in a particular area, the building site
of the old farmhouse with its outbuildings and mature trees was superior
to an undeveloped site. The old fireplace in the library of the remodeled
house and the U-shaped winding stair to the second floor were the principal
interior details of the original house that were retained in the remodeled
house.

New Houses from Old — Some Examples

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New Houses from Old

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THREE

The Chief Types of House Construction

Xhere are many ways of constructing houses, but if certain rare or local
types such as adobe, rammed earth, or metal houses, which you are not
likely to encounter in purchasing a house to remodel, are ignored, there are
only two basic types of house construction — frame and masonry. The dis-
tinction between the two is properly made according to materials used in
the construction of the load-bearing portion of the exterior walls. The frame
house has a wooden frame. The masonry house has exterior load-bearing
walls that are made of stone, brick, or other masonry materials.

Frame Construction -

The frame house is the most common type in the United States and there-
fore the type most often remodeled. Builders recognize three types of house
frames — the braced frame, the platform or western frame, and ths balloon
frame. Illustrations of all three will be found in Chapter 17. Local variations
of one type or another are commonly found; and the older the house, the
less likely that its frame will conform closely to one of the standardized
types illustrated. Furthermore, if a house has already been remodeled or
added to, it may contain more than one type of framing. For example, a
very old house is likely to have a braced frame in the original part and a
modern type, such as balloon framing, in the more recently built ell. An
architect or builder who is familiar with the houses in the locality may
know or can tell after an inspection the type of frame that is in a particular
house; but it is impossible for the amateur to distinguish one type of modern
frame from another after the walls are covered. This is unfortunate since
the type of frame affects certain remodeling operations; nevertheless, it is
true.

On the other hand, very old houses almost always have braced frames,
and these old frames are usually made of much heavier timbers than are
used in modern braced frames. The old braced frame does have two or three
characteristics that you can distinguish even though you are just learning

38 New Houses from Old

the important points of building. One is deep windows. The massive timbers
in the outer wall create a wall of somewhat greater thickness than is found
in frame houses of modern construction. Sometimes the window setting is
deep enough to provide a window seat, and often the deep window opening
is trimmed on the inside with paneling set obliquely or at right angles to the
window. Another sign is the presence of beams in the ceilings of the rooms
on the first floor or, sometimes, throughout the house. However, the absence
of exposed ceiling beams does not necessarily indicate that there are not
heavy beams in the ceiling, since these beams were often covered with board-
ing or lath and plaster when the house was built or later. Massive joists in
the basement under the first floor in a wooden house may indicate a heavy
braced frame, but they are not positive indications.

Plank houses. Another variation of the old wooden house, not common
but still not rare, is the plank house. Strictly speaking, this is not a frame
house at all since the exterior walls, and sometimes the interior partitions,
too, are built of planks laid horizontally upon one another. A house con-
structed in this manner may appear to be an ordinary frame house, because
the planks used were frequently only 6 or 8 in. wide and sometimes were
as narrow as 4 in. However, any alteration that requires cutting or drilling
into the walls reveals the fact that they are solid wood; hence the fact that
a specific house is constructed this way is usually well known locally.

Veneered frame houses. The frame house may appear to be something
other than a wooden house. The reason for this is that the wooden frame is
adaptable to many types of exterior wall coverings, such as stucco, brick
veneer, stone veneer, cement, and asbestos shingles. Without doubt, you will
suspect a frame house under a stucco or shingle exterior; but you may be
fooled by a brick or stone veneer house, since a well-built house of either
of these types has, as it is meant to have, the appearance of a solid brick
or stone house. The difference is that in the veneer type of construction the
brick or stone is a facing material only; underneath it there is a frame of
wood that supports the house.

Masonry Construction

In masonry houses the load-bearing portion of the exterior walls is
masonry — that is, it is made of stone, brick, concrete block, or hollow tile
set in mortar.

Stone. The stone house may be built of fieldstone — that is, irregularly
shaped stones usually picked up from the building site or from some other
near-by source and built into the wall with little or no cutting or facing
of the stones. Fieldstone walls can be identified not only by the irregular

The Chief Types of House Construction 39

shapes of the stone but also by the large and irregular mortar joints be-
tween them. Stone walls of this type may be laid up hit or miss, or the
mason may select the stones with considerable regard for their shapes and
sizes and lay them up in courses or in some sort of irregular pattern. House
walls are also made of cut and shaped stones. The source of this type of
stone is usually a quarry, although stone removed in making an excavation
or found near the building site is sometimes split or cut on the site itself.
Walls made of uncut stones are known as rubble masonry, and walls made
of cut stones are known as ashlar masonry (Fig. 14.11). The use of stone
as a facing material for wood frames has already been mentioned. Stone
is also used in housing construction as a facing material for brick, clay tile,
concrete block, and poured concrete. Stone-faced walls of these types are,
however, true masonry walls, whereas stone-faced wooden walls are not.

Brick. Brick walls are made of two types of brick, called face brick and
common brick. Generally speaking, face brick is brick made of selected
clays, specially fired and then selected from the viewpoints of attractive
appearance, durability, and uniformity to give a product that will be durable
and aesthetically pleasing when built into the exposed surfaces of walls.
Common brick may be softer, and it often is less pleasing in appearance.
The outermost bricks in the walls of a brick house of modern construction,
as well as the bricks used in veneering a frame house, are almost always face
brick. The painted brick wall is an exception. If, when the house is built,
it is planned to have painted brick walls, common brick is used rather than
face brick. Old brick houses were usually built of brick that would be classed
today as common brick. The source was usually a nearby kiln that produced
only one quality and color; and although in building the wall the mason
may have hand-picked the bricks for the outer facing, there is little differ-
ence between the outermost bricks and those concealed within the wall.

Clay tile and concrete blocks. Hollow clay tile and concrete blocks or tile
— they are the same — are relatively modern building materials, but they
have been used sufficiently long so that you may actually be concerned with
the remodeling of a house built of one of them. In low-priced housing con-
crete blocks are sometimes not covered on the outside with a finishing ma-
terial. Usually, however, they are finished with stucco, brick, or sometimes
wood or stone. Hollow clay tile, when used in housing construction, is prac-
tically always finished on the exterior. The same finishes that have been
mentioned for concrete block can be used.

Poured concrete. In some sections of the country the poured-concrete house
is rather common. The walls and sometimes the floors, also, are constructed
by putting wet concrete into forms and allowing it to harden before the
forms are removed. Steel rods for reinforcement are put into the forms at

40 New Houses from Old

selected points and the concrete is poured around them. If the walls are
thin, the steel reinforcing may be present throughout them. Poured-concrete
walls in houses are sometimes left exposed on the exterior, or they may have
a surface finish of stone or stucco.

Problems in Remodeling Frame and Masonry Houses

Most of the special problems that come up in connection with the various
types of house construction are discussed in this book when the particular
remodeling operation is treated, but a few of them will be pointed out here.
It is obvious that changes can be made readily in a frame house that has a
wooden exterior without regard to the type of frame, because the frame
will be covered when the remodeling is completed. Sometimes the clapboards
on an old house will turn out to be of a width or pattern that is not obtain-
able as a stock product; but this is not a serious problem unless a large
quantity is needed, because a small quantity of a special width or pattern
can be made in a local mill or by hand if necessary. Of course, if the clap-
boards on the old house are completely or mostly in need of replacement,
they can be replaced with a modern pattern that need not duplicate the orig-
inal so long as it harmonizes with the age and architecture of the house.

Obtaining matching stone for a house of rubble masonry is usually not
difficult because in most cases the original stone had a local origin. Houses
of ashlar masonry sometimes present a more difficult problem because the
source of the stone was often a quarry that has been closed down many
years. Consequently, an alteration or extension to the house that would
require a considerable quantity of stone must often be made of materials
that do not match the original structure. Fortunately, a well-designed clap-
board- or shingle-covered addition to an old stone house is aesthetically
pleasing.

Although the brickyard that supplied the bricks for an old brick house
may have been out of business for a long time, an adequate supply of the
same bricks can often be discovered in the locality, either in the abandoned
yard itself or in an old barn or house that is quite beyond repair. Modern
face brick of a distinctive color or texture may, however, be difficult to
match unless the original manufacturer can be traced and is still in business.
Practically any brick, new or old, can be matched if you can afford the
expense of having special brick made to order. A stucco finish is often
difficult to match, but the color of old stucco can readily be changed by
painting.

Windows and doors can be inserted in a balloon frame house or a plank
house at practically any point where they are called for by the remodeling

The Chief Types of House Construction 41

plan. Although it is not impossible to insert new windows and doors in a
braced frame, some rather complicated carpentry will be called for to avoid
weakening the structure if they intercept any of the diagonal braces in
either an old or a modern frame of this type or the heavy members of an
old-fashioned braced frame. In masonry walls built of small units such as
brick, clay tile, or concrete blocks, openings for new windows and doors
can usually be made easily; but making such openings in solid masonry
walls such as stone or poured concrete involves laborious cutting and also
skill in disguising the alteration and making the new opening weather-tight.
Turning to the interior, the installation of pipes for heating and plumbing
in the exterior walls of balloon frame houses is relatively easy, since the
long studs that run from the sill to the rafter plate (Fig. 17.1) provide space
for them. If pipes must be run in the exterior walls of houses with platform
framing or braced framing, some rather heavy timber will have to be cut
through, and such cutting is undesirable both from a structural and a cost
viewpoint. In some old houses with the massive braced frames the spaces
between the timbers were filled with what was called nogging, which was
brick or some other cheap, durable material. If nogging is present, it is im-
possible to run pipes in the exterior walls unless some of it is removed to
make room for them. Likewise, there is no room for pipes in the exterior
walls of plank houses or masonry houses. Methods of making room for them
and also planning plumbing installations so that the piping can be run
elsewhere are discussed in Chapter 26. Somewhat similar difficulties arise
in connection with the installation of insulation (Chapter 25), especially of
the batt or fill types. There is room for it in frame walls, but room is lacking
in the typical wall of masonry construction.

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FOUR

How to Judge a House for Remodeling

An deciding whether a particular house is structurally worth remodeling,
you will find yourself in a position similar to the one you would be in if
you were considering the purchase of a rather high-priced used automobile.
If you are well versed in automobile mechanics, you should be able to make
a fairly accurate estimate of the car's serviceability; but if your knowledge
of the structure of an automobile is limited to the superficial information
that you have picked up as a driver, you would have three courses open to
you: you could investigate the car's history carefully; you could hire an
experienced auto mechanic to examine the car and give you an expert's
opinion; or you could take a chance. Too many persons follow the last-
mentioned course in buying houses for remodeling, and therein lies the
source of most of the sad, costly experiences with remodeling.

Since judging the structural qualities of an old house is much more com-
plicated than estimating the merits of a used automobile, you should, if you
can manage it, get the advice of an architect or builder before committing
yourself to the extensive remodeling of any house. By all means, don't de-
pend on what the real-estate agent says about the feasibility of remodeling
or on the advice of friends who are amateurs, or less, in building. If you
have lived in the house for some time, you may feel that you know its faults
and weaknesses, and undoubtedly you do know some of them. Nevertheless,
there may be surprises in store for you when the house is examined by an
expert in building. Being in actual possession of the house you are going to
remodel gives you the advantage of being able to arrange for an appraising
examination and a thorough discussion of your remodeling plans. Unless
the remodeling operation is a minor one, this advantage is too valuable to
be passed over. A similar examination and discussion are even more important
if you are purchasing a house to remodel.

Get expert advice when you can; but when you call in an architect to ap-
praise a house quickly for you, don't expect him to be able to give you after
one visit to it an exact statement on the cost of the remodeling that you have
in mind. A reasonably accurate estimate can be made only after you have

How to Judge a House for Remodeling 43

developed your rough plan for the remodeled house and after the architect
has had time to study it.

However, there are many cases in which a decision must be made quickly
without benefit of expert advice, and yours may well be one of them. Here,
therefore, are some structural points that you can check readily, whether
you are novice or expert.

The Roof Frame

Beginning with the ridge of the roof, observe whether it is straight. A
sagging roof may be picturesque, provided that it has not caved in. In fact,
occasionally persons who are careless of money will have a sag built into
the roof of a new house; but you can be sure that the sagging roof that
you may see on an old house was not built that way. It betrays a partial
collapse of the roof framing, which certainly would require an extensive
rebuilding of the roof and possibly, also, of at least the upper portions of
the framing of the house walls if the house is of frame construction. Don't,
however, mistake the dip in a Dutch sweeping roof for a sag. This dip is not
in the horizontal ridge but in the line from the eaves to the ridge, and an
inspection of the roof's underside will show up the "knuckles" in the rafters
that were designed to give the roof its sweep.

The Exterior Walls

A house that is structurally sound will stand square and plumb on its
foundations. The corners will form straight, vertical lines. Any leaning or
lopsidedness that you can detect with the naked eye indicates that some-
thing is seriously wrong with the foundations or the house frame, or both.
The same is true of walls that are bulged either vertically or horizontally.
Masonry walls which are based on adequate foundations and which are well
constructed of good materials will stand for centuries, but inadequate
foundations or poor soil conditions under the foundations will cause un-
even settling, which does not go far before it produces cracks. Such cracks
can be filled in with mortar and often are by the time a house is offered for
sale; nevertheless, a good visual inspection will detect them in unpainted
masonry walls. They can be pretty thoroughly disguised in painted brick
walls, however. Cracks in masonry walls or the other wall defects that have
been mentioned do not mean necessarily that the house is about to fall
down, but they are evidence of structural weaknesses that may be rather
expensive to remedy.

44 New Houses from Old

Chimneys

The value of the existing chimneys should be judged from two viewpoints
— their condition and whether they are placed where you will want them in
the remodeled house. Few old chimneys have fire-clay linings (Chapter 16),
and even chimneys in middle-aged houses often lack them. Although the
inclusion of such linings is required by most building codes today and is
standard practice in chimney building even where there is no code require-
ment, old chimneys with thick, tight walls will operate satisfactorily and
safely without them; but an old chimney with thin walls — say the thickness
of a single brick — is not much good if it is unlined. The thickness of a
chimney and the presence or absence of a lining can be determined by in-
specting the chimney at an opening for a smoke pipe. A small hand mirror
is useful in this inspection. The fact that you can see a piece of chimney
lining projecting from the top of an old chimney is unfortunately no proof
that the chimney is lined all the way down, because a length or two of lining
is often inserted when an old chimney is rebuilt at the top.

Look for cracks all along the exposed parts of the chimney and par-
ticularly where the chimney passes through the roof. Notice also whether
the chimney is supported on the earth or whether it is based on a wooden
beam. Chimneys based on wood are quite unsafe and should be torn down.
If it is to be useful to you, the chimney should be located where you can
make use of it after the house is remodeled. Chimneys can be torn down and
rebuilt, and in rare instances they can be moved in one piece, but both of
these operations are expensive.

The Foundation Walls

The basement, or cellar as it is called in most rural regions, is the next
place to make an inspection. If the walls are laid up of stones without mor-
tar, they may be bulged inward in places or perhaps may have fallen in.
This type of foundation wall, although it is found under many older houses,
is at best a makeshift. It was never intended to impede the passage of water
into the basement, and it has the additional fault of gradually but inevitably
leaning inward as water freezes between the outer face and the adjacent soil.
If the walls are made of other masonry materials such as stone laid up in
mortar, brick, or concrete block, still examine them for inward bulges and
also for cracks. If the basement has defective outer walls or a dirt floor,
you can be sure that water enters during thaws and after storms unless, of
course, the house is located on a knoll with exceptionally good drainage and

How to Judge a House for Remodeling 45

protection from surface water all around. Even with solidly built walls and
a concrete floor, it is well to look for high-water marks along the walls.

Sills, Joists, Girders, and Posts

The basement is also the place to examine the condition of the sills, the
girders, and the joists under the first floor and the posts that support the
girders. To prepare yourself for this inspection, it will be well to read
Chapter 17 on framing. The sills — found in houses with wooden frames
and occasionally in masonry houses — are the timbers that rest directly on
the foundation walls. Because they may be exposed to moisture, carried up-
ward in the wall as water is carried upward by a wick, the sills in an old
house are often decayed. If the decay has penetrated deeply enough, por-
tions of the sill may already have been crushed by the weight of the wall
above. Decay that has not gone so far can be discovered by pushing the
small blade of a pocket knife into the wood. If the blade goes in easily
more than 1 in. or so, decay is well advanced.

The joists are the wooden timbers that support the floor above and to
which in most types of construction the subfloor, which is the first layer of
flooring put down, is nailed. In middle-aged and recent houses, the joists
are usually sawed lumber, the common dimensions being 2 in. by 6 in., 2 in.
by 8 in., or 2 in. by 10 in. In older houses and in farmhouses, they are often
of wider lumber, 4 in. by 6 in., 4 in. by 8 in., or even larger; or they may
be small logs sawed lengthwise with the flat surface next to the floor or round
logs with the top surface flattened somewhat to make a bearing for the floor
boards. Where the joists are of sawed lumber, bridging (Fig. 17.7) is
usually present; but it is seldom found in conjunction with log joists. In
damp basements the joists may be decayed throughout their entire length,
but they are more susceptible to decay at the foundation-wall end, where
in frame houses they rest on the sills and in masonry houses often on the
foundation wall itself. They should be examined visually and also probed
with a knife. In addition to looking for decay, see whether they bend down-
ward near the middle of their spans. In many old houses the joists were
fitted into holes cut in the sill. To make this mortise joint, the size of the
joists was often cut down greatly at the sill end, which practice had the
effect of destroying a good proportion of the strength of the piece. The joists
may be decayed at the mortise joint or they may be split there.

The girders are the timbers that support the ends of the joists opposite
to the ends supported by the sill or foundation wall. They are considerably
heavier than the joists. In older houses they usually consist of single heavy
timbers; in houses built in more recent times they are more often made up

New Houses from Old

of several pieces bolted or spiked together. The girders are especially sub-
ject to decay at the ends where they usually rest directly on the foundation
walls; and, of course, in damp basements they may be rotted throughout
their lengths.

In addition to being supported at the ends, girders are usually supported
by posts at one or more places along their spans. Cast- or wrought-iron posts
are very durable, but unfortunately they are not commonly found. In old
houses wooden posts are the usual supports for girders, and they are fre-
quently found to be rotted at the end that is in contact with the basement
floor. Rotted posts cause the center of the house to settle. The settling may
give rise to such defects as uneven floors, skewed doorframes, and cracks
in the plaster. The total result is to give the house an appearance of quite
unsound construction; but unless the settling has gone far, it can be cor-
rected and permanently cured at less cost than many of the other operations
in restoring an old house.

Termites

In regions where subterranean termites are found, look for evidence of
infestation by these pests (Figs. 4.1 and 4.2). Termite shelter tubes on the
basement walls are positive evidence of termites. They may occur either on
the outside or on the inside of the walls, but they are found more often on
the inside. The absence of these shelter tubes is not, unfortunately, positive

(Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture.)
Fig. 4.1. — Termite shelter tubes on a foundation wall.

How to Judge a House for Remodeling

|»»IM>«»<!|

(Courtesy U. S. Dcpattmcnt of Aaticulture )

Fig. 4.2. — Termite damage to sill and studs. The siding and sheathing have been
removed to facilitate inspection.

evidence that the house is free of infestation, since subterranean termites can
gain access to the house frame through wood that is in contact with the soil
or through cracks or other openings in basement walls.

If there is any reason to suspect termite infestation, the sills and other
wooden members of the house that rest on the foundation walls or on soil
should be examined thoroughly. Wooden posts that support porches should
not be overlooked. If termites are found and if you still want to buy the
house, arrange for an examination by an expert before signing the papers.
In some instances termite damage can be repaired inexpensively. In others
the cost runs into many hundreds of dollars.

Plumbing and Heating Systems

If the house already has plumbing and heating, you can judge the worth
of some parts of the systems easily, but other equally important ones will be
difficult to appraise. You can, for example, decide quickly whether the bath-
room fixtures are what you want or whether they will have to be replaced
when you remodel. A quick test to find out whether the supply piping is
reasonably free of corrosion can be made by opening several faucets in the
bathroom at one time. If a strong flow of clear water comes forth from all
of them simultaneously, the supply piping is in good condition; but if the
flow is small or discolored, the piping is probably in need of replacement.

48 New Houses from Old

If there is more than one bathroom, the test should be repeated in each one.
The make and apparent age of the heating system can be noted. If the
house is inspected in cold weather when the system is in operation, you
can observe whether the system appears to be keeping the house warm.
However, the safest way to appraise the condition of a plumbing or heating
system is to have an inspection and working test made by a plumber or a
heating contractor. In many sections of the country such tests are standard
practice when houses change hands, and they are much more satisfactory
to both buyer and seller than a guarantee by the seller that the systems are
in "good working order."

Other Details

There are many superficial details that you can, and undoubtedly will,
pass judgment on. Among these is the condition of the roof covering —
whether it leaks and whether, if it is watertight, it will suit the remodeled
house you have in mind. The best place to look for leaks is in the attic on
the underside of the roof. Water stains on the plaster or wallpaper of the
upper rooms, also, usually indicate leaks in the roof. However, rain water
will also come in through defective outer walls, whether they are wood or
masonry, and around improperly built door and window openings. You can
readily see whether the condition of the siding material is satisfactory or
whether it will have to be repaired or replaced and whether the house has
gutters and leaders to carry off the rain that falls on the roof. If these are
present, it is fairly easy to see whether they are in need of replacement.
Inside the house you will observe the condition of the walls, the wood-
work, and the floors.

In deciding whether the house is worth remodeling, it is equally impor-
tant to look at it from the viewpoint of what you wish to make of it. Ask
yourself how closely it resembles in shape and layout the house that you
would like after the remodeling is completed. It may come very close in-
deed, or it may be so far from it that you will have to build a substantial
addition to the original structure; yet remodeling may be justified in either
case, depending on such factors as the value of the location to you and
the price you must pay for the house.

Other factors worth taking into account in judging an old house are the
materials and the craftsmanship. If it is very old, it may well contain wood
the equal of which is quite unobtainable now because the fine virgin timber
from which it was cut no longer exists. A fairly large number of people
treasure examples of old craftsmanship. The hand-wrought hardware on its
doors and windows has sold many an old house. The worth of such things

How to Judge a House for Remodeling 49

to you will depend partly on your financial resources and partly on your
tastes, but they do have a market value. It is not necessary to go to very
old houses to find superior building materials. Our fathers built many
substantial houses of very good materials. A floor of quartersawed oak, for
example, may not appear to be an asset in the color or condition in which
you are likely to find it when you inspect a middle-aged house, but the
chances are good that it can be restored and refinished for considerably less
money than a new oak floor or its equivalent would cost today.

In closing this part of the discussion, permit the authors to say again
that judging the structure of an old house, from the viewpoint of either its
quality or the complications that will arise in remodeling, is far from
a simple matter. In a finished house many of the important structural ele-
ments are hidden from view, but an architect or builder is usually able to
appraise them because of his experience with houses of similar construction.
Let the authors warn you, also, that perfect old houses are as rare as per-
fect persons. If you are paying a good price for the house rather than for
its site or location, you do have a right to your money's worth in geod
construction and finish; but if you are getting it at a bargain price, you
may or may not, depending on your luck, get a house that can be con-
verted into a model of convenience and attractiveness by the expenditure
of only a few hundred dollars. Most houses in desirable locations, either
urban or rural, that are offered for sale at low prices present a rather
sorry appearance to the discriminating eye. As one New England farmer
remarked when a prospective purchaser commented on the lack of paint on
a house being offered for sale, "Miss, in the long run clapboards are a sight
cheaper than paint." The trick is to be able to see in the weather-beaten and
timeworn house before you the beautiful and comfortable house that can be
made of it and to paint the vision not on wishful thinking but on sound
judgment.

ijijijijxriJuxririJTJTJTrLriJTj-uTjajxnjTJT^

FIVE

Halls and Stairs

Halls

In the planning of low-cost new houses, the hall is one of the conveniences
that is sometimes omitted on the theory that it is used little in comparison
to living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and other rooms in the house. It is
doubtful, however, whether this reasoning should be applied to any but the
most inexpensive houses of the bungalow type.

The usefulness of a hall is well illustrated in Fig. 5.1, which shows the
plan of the first floor of a not very expensive house occupied by one of the
authors. The small entrance lobby with its two doors not only serves to
keep out drafts of cold air when the outer door is opened, but it is large
enough to serve as a place to interview canvassers and other callers whose
mission does not interest the lady of the house. The hall isolates very effec-
tively both the kitchen and the half bathroom from the living room. It
separates the dining room from the living room and thus makes it possible
to arrange the table for dinner without disturbing guests being entertained
in the living room. It makes access to the second-floor stairs from any of
the lower-floor rooms possible without going through another room. The
smaller back hall is an extra convenience because it enables packages to be
delivered directly to the kitchen, it is used for the reception of callers at
the back door, and it provides a fairly private entrance to the half bath-
rooin from the kitchen and from the front hall. Other good hall layouts
are to be found in most of the house plans shown in Chapter 2.

Hall dimensions. The desirable width of the first-floor hall depends some-
what on the type of home of which it is a part. The front hall in a well-
appointed home is likewise designed not only for its utility but also to give
visitors the impression that they are entering a comfortable and hospitable
dwelling. Space for the hall is seldom stinted in planning a luxurious home.
In modest homes the front hall should be cheerful and attractive, but it is
necessary to allot to it only the space required by utility. Since families do
move their furniture from house to house, and furniture is usually moved
through the hall, the minimum width for a hall is 3 ft. This is the width

Halls and Stairs

Fig. 5.1. — A convenient hall arrangement. A kitchen wing such as this one is often
added in remodeling.

of the usual front door, hence it is apparent that it is not excessive. You
will probably want a somewhat wider front hall in your remodeled home.
A more satisfactory width for the downstairs hall in most homes is 6 ft.,
and 8 ft. is probably the maximum width that should be planned except in
elaborate dwellings.

The necessary length of the hall recalls Lincoln's sage remark about the
best length for a man's legs. As a man's legs should be long enough to reach
from his trunk to the ground, so should a hall be long enough to serve its
intended purpose. The gist of good hall planning is to make the hall ade-
quate in both size and location to the house plan but to give up no more
room to it than you must, for the hall does represent space that must be
maintained and heated, although it is used neither for work nor relaxation.
In remodeling, a hall must sometimes be built out of space that was for-
merly included in other rooms; on the other hand, halls are sometimes re-
duced in size (Fig. 2.22) to improve the house plan.

Hall floors. The choice of flooring materials for the hall should be made
carefully. Many homeowners prefer hardwood that harmonizes with the

New Houses from Old

{Courtesy Pondcrosa Pine IVoodzvork.)

Fig. 5.2. — The front hall in a well-built house. Note the folding door on the closet
and the waterproof floor.

floors of rooms that can be seen from the front entrance. Flooring materials
are discussed in Chapter 22, but let it be said here that if your home is an
average one with several growing children in it, you will probably find a
waterproof material such as inlaid linoleum or asphalt tile (Fig. 5.2) more
suitable for the main hall than a wooden floor. Even in families composed
wholly of adults, there is still the problem of dirty overshoes and dripping
raincoats and umbrellas to argue for a floor that can withstand mud and
water. In remodeling, a floor of asphalt tile or inlaid linoleuin in the hall
often saves money, as these floorings can be laid satisfactorily over worn
old flooring.

Halls and Stairs

Hall lighting. Both downstairs and upstairs halls should be adequately
lighted. Side brackets or a ceiling fixture should be located where they will
illuminate the end of the hall that is near the front door, and if the hall is
long, another ceiling fixture should be included near the opposite end. One
or more ceiling fixtures, depending on the hall's length and shape, should
be installed in a second-floor hall. The ceiling fixtures should be controlled
by the so-called three-way switches so that the hall lights on both floors can
be turned on or off from either floor. If the hall is arranged so that it can
be entered also from the back door, as in the hall shown in Fig. 5.1, an addi-
tional switch to operate the lights of the lower hall should be located near
the back entrance. A closet (Chapter 11) for outdoor wraps and related
paraphernalia is an almost necessary adjunct to the main-floor hall, and linen
closets are often attached to halls on other floors. The location of lavatories
and bathrooms (Chapter 9) also affects hall arrangement, and vice versa.

Stairs

Stairs in houses evolved slowly from crude ladders, hence it is not sur-
prising that the stairs in many old houses, and in some built rather recently,
fail to measure up to good standards of stair building. You may elect to
keep the old stairs without altering them in a very old house that you are
restoring, even though they climb hazardously and steeply around a chim-

CHedrich-Blessing Studio. Courtesy United States Gypsum Company.')
Fig. 5.3.— Before. Fig. 5.4.— After.

54 New Houses from Old

ney; but there is little excuse for retaining unsafe stairs in an average house,
because the medical expenses that may result from one bad fall can easily
be greater than the cost of building a good flight of stairs.

Stair dimensions and design. Considered from the viewpoint of utility,
good stairs have relatively wide treads in comparison to their risers. A good
depth for the tread from the front of the nosing to the back is 10 in. A good
height for the riser is about T^'-j in., but the height of the riser may vary
slightly because the sum of the heights of all the risers must equal exactly
the distance between the floors connected by the flight of stairs; and in all
properly designed stairs this floor-to-floor height is evenly divided among
the risers so that one steps up or down the same distance on each step.

The best stairs have no winders. These irregularly shaped treads have
been the cause of thousands of accidents, and if they are present in stairs
that are being remodeled, they should be eliminated if possible. Handrails
should be provided for all stairs, including boxed stairs and basement stairs.
Headroom of at least 6 ft. 8 in., measured vertically from the front edge
of any tread to the ceiling above, is necessary.

Safe stairs are well lighted (Figs. 5.4 and 5.5). Preferably, they are
located so that they will be lighted in the daytime by natural light from
the hall doors and from windows on the landings or from some other con-
venient location. In most houses the hall lighting can be planned so that
adequate artificial light will fall on the stairs from the hall lighting fixtures,
but stairway lights must be provided in boxed stairs.

Considered from the viewpoint of beauty, the main stairway in a house
should be designed so that it will add to rather than detract from the attrac-
tiveness of the hall or room from which it rises. The main stairways in
some finely built old houses are works of art in their own right, but the
stairways in houses built about a generation ago in what might be called
the era of fumed oak were often ugly and clumsily designed. Fortunately,
producers of millwork now offer stock newels, balusters, and railings in
many attractive designs that can be assembled into graceful stairs (Fig. 5.5)
that suit even luxurious homes. H the stairs in the house that you are
remodeling have correctly designed treads and risers, you may be able to
transform them by replacing the clubby balustrade and newel post with a
more graceful design.

Stair locations. The installation of stairs in houses where they do not exist
or the replacement of poorly designed stairs with safe ones is an important
problem in many remodeling plans and one that must usually be solved
satisfactorily before the plan has progressed far. You may have to leave the
actual building of stairs to carpenters who are experienced in the art, but
you will have to know where you want the stairs placed, how you want them

Halls and Stairs

(Hedrich-Blessing Studio. Courtesy Curtis Companies,
Inc., Clinton, Iowa, manufacturers of Curtis Woodwork.)

Fig. 5.5. — An attractive staircase in a well-designed hall.

built, and their main dimensions if you are to get satisfactory results from
the carpenter's work.

The most convenient place for the main stairway is from the first-floor
hall, if the house has this feature. Perhaps the second-best location is the
living room, and the third best is the dining room; but these locations should
be avoided, if possible, because of the inconvenience when servants or mem-
bers of the family must use the stairs while guests are being entertained in
the living room or dining room and because a stairway in one or the other
of these rooms reduces the useful area of the room.

The stairway arrangement shown in Fig. 5.6 illustrates an excellent solu-
tion of the stairway problem in a house where room could not be spared

New Houses from Old

FRONT

LIVING ROOM

BACK

Fig. 5.6. — A space-saving and convenient arrangement of stairs.

for a center hall wide enough to include the stairs. Although the stairs in
this house are entered from the living room, the alternative entrance from
the kitchen makes use of the stairway possible without distracting the occu-
pants of the living room. In the remodeling, the floor area occupied by the
stairs was taken from the living room; but this disadvantage was offset by
the convenience of the small entrance hall, which was lacking in the house
before it was remodeled. The door at the stairway entrance from the kitchen
can be closed to keep kitchen noise and odors from the living room. When
stairs must be located in the living room or dining room, pains should be
taken to place them where they will reduce the window area of the room
as little as possible.

The location of stairways over one another is a standard way of econo-
mizing on space. Such an arrangement of basement, first-floor, and attic
stairs is diagramed in Fig. 17.10. Stair locations of this type, however, do
have the defect of permitting a fire that starts in the basement to spread
from basement to attic within a few seconds if the door at the head of the
basement stairs happens to be open.

Basement stairs located so that they can be entered from the kitchen are

Halls and Stairs

convenient if the basement is used for the storage of food or if the heating
plant is hand-fired. If the basement is used for utility purposes only, a
simply made utility stair of unfinished lumber will be adequate, but as
much attention should be paid to correct spacing of the treads and to pro-
vision of a handrail as in a first-floor stairway.

Boxed stairs are the common type for the passageway from the second
floor to the attic. If the attic is used for storage purposes, the entrance to
these stairs may be located in a bedroom; but the standard location from
the second-floor hall is undoubtedly the better one from the viewpoint of
convenience. The disappearing type of stair, of which there are a number
of makes available, is fairly satisfactory as the stairway to an attic used for
storage only.

UPPER FLOOR-

TREAD

*► I

Fig. 5.7. — Plan and profile of straight-run stairs. Horizontal distance a to b equals
sum of depths of treads less depths of nosings. Vertical distance c to d equals sum
of heights of risers.

Some technical aspects of stairs. Various shapes of stairways have been
evolved to fit various situations and structural plans. The oft-mentioned
spiral stair is a hazardous type because all of its treads are winders. For-
tunately, although it requires the least floor area of any type, it is almost
never used in houses. Curved or winding stairways are graceful and aestheti-
cally pleasing when they are well designed, but they still retain the hazard
of irregularly shaped treads and furthermore are an expensive type to design
and build. The straight run stair (Fig. 5.7) is a common type in houses,
but it can be used only where there is considerable floor area available for

New Houses from Old

the stairway, and it has the further disadvantage of having no landing to
afford a break in the effort of climbing. The L-shaped stair (Fig. 5.5) is a
pleasing type if it is intelligently designed; and since it can be fitted into
houses of modest dimensions, it is perhaps adaptable to more stairway situ-
ations that will be encountered in remodeling than is any other shape. The
U-shaped stair (Fig. 5.8) is economical of floor space; and if it is properly
designed with an adequate landing, it is a very satisfactory type.

-UPPER FLOOR

UPPER FLOOR-

LANDING

—

A B

Fig. 5.8. — Profiles and plans of two arrangements of U-shaped stairs. Arrangement
A is economical of space, but arrangement B is necessary when a door or full-
height closet must be placed under the landing.

The terminology of stairs sounds rather technical but is actually simple.
The treads are the horizontal pieces on which you step; if the treads are
roughly triangular in shape, as they must be if they turn a corner, they are
called winders; the risers are the vertical pieces that fill the gaps between
the treads; the part of the tread that projects over the riser is called the
nosing. The banister, or balustrade, is made up of small pilasters, called
balusters, and the handrail. The post that supports the end of the handrail
is called the neivel, or neivel post. A landing is a horizontal platform con-
siderably deeper than a tread, which is inserted somewhere in the flight of

Halls and Stairs 59

stairs to provide a moment's respite from climbing. The stringer (also
called carriage and also called horse!) is the notched piece of lumber into
which the treads and risers are fitted; in a finished flight of stairs the
stringers may be completely concealed, but they can readily be seen in
unfinished stairs such as are commonly found in basements. Stairs that run
between two partitions are called boxed stairs. They may have a door at
the top or bottom, or both.

If your remodeling requires the building or alteration of stairs, you
will need to include them in your preliminary floor plans; therefore, you
will have to know how to figure out whether there is room for them where
you wish to place them. At least one flight of stairs that leads from the
main floor to the second floor should be 3 ft. wide, and 3 ft. 6 in. is better.
This width is dictated not by the dimensions of the persons who will use
the stairs but by the necessity of moving bulky furniture up and down
them. Landings should be large enough to enable two adults to stand on
them without feeling crowded, because landings are often used as passing
points.

Once you have found a place where the necessary width can be spared,
you have to concern yourself with the other dimensions of the stairs. Rather
elaborate tables have been drawn up for the calculation of stair dimensions,
but you had better leave the use of them to such persons as architects and
builders and use a simpler method for your calculations. As has already
been mentioned, a good depth for stair treads is 10 in., and a good height
for the risers is about 7^4 in. Referring to Fig. 5.7, line c-d, it is easy to
see that the heights of the risers, all added together, must equal the distance,
measured vertically, from the first floor to the second. If this distance is
9 ft., or 108 in., and you are aiming at riser height of about 7^ in., or
7.5 in. in decimals, you find the approximate number of risers needed by
dividing 108 by 7.5; thus 108 -^ 7.5 = 14.44. Now you know that about
fourteen risers will be necessary, and you find the exact height of each by
dividing 108 in. by 14, which equals 7.7 in.

Your next problem is the length of the floor area needed for the flight of
stairs. This is determined by the depth of each tread multiplied by the
number of treads. The depth of the nosing can be deducted, since it over-
hangs the area of the tread directly beneath. If each tread is 10 in. deep,
and there are thirteen of them — one less than there are risers — in your
flight of stairs, 13 X 10 in. = 130 in. (Fig. 5.7, line a-b).

Suppose you do not have this much room to spare where you wish to
place the stairs? It is obvious that the same number of risers can be built
into a U-shaped flight of stairs, and the horizontal area required will not be
nearly so long. However, even though you are able to make use of U-shaped

60 New Houses from Old

stairs in which each leg of the U is exactly the same length, the area will
be more than half as long, because if you are to avoid the use of winders,
you must insert a landing in this type of stair. Fig. 5.8 shows two layouts
for U-shaped stairs. Note that there are fourteen risers but only twelve
treads, because the landing takes the place of one of the latter. Say that the
landing in Fig. 5.8A is the same width as the stairs, 36 in.; the length of
the floor area required is now only the depth of six treads, 6 X 10 in. = 60
in., plus the width of the landing, 36 in., or 96 in. The same kind of reason-
ing and similar diagrams can be applied to the rough layout of stairs of
any shape that do not include winders.

One further problem in the layout of stairs is the allowance for headroom
if you want to use the space under a landing for a door. In such a case, the
landing must come high enough in the flight of stairs so that the ceiling
under it will have the necessary clearance. Since a standard door has a
height of 6 ft. 6 in., and the thickness of the landing, including its floor,
framework, and the ceiling material on the underside, would be 10 or 12
in., the landing would have to come at a height of about 7 ft. 6 in., measured
from the first floor. A little calculation will show that to provide room for
a door under the landing of the stairs that we have been considering as an
example, the first leg of the U would have to contain twelve risers, since
each riser measures only 7.7 in. in height, in order to provide the 90 in.
needed, and the second leg would contain only two risers (Fig. 5.8B).

TJTJTJTJ-U-LTlJTJTJTJTJTJTJTJTJTJlJTnJXnJT^^

SIX

Living Rooms

vJf all the rooms in the house, the living room furnishes the most strik-
ing illustration of contrast between our attitude today toward the houses
we live in and the corresponding attitude of our immediate ancestors. The
living room in the American home of a generation ago was at best a place
for sitting; its decorations were not selected to give much aesthetic pleasure
and its furniture did not permit much relaxation. Going back another gen-
eration, you find in lieu of the living room the parlor, whose fragile bric-
a-brac and spindly furniture were exposed to the hazards of contact with
the family only at weddings, the visits of specially honored guests, and
similar grand occasions. The chief quality of the living room in a well-
managed modern home is that it is designed for daily living. Although
efforts are not spared to make it attractive to the eye, it is intended for use
rather than exhibition. It is planned and furnished as a center for relaxation
and for the enjoyment of family life.

An interesting aspect of this change is that it is purely social. Many of
the transformations that have occurred in other parts of the house have a
technological basis. For example, the many square feet of gleaming surface
that go into a modern bathroom or kitchen were not available until inex-
pensive methods of making durable, porcelain-enameled metal were de-
veloped by inventors and industry. However, remove the radio from a
contemporary living room, and little or nothing will be left that could
not have been manufactured thirty years ago if the demand had existed. Take
out the electric illumination, and this date could be pushed back a hundred
years or more.

Since the philosophy of the living room has changed drastically in our
generation, it is not surprising to find that the room that has served as the
living room in a middle-aged or old house is not always suited to the same
use in the remodeled house. It may be too small, its shape may be wrong,
its ceiling may be too high, its lighting fixtures may be ugly, its woodwork
may be designed in the worst of taste and finished in a shade or color that
repels rather than attracts, its mantel may be top-heavy, and the fireplace

New Houses from Old

BEFORE

AFTER

Fig. 6.1. — This typical New England farmhouse required no important structural
changes to transform it into a comfortable modern house.

may be an obtrusive mass of ill-shaped masonry. Of course, there are many
exceptions. The house whose first-floor plan is shown in Fig. 6.1 was built
about 1875, and when it was remodeled in 1940, its living room required
no change except redecorating. But it was an inexpensive farmhouse. The
young farmer who built it may have had no money for decorated plaster
ceilings and fretted woodwork; or perhaps the sane architectural traditions
handed down by his New England ancestors steered him, or his wife, away
from them.

Living Rooms 63

Living-room Planning in Remodeling

Although in most instances of extensive remodeling the living room must
be altered or a new one created, this is not often a difficult part of the re-
modeling operation, and the chief reason is that people no longer think that
the only place for the living room is on the street side of the house. Some
such factor as a view, exposure to the sun, or freedom from undesirable
noise may well lead you to place your remodeled living room at the rear
of the house or even on the second floor. In the remodeling of farmhouses,
the old kitchen often becomes the new living room because it is spacious,
because it has a fireplace, or because it is located away from the street or
road. Second-floor living rooms are common in town houses where the
necessity for getting away from the noise and dirt of metropolitan streets
is obvious; and they have proved attractive features of some suburban
houses, especially houses built against hillsides that provide ground-level
entrances to both stories.

Theoretically, before you crystallize your plan for the new living room,
you should analyze the needs and likes of the various members of your
family and design a living room to suit them. If you plan a basement
recreation room, it will take care of games and dancing; otherwise you
may wish to provide for these recreations in the living room. A grand piano
will crowd a small living room; but in addition to its intended use, it is
often the piece of furniture around which a large room can be designed.
Probably when you bought the cabinet radio, you had to rearrange the furni-
ture in your old living room. Considering that a television set must be
looked at from a point fairly near the set and not too far away from a
perpendicular line based on the screen, you should, theoretically, plan a part
of your living room so that it can function as a miniature auditorium.

All of this advance planning is good theory, and it will be a good idea
for you to give some time to it in order to get fairly clear in your mind
what you want in the way of a living room. However, the truth is that in
remodeling, the space that you have available or that you can get by re-
moving a partition or by building an addition to the house usually deter-
mines the dimensions of the new living room. Your house may have an old
kitchen with a floor area 12 ft. long by 15 ft. wide. The location and every-
thing else about it may be right except the dimensions, which are somewhat
smaller than your preliminary plans indicate that you need. Enlarging the
room would be expensive because of thick masonry walls or some other
structural feature. Unless you are exceptionally well-heeled, you will accept

64 New Houses from Old

the space available, for it is large enough to make a living room of fair
size.

Take another typical case. In the house as it is now arranged, there is an
old parlor and a dining room, each measuring 10 ft. by 14 ft. The partition
between them can be removed to form a room 14 ft. wide by 20% ft. long —
more room than you need. Furthermore, the fireplace will not be centered
where you want it in the enlarged room. You can cut off some of the length
of the room by building bookcases or cupboards and window seats at one
end — a relatively inexpensive operation — but you will probably leave the
fireplace where it is, since relocating it would be an expensive job, and dis-
guise its bad location by a clever arrangement of furniture. Only when you
put the living room in a new addition to the old house can you make it
precisely the right size, and even in such a case you will be limited to some
extent, because the new wing must be correctly proportioned to the old
house.

Living-room dimensions. There are no rigidly standardized dimensions
for living rooms. There are certain general principles that should be fol-
lowed, however. The living room should be longer than it is wide. The square,
or nearly square, parlor with its central chandelier is not adaptable to
modern living-room arrangements and furniture. The living-room ceiling
should not be too high. Old houses with 12-ft. ceilings in the first-floor
rooms are not uncommon. A high ceiling can be corrected by suspending
a new ceiling from the old one. The low ceiling found in many farmhouses
is difficult to correct structurally, but its claustrophobic effect can be counter-
acted by omitting from the walls such things as picture moldings and wall-
paper borders and by finishing the ceiling in white or a very light tint. Any
new ceiling that you build will have to meet the height requirements of the
local building code, unless your house is located where no building code
applies. Building codes often prescribe minimum ceiling heights. Where
there is no code requirement to be met, 7 ft. 6 in. is satisfactory for rooms
up to about 12 ft. by 16 ft.; in larger living rooms better proportions are
obtained if the ceiling height is increased by 6 in. or 1 ft.

Living-room windows. The windows in the living room should be designed
and placed to give the desirable amount of daylight, adequate ventilation,
and a pleasant view. The maximum amount of daylight is afforded in the
newly developed solar house. In this type of construction practically the
entire wall area on the sunny side of the living room is glass. Since the site
must be carefully chosen and the house framing specially designed, there
are few cases of remodeling to which this new idea is adaptable, although
you should investigate it if it appeals to you. To a certain extent the picture

Living Rooms 65

window, a rather common feature of houses both new and old in some
sections of the country, anticipated the solar house.

The tremendous amount of heat that is lost through large areas of glass
tended to limit the old-style, single-glazed picture window to parts of the
country where the winters are mild, but the recent invention of double-
glazed windows, in which there is a sealed space between the two panes that
is filled with dry air, has extended the usefulness of large windows to all
climates. Although windows of large, unbroken areas admit generous amounts
of light and have a dramatic quality, too, they may present both structural
and architectural difficulties in remodeling — ^the first because special fram-
ing is needed around the window, the second because such a window may
stick out like a billboard among the other windows of the house. However,
an architect can probably find a way around both of these difficulties if you
feel strongly that you must have a picture window in your new living room,

Windows on two sides of the living room are almost essential not only
for adequate light but also for ventilation. Windows on three sides will,
of course, admit more light and air; but too many windows do not leave
enough wall space for the furniture that cannot be placed in front of a
window. Look at any living room, or living-room plan, and you will see
that even in a room of generous size the unbroken space along the walls
is surprisingly small. At least one wall is broken by the doorway that gives
access to other parts of the house; the fireplace takes up a good share of
another wall; and if there is a stairway in the living room, it takes up still
more wall space. The arrangement most likely to prove satisfactory in a
living room of average size has windows on two sides only and these sides
opposite to one another. The next best arrangement has windows on two
adjacent sides; while if your remodeled living room is to have windows on
three sides, you will have to pay special attention to the position of the fire-
place and doorways, and you may find it profitable to spend considerable
time experimenting with a scaled floor plan and templates to represent your
furniture before the final remodeling plans are drawn.

Fireplaces and Mantels

An open fire has for human beings a deep-seated fascination that has
never been fully explained. This almost instinctive response has kept the
fireplace in our living rooms long after it has been superseded as an efficient
heating device. The same quirk of psychology demands a fairly central
location for the fireplace in the room, for we enjoy the fire most when we
can look into it. The location shown in Fig. 6.2 is a common one that has

66 New Houses from Old

many advantages. Enough furniture to seat a family of considerable size
can be grouped before the fireplace without blocking access to the rest of the
room. The wasteful loss of heat that occurs when the chimney is part of an
outside wall is reduced, but the most important advantage of this location
is that there are no windows over or beside the fireplace. Picture the fire-
place located in the opposite wall of the same room. The bulk of its masonry
is exposed to the outdoor air, consequently much of the heat of the fire
will be lost. Anyone who sits on the sofa in front of the fireplace in the
daytime will be troubled by glare from the windows in the same wall. These
windows will also destroy much of the architectural effectiveness of a well-
designed fireplace. Nevertheless, this second type of location is almost as
common in modern houses as the first. The heat loss is, of course, ignored,
and the glare can be minimized by locating the windows at some distance
from the fireplace or by keeping them relatively small in area.

Crudely designed mantels with more bulk than beauty dominate the living
rooms in a majority of old-fashioned houses. Apparently fireplace builders
passed through a period in which their main object was to pile up massive
conglomerations of stone or brick in American living rooms, and carpenters
vied with them to crown the piles with equally massive and ugly mantels.
Anyone who sees one of these old-fashioned fireplaces for the first time
may be excused if he thinks that it is beyond remodeling.

Turning these monstrosities into fireplaces that decorate rather than dis-
figure the living room is not at all difficult. In most cases, the trick is turned
by reducing the height of the fireplace and sometimes, also, its width, then
concealing its mass by building bookcases or cupboards on both sides to
give the effect of a wall flush, or nearly so, with the front of the fireplace.
The mantel itself may be dispensed with entirely, or it may be replaced with
a narrow, unobtrusive shelf. Attractive mantels suitable for most cases of
remodeling can be obtained as stock patterns from manufacturers of mill
supplies; but in the restoration of antique houses it is often necessary to
have the mantel made by hand by a local craftsman in order to match other
woodwork in the room.

Bookcases and Other Built-in Furniture

Built-in furniture (Figs. 6.3, 6.4, 6.6, and 6.7) is useful in the remodeling
of living rooms not only for its utility and decorative values but also because
it can be used to alter the faulty proportions of a room and to straighten out
unwanted offsets. Such furniture is also used in many remodeled houses to
conceal heating or plumbing pipes that run to the floor above.

Living Rooms

1 BOOKCASE 1

BOOKCASE

■

~r\>i 1

■

SOFA

PIANO 1

1 DESK

RADIO 1

Fig. 6.2. — Good fireplace location in a medium-sized living room.

(.Courtesy Superior Fireplace Company.)

Fig. 6.3. — Careful planning by the homeowner or his architect is essential to
achieve distinctive rooms such as this one. The decorative hood over this fireplace
conceals the warm-air outlet of the built-in fireplace unit.

New Houses from Old

(CoHj-^piji Hcatilator, Inc.)

Fig. 6.4. — An attractive and well -located fireplace. The warm-air outlets of the
built-in fireplace unit are disguised in the recessed niches in the paneling.

(Hedrich-Blessing Studio. Courtesy Curtis Companies, Inc., manufacturers of Curtis Woodzvork.)
Fig. 6.5. — An attractive modern mantel.

Living Rooms

{Courtesy National Lumber Manufacturers Association.)
Fig. 6.6. — This well-proportioned living room with its attractive fireplace and
mantel appears to be old, but the effect is due largely to the ceiling built by the
newly developed plank-and-beam type of construction.

Fig. 6.7. — When the fireplace is flanked by built-in bookcases, a mantel is often
unnecessary. Other illustrations of this house are shown in Figs. 2.6 to 2.10.

70 New Houses from Old

Lighting and Electrical Outlets

Because so much reading is done in the living room, special attention
should be given to the design of the living-room lighting. The old-time
central chandelier served its purpose fairly well when it was the custom
for the family to gather around a table under it, but it does not suit the
modern living room. Living-room illumination is now obtained almost en-
tirely from portable lamps plugged into conveniently located baseboard
outlets. These lamps are articles of furniture rather than parts of the house
and therefore need not themselves be included in the remodeling plans.
However, outlets for them must be included.

Since it is any housewife's privilege to rearrange the furniture in her
living room every few months, it is best not to economize on outlets in the
living room. The only arrangement for the outlets that has any chance of
being satisfactory over a reasonable period of time has one about every
5 ft. in long runs of baseboard and at least one in any length of baseboard,
however short, that is separated from the remainder by a fireplace, radiator,
or door. It is an excellent scheme to have several of the living-room outlets
controlled by a switch located on the wall near one or more of the entrances
to the living room. This arrangement enables a person entering the room to
turn on the lamps that are connected to the switch-controlled outlets without
running the risk of falling over furniture in an attempt to reach a lamp in
a dark room.

If you plan to have a mantel wide enough to hold small lamps or an elec-
tric clock, you will find it a great convenience to have an outlet installed
in the top surface of the mantel or in the wall at one end of it. Outlets should
also be installed in built-in bookcases of any size. The living-room outlets
should be connected to two or three circuits rather than to one, so that if
a short circuit puts one circuit out of commission temporarily, the entire
room will not be plunged into darkness.

TjTjTjxruTjTjVTJiJiJTJTJxnjTJTriJxrinjTJ^^

SEVEN

Dining Rooms

Xhe dining room is another part of the house that was once considered
indispensable but is now sometimes omitted in the planning of new houses.
Space for informal meals such as breakfast is set aside in the kitchen, often
in the form of a breakfast nook or bar, and room for a dining table is pro-
vided in the living room. Either the living room and dining room are frankly
combined, with one end of the combination room arranged for dining, or the
room is built in the shape of an L, with the dining-room portion partly con-
cealed in the toe of the L. The disadvantages of such an arrangement are
many. If guests are being entertained in the living room while dinner is
being placed on the table, some means of isolating the room is more than a
convenience — it is hospitality, also, since it saves the guests from observing
the stress and strain that go into the preparation of their meal. Even the
most elaborate curtains or folding partitions designed to accomplish a
temporary isolation of the dining-room table cut off vision only. They do
not keep the noise and bustle of table setting from the living-room area.
Unless the dining-room portion is designed primarily as a dining room, it
is difficult to provide adequate and convenient storage space for dishes,
silverware, and table linen. Another disadvantage is the loss of the dining
room and its sturdy table as a center for other activities besides dining.
Anyone who has grown up in a family where the old-fashioned round dining
table served not only as a place to eat but also as a place to study, read,
play games, and sew does not need to be convinced of the multifarious utility
of the dining room in the life of the typical American family.

Dining rooms are omitted in new houses in order to save money. You
may have to leave the dining room out of your remodeled house for the
same reason. Perhaps in order to get a living room of satisfactory size you
must throw the, old living room and dining room together, leaving no other
room that can be converted to a dining room. Perhaps you must use the
old dining room for a kitchen or a bathroom. If there is a good reason of
this nature, you will do well to consider the idea of a combination dining
room and living room. The dining area of the room should be located so

New Houses from Old

that it is convenient to the kitchen; and if good luck is on your side, this
will be the end of the room that is least important from the viewpoint of
the light and view necessary in the living-room area. It should be finished
and decorated in a manner to harmonize with the rest of the room (Fig.
7.1), and it should be large enough to accommodate the furniture that you
plan to put in it. The furniture itself should be selected to harmonize with
the entire room, so that the combination room will have the appearance of
a well-planned single unit rather than two distinct rooms with the partition
left out. However, one of the fortunate things about remodeling is that there
is usually adequate space for dining rooms and, also, for other parts of the
house that would have to be omitted if you were spending the same amount
of money for a new house.

-.*/ -

iMir

(Courtesy Charles O. Matcham, architect.)

Fig. 7.1. — Here, the dining-room part of the combination living and dining room
has been placed in a large recessed window, but the room has been treated as a
single unit.

The right dimensions for the dining room depend somewhat on the size
of your family and also on the number of guests who may sit down at the
table with you. Another factor that may figure in the size of the dining room
is the dining-room furniture that you already have. If you intend to keep
it in your remodeled home, you will, of course, have to have a room large
enough to accommodate it. About the minimum area for a dining room is

Dining Rooms

indicated in Fig. 7.2, which shows a floor plan of a small dining room. Such
a dining room would suit a family of four, and two guests could be squeezed
into it occasionally.

2-6

TABLE

■^Z-

-10-8

Fig. 7.2. — A dining room of minimum size.

The dining room should be located so that it is convenient to the kitchen
for obvious reasons. It should be more or less isolated from the living room,
if such isolation is possible. It adds to the pleasantness of a dining room if
the windows look out on a garden or on some other scene of beauty; but
because this room is used primarily for eating when supposedly the atten-
tion of the persons present is focused on the food and the conversation, it is
not very important to select the room's location in order to obtain a view,
nor do the windows need to be planned to admit large amounts of daylight.
Enough window area so that the room will have a pleasing aspect in the
daytime is sufficient. If you are installing windows in the dining room, you
may wish to plan their location so that the sideboard and china closet can
be placed where you want them without obstructing windows. Usually, how-
ever, the location of the windows will be determined by the fenestration of
the entire house.

Adequate artificial light in the dining room is much more important than
daylight since the more formal use of this room in the average family comes
at night. The central chandelier over the dining-room table still holds its
own. It should be selected not only from the viewpoint of providing ade-
quate light but also from the viewpoint of its suitability to the room. The
central fixture should be controlled by two three-way wall switches, one of
them located on the kitchen side of the swinging door that gives entrance to
the dining room and the other one located near the other entrance to the
dining room. The switch at the swinging door should be equipped with
one of the small pilot lights that shows when it is turned on.

74 New Houses from Old

Adequate convenience outlets are also important. An outlet can be pro-
vided in the center of the floor under the table for electrical appliances that
will be used on the dining-room table, but such an outlet is inconvenient to
reach and it requires the cutting of a hole in the rug if the dining-room
floor is covered with a rug. A more convenient location for this outlet is the
chandelier over the table. The outlet can take the form of a receptacle at the
end of a flexible cord attached to the chandelier wiring, or a receptacle
can be provided in the chandelier itself to which appliance cords can be
attached with a little reaching. The rigging of such an outlet must usually
be custom made on the spot by an electrician. If possible, this outlet for ap-
pliances should be attached to a separate circuit from the dining-room light-
ing. If a separate circuit cannot be arranged, an appliance circuit (Chapter
29) should be run to the dining-room ceiling light.

Since some appliances are used at the serving table, multiple outlets should
be provided either in the baseboard or in the wall where the serving table
will be placed. If you plan to use small lamps on your sideboard, do not
forget to include outlets for them in the baseboard. Baseboard outlets should
also be provided for the attachment of the vacuum cleaner.

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EIGHT

Kitchens

In colonial times and later, the kitchen was the center of the home. It
served as living room, dining room, bathroom, and workshop, as well as
the room in which the food was prepared. Most of the activities of the family
except sleeping were carried on in it. In many homes it was the only room
heated in cold weather. It was not planned for convenience or efficiency.
Later, as central heating and bathrooms came to be recognized as standard
home facilities, the kitchen lost some of its utility as a general living room.
Nevertheless, it retained its old spaciousness and haphazard arrangement,
both of which were ill suited to its true function — a center for the prepara-
tion of food.

Only in the last two or three decades have architects, manufacturers of
kitchen appliances, and experts in domestic economy begun to investigate
the kitchen from the viewpoint of efficiency. From these investigations has
come a real revolution in kitchen equipment and kitchen planning.

The modern kitchen is an attractive, cheerful room, easy to keep clean,
convenient to work in, and furnished with efficient appliances. Except for the
installation of a bathroom in a house that has none, no room in the house
gives more return for money spent on well-planned remodeling.

Basic Principles of Kitchen Planning

The published material on kitchens is voluminous. There is practically
no end to the special arrangements and refinements that can be worked out
for kitchens. If you are remodeling for your own use, it may pay you well
to read extensively before you put your kitchen plan on paper. However, the
basic principles that govern good kitchen planning can be very simply
stated.

The kitchen should be organized into three main work areas, usually
called the food-storage, preparation and cleaning, and cooking centers.
These centers are built around the three principal pieces of kitchen equip-
ment. The heart of the food-storage center is the refrigerator. Grouped above

New Houses from Old

and around it are cabinets for the storage of packaged foods and of vege-
tables that do not require refrigeration. Adjoining this area is the prepara-
tion and cleaning center, designed around the sink. It includes a worktable
or its equivalent in the form of cabinet tops or counters. Space is provided
in this center for the food mixer, food chopper, and any other bulky equip-
ment that will be used frequently in food preparation. If extreme neatness is
desired, small compartments with doors can be designed to conceal such
equipment when it is not in use. Cabinets and drawers for the storage of
pots and pans and kitchen cutlery are located here. The cooking center is
built around the range, with storage in the form of cabinets and shelves for
dishes that will be used in the serving of food. These three centers should
adjoin if such an arrangement is possible. If their continuity must be broken,
by all means keep the food-storage center and the preparation and cleaning
center adjacent to one another. The cooking center can be separated if neces-
sary, but obviously it should not be too far from the preparation and clean-
ino; center.

{Courtesy Douglas Fir Plyivood Association.)

Fig. 8.1. — A small U-shaped kitchen in a remodeled house. The attractive cabinets
were custom made of plywood.

Kitchens

(Courtesy Edison General Electric Appliance Company, Inc.)

Fig. 8.2. — The U shape applied to another remodeled kitchen. Notice the use of
wood paneling on one wall.

The sequence — food-storage center, preparation and cleaning center, and
cooking center — -should be kept firmly in mind during the kitchen planning.
If the shape of the room permits, these areas or centers should take the
shape of a large U. The U type (Figs. 8.1 and 8.2) requires the least amount
of walking in doing the kitchen work. As the U is straightened out, somewhat
more walking is required. Arrangement in the shape of an L is second best,
and a straight-in-line arrangement of the three centers is third. Kitchens with
the work centers arranged along two parallel walls (Fig. 8.3) are also effi-
cient, provided that the walls are not too far apart. The distance from the
front edges of the equipment on one side to the front edges of the equipment
on the opposite side should be about 4 ft. When the shape of the room does
not permit the work areas to be arranged as a U, L, or along parallel walls,
an efficient kitchen can still be managed if the three work areas and the
sequence of operations in them are used as the basis of the plan. Three
efficient kitchen arrangements applicable to many cases of remodeling are
illustrated in Fig. 8.4.

Kitchen location. In remodeling, it is often necessary to use the same room
for the kitchen. When this is the case, it may not be possible to relocate
windows without disturbing the exterior architecture of the house or to re-
locate doors without running into considerable expense. Nevertheless, it is

New Houses from Old

{Courtesy General Electric Company.)

Fig. 8.3. — The corridor type of kitchen is efficient if it is not too large and if the
plan of the house does not make it a traffic artery. Here concealed lights at the
work centers supplement the light from the fluorescent ceiling fixture.

well to consider the ideal location of the kitchen before remodeling is started
and to determine whether relocation is desirable and whether it is feasible
within your budget.

The kitchen should be isolated from the living room, because it is not
possible even in the best-managed kitchens to do cooking and dishwashine;
without creating noise, nor is it possible to keep down undesirable cooking
odors entirely. Even with insulated ranges and good ventilation there will
be excess heating in the kitchen in the summertime, which will not be wel-
come in other parts of the house. A kitchen that is ideally isolated from
the rest of the house is illustrated in Fig. 5.1. The kitchen should certainly

Kitchens

be located so that it will not be a traffic artery to other parts of the house.
Avoid placing it where it must be passed through to reach the main part
of the house from the back entrance.

In well-lighted kitchens daylight enters from two directions, hence a
corner location is ideal. A corner that has north and east exposures provides
the best daylight for kitchen purposes, because the kitchen is cheerfully
lighted in the morning before the sun is too warm and is not subject to the
direct rays of the sun during the hottest part of the day. Where a southern
exposure cannot be avoided, a shade tree or an awning may serve to cut off
the direct rays of the sun.

If coal or wood is to be used as fuel in the kitchen, the room must have a
chimney, hence the position of a suitable chimney may be the determining
factor in the location of the kitchen.

Kitchen dimensions. The ideal size of the kitchen will depend on the size
of the family and the uses to which the kitchen will be put. The kitchen

[

BREAKFAST
TABLE

]

18'- 6" X II'- 0"

Fig. 8.4. — Good kitchen arrangements for {A) a large room, (B) a medium-sized
room, and (C) a narrow room.

80 New Houses from Old

may be used for food preparation and dishwashing only; or it may have
to serve, also, as the laundry and, in some cases, the sewing room. A floor
area, including the space occupied by equipment and cupboards, of 100 to
150 sq. ft. is considered adequate for the average small and medium-sized
home.

Kitchens in old houses are often huge when judged by modern standards.
Their spaciousness reflects the many types of activities carried on in the
kitchen in the days when the houses were originally built. So large are
some of these kitchens that in remodeling they are sometimes converted into
living rooms. When they are retained as kitchens, their area is often reduced.
But guard against making the kitchen in a country or suburban home too
small. City dwellers who are used to cramped apartment kitchens and
kitchenettes sometimes fail to foresee the need of a generous-sized room for
the kitchen. A large kitchen, if widely spaced work areas can be avoided,
is often a great convenience, because the kitchen can still be put to many
uses besides food preparation and dishwashing. One corner can often be used
for the laundry. A small play area for young children, somewhat separated
from the working centers, is a convenience for mothers who do their own
housework. A common way to use the extra space is to convert it into a
breakfast and informal dining nook. A planning or management center with
a desk and files for household accounts is another good use. This is not a
plea for building a large kitchen, although you should certainly plan a
large kitchen if you want one; rather take it as a warning against too hasty
partitioning of a spacious old room.

Windows. A traditional place for a main window in the kitchen is over
the sink. This location has many advantages if it will not expose the house-
wife to the direct glare of the sun during the greater part of the day. Perhaps
the ideal arrangement for daylight is a window over the sink and another
over the adjacent work center. If the wall containing the sink faces south,
the window over the sink may be omitted, provided that there is a window
in the work center at right angles to the sink. However, the main kitchen
window must be over the sink or over the adjoining work center. The main
window should look out over a pleasant scene, such as a flower garden or
a well-kept lawn. Young mothers often prefer to have it look out over the
children's play area. If possible, more than one window should be provided
in the kitchen, and the second window should be located so that it provides
cross ventilation.

It is best to avoid a window location so close to the range that there will
be a breeze blowing over the cooking when the window is open. This is par-
ticularly important if gas is used for cooking, as a strong breeze that might
blow out the flame is a serious accident hazard. In remodeling, it is often

Kitchens 81

desirable to replace the original long windows with shorter ones that will
fit neatly over the kitchen sink and work counters. Sometimes it is necessary
to relocate the kitchen in a house being remodeled so that the window sizes
can be changed without creating a bad architectural effect.

Doors. Most old kitchens have too many doors (Fig. 6.1). Doors not
only use wall space that will be needed for kitchen equipment, but if they
open inward to the kitchen, they constitute accident hazards. In a well-
located U-shaped kitchen, only one door is necessary. However, most kitchens
must have two doors, one leading directly, or via a short hall, to the back
entrance of the house and one leading to the dining room.

The amount of broken dishes caused by swinging doors since their in-
vention must be enormous. Nevertheless, to date no one has worked out a
more convenient closure for the opening between the dining room and the
kitchen. If possible, plan the location of the swinging door so that there
will be room to step away from it when it is pushed from the opposite side
unexpectedly. Also, the door should be located so that in swinging it will
not interfere with any of the work centers in the kitchen.

Pantries

The separate pantry adjoining the kitchen was a standard fixture in most
old houses. It was used for food storage, and its ancient, spicy odor was
some compensation for its inconvenience and unsanitariness. Although the
refrigerator and storage cabinets located in the kitchen itself took its place
many years ago, the pantry will still be found in most houses that will be
remodeled. It is still installed occasionally in new or in newly remodeled
houses. Nevertheless, it is seldom that it can be retained in its original func-
tion without some loss of efficiency in the kitchen. The space can usually
be better utilized as a half bathroom, a breakfast nook, a supplementary
kitchen for the preparation of cold foods and drinks, or a hall to the dining
room.

Kitchen Equipment

A wide variety of kitchen equipment is now offered by many manufac-
turers. You may draw up a general plan for your remodeled kitchen and
put the selection of the actual equipment in the hands of an expert, or you
may read dealers' catalogues and visit showrooms yourself. Either method
should give good results if you have made a good plan within the limits of
your budget. The main characteristics of modern equipment are that it is
attractive, finished with materials that are easily kept clean, and functional

82 New Houses from Old

in design. If you are remodeling for your own use, you will want to select
equipment especially suited to the needs of yourself and your family.

This personal tailoring of the equipment, as it may be called, is par-
ticularly important in choosing sink and counter heights. In modern kitchens,
unless instructions are given to the man who does the installation, the sink
will probably be hung so that its drainboard is 36 in. from the floor. This
is the height that has been arrived at through experience as the best for
women of average height who do their work at the sink standing up. You
may be shorter or taller than average, or you may prefer to sit down as you
work at the sink; therefore, the average height may not be suited to you.
The same remarks apply to the height of work counters and work tables.
Many stock cabinets with counter tops are designed to be set on wooden
bases. Consequently, their height can be suited to you by a carpenter who
constructs the bases. Some housewives prefer a pull-out pastry board; others
prefer to roll pastry on a counter top. Many cooks swear by the electric
percolator; others prefer coffee-making equipment that is used at the range.
All such details should be taken into account in planning and selecting the
equipment for the remodeled kitchen, if the remodeling is for your personal
use.

Sinks. The older kitchen sink was a black cast-iron affair, constructed
without back or legs so that it was necessary to box it in with a wooden
cabinet. Because the joint between the sink and cabinet was not sealed with
waterproof material, the old-style cabinet soon became soggy and unsanitary.
These decayed wooden sink enclosures are often found in rural homes, and
one of the first steps in remodeling is to tear them out and burn them. The
modern cabinet sink (Figs. 8.1 to 8.3) is a reversion to the old idea, but
with a difference. The cabinet may be made of wood or of metal, but in
either case it has a waterproof top, and the joints between the sink basin
and the top are made watertight so that the cabinet below remains sanitary.
These new sinks have only one fault — ^they are expensive. In many cases of re-
modeling, the outlay for such a kitchen, as is illustrated in Fig. 8.2,
cannot be afforded. Less costly types of sinks are shown in Fig. 8.5. All
of these sinks, including those with legs, are supported completely or par-
tially by a concealed wall bracket, whereas cabinet sinks are supported by
the floor. A cabinet sink is therefore somewhat easier to install in remodel-
ing. Sinks are also offered in combination with electric dishwashers. An-
other combination is a sink and a garbage-disposal unit, the latter being
a device that grinds the garbage, including bones but not tin cans, so that
it can be flushed down the drain.

The most common material for sinks now manufactured is cast iron with
fused-on porcelain enamel. Two varieties of enamel are available — the ordi-

Kitchens

nary type, which is easily cleaned but which has the disadvantage of losing
its gloss under the attack of such acids as vinegar and lemon juice, and the
acid-resisting type, which has all of the good qualities of the ordinary type
plus the virtue of not deteriorating when weak acids are spilled on it. Acid-
resisting enamel is somewhat more expensive. Some sinks are made of
stamped steel with a fused-on porcelain finish. Sinks are also made of such
materials as stainless steel and Monel metal, an alloy of nickel and copper.
These materials are relatively expensive, but they cannot be chipped and they
retain their attractive appearance indefinitely.

D E

Fig. 8.5. — Sinks such as these cannot compete in attractiveness with modern cabi-
net sinks, but they are used in many instances of remodeling on limited budgets.
A. Roll-rim sink. B. Apron sink. C. Roll-rim single-drainboard sink. D. Double-
drainboard apron sink. E. Combination apron sink and laundry tub.

In the least expensive installations, separate faucets are provided for the
hot and cold water, but most housewives prefer the combination type of
faucet with a single spout (Fig. 8.6). Combination faucets are made to fit

New Houses from Old

all styles of sinks. They should not be used, however, to convey both
cistern water and drinking water, because so used they form a dangerous
cross connection (Chapter 26). The least costly type of strainer is set flush
with the sink bottom and is a nuisance to clean. The basket, or cup, type
is just a little more expensive and is much more convenient. Practically all
manufacturers of sink fittings now produce them in chromium plate. Good-
quality sink fittings should be purchased, as they are subject to many cor-
rosive substances.

Fig. 8.6. — Typical combination faucets (A to C)
strainer (D) with stopper.

used on sinks, and a basket

Ranges. The kind of fuel that will be used for cooking is the first con-
sideration in selecting a range for the remodeled kitchen. Gas or electric
ranges are usually chosen when these fuels are available from a public-
utility company. Ranges that use bottled gas are independent of city mains,
since the gas is delivered to the home in steel containers by a service com-
pany. Coal- or wood-burning ranges are used in some rural homes, even
when electricity is available, because of the lower cost of the fuel and also
because a coal- or wood-burning cookstove can do double duty as a heating
stove in cold weather. All of these types of ranges are available in clean,
modern designs and finishes that harmonize with other kitchen equipment.
However, the cheaper ranges are usually not available in designs that extend
to the floor. Ranges with insulated ovens generally do more even baking,
and they do not heat up the kitchen in hot weather so much as an unin-
sulated range will.

Porcelain-enamel and chromium plating are standard finishes for all
types of modern ranges, including those that burn coal or wood, although

Kitchens 85

some of the lower-priced ranges are still finished in black. Thermostatic
controls for oven temperatures and time switches for the automatic starting
and stopping of cooking are worth their extra cost when they can be af-
forded. Although it is theoretically possible to build the insulated range
so that it can be set close to the wall, most present-day ranges should be set
out a few inches. The recommended distance for an uninsulated range is 6 in.
and for a fully insulated range 3 in. Tops which are somewhat deeper than
the main body of the range and which therefore automatically provide this
spacing from the wall are features of most of the modern ranges. The same
distances should be observed at the sides of the range if inflammable ma-
terial, such as wood, is used in the adjoining cabinets or equipment. It will
be well before the kitchen planning has progressed far to select the range
that will be used and to get its exact dimensions from the manufacturer or
retailer. Whatever the model of range, the kitchen should be planned so
that there will be plenty of room to open the oven doors and to draw out
sliding racks and broiler pans.

Refrigerators. Current types of mechanical refrigerators are powered by
kerosene, gas, or electricity. Electricity- or gas-operated refrigerators are
now chosen for most homes located where electricity or gas is available from
public-utility companies. Electric refrigerators are also available for opera-
tion from farm lighting plants. Refrigerators that can be operated with
bottled gas or kerosene have brought mechanical refrigeration even to homes
where electricity is not available.

Refrigerators are rated according to the amount of storage space inside.
A 5- or 6-cu.-ft. model is considered adequate for the average family of
three to five persons. Larger capacities are necessary for larger families. A
relatively new development is the provision of a low-temperature compart-
ment within the refrigerator for the storage of frozen foods. This cuts down
the storage space available for foods kept at ordinary refrigerator tempera-
tures. Hence, if you select a refrigerator of this type, it may be wise to
choose one of a somewhat larger capacity. Refrigerator doors open either to
the right or to the left. In most kitchens where the preparation and cleaning
center is adjacent to the storage center, which includes the refrigerator, the
opening should be toward the preparation and cleaning center, as the re-
frigerator will most often be approached from this side.

Gas-fired refrigerators are offered in two types, one that requires water
to cool the condenser and another in which the cooling is done by air.
The air-cooled type is usually selected, but in some rural homes where there
is a free supply of gravity-fed spring water, the water-cooled type might be
preferred, as it discharges less heat into the kitchen.

In some localities, especially rural ones, refrigerators that require ice will

86 New Houses from Old

still be selected for the remodeled home. Modern types of ice refrigerators
are available in styles and finishes that rival the styles and finishes of electric
refrigerators, hence they can be fitted equally well into modern kitchens.
A special requirement of this type of refrigerator is the drain. In some farm
homes, a pipe is run through the outer wall and allowed to discharge the
drain water on the ground. In most cases, however, a connection to the
plumbing system of the house must be provided. This connection should
not be made directly, even through a trap, because of the danger of sewer
gases and bacteria entering the interior of the refrigerator. A safe method
of making the connection to the house drain is to carry the refrigerator
drain to the basement, to provide it with a trap, and to discharge this trap
into a laundry tub or sink, which in turn is connected through its trap to
the house drain.

Food freezers. The home food freezer and storage locker is undoubtedly
on its way to becoming standard equipment, especially in suburban and
rural homes. Whether the home freezer selected will be kept in the kitchen
or in some other place, such as the basement or garage, will depend on the
desires and needs of the family. In rural homes where exceptionally large
frozen-food units are desirable this piece of equipment will probably be
kept in some other room than the kitchen. In city and suburban homes the
kitchen is a convenient place for it, and many manufacturers are already
offering frozen-food storage units in styles and finishes that match other
modern kitchen equipment. Most models now on the market are shaped like
chests and have top openings, but some models which have front-opening
doors and which look much like the usual refrigerator are available. The
main point in connection with the food freezer is that of planning space
for it where it will be accessible and still will not interfere with other kitchen
operations.

Cabinets and shelves. Modern kitchens are generously furnished with
cabinets and shelves. Steel cabinets in suitable, easily cleaned finishes are
available in a number of stock sizes from manufacturers. Kitchens can be
planned to utilize these stock cabinets, or cabinets can be built to fit the
individual kitchen. Special attention should be paid to selecting cabinets
that can be hung so that at least the two lower shelves will be easily within
the housewife's reach. Standard cabinet sizes are indicated in Fig. 11.8. At
least one cabinet or compartment should be designed for tall articles, such
as brooms, mops, and vacuum cleaners, unless storage space for these im-
plements is provided elsewhere in the house. Do not make the mistake of
providing only cabinets with doors. Open shelves have an equally important
place in modern kitchens, and a few of them are particularly needed near
the sink and near the range.

Kitchens 87

Other accessories. Towel racks or towel driers should be provided near the
sink. If possible, the towel drier should be a heated one, since germs multiply
rapidly in a wet towel, especially during the summer months. Several types
of towel driers that utilize the heat of the kitchen radiator are on the market.
In one recently exhibited demonstration kitchen, the towel drier was ar-
ranged to utilize the heat discharged by the refrigerator condenser. Although
not generally available, this type of drier will provide adequate drying heat
the year round. It may be expected that manufacturers will soon introduce
additional types of towel driers for the kitchen that will function inde-
pendently of the heating system.

Other accessories that may be desired are a built-in rack for the drying
of small lots of laundry and a built-in ironing board. A shelf for cookbooks
is an attractive and convenient feature. Unless a garbage-disposal unit is to
be installed in connection with the sink, a place should be planned for the
garbage pail. Wastebaskets or bins for tin cans and wastepaper should not
be overlooked. These last three items should be located at the sink or near
it in the preparation and cleaning center. Since most kitchens will have top
shelves that cannot be reached from the floor, a stepladder stool is an essen-
tial piece of equipment. Since it is not convenient to store it in the open,
where it may be stumbled over, storage space should be provided for it in a
cabinet.

Farts and ventilation. As has been mentioned, chimneys must be provided
for stoves that burn coal or wood, and in some localities chimneys or suit-
able flues are required for ranges that burn gas. A coal- or wood-burning
range requires a well-built chimney. A gas range can sometimes be pro-
vided with a less expensive flue that can be built directly into a frame wall.
Whether a flue is required or not, a canopy over the range and connected to
a flue or outdoor vent will help to prevent the spread of kitchen odors
through the house and to keep down the heat and humidity in the summer-
time. This canopy should not be connected to a flue that serves any other
equipment that burns fuel.

Another aid to good kitchen ventilation is an electric ventilating fan. Such
a fan operates more satisfactorily and presents a neater appearance when
it is built into a wall. However, styles are available that can be fitted into
kitchen windows. In a kitchen where a ventilating fan is not provided, a
portable electric fan will be appreciated in hot weather. An oscillating fan
mounted on the wall is a good type for kitchen use as it is always out of
the way. In locating electric fans, as in locating windows, care should be
taken to place them where they will not blow out the flame at the cooking
range.

88 New Houses for Old

Kitchen Floors

The kitchen floor should be covered with an attractive, durable type of
flooring material, such as inlaid linoleum, rubber tile, or asphalt tile (Chap-
ter 22). Cheap materials should be avoided, as the kitchen floor is subject
to an excessive amount of wear. A special point in connection with kitchen
flooring is that it should extend over the entire floor area and should be
curved up into the toe space at the front of built-to-the-floor kitchen equip-
ment. If a range or other equipment that stands on legs is used, the floor
covering should extend under it; otherwise, there will be a space that will
be difficult to keep clean.

Walls and Ceilings

In a modern kitchen furnished with cabinets and built-in equipment, there
may not be much exposed wall area. However, the wall area that is exposed
is usually treated with some waterproof material. Ceramic tile is a highlv
suitable material if it can be afforded. Porcelain-coated metal tiling is also
good. Colored glass is available in stock sheets for installation behind the
kitchen range. When none of these materials can be used, water-resistant
wallpapers or paints can be used over plaster or wallboard. Papers and paints
that are not water resistant should be avoided. However, so many types of
materials can be made water resistant that as much variety can be achieved
on kitchen walls as on the walls of other rooms in the house. Observe, for
example, the wall treatment of the kitchen shown in Fig 8.2, where knotty
pine was used to finish one wall.

Some homeowners will wish to insulate the kitchen acoustically. In exten-
sive remodeling, this can be done by providing sound insulation in the
partitions (Chapter 25). Acoustical sheeting or tile on the kitchen ceiling
will also help to subdue the usual kitchen clatter.

Lighting

The kitchen lighting requires special attention. Many old kitchens have
only one light in the center, and too often this is controlled by a pull chain.
The center lighting fixture is desirable in the modern kitchen, but it should
be controlled by wall switches. If there are two doors to the kitchen, there
should be a controlling switch of the three-way variety at each door. Addi-
tional lighting of some glareless type should be provided at each of the
work areas. If the work areas have cabinets mounted over them, the bottom

Kitchens 89

sides of the cabinets provide convenient places for the mounting of the
fixtures for fluorescent lighting. Good types of lighting fixtures for kitchens
can be seen in several of the kitchen pictures in this chapter, and more are
illustrated in Fig. 29.23.

Electrical Outlets

The need for including an adequate number of electrical outlets in the
kitchen can be made evident by considering the following undoubtedly in-
complete list of electrical devices now on the market that can be used in
the kitchen.

GROUP A

Bottle sterilizers Ice-cream freezers

Churns Irons

Clocks Portable heaters

Coffee percolators Portable stoves, grills, and ovens

Drink mixers Radios

Egg cookers Sewing machines

Fans Toasters

Floor polishers Ultraviolet-ray lamps

Food mixers Vacuum cleaners

Food and plate warmers Waffle irons

Fruit-juice extractors Washing machines

Germicidal lamps

GR O UP B

Dishwashers Ranges

Garbage-disposal units Refrigerators

Ironers Washing machines (automatic)

Water heaters

The equipment listed in Group A usually operates on the standard cur-
rent of about 110 volts. A 220-volt current is required for electric ranges
and water heaters, and there is a tendency to design some of the other
equipment listed in Group B for the higher voltage. Whatever voltage is
required for the equipment you select, it is desirable to have separate cir-
cuits for the types of equipment listed in Group B. Fortunately, since
kitchens are almost always located on the first floor, adequate wiring (Chap-
ter 29) is neither so difficult nor so expensive as might be expected.

A sufficient number of convenience outlets should be included for all of
the portable electrical equipment that you plan to use and located so that
long extension cords will not be necessary. It is a good idea to provide one
double-convenience outlet for every 4 ft. of wall area at the preparation
and cleaning center. Electric ranges are usually equipped with one or more

New Houses from Old

{Courtesy Sylvania Electric Products, Inc.)

Fig. 8.7. — The breakfast bar is another convenient feature that may be incorporated
in a large kitchen. Observe also the fluorescent lighting.

{Courtesy Douglas Fir Plywood Association.}

Fig. 8.8. — This photograph shows an ingenious arrangement of chairs at the break-
fast bar.

Kitchens 91

convenience outlets. One other convenience outlet on a separate circuit
should be provided here. In contrast to the location of convenience outlets
in other rooms in the house, convenience outlets in the kitchen are usually
installed 3^ or 4 ft. above the floor.

A Place for Breakfast

Even in a house with a full-sized dining room, housekeeping is made
simpler if there is space in the kitchen for breakfast and other informal
meals. In a remodeled house, the problem is more often one of using an
available space such as an old pantry or the end of a large kitchen than
of squeezing a minimum amount of space out of the house plan. The separate
breakfast nook is a good scheme if an extra room is available near the
kitchen. The schemes shown in Figs. 8.7 and 8.8 are typical of what can
be done when the kitchen itself is large.

UTTUTJTTlJTJTrUTLJlJTJTJXnJTJTJXnJlJTJ^^

NINE

Bathrooms

J_ HE BATHROOM PROBLEM in remodeling may be that of installing one or
more bathrooms in a house where there is none, or it may be a case of
replacing such outmoded affairs as are illustrated in Figs. 9.1 and 9.4. In
either case, the problem should be approached rationally from the stand-
point of the amount of money that you can afford to spend.

How Many Bathrooms?

One good bathroom in a single-family house is essential for modern
living. The maximum number for convenience is undoubtedly not reached
until there is a bathroom for every bedroom and a downstairs powder room
besides, but there is not much point in including more than the minimum
number if your budget cannot provide for them without skimping other
parts of the house. It is well, however, in planning remodeling to decide
on the bathroom facilities that you want ultimately and to reserve space
for them in the house.

A complete bathroom is one that includes a lavatory, a water closet, and
bathing facilities, either a tub, or a shower, or both. A so-called half bath-
room has a lavatory and a water closet but lacks the bathing equipment.
One complete bathroom should be provided, if possible, on each floor where
there are regularly occupied sleeping rooms. A half bathroom (Fig. 9.6)
on the first floor saves much running up and down stairs and is practically
obligatory in the country where there is much washing up to be done when
members of the family come in from work outdoors. A modern idea par-
ticularly adaptable to city and suburban homes is to fit up this half bath-
room with good fixtures and decorations and to use it also as a powder
room for guests. A private bathroom attached to the master bedroom was
once almost standard practice in medium-priced modern homes; but in some
circumstances this may be too exclusive a luxury. Many families find it a
better arrangement to have two bathrooms on the second floor available to
the main hallway. In houses where a maid or more servants will live in,

Bathrooms

a separate bath is often provided. An additional water closet in the base-
ment is frequently installed in suburban homes where gardeners and other
workmen are hired by the day.

Location of Bathrooms

Many considerations enter into the location of bathrooms. If there is an
old bath in the house, the soil stack will already be installed and in most
cases it will still be serviceable. Possibly even the supply pipes will be
usable; although, if they are made of old galvanized iron piping, the chances
are great that they will be nearly clogged with rust. Whether they are
clogged or not, it may be wise to install new supply piping if the old
floors and walls must be opened. Because the soil stack is already installed,
the old bathroom should be retained as a bathroom if economy is an impor-
tant consideration.

In locating new bathrooms, two main considerations should rule — con-
venience and privacy. Bathrooms should be located so that they can be
reached from the bedrooms without too much travel. If a bathroom is located
on the first floor, it should be isolated from the living rooms. If actual

(Hedrich-Blessing Studio.)

Fig. 9.1. — Tubs on legs, marble-topped lavatories, and exposed lead pipes charac-
terize many old-fashioned bathrooms.

New Houses from Old

(Hedriph-Blessing Studio.)
Fig. 9.2. — The bathroom shown in Fig. 9.1 after remodeling.

Fig. 9.3. — Floor plans of the bathroom shown in Figs. 9.1 and 9.2 before and after
remodeling. Notice how the fixture locations were changed.

(^Figs. 9.1 to 9.3, courtesy United States Gypsum Company.)

Bathrooms 95

spatial isolation is not possible in the remodeling plan, the bathroom walls
should be insulated against the passage of sound (Chapter 25). A first-floor
bathroom should not be located with its window on a much-used porch.
The half bathroom in a city or suburban residence should be convenient to
the front entrance hall. In a rural home it is often better to have it adjacent
to the kitchen. In any case, it should be located where it can be reached
without traveling through the living room or dining room. Frequently in
the remodeling of old houses, the location of existing windows will deter-
mine the location of bathrooms. A new bathroom window, especially if it
must be of the usual narrow type, may be a jarring note in the harmony
of an interesting old fenestration.

If there are three bedrooms, and one of them is the master bedroom with
its own bathroom, the second bathroom is sometimes installed between the
remaining two bedrooms. This arrangement of two bedrooms with a bath-
room between is convenient if both bedrooms are occupied by members of
the family or if there is an invalid in the house attended by a resident
nurse. It is not so convenient if one bedroom is used as a guest room. It is
also an excellent arrangement for the nursery and the parents' room.

The usual arrangement for the second bathroom is, of course, along a
main hall with the door opening from it. If only one bathroom can be
afforded, it should be located where access will be convenient from all of
the bedrooms. Although in many old houses the bathroom is located at the
head of the stairs on the second floor, this is a bad arrangement, particu-
larly if there is a straight view from the hall on the first floor.

A considerable point is often made of locating bathrooms so that a single
stack will serve for all of the plumbing facilities, including the kitchen sink.
Where there is only one bathroom, it is placed adjacent to or over the
kitchen. When two bathrooms are included in the plans, both are placed in
adjacent rooms over the kitchen. The amount that can be saved by planning
the location of all bathroom and washing facilities so that they can be
connected to a single soil stack is seldom over $200. Most homeowners will
wish to save this amount if they can, but it is hardly enough to justify
inconvenient locations for either the bathrooms or the kitchen.

Design of Bathrooms

Occasionally an old bathroom can be modernized by the mere installa-
tion of new fixtures. When this is done, a large amount of breaking into
the floor and walls can usually be avoided by placing the new fixtures sub-
stantially where the old ones were. More often modernization demands a

New Houses from Old

Fig. 9.4. — A typical middle-aged bathroom. Before.

Fig. 9.5. — After. Note how the extra space is utilized for a dressing table and how
the floors and walls have been modernized by covering them with linoleum.

{Figs. 9.4 and 9.S, courtesy Nairn Linoleum Company.)

Bathrooms

(.Hedrich-Blessing Studio. Courtesy United States Gypsum Company.')

Fig. 9.6. — A first-floor powder room such as this one is not prohibitively expensive.
Notice the combination of wallpaper and gypsum-board tile (Sheetrock).

rearrangement of fixtures (Fig. 9.3), and this creates an opportunity for
a new plan for the room and modernization of the old piping.

In planning a new bathroom, particular attention should be given to the
location of the window or windows. Preferably, none of the three main
fixtures should be placed under the window. If possible, the window should
be located in relation to the lavatory, but at the side of it rather than
above it. The ideal window arrangement is undoubtedly a pair of windows,
one placed on each side of the lavatory. However, this ideal is often difficult
to attain for architectural and structural reasons. A mirror rather than a
window is needed directly over the lavatory. Privacy demands that the
window not be directly over or beside the water closet, particularly in bath-
rooms located on the first floor. However, when such a location cannot be
avoided, the window may be placed high up in the wall over the water

98 New Houses from Old

closet, provided that the soil stack does not pass through that wall. The
same reason argues against placing the window in the shower compartment
or over the bathtub in which a shower may be installed sooner or later;
also, a curtained window does not make a good wall for a shower bath.
When it is impossible to avoid locating the window over the tub, the curtain
problem can be solved by using opaque or translucent waterproof material
and by arranging the curtain so that it can be drawn completely over the
window so that it will shed water as well as cut off vision.

Partitioned bathrooms with the water closet and sometimes a lavatory
in a separate compartment make it possible for two persons to use simul-
taneously and in privacy the bathing or the toilet facilities. However, sepa-
rate lighting must be provided for each compartment, and in most localities
the building code will require a separate window for each one. Therefore,
don't include a divided bathroom in your remodeling plan unless the two
windows set together will fit into the exterior architecture of your house.
In some localities, a window may not be required by the code for a room
that includes only a lavatory or a lavatory and a bathtub.

An idea that is more often applicable in redesigning an old bathroom,
especially if it is a large one, is the partitioning off of part of it for a
dressing room. A separate window in the dressing room should be provided
if it is practicable, but the building code is not so likely to require it if
the room is devoid of plumbing fixtures. Unless you prefer small bath-
rooms, do not decide to divide an old, spacious room (Figs. 9.4 and 9.5)
until you have considered whether you prefer a bathroom that will accom-
modate a bath stool or a chair and a dressing table in addition to the usual
bathroom fixtures. Several bathroom plans are shown in Fig. 9.7. The bath-
rooms in the plans shown in Chapter 2 should also be studied.

Bathroom Fixtures and Fittings

Bathtubs. The varieties and shapes of bathtubs are legion. If you need
an unusual style or wish to have something out of the ordinary, you will
profit by poring through manufacturers' catalogues and by visiting show-
rooms in the larger cities. Only the usual types will be discussed here.
The cast-iron tub on legs (Fig. 9.1), once as standard as the Model T Ford,
is still offered for sale. In its most common form, the inside surfaces and
the roll rim are coated with fused-on porcelain enamel, and the outside is
painted. Similar tubs on solid bases instead of legs are also available.
Unless strict economy makes it necessary, it is not advisable to install a
tub on legs in a new or remodeled bathroom, because such a tub is unsatis-
factory from an aesthetic standpoint and also because the exposed wall and

Bathrooms

1 —

5'X6-9
1

Fig. 9.7. — Plans for small bathrooms. A. Divided bath with stall shower. B. Half
bathroom. C. Bathroom with recessed oblong tub. D. With recessed square tub.
E. With recessed tub and stall shower. F. With corner tub. G. With corner tub.
Small circles in wall indicate best location for soil stack in relation to fixtures.

100

New Houses from Old

floor areas around and under it present a difficult cleaning problem. If it
is necessary to install such a tub, it is well to place it where a more modern
tub can be installed at a later date without much change in the drainage
and supply pipes.

Modern bathtubs have an apron that extends to the floor (Fig. 9.2) and
is finished with the same vitreous enamel as the inside of the tub. Corner
tubs (Fig. 9.8) have two unfinished sides that are set into the wall and two
finished sides that are exposed. These tubs are available with both right-
and left-hand corners, the handedness being determined as you face the
longer exposed side. Recessed tubs have only one finished side, the other
sides being set into the wall when the tub is installed. In the usual type of
tub, the basin or bathing compartment runs parallel to the longer axis of
the tub. The square tub in which the basin runs diagonally is a newer
development that has gained wide popularity. Corner tubs are the best type
when the tub must be set along a wall that is about the same length as the
tub. However, recessed tubs can be placed on a longer wall by constructing
a compartment for the tub as was done in remodeling the bathroom shown
in Figs. 9.4 and 9.5 or by building a low cabinet at the end of the tub as
diagramed in Fig. 9.8.

Fig. 9.8. — A. Oblong corner tub. B. Square recess tub. C. A recessed tub can be
placed between a wall and a cabinet with valves and spout at either end.

Bathrooms 101

As has been mentioned, corner tubs are either right or left hand as to
the unrecessed corners. Bathtubs are also right or left hand according to
the openings for the drain and supply fittings. Since most manufacturers
supply all of their styles with both right- or left-hand openings, the handed-
ness of the tub is not important in planning but is quite important in order-
ing. A right-hand recessed tub cannot be used if piping connections can be
made only at the left-hand end.

Most bathtubs now offered for sale are made of cast iron with fused-on
porcelain enamel, a glasslike material which is easily cleaned and which is
not subject to the type of deterioration known as crazing. Bathtubs are also
made of sheet steel with fused-on porcelain as a coating. A few bathtubs
are made of fired clay coated with a vitreous china glaze. These tubs have
no metal in them. They are somewhat heavier than porcelain-enameled metal
tubs, and this consideration alone makes them unsuitable for most instal-
lations in remodeling. The householder who is considering remodeling may
be offered what appears to be a bargain in a secondhand clay tub. It is
best to avoid such bargains.

Fig. 9.9. — A safe type of supply fixture for bathtubs on legs.
The spout is elevated above the bathtub rim.

Bathtub fittings. The tub on legs is usually equipped with a combination
supply fitting that contains the hot- and cold-water valves and the discharge
spout. Most of these fittings are hazardous to health because the position
of the spout makes it possible for dirty water from the tub to enter the
supply piping (see the discussion of Cross-Connections in Chapter 26).
To be safe, the fitting in a tub of this type should have an elevated spout
as shown in Fig. 9.9. The old-style supply fittings that were mounted
wholly or partly inside recess and corner tubs present the same hazard.
Present-day practice is to install the hot- and cold-water valves and the
spout on the wall above one end of the tub.

Many schemes have been tried for the waste and overflow; but only three
types have stood the test of time. Of these the familiar chain-and-rubber
stopper is by far the best in spite of the fact that the rubber stoppers wear
out and have to be replaced occasionally. This type of waste is sanitary;
it has no complicated mechanism to get out of order, and it has the great
advantage in remodeling of not requiring an access panel.

102

New Houses from Old

The so-called standing waste, which in older installations was built into
the floor beside the tub and was operated by turning or raising a knob that
stood in a tube about level with the top of the tub, is still used; but now
it is concealed in the wall and is operated by turning a handle that is
usually placed between or below the hot- and cold-water valves. This kind
of waste is somewhat insanitary and sometimes gets out of order, but it is
still extensively used. It requires an access panel in the wall of the adjoin-
ing room through which the mechanism can be reached when cleaning and
adjustment are necessary.

The pop-up waste, which can be distinguished by the button-shaped disk
that rises from the drain opening to allow water to flow out of the tub, is
usually operated by a handle attached to a plate inside the tub. This type
of waste gets out of order sometimes, and it is a mean thing to stub your
toe on while using the shower.

Shower baths. Stall shower baths can be purchased as complete units; or
the base can be purchased separately and a compartment built with walls
of tile or other waterproof material. Stall showers can have a single shower
head, or they can have several spray nozzles installed vertically in the sides
of the compartment. More often, the shower bath is installed in conjunction
with the bathtub. When the shower is installed over a tub, a single nozzle
or head is used.

WALL LINE

Fig. 9.10. — Shower fixture with exposed valves and piping sometimes used to save
cutting of the wall.

Several arrangements are possible for the shower valves, the least ex-
pensive being separate hot- and cold-water valves. This arrangement has
the disadvantage of requiring the bather to adjust the temperature of his
bath by reaching through or around the spray from the nozzle to get at the
valves. A number of ingenious devices have been invented to overcome this
difficulty, and several of them have been thoroughly tested and are on the

Bathrooms

103

market. One device, called a diverting valve, is arranged so that the water
may flow through the bathtub nozzle while the hot- and cold-water valves
are being manipulated to adjust the temperature of the water to the bather's
desire. Once a satisfactory temperature is reached, the water is diverted
from the bathtub nozzle to the shower head by turning the diverting valve.
Another satisfactory, but more expensive, device is a thermostatic valve
which can be set for the desired water temperature and which will then
automatically maintain this temperature by mixing the hot and cold water
in the right proportions. In new construction, and usually also in remodel-
ing, concealed valves and piping are used when a shower is installed over
a bathtub; but sometimes it is simpler to use exposed valves and connec-
tions (Fig. 9.10). Such connections are not unattractive if the exposed fit-
tings and pipes are chromium plated.

^^^r-^^y\

C D

Fig. 9.11. — Lavatories. A. Corner type. 5. Shelf type. C. Pedestal type. B. Leg type.

Lavatories. Four common types of lavatories are shown in Fig. 9.11. The
corner lavatory is useful chiefly in small rooms. The shelf type is useful
and relatively inexpensive. The leg type is attractive and has a quite mod-

104

New Houses from Old

ern look. These three types require wall brackets for support, whereas the
pedestal type has the advantage of requiring no support at the wall.

Modern lavatories are usually made of cast iron that is coated with fused-
on porcelain enamel or of solid vitreous chinaware that is coated with a
vitreous glaze. Some lavatories are made of sheet steel that is also coated
with fused-on porcelain enamel. Vitreous china is a highly suitable material
for lavatories because of its attractiveness, its durability, and the ease with
which it can be kept clean. Lavatories made of this material are not much
more costly than those made of other materials.

Fig. 9.12. — Lavatory fittings. A. Single faucet. B. Combination faucet with plug
drain stopper. C. Combination faucet with pop-up drain stopper. D. An air gap
between end of faucet and overflow rim of lavatory is necessary for safe plumbing.
(See also Fig. 26.18.)

Lavatory fittings. Many types of fittings are available, ranging from sepa-
rate faucets for the hot and cold water and a separate chain-and-rubber-stop-
per waste to quite elaborate combination fixtures. Separate faucets are neces-
sary if cistern water is used for the hot-water supply and drinking water for

Bathrooms 105

the cold-water supply; otherwise the most convenient type of fitting is one
of the combination types (Figs. 9.6 and 9.12). The chain-and-rubber-
stopper waste mechanism is simple and inexpensive, but the pop-up is the
most convenient type of waste mechanism for lavatories and is well worth
its slight extra cost. The spout of a lavatory faucet or combination fixture
should terminate at least 1 in. above the level of the flood rim of the lava-
tory (Fig. 9.12) as a safeguard against contamination of the water supply
with dirty water. Supply fittings that discharge below the flood rim of the
lavatory or through an inside passage in the lavatory are serious hazards
to health and should always be removed in remodeling. Good-quality lava-
tory fittings should be selected. They should be finished in a good grade of
chromium plating. Since lavatory traps and supply pipes are usually ex-
posed to view (Fig. 9.6), these also should be chromium plated.

Water closets. Water closets (Fig. 9.13) are classified according to the
type of flushing action. The least expensive closets have a wash-down action.
The water flows from the tank downward through the flushing rim until
enough has accumulated to cause the bowl to empty through the siphon.
This type, although reliable in operation, is somewhat noisy. If a wash-
down closet has the siphon, or trap, built into the back rather than the
front, it is called a reverse-trap bowl. Reverse-trap bowls have a somewhat
better appearance, but their chief advantage is that the area of the standing
water in the bowl is larger, which aids in keeping the toilet clean.

The siphon-jet action employs one or, in some makes, two jets in addition
to the flushing rim. Part of the flushing water is discharged through the jet
to start the flushing action before the water in the bowl has reached a high
level. The result is a somewhat quieter flushing operation. Siphon-jet bowls
also have a large water area.

The ordinary wash-down closet has no advantage except its somewhat
lower cost. The reverse-trap wash-down is, however, an excellent type to
install in remodeling if the bathroom is located where the noise of a flushing
toilet is not objectionable. Siphon-jet water closets cost somewhat more;
also, if they are installed in a house that will not be in use in freezing
weather, special precautions must be taken to empty the jet passages when
the water closet is drained.

In the least expensive type of water closet, the tank is a separate unit
(Fig. 9.13) which must be hung on the wall a short distance above the
closet bowl and which is connected to the latter with a plated brass elbow.
Another type of tank, usually called a close-coupled tank, is also a separate
unit, but it is used with a bowl that supports the tank. Still another type
has a tank that is made integral with the bowl. The latter two types cost
somewhat more than the first, but they are easier to install in many remodel-

106

New Houses from Old

ing jobs because the water closet can be placed with the back of the tank
standing an inch, or several inches, from the wall, if necessary.

Homeowners are often interested in whether flush valves, which are used
commonly in water closets in office buildings, cannot also be used in homes.
The answer is that they can be used if city water is available under good
pressure and if the connection from the water main to the house is made
through a pipe of not less than 1 in. nominal internal diameter. In such
cases a pipe of the same diameter can then be run to the bathroom and the
flush valve can be connected to it. The expense of doing this is seldom
justifiable, however, especially since flush valves go out of order about as
often as toilet-tank mechanisms and are not easy for a homeowner to repair.
Flush valves should not be considered if the water is supplied by an aver-
age-size farm water-supply system.

ABC
Fig. 9.13. — A. Washdown closet with wall-hung tank. B. Reverse-trap closet with
integral tank. C. Siphon-jet closet with close-coupled tank.

Miscellaneous accessories. In planning your remodeled bathroom, don't
overlook the small accessories, or the result will be that in a few years the
room will become cluttered with ill-matched gadgets screwed to the door
cases and to other places not designed for them. Accessories that should be
considered include mirrors; medicine cabinets; towel racks; a bar for sup-
porting the shower curtain; safety grips for the bathtub and shower com-
partments; soap dishes; hooks for clothing and the enema bag; cabinets
for the storage of towels, washcloths, and cleaning utensils; holders for
toilet paper, tumblers, and toothbrushes.

Bathroom Floors and Walls

The traditional material for bathroom floors is ceramic tile. This material
has the advantages of durability, a very high degree of water resistance,
and — if an attractive design is chosen — beauty. However, it has several dis-
advantages in remodeling. It adds considerable weight, which the floor may

Bathrooms 107

not be designed to carry; if it is installed on top of a wooden floor, there
is considerable increase in the height of the floor; and its installation is
not easy, especially for the inexperienced workman. Nevertheless, it can be
installed if you desire. Installation methods are described in Chapter 22.
Lighter-weight materials such as linoleum are more adaptable in most re-
modeling. Linoleum is the flooring material used in the bathrooms shown
in Figs. 9.2 and 9.5. Whatever material you choose, it should cover the
floor and be expertly laid; for if the floor is only partially covered, water
will eventually get between the floor covering and the wooden floor and
cause mildew and decay.

Some waterproof material is also desirable for at least the lower portion
of bathroom walls. Here again, ceramic tile is the standard material, and
its installation on walls is considerably easier than on floors in remodeling.
Other suitable water-resistant or waterproof materials for the walls include
linoleum, tile wallboards, metal that is coated with a fused-on porcelain
enamel, and plastic wall covering. Most of these materials are manufac-
tured in designs that give the appearance of ceramic tile; see, for example,
the tile wallboard on the wall of the half bathroom in Fig. 9.6. Colored glass
is used as a wall-finishing material in some bathrooms. It is an excellent
material but has the disadvantage that holes for fixtures, pipes, etc., must
be cut at the factory. At the moment, transparent and translucent plastic
materials are being promoted for use in bathrooms.

How much of the wall should be covered with the tile or other water-
proof material depends chiefly on the amount of money you wish to spend.
Even the relatively expensive ceramic tile is sometimes installed from the
baseboard to the ceiling, but more often it is used only for the lower half
of the wall. It is advantageous, however, to run the waterproof material to
the ceiling in shower compartments. In the bathroom shown in Fig. 9.2, tile
board has been used for the entire wall from the baseboard to the molding
at the ceiling line; whereas in the room shown in Fig. 9.6, a panel covered
with wallpaper has been used with tile board. Such combinations can often
be used to save money and at the same time add to the attractiveness of the
room. Bathroom wall surfaces can also be painted with a good-quality wash-
able paint.

Lighting and Electrical Outlets

In a small bathroom, say one with an area of not over 60 sq, ft., adequate
lighting can be provided by a pair of lights, installed one on each side of
the mirror (Fig. 9.6), but a larger bathroom should also have a lighting
fixture in the ceiling. If the mirror lights are the only ones, they should be

108 New Houses from Old

controlled by a switch mounted on the wall just inside the door. If a ceiling
light is used, it should be controlled by the wall switch. An enclosed stall
shower should have a separate ceiling light controlled by a switch mounted
outside the shower. Pull switches should be avoided whenever possible in
bathroom lighting fixtures because of the danger of receiving a severe shock
if the pull chain is touched by a person standing in the tub or on a wet
floor. When pull switches cannot be avoided, a link of insulating material
should be placed in the metal chain.

Convenience outlets for hair curlers, electric razors, sun lamps, etc., should
be included in the lighting plan. An inexpensive way to provide two such
outlets is to use lighting fixtures at the mirror that contain outlets. One
or two additional outlets may be necessary, depending on the plan of the
bathroom. Since supplementary heat is often needed in bathrooms, especially
during cool weather when the central heating system is not in operation,
it is a good idea to include a built-in electric heater in the bathroom plan.
This will require a special outlet connected to a circuit that is separate
from the bathroom lights.

injxnjrnjTJTJTJTTinjTrinjTJ'iJTrinnjT^^

TEN

Bedrooms

U NLESS A SUBSTANTIAL ADDITION to the existing house is built, good bed-
room planning is usually a matter of making the most intelligent use of the
space that is available. In house planning as it is usually done, a bedroom
is just a bedroom. About the only distinction that is made among the vari-
ous bedrooms in the plan is to assign the largest one to the head of the
family and his mate. The other, and usually less spacious, bedrooms are
then allotted to the other members of the family. This is the inheritance that
you must deal with in the average house in remodeling.

Actually, however, there are three types of bedrooms, and bedroom plan-
ning in remodeling will be more successful if these three types are recog-
nized and if attention is paid to their special requirements. There is the
bedroom for adults, which is designed primarily for sleeping. Then there is
the more spacious and more comfortable room intended for the use of one
or more adults and designed not only for a sleeping room but for a study
or private living room as well. In some homes this room is occupied by an
aged or invalid person; however, it can be equally useful as a combination
bedroom and living room for parents who wish occasionally to read or to
talk in their own private quarters or who are forced to give up the main
living room now and then to their adolescent children and their guests.
Finally, there are bedrooms for young children. This type includes the
nursery for infants and bedrooms for boys and girls of school age. Of course,
there are also sleeping porches and dressing rooms, but neither of these is
a bedroom in its own right. Exposure to the weather makes it impractical
to put the full complement of bedroom furniture on the sleeping porch;
and the dressing room is an annex to a bedroom.

Average Bedrooms

The first type of bedroom might be called the average bedroom. It is
occupied by one or two adults or by one or two children who are nearing
adulthood, and its main function is to serve as a sleeping room. It need

109

110

New Houses from Old

(Courtesy Nairn Linoleum Company.')

Fig. 10.1. — A fireplace in the bedroom is a luxury in new construction, but often
in remodeling, the fireplace is already present.

not be very large. If the room will be occupied by an adult man, the neces-
sary furniture will be a single or three-quarter-sized bed, a chest of drawers,
a chair or two, and possibly a small desk. An adult woman will need, in
addition, a dressing table and bench. Two adults will need a full-sized bed
or twin beds. If it is possible to provide this kind of bedroom with a separate
dressing room, it can be small indeed, especially if there is room in the
dressing room for the chest and dressing table. In such a case, the bedroom
need be large enough only for the bed, one or two chairs, and a desk if
one is wanted. A single closet of reasonable size will be adequate for one
adult. Two closets are better if the room is to be occupied by two adults.

If the room is to be regularly occupied by a member or meinbers of the
family, it need not be located next to the bath, since an adult who is used
to the house will be able to find his way to the bathroom, even though it is
located some distance down the hall. On the other hand, if the room is
intended mainly for use by guests, it should be fairly close to the bath.
This type of bedroom should be isolated as much as possible from street
noise. Isolation from noises that originate within the house is not so impor-
tant, since adults usually go to bed after activity has ceased in such noisy
areas of the house as the kitchen and the living room. A pleasant view

Bedrooms 111

from the windows is not important, again because the room is used mainly
at night. Preferably, this type of bedroom should not have an eastern ex-
posure, because most adults like to sleep late on Sunday mornings, even
if they are not fortunate enough to be able to do so on other mornings of
the week. This type of bedroom, the same as other types, should have, if
possible, windows in at least two walls so that cross ventilation will be pos-
sible in hot weather.

Painted or wallpapered walls are the most common in this type of bed-
room. The important qualities are attractiveness and a fair degree of dura-
bility. Waterproof wall finishes are not necessary. If economy is essential,
money can also be saved on the flooring materials, since the floor in such a
bedroom gets little wear. A good grade of softwood flooring is entirely ade-
quate. However, it is not desirable to skimp on the space or the finishing
of this type of bedroom unless you have to do so. If the existing rooms are
large and if they contain fireplaces, by all means take full advantage of
their possibilities, as was done in remodeling the bedroom shown in Fig. 10.1.

The old-fashioned bedroom, if it has electric lighting at all, will usually
have a single ceiling fixture. The convenience of a ceiling light when it is
operated by a switch at the door is obvious. This ceiling light should prob-
ably never be eliminated in remodeling, but it is doubtful whether the in-
stallation of such a light in remodeling is worth while except in large bed-
rooms, such as the one shown in Fig. 10.2. About the same degree of con-
venience can be obtained by wiring one or two baseboard outlets so that
they are controlled by a switch at the door. Portable lamps plugged into
these outlets can then be turned on and off as you enter or leave the room.
Baseboard outlets should be provided for lamps on bedside tables, dressers,
and dressing tables. The only sure way of having an adequate number is
to space them so that no point along the baseboard will be more than 6 ft.
from an outlet. A man who uses an electric razor appreciates having an outlet
for it installed in the wall near the dresser. If you are going to use either
an electric heater or a one-room air conditioner in your bedroom, it is
important to provide an outlet for it, and this outlet should be part of a
circuit that is separate from the lighting circuit in the bedroom.

Bed-living Rooms

The second type of bedroom, the combination bed and living room, must
be planned as part-time living quarters. If the space is large enough, the
living-room treatment should predominate in the room's arrangement. A
separate dressing room is particularly convenient so that the litter and muss
of dressing and undressing can be kept out of the principal room.

112

New Houses from Old

This room gains considerably in convenience if it has its own private
bath, which can be reached without passing through the family hallway.
If a private bath cannot be afforded, the family bath should not be too far
away, particularly if the room will be living quarters for an aged or invalid
person. Sometimes a complete private apartment is made out of an old
bedroom, as was done in the remodeling illustrated in Figs. 10.3 and 10.4.

Although isolation from street noises adds greatly to the enjoyment of
such a room, a person who is confined to the room for most of the day
may appreciate a location that gives a view of the street. A pleasant view
from the windows will likewise enhance the enjoyment of the room by an
occupant who spends most of his time in it. However, if the room will be
occupied by adults who will use it chiefly in the evening and at night, a
view is not essential. Since this room will be occupied by adults, an eastern
exposure with early morning sunshine is not desirable.

There must be more window area than in a bedroom designed only for
sleeping. The windows should be adequate not only to provide ventilation
but also to admit enough daylight so that the room will be cheerful and
attractive in the daytime. Air conditioning is an even greater asset to a

(Courtesy IVestinghouse Electric Corporation.)
Fig. 10.2. — Carefully planned lighting characterizes this bedroom.

Bedrooms

113

Fig. 10.3.— Before.

U''Uolnj>tihhi ''V the h il ,_>x oj .li I, .■.'iiii.ij's 1 ir.oh'im.)

Fig. 10.4. — After. A large old bedroom was converted to a complete one-room apart-
ment. A kitchenette and small bathroom were placed behind a partition constructed
across one end of the original room.

114 New Houses from Old

bed-living room than it is to a plain bedroom. A room of this type is always
designed so that it can be closed off easily from other parts of the house.
It is, therefore, ideal for a cool refuge not only at night but also during
the daytime in hot weather.

The use of built-in chests of drawers is an excellent way of subordinating
the bedroom furniture in this type of bedroom. You may wish to include
them in your plan, or you may prefer to spend the money on attractive
chests that will look as much at home among living-room furniture as among
bedroom furniture. A generous amount of closet space is essential. Wall
coverings should be somewhat more luxurious than the wall coverings in
a plain bedroom. Likewise, the floor materials are often of the same quality
as would be selected for a living room. However, less expensive flooring
materials can be used, especially if the floor will be covered by a rug,
because even in this type of bedroom the floor is subjected to rather light
wear.

A ceiling lighting fixture is optional; but if you elect to omit it, plan
the other lighting carefully and take care to have several of the baseboard
outlets connected in with a switch located on the wall at the door. Base-
board outlets should be provided with the same generosity as if the room
were a living room pure and simple. No point along a baseboard should
be farther than 6 ft. from an outlet. If an electric heater or an air condi-
tioner will be used in the room, a special outlet should be provided on a
separate circuit from the outlets that will be used for lights.

Children's Bedrooms

The requirements for well-planned children's bedrooms vary according
to the age and sex of the child. Any family that includes a baby is fortu-
nate indeed if the house has a room that can be set aside and furnished as
a nursery. Both the parents and the infant will benefit from the infant's
having a separate room. Nevertheless, in planning the remodeling of an
average house, it is not usually economical to design one of the bedrooms
specifically as a nursery for the reason that nurseries are needed for only
a relatively small number of years. If you are going to need a nursery,
include a room for it in your planning, but design the room so that it
can be used later for a child who has passed the days of babyhood. A well-
equipped nursery will contain at least a crib, a chest for the storage of
the baby's clothing, a bathinette or its equivalent in the form of a table of
suitable height for bathing and dressing, a chair for the mother, and pos-
sibly a play pen and high chair. These are all very specialized articles of
furniture, but their dimensions are small in comparison to adults' bedroom

Bedrooms 115

furniture. There will be no difficulty in placing them in a room large enough
to accommodate the usual furniture of an older child's room.

The nursery should be located fairly close to the bath, and this location
will be equally essential for the bedroom of a growing child. It should be
located where the least possible noise from the street and noisy centers of
the house will reach it. An eastern or southeastern exposure is best both for
babies and for young children because, since they are natural early risers,
the sun will not awaken them before they are ready to get up and in the
summertime it will not be shining into the room when their early bedtime
arrives.

Both the wall finish and the floor covering in the nursery should be of
materials that are easily kept sanitary and clean. An old floor can be
covered with such material as linoleum or cork tile, thus saving some of
the cost of a new wooden floor. Some water-resistant wall covering will be
necessary until the children occupying the room have passed the age where
it is second nature to mark the walls.

Children's bedrooms need adequate closet space. In fact, if there is room
available, the closets in children's rooms should be as spacious as closets
in adults' rooms. Low shelves and storage spaces that can be reached by
small children should be included in the rooms of young children, since
they enable the mother to teach the child to get his own playthings and to
put them away. When the child is a little older, the same psychology should
be applied to storage space for his clothing. Clothing that is in daily use
should be placed within reach of the child. Articles of clothing kept in
drawers should be in low drawers that the child can reach and operate by
himself. Clothing kept hanging in a closet should be hung from a pole
placed within the child's reach, and the closet door should be arranged so
that the child can operate it by himself. Closets for children's bedrooms are
discussed further in the next chapter.

Built-in bunk beds (Fig. 21.6) are an excellent idea for rooms that will
be occupied by children of school age. The advantage of such beds is, of
course, that they conserve space. A double-decked bunk bed in a small room
provides sleeping quarters for two children in the same amount of floor
area required for a single bed.

A lighting fixture in the center of the ceiling is practically a necessity in
children's bedrooms. The fixture should be controlled by a wall switch, never
by a pull switch, because of the danger of falling over toys and other un-
expected objects while searching for the pull chain in the dark. A reasonable
number of convenience outlets should be provided. The best place for these
in nurseries is on the wall about 3% ft. from the floor. Outlets in the base-
board are serious hazards when a baby begins to crawl and even for several

116

New Houses from Old

years after he walks. However, if the room is planned for children past the
preschool age, the outlets may be placed in the baseboard. The spacing
should be the same as in rooms for adults.

Dressing Rooms

Dressing rooms (Fig. 10.5) appear to be a luxury, but they can be justified
from the viewpoint of economy since they reduce the portion of the house
that in the wintertime is cooled down at night and heated up again in the
morning. The convenience of a warm place to dress on a cold morning thus
pays for itself in fuel saved, even if comfort is ignored. It is often possible in
remodeling to provide dressing rooms in connection with bedrooms. When
this is done, the bedrooms can be made considerably smaller. A dressing
room is more attractive if it has outside light. Not long ago the ladies of
your household would have had the right to insist on daylight in their dress-
ing rooms, because the artificial light available was poor light in which to
put on make-up. Now, however, fluorescent lamps are available whose light
is composed of approximately the same mixture of radiations as daylight.

FOLDING-
CURTAIN

DRESSING ROOM

Fig. 10.5. — A. Bedroom remodeled to provide a separate dressing room. B. Two
small bedrooms remodeled to provide a bedroom, dressing room, and private bath.

Bedrooms 117

These lamps make it possible to have a satisfactory dressing room without
windows if this is necessary.

Sleeping Porches

About the time when Sinclair Lewis was writing Babbitt, the sleeping
porch was a feature of many new houses. The vogue for outdoor sleeping
has now declined somewhat, but you may still want one in your remodeled
house. The main requirements are good screens and privacy. The necessity
for the screens is obvious in any section of the country where mosquitoes
are found. Their futility is also obvious in the parts of the country infested
during certain weeks of the summer by the small biting insects known vari-
ously as midges and "no see-ums." Privacy includes not only isolation from
the neighbors but also freedom from street noises, since a sleeping porch
has no walls to mute sound. A sleeping porch should also be located, for
convenience, next to a bedroom or dressing room. An air-conditioned bed-
room can be expected to provide you with a more reliable type of hot-weather
comfort, but it will not provide the exhilarating effect of the open sky and
stars.

Problems in Remodeling Bedrooms

The house you are planning to remodel may have bedrooms that you can
adapt to the needs of your family without any structural changes. If so, you
can count yourself lucky. It is more probable that the old bedrooms will
need to be altered considerably. Changes are usually necessary to correct
such faults as bad proportions, inadequate area, inadequate closet space, and
insufficient headroom.

The correcting of faulty proportions may involve the replanning of the
entire floor. There is no better example of how this can be done than the
remodeling illustrated in Fig. 2.22. Notice in these plans that although
one bedroom was given up, the dressing room can be used as a bedroom
in an emergency since it has a window, the hall can be reached either
through the front bedroom or the bathroom, and the bathroom can be
reached without going through the dressing room.

An important step in planning the rearrangement of bedrooms is to deter-
mine whether partitions that you wish to remove are bearing or nonbearing.
This problem is discussed in Chapter 17. Bedrooms that are too small can
be made larger only by taking space from other rooms — unless you wish
to build an addition to the house. Often two adjoining rooms can be com-
bined by the simple expedient of removing a partition and redecorating the

118

New Houses from Old

room. If making one room out of two makes a larger room than you really
need, the extra space can probably be used for a bathroom or a dressing
room. In such a case, the studs that were in the old partition can usually
be used in the new one, thus saving you the cost of some material. If the
floor has a number of small bedrooms, whereas you need a smaller number
of larger ones, it will probably pay to replan the whole floor.

BEDROOM

HALL

BEDROOM

Fig. 10.6. — Closet space for two rooms can be obtained as shown here. The space
can be taken all from one bedroom or partly from both.

There are many ways in which closet space can be provided. Fig 10.6
shows a method for providing three or even more closets in one wall. Another
excellent method is to build out the wall on both sides of a window. This
has been done in Fig. 10.2, and a dressing table has been placed in the
deep alcove between the closets. One way that is particularly applicable to
small rooms is shown in Fig. 10.7. Here, one end of the room has been
utilized for a built-in chest of drawers and a closet, placed side by side. A
good method of increasing the closet space in two adjoining bedrooms can
be seen in Fig. 2.5. Closets will be discussed further in the next chapter.

Bedrooms with sloping ceilings — our ancestors called them knock-head
rooms — are found in many old houses. Full headroom over a larger area of
such rooms can be created only by raising the roof of the house and ex-
tending the walls of the house a few feet higher or by building a shed
dormer (Chapter 17). Either type of operation will change the exterior
appearance of the house and should, therefore, not be undertaken unless
your or your architect's sketches show that the change will be desirable.
Narrow dormers are useful for admitting more light and air to rooms of
this type, but they don't increase by very much the area of the room in

Bedrooms

119

(^Courtesy Doiiulas fir Plyz\.'ood Association.)

Fig. 10.7. — Closet space can often be provided by building out a wall to include
both the closet and a built-in chest.

which a person can stand up. If there are more bedrooms in the house than
you need, it should be possible to make the knock-head rooms more livable
by combining two to make one room. In most houses this scheme will pro-
duce good-sized rooms with an adequate area of floor that enjoys full head-
room. The spaces under the sloping ceiling can then be utilized for low
furniture or built-in storage space.

Attic Bedrooms

A standard method of getting more bedroom space in an existing house
without building an addition is to convert the attic. Because a large proper-

120

New Houses from Old

Fig. 10.8. — A small rectangular attic converted to one large room and bath.

Fig. 10.9. — An L-shaped attic converted to two large rooms and bath.

Bedrooms

121

{Courtesy Western Pine Association.)
Fig. 10.10. — A spacious attic provides room for a combination bedroom and study.

tion of the floor space in the average attic has less than full headroom, attics
require careful planning, and the space can seldom be utilized as economi-
cally as space on other floors. However, these facts should not prevent your
making quite satisfactory bedrooms in the attic. In most houses the stair
well must be placed near the center of the attic floor. In such cases the attic
can be finished as one large room provided that a balustrade is placed
around three sides of the stair well for safety. If there are several growing
boys in your family, they will probably get much more fun out of one large
attic room than out of two or three smaller ones. The beds in an attic room
of really generous size can be placed at opposite ends of the room, thus
creating an unencumbered area that boys will enjoy. If you need two bed-
rooms in the attic, you may be able to get them by a plan similar to Fig.
10.8 or 10.9. The main point in planning attic rooms is to avoid trying to
get too many rooms into a restricted space. Attic rooms can be made as com-
fortable and attractive as the room shown in Fig. 10.10 if they are well laid
out and if the furniture is intelligently placed.

Often it is possible to provide enough window area for attic rooms by
placing one large or two average-sized windows in the gable ends of the
attic, but well-placed dormers will admit still more light and air and are
often necessary to make the rooms attractive. In some houses the joists in the
attic ceiling are too light to support the weight of finished rooms and their

122 New Houses from Old

occupants. Additional joists spiked to the original ones or placed between
them before the attic floor is laid will correct this condition. Insulation
(Chapter 25) of the roof or of the walls and ceilings of the rooms built in
the attic is practically always necessary for comfort in the summertime.

innJTIXnJXnJTJTJTJTJTJXriJTJTJTJTJTJT^^

ELEVEN

Closets and Storage Space

X LENTY OF STORAGE SPACE is a necessity in an efficient house. An adequate
number of well-located closets will not only add to the convenience of your
own living but will also be a strong selling point in case you want to offer
the house for sale. When the average house had an accessible but unfinished
attic and a large and mostly unused basement, a shortage of cupboards and
closets throughout the house was inconvenient but otherwise not too serious,
because seldom-used articles could be put out of sight in the attic or the
basement. At the present time there is a definite trend toward putting both
the attic and the basement to other uses besides storage. Even if these tradi-
tional dumps are retained unaltered in your remodeled house, you will still
need cupboards and closets for many articles in the living quarters of the
house. Storage space of this kind should be as carefully planned as other
parts of the house. The usefulness of and need for cupboards and closets
in various parts of the house have already been mentioned in previous chap-
ters. This chapter will deal mainly with good design and dimensions.

Storage Space in General

There are two basic principles in planning storage space in the home.
The first is to locate the storage facilities where they will be most con-
venient. The second is to make the closets and cupboards large enough to
hold the articles for which they are intended. In planning new houses, many
persons make much of saving space by not making closets too wide or too
deep; but space saving in this respect is not so important in remodeling
because the closet or cupboard must often be fitted into a niche or offset
that already exists or that is created in some other remodeling operation
such as the building of a bathroom. Nevertheless, the best dimensions for
closets and cupboards should be understood and the planning done to ap-
proach them as closely as possible.

If a closet or cupboard is to be used for the storage of articles that are
in daily use, as a hall closet used for outdoor clothing or a kitchen cup-

123

124

New Houses from Old

board used for pans, its useful width is determined by the width of the door.
Such a closet should not be more than 24 in. wider than its door, and even
this width is useful only when the door is located in the center. If the space
available is more than 24 in. wider than the door and if you want all of it to

2-8

1-8

5-6"

Fig. 11.1. — Good dimensions for hall and bedroom closets.

be in convenient reach, use two doors on the closet (Fig. 11.2). The average
person can reach easily about 24 in. into a closet at the level of his shoulders,
but a shelf located above his head must be considerably more shallow if he
is to reach to the back of it without climbing up on something. Everyone is
familiar with the fact that this problem of a high shelf is solved in clothes
closets by making the shelves above the pole only about half as deep (Fig.

Closets and Storage Space 125

11.1) as the closet. It is solved — or partly solved — in overhead kitchen cup-
boards by making the entire cupboard shallow, usually from 12 to 14 in.
deep. However, use can always be found for deeper closets and cupboards.
The back portion can be used to store articles that are not needed often or
to conceal plumbing and heating pipes.

Fig. 11.2. — Two doors are better than one on wide closets. The center partition
adds to the convenience of the closet but is sometimes omitted.

Doors of the ordinary type are adequate for most closets, but a closet
located on a narrow hall or in some other restricted space may require a
folding door of the kind shown in Fig. 5.2. In humid climates louvered doors
(Fig. 20.13) are desirable on closets used for the storage of outdoor cloth-
ing which is in frequent use and which can, therefore, be hung up when it is
damp. In closets as they are ordinarily built the space above the door is
wasted because it cannot be reached. A modern way of making this space
useful is diagramed in Fig. 11.6.

Closets that are used frequently should be well lighted. Sometimes a
closet is located so that it gets adequate light from a fixture in the room.
Kitchen cupboards, for example, seldom need individual lights; but hall
closets and bedroom closets are not often so favorably located in relation to
the light. In these, a ceiling light installed inside the closet is worth the
small amount that it will cost. The siinplest way to control such a light is
by a pull switch, but this method will inevitably be wasteful of electricity
because the light will be left on many tiines when the closet door is closed.
A control which is more expensive to install but which will soon pay for
itself is a switch mounted on the door frame and arranged so that it is
operated automatically by the opening and closing of the door.

Hall Closets

Good dimensions for the depth of a hall closet are shown in Fig. 11.1.
This closet is, of course, planned mainly for the storage of clothing. It

126

New Houses from Old

should be 4 to 6 in. deeper if clothing or other articles are to be kept on
hooks on the back wall. If the vacuum cleaner and similar articles are to be
kept in the front of the closet, about 1 ft. of additional depth will be needed,
but the pole for garment hangers must be located so that this extra space
will be at the front of the closet. Unless the first floor of the house is pro-
vided with an ample number of closets that are not attached to bedrooms, a
double hall closet is an added convenience, since it makes possible the
reservation of space for guests' wraps that is not cluttered with the belong-
ings of the family. Fig. 11.2 shows how such a double closet can be pro-
vided at little extra expense.

Fig. 11.3. — Clothes closets in deep spaces. A requires a hanger pole that can be
drawn outward. B requires a ceiling light.

Bedroom Closets

The dimensions that have been indicated for hall closets are also satis-
factory for the average bedroom closet, because the primary purpose of the
bedroom closet is also to store clothing that is hung from standard garment
hangers. Frequently in remodeling, it is necessary to adapt a deep space for a
bedroom closet. If the space is narrow, it can be arranged as shown in Fig.
11. 3A. A special type of pole that can be pulled outward into the room
should be used. If the space is both deep and wide, a possible arrangement
is the one shown in Fig. 11. 3B. A scientifically minded planner would point
out that the latter layout is wasteful of space, but the justification is that a
closet that wastes a little space is better than no closet at all. The use for
storage purposes of space under sloping roofs is a common problem in
remodeling. If the distance from the floor to the ceiling at these points is
much less than 6 ft., it cannot be used conveniently for the storage of adult
clothing hung from hangers, but it can be used for the storage of other types

Closets and Storage Space

127

{Richard Averill Smith.)

Fig. 11.4. — Here storage space and an alcove for a dressing table were built under
a sloping ceiling.

of articles. Figs. 11.4 and 11.5 illustrate two excellent ways of using such
space.

It is a good thing both for parents and for young children if the closets
in the children's rooms are built so that the youngsters can operate the closet
doors and can reach the hooks and hangers. The main thing to look out for
in connection with the door is to have a knob on both sides so that a child
who closes the door on himself can open it from the inside. The pole that
holds the clothing hangers should be mounted so that its height can be
changed easily as the children grow and their clothes become longer. The
usefulness of open shelves and low chests (Fig. 11.5) in children's rooms
should not be overlooked.

Linen Closets

Linen closets are used chiefly for the storage of such articles as towels,
sheets, and blankets, but they are also convenient places for storing toilet
soap, toilet paper, and other bulky toilet goods where storage space is not
available in the bathrooms. Good minimum dimensions for the linen closet

128

New Houses from Old

{Ucdrich-Blessing Studio. Courtesy United States Gypsum Company.)
Fig. 11.5. — The closet in a young child's room does not have to be full adult height.

are 24 in. wide by 24 in. deep, but more generous dimensions are convenient
if space is available. Excellent ready-built linen closets can be purchased in
normal times. A compartment with small doors above the regular door (Fig.
11.6) makes it possible to use the space that is usually wasted under the
ceiling and forms an excellent place for the storage of blankets in the sum-
mertime.

Storage in Bathrooms

The storage facility that is almost never omitted in bathrooms is the medi-
cine cabinet. The shelves in the medicine cabinet should be from 4 to 6 in.
deep. Shelves that are adjustable for height allow more freedom of arrange-

Closets and Storage Space

129

ment, which is a convenience when the packages in which drugs or cosmetics
come change in dimensions, as they do frequently. If the shelves are not
adjustable, there should be one shelf at least 9 in. in height to accommodate
the taller bottles. Well-dimensioned, solidly built medicine cabinets are
offered by many manufacturers. It is advisable to purchase a good one, be-
cause the medicine cabinet always gets heavy use and furthermore is expected
to last a long time. Medicine cabinets that are recessed into the wall are
somewhat more attractive, but good cabinets designed for mounting on the

Fig. 11.6. — A linen closet with separate compartment next to the ceiling. The same
idea can be applied to other types of closets.

wall are also available. Storage space should also be provided in the bath-
room, if possible, for such articles as towels, washcloths, soap, toilet paper,
and cleaning implements. Stock cabinets of steel or wood (Fig. 11.7) or
custom-made cabinets can be used. If you have the cabinets built for your
bathroom, minimum dimensions of 18 in. by 20 in. are suggested for the
shelves intended for towels. Greater widths are, of course, no handicap. If
one cabinet is built to hide the toilet cleaning brush, the bottom shelf should
be at least 18 in. high.

Storage in the Kitchen

Standard sizes of steel kitchen cabinets are indicated in Fig, 11.8. Cabinets
made of plywood are also widely used in kitchens. The dimensions of stock
cabinets can be used as a guide to satisfactory dimensions for custom-built
cupboards.

130

New Houses from Old

{Courtesy of Curtis Companies, Inc., manufacturers of Curtis Woodii'ork.)
Fig. 11.7. — There is often room for storage cabinets in the remodeled bathroom.

Drawers, rather than cabinets with doors, are preferred by some house-
keepers for the storage space that is located under the counters. If drawers
are selected, they should be well made, as nothing is more annoying in a
kitchen than drawers that bind and stick. Steel cupboards and shelves can
also be custom made for kitchens. These are not made by local workmen but
are ordered from manufacturers who build them from blueprints or draw-
ings prepared by you or your architect.

At least one tall cabinet should be provided, if possible, in a kitchen for

Closets and Storage Space

131

brooms, mops, and other cleaning equipment. If ironing is to be done in
the kitchen and the ironing board is not built in, space should also be pro-
vided for its storage. One spacious cabinet 5 ft. tall can often be used for
both cleaning equipment and ironing board.

WALL CABINETS

18"

WIDTH -I5"a 18"
MIN. DEPTH- 13"

~1
18"

WIDTHS- 21
MIN. DEPTH

8 24"
- 13"

BASE CABINETS

WIDTHS- 15 "a 18"
MAX. DEPTH- 25"
MIN. DEPTH- 21 '/g

WIDTHS- 21", 24", a 30"
MAX. DEPTH- 25",,
MIN. DEPTH - 21 '/g

,F'

U-

UTILITY CABINET
(.Based on drawings and data published by the Steel Kitchen Cabinet Institute.)

Fig. 11.8. — Types and dimensions of modern steel cabinets.

Storage in the Dining Room

At one time, built-in storage space in the dining room was unnecessary.
The massive sideboards that were a part of every set of dining-room furni-
ture afforded plenty of storage space for table linens and silverware. The
family's best dishes were displayed in a good-sized china cabinet that also
came with the set. Now, however, built-in storage space often takes the place
of these once standard pieces. A glass-fronted cupboard built flush with the
wall or into a corner (Fig. 11.9) serves to display good china and glass.
Table linens are frequently stored in a built-in chest, or one built-in article
of furniture may serve for both storage and display (Fig. 11.10).

132

Nlw Houses from Old

{Hcdrich-Blessing Studio. Courtesy Curtis Companies,
Inc., Clinton, lo'.va, manufacturers of Curtis Woodzvork.)

Fig. 11.9. — A corner cupboaid can serve many purposes in remodeling. Besides
storing china and linens, it may be installed so as to conceal piping.

In deciding whether to include buih-in storage space in your remodeled
dining room, you may wish to take into account the fact that storage space
for dishes can usually be provided at less cost in the kitchen than in the
dining room. However, the deciding factor may well be that you need to
build cupboards or drawers in the dining room in order to improve the ap-
pearance or proportions of the room. Most glassware and dishes can be
stored on shelves 10 in. deep from front to back and from 8 to 12 in. high.
A few shelves 14 in. deep will be necessary for large dishes and platters.
Silverware can be stored in compartmented drawers only 10 in. in depth,
but it is more common to use a deeper drawer that will accommodate several

Closets and Storage Space

133

rows of silver. Since table linens can be folded to almost any size, stock
sizes of drawers can be used for them. Drawers measuring 30 in. wide by
18 in. deep by 10 in. high are satisfactory, but larger drawers can be used
with no inconvenience if you have space for them.

Fig. 11.10. — In modern dining rooms, the dishes are often displayed on open
shelves.

Storage in the Living Room

In the living room, closets and cupboards are used to accommodate a
miscellaneous range of articles from books to card tables. Most of these
articles can be stored in shallow cupboards or shelves, but here, again, if
deep cupboards are called for in your remodeling in order to correct some
architectural defect of the old room, do not hesitate to build them. A good
scheme of procedure in planning closets and shelves in the living room is
first to decide where they are needed for their decorative value or for correct-
ing bad proportions or irregularities. Next measure the space, and then make
up a list of the chief articles that you wish to store. Finally, plan shelf,
drawer, and door arrangements that will accommodate these articles. Living-
room storage facilities are far from standardized. A combination of imagina-
tion and good planning can produce results that are both convenient and
attractive, as a study of the living rooms pictured in this book will prove.

134 New Houses from Old

About the only kind of living-room storage facility that is more or less
standardized is bookshelves, and even these are subject to many variations.
Observe the bookshelves in Figs. 6.3, 6.6, and 6.7. A good height for book-
shelves to accommodate average-sized books is 9% in., measured from the
top surface of one shelf to the bottom of the one above. This allows room
for your fingers when you pull a book from the shelves. Medium-sized books
need shelves 10^ in. tall. Shelves 12% in. tall will accommodate most of
the large books that will be found in the average home library. In fact,
unless you own a great many large books, it is doubtful whether you will
need to build shelves of this height, since a few large books can be stored
on their sides. A good depth for bookshelves is 10 in., but if you need to
build deeper shelves to fill a deeper space, it is a simple matter to keep the
books at the front edges of the shelves by nailing small wooden strips to
the shelves at the right distance from their front edges. If your library
undergoes frequent revision, you may desire adjustable bookshelves. A num-
ber of ingenious brackets to support adjustable shelves are available. How-
ever, the average family finds fixed bookshelves convenient and satisfactory.

Storage in the Basement

The average basement is not a good place to store furniture or other
articles that deteriorate when exposed to moisture. However, if your base-
ment is dry, and particularly if it is well heated during a good portion of
the year, it may be as good a place for storage as any other area in the house.
Here, again, the kind of storage space to be built depends on what you need
to store. Also, it depends on how neat you want the basement to be. If you
plan to use the basement for a recreation room or for a home workshop,
undoubtedly you will want to keep miscellaneous articles out of sight.

Garden equipment is commonly stored in basements. Long-handled im-
plements, such as rakes and hoes, require a closet about 6 ft. in height.
Spades, shovels, lawn mowers, and smaller equipment can be stored in
closets about 5 ft. in height. A closet spacious enough so that the garden
tools can be stored without crowding is probably the most satisfactory scheme
for storing these articles in the basement. Such a closet should have a light
inside it and a door wide enough so that the lawn mower, hose reel, and the
wheelbarrow can be taken through it without difficulty. If your household
equipment includes such articles as bicycles, velocipedes, and baby car-
riages, you will probably wish to provide space in the basement for them,
also. In such a case, an excellent scheme is to build a closet of really gen-
erous size, say 8 ft. by 10 ft. and to arrange it so that the garden equipment,
baby carriage, etc., can all be stored within it.

Closets and Storage Space 135

The basement is also the conventional storage place for canned food.
Closets for the canned food should be spacious enough to accommodate all
of the food that may be stored. Approximate dimensions of cans and jars
used for home-canned foods are as follows: glass jars, pint, 3 in. in diameter
by 5% in. in height; quart, 4 in. by 7 in.; No. 2 tin cans, 3% in. by 4^2
in.; No. 2^4, 4 in. by 4%^ in. In planning shelves to accommodate either
jars or cans, you may make the shelves shallow so that only two or three
rows of jars or cans can be put on them, in which case it is not necessary
to allow space for lifting jars or cans out of the back rows, or you may
plan deep shelves and make them high enough to allow for hand space.
The shelves should be made of heavy enough lumber so that they will not
sag.

The old-time cellar with its earthen floor was an ideal place for the winter
storage of potatoes and root vegetables. Modern basements with their con-
crete floors and constant heat from the heating plant in the wintertime are
not good storage places for vegetables. However, it is a simple matter to
provide such space in a modern basement, and it is an essential one, too, if
you have a farm or large garden in connection with your home. Part of the
basement is closed off and insulated from the heating plant. The floor in this
part may be bare earth, but little harm is done if it is concrete, as enough
moisture to keep the vegetables from drying out rapidly will find its way
through the concrete, particularly if the vegetables are stored in sand that is
in contact with the floor. Ventilation to outdoor air is important for this
closet. It can usually be provided by including one of the basement windows
in the closet area. Wood is commonly used to make bins for the storage of
potatoes and root vegetables, but poured-concrete or concrete-block parti-
tions are superior since they do not rot out. In building a food-storage closet
or, in fact, any closet that runs from the basement floor to the joists and
girders above, care should be taken in regions infested by subterranean
termites not to construct a natural passageway (Chapter 15) from the
foundation or basement floor to the wood above for these pests.

Storage in the Garage

The garage is another place where storage space can be provided. In
garages with space to spare, closets and cupboards can be built on one or
both sides. However, some storage space can be provided even in narrow
garages by hanging cupboards on the wall above the front end of the car.
In garages with pitched roofs, racks can be constructed under the roof for
the storage of storm doors, screens, and — if you happen to be a home crafts-
man— ^lumber. In designing storage space in the garage, the same principle

136 New Houses from Old

should be applied as has been emphasized throughout this chapter; that is,
cupboards or closets should be dimensioned to hold the type of article that
you plan to store in them. Garden tools, the snow shovel, sleds, skis, and
other articles that have a seasonal use are the best classes of home equip-
ment for storage in detached garages. If the garage is built in the basement
and is heated in the wintertime, it can, of course, be used for the storage
of any articles that could be stored in a heated basement. It is well, how-
ever, to keep the amount of inflammable material in a garage to a minimum.
This is especially true if the garage is located in the basement with only a
plastered ceiling between it and the house above.

TJTJTJTTlJTJTJTJlJTJTJTJTJXnJTJTJTJTJTJXrLJ^^

TWELVE

Basements

1 N OLD HOUSES in the country, the basement usually has an earthen floor,
is damp and rather dark. In the condition in which you will find it, it will
be suitable for only the purpose for which the original builder intended it —
the storage of food for the traditional long winter months. In old city and
suburban homes that have not been modernized, the basement will usually
have a concrete floor, will be moderately dry, and perhaps will be moderately
well lighted. Still the space in it will not be used intensively. The heating
plant will be there and probably, also, the laundry. The rest of the space
will no doubt be devoted to miscellaneous storage. If you are remodeling
on a limited budget, you may decide to leave the basement as it is for a
while — aside from the necessary repairs — but it is quite probable that
eventually you will feel the urge to put the large amount of space in it to
uses that will contribute more to your way of living.

Some of the uses to which basements are put in modern homes are recrea-
tion room, wood- or metal-working shop, photographic darkroom, laundry,
and garage. In fact, practically any activity — even cornet practice — ^that does
not fit into the regular living quarters of the house can be moved to the
basement, whenever you can afford the moderate expense of fixing up suit-
able quarters there. There are no rules other than planning intelligently for
what you want. Furthermore, don't let the appearance of the basement when
you first see it discourage you. There is little resemblance, other than spatial,
between the appearance of an old-fashioned basement and the same base-
ment remodeled (Figs. 12.1 and 12.3).

Space Requirements of the Heating System

If the furnace or boiler burns coal or coke, the fuel bin will take up con-
siderable space. Although the number of cubic feet occupied by a ton of
solid fuel varies according to the size of the lumps, being less as the size
grows smaller, the following estimates of cubic feet per ton are satisfactory
in planning fuel bins: for anthracite coal, 40; for bituminous coal, 45; for

137

138

New Houses from Old

Fig. 12.1.— Before.

(.Courtesy United States Gypsum Company.)
Fig. 12.2. — Part of the same basement after remodeling.

(Figs. 12. \ and 12.2 from Hcdrich-Blcssiiig Studio photographs.

Basements

139

BEFORE

AFTER

(Courtesy United States Gypsum Company.)

Fig. 12.3. — Before and after floor plans of the remodeled basement shown in Figs.
12.1 and 12.2. Note that the location of the chimney was not changed.

coke, 65. The standard, oval-shaped, 275-gal. fuel-oil tank with its fittings
requires a floor space of about 30 in. by 70 in. or 40 in. by 70 in., depending
on the style of tank. The dimensions of boilers and furnaces vary greatly
and should be obtained from the manufacturer or dealer. The least bulky
are the gas-fired steam or hot-water boilers, and the bulkiest are the hand-

140 New Houses from Old

fired warm-air systems; but few heating systems together with the fuel
storage require more than one-quarter of the basement, unless only part of
the space under the house is excavated, and some types and makes of heating
systems require very much less.

Space Requirements of the Garage

Automobiles vary considerably in length but only slightly in width. A
garage that has a floor area 9 ft. 6 in. wide by 20 ft. long is spacious enough
for most modern cars. If you have two cars, the garage should have a floor
area of about 17 ft. by 20 ft. The door opening for a one-car garage should
be 8 ft. wide and for a two-car garage, 16 ft. wide. Garage doors are 6 ft. 6
in. or 7 ft. high. A headroom of 8 ft. from floor to ceiling is desirable to
provide for the door mechanism and for pipes that run overhead in the
garage space, but if there is not this much headroom available, 7 ft. will do
if a 6-ft. 6-in. door is used. If it turns out that the floor area you have avail-
able for the garage is larger than the dimensions given, you can always use
space at the front end of the garage or along the side for a bench or for
storage cupboards.

Space Requirements of the Laundry

The necessary dimensions of the laundry will depend on the equipment
that you intend to put in it. A fully equipped laundry with double laundry
tubs, a conventional type of washing machine, an electric ironer, an ironing
board, and a worktable (Fig. 12.4) requires a minimum floor area of 8 ft.
by 10 ft. On the other hand, if you will have an automatic washer, a single
laundry tub will probably be adequate. If you decide also to put the electric
ironer somewhere else in the house, the space allotted to the laundry proper
can be small indeed — about 8 ft. by 8 ft. However, if the laundry will be
used for full family washings, the area of the room should not be skimped.

The best way to plan the layout of the laundry is to measure the equip-
ment you have or to obtain from the dealer the dimensions of the equipment
you intend to buy. Then on a plan of the room, or on the floor of the area
itself, sketch the equipment in outline in the way you wish to arrange it.
Group the equipment in logical order, the washing equipment in one group
and the ironing equipment in another. If you have two worktables, put one
with the washing equipment and the other with the ironing equipment. If
you have only one table, put it between them. Clothes driers, used in some
modern homes, are rather bulky equipment, the dimensions of which are
not standardized. If you will have one, get its dimensions from the manu-

Basements

141

Fig. 12.4. — A modern home laundry.

Uoiiitfsy Lranc Company.)

(Co:irlrsy Douglas Fir Plywood Association.)
Fig. 12.5. — The basement may be used as a second living room.

142 New Houses from Old

facturer's catalogue or from the dealer. It is not necessary to locate the
clothes drier in the laundry, although this is a logical place for it if the
room is large enough. In some homes, the laundry is placed in the kitchen
or in a room adjacent to it, which location, of course, takes it out of the
basement entirely.

Space Requirements of the Recreation Room

Here, again, the required dimensions depend on the equipment you plan
to put into the room. If you are going to use it for games, you must plan its
dimensions accordingly. A small ping-pong table measures 4 ft. by 8 ft.,
but it must be placed in a floor area at least 10 ft. wide by 18 ft. long. The
larger size of ping-pong table, 5 ft. by 9 ft., requires a floor area of at least
11 ft. by 20 ft. Other games also have definite space requirements. If you
are going to use the room as a second living room, plan it as such, but do
not be too formal about it. The chief virtue of an attractive recreation room
(Fig. 12.5) is its air of attractive informality.

Special Considerations in Modernizing Basements

The structural changes that must be made, such as floor treatments, wall
and ceiling treatments, etc., in converting an old-type basement to a modern
one are discussed in other places in this book. Here it will be necessary
only to point out a few things that are sometimes overlooked.

Ventilation. If a basement is to be used comfortably for living purposes,
it must have more ventilation than is usually available in basements. A base-
ment that is located mainly underground and has tightly fitted windows does
not even have the amount of ventilation that is provided by air infiltration
in the parts of the house that are located above grade. If the house is heated
by a forced warm-air system, ventilation can easily be provided by placing
one or two warm-air registers and also a return duct for cold air in the
recreation room. If the house is heated by some other type of system, the best
scheme for ventilation is that of arranging the basement windows'so that they
can be opened and closed easily.

Heating. The necessity for heating areas that are isolated from the com-
partment that contains the boiler or furnace is sometimes overlooked when
basements are modernized. If the heating system is one that cannot supply
heat to basement rooms (Chapter 24), some other means of heating should
be provided. A fireplace with a built-in fireplace unit (Chapter 16) that
will supply heated air to the basement is an excellent way of doing this if
there is a flue available for a fireplace. Forced-air convectors of the type

Basements 143

that is used for heating garages and stores offer another way. Convectors of
this kind are mounted near the ceiling and in this position can be attached to
any steam or hot-water heating system, even systems that cannot supply
radiators in the basement. Recreation rooms and the like in compact base-
ments can sometimes be heated satisfactorily by opening the door between
them and the compartment that contains the boiler or furnace. The disad-
vantage in this method is that in mild weather when the heating system is
not operating at full capacity, there will not be enough heat, especially if the
boiler or furnace is well insulated.

Lighting and electrical outlets. The lighting should be specifically planned
for each room in the basement. The heater compartment will need a fixture
mounted on the ceiling and controlled by a switch at the head of the base-
ment stairs. If the stairs are placed so that this light does not also illuminate
them, there should be a second light on the same circuit, placed so that it
will light the stairs. The storage closet should have its individual ceiling
light, controlled by a switch located outside the door or by a switch auto-
matically operated by the door. The laundry is likewise best lighted by a
ceiling fixture, which should be controlled by a wall switch to avoid the
danger of shock while standing on the wet floor. The lighting of the recrea-
tion room should be planned to suit the uses of the room. Such a room as is
pictured in Fig. 12.5 is lighted the same as a living room, but a recreation
room that is used chiefly for games such as ping-pong will need a generous
number of ceiling lights. Lighting fixtures that are recessed in the ceiling
(Fig. 12.2) make it possible to have good illumination from the ceiling
without the inconvenience of fixtures that hang down in the restricted head-
room. Convenience outlets are not usually needed in the boiler compartment
or in the storage closet; but they should be provided in the laundry and in
basement shops or laboratories in numbers adequate for all the electrical
devices that may be connected to them. In the recreation room, convenience
outlets should be provided on the same plan as in a regular living room. As
in other parts of the house, the outlets should be on separate circuits from
the lights.

TjxnjTJxnjTJTj-iJTJxajxnjaJxriJTnjTruxrLnjT^^

THIRTEEN

How to Do Remodeling

xVfter you have read this chapter, its title may appear to you to be rather
inexact because its subject is the paper work that should precede remodeling.
However, the authors have chosen the title purposely to emphasize the im-
portance of this preliminary paper work. If you were going to build a new
house, undoubtedly you would seek information and advice in many quarters
and do much weighing and thinking before you signed the contract for the
construction of the house. You have even more of a problem in an extensive
remodeling operation, for you will want the final result to be as satisfactory,
or even more so, as if you were building a new house; yet, unless you have
a considerable amount of money to spend, you must achieve this result
without too much alteration of the existino; structure.

Should You Employ an Architect?

This is the first major question that you must decide and, depending on
your knowledge of house building and other circumstances, the most im-
portant. If the remodeling is going to be extensive and if you have no more
than the average person's knowledge of house construction, the right answer
is that you should employ an architect. An architect is a trained specialist
in building. He not only knows the standard materials and methods but also
will be informed about new ones that may give you a better remodeled house
or a less costly one. Furthermore, he is a specialist in the legal details such
as building-code requirements, specifications, and contracts. Also, he will
have "inside" information about such things as whether certain materials
and equipment give satisfactory service and which of the local contractors
do conscientious work and which ones cut corners on the specifications if
they can get away with it. The architect will charge you a fee. The exact per-
centage varies from one locality to another, but in remodeling, it is usually
10 per cent of the total cost of the job. However, he will earn it. In fact, you
may not be out of pocket at all on account of his fee, for he may be able
to save you all of it, either by talking you out of changes that would cost

144

How to Do Remodeling 145

more than they would be worth to you, or by getting better results for the
money you spend than you would get if you did the remodeling without him.
Nevertheless, much remodeling is done without an architect. Small opera-
tions, such as the modernization of a kitchen or a bathroom, can usually be
done successfully without hiring an architect. If you have a fair knowledge of
building methods or are one of those fortunate persons to whom working
with tools is second nature, you may be able to carry out the complete re-
modeling of a house without expert advice or help. Certainly many Jacks-of-
all-trades have remodeled houses. The results are sometimes indifferent; on
the other hand, sometimes they are very good. In any case, if you are going
to do the work or even undertake the supervision of it yourself, you will
have to do the preliminary planning thoroughly and well.

Your Object in Remodeling

The success of the remodeling operation will depend largely on how well
you think out, first, what you want to accomplish by remodeling and, second,
how to get what you want without spending more than you can afford.
More than anything else, you will need a practical attitude toward the prob-
lem. If you have plenty of money, it will be practical for you to do almost
anything you wish with the existing house; but if your funds are limited,
you will have to aim at making changes that will not cost too much. One
extreme of remodeling is illustrated in Figs. 2.30 to 2.33. An almost new
house was built and the cost was considerable, although the finished house
is well worth all it cost. The other extreme is illustrated in Figs. 13.1 and
13.2. Here the living room was well built but unattractive. It was trans-
formed by removing the moldings and bracket lamps from the walls, by
building a wallboard partition to conceal the irregular corners, to support
the decorative bookcases, and to frame the window, by replacing the glass
in the old-fashioned French doors with wood panels, and by refinishing the
floors and other woodwork. The window appears to have been changed, but
this is an illusion created by the wide Venetian blind and the draperies.
The whole operation cost very little because no structural changes were at-
tempted.

Your attitude toward your remodeling may be determined by the house
itself. If it is a fine house built in colonial times or even later, you will plan
the remodeling to preserve as much of the existing structure as possible; but
if it is an undistinguished house, even though it is well built, you will plan
to change it as much as is necessary in order to get the living accommoda-
tions that you want. Only you in collaboration with your family can analyze
all of the factors in the situation; and all that the authors can do for you

146

New Houses from Old

HHHHHHbs

Fig. 13.1. — Before.

{Richard Avcrill Smith.)

(Richard Avcrill S)nith.)

Fig. 13.2. — After. Effective remodeling does not always require expensive structural
changes. In this case, even the original doors were used by substituting a wood
panel for the glass.

How to Do Remodeling 147

in this respect is urge you to make your analysis a thorough one and not
to attempt any reconstruction until you are certain that you know clearly
what you want in the remodeled house and exactly how you are going to
get it.

Getting Information on Remodeling

Successful remodeling is based on good ideas. Your interest in remodel-
ing may have arisen because you are in possession of a house that needs
remodeling or because you intend to purchase a house to remodel. In either
case, you will have some ideas about what you want the house to be like
after it is remodeled, but the ideas may not be very clear. If you are like
other people who become interested in remodeling, you will not only benefit
by but also enjoy searching for descriptions of other remodeled houses and
information about new building materials and equipment. The list, Useful
Books and Pamphlets, near the end of this volume will serve to put you on
the track of much data on almost any remodeling problem. The best places
to look for case histories of successful remodeling are the architectural and
homemaking magazines, of which any public library will have a good stock.
The contents of most of these magazines are indexed regularly in The Read-
ers' Guide to Periodical Literature and The Art Index, which are on file in
most public libraries.

Sweet's Architectural Catalogs, copies of which are found in architects'
offices and also in medium-sized and large public libraries, are excellent
sources of information about building materials and equipment. The Home
Owners' Catalogs, published by the F. W. Dodge Corporation, contain a
selected group of catalogues of home equipment. This book is distributed
only in the states east of the Rocky Mountains and to families who are plan-
ning to build new houses or to remodel extensively existing ones within one
year of the time when a copy is requested. The National Bureau of Stand-
ards, Washington, D. C, issues publications that are useful in repairing and
remodeling houses. Many other government agencies, trade associations, and
manufacturers issue publications from time to time that are of interest in
remodeling. Some manufacturers and dealers, including the large mail-order
houses, will give considerable help in the solving of remodeling problems.

Plans and Sketches

Plans and sketches that are drawn to scale are absolutely necessary in
remodeling. If you are a fairly good artist, a freehand sketch will serve
when you wish to put down an idea tentatively, but nothing ether than a

148

New Houses from Old

Fig. 13.3. — One of the first steps in planning remodeling is to draw a scaled floor
plan of the existing structure.

scaled drawing will show whether you can actually arrange a floor plan
or equip a room as you wish. Scale drawings of the kind that you need in
planning can be made easily by the use of graph paper (also called co-

The outlines in Figs. 13.4 and 13.5 indicate the floor area required by typical
household furniture and equipment. The solid lines show the most common dimen-
sions, and the dotted lines the common alternative dimensions. The outlines are
drawn to the scale Y^ in. = 1 ft., hence they can easily be altered to suit furniture
of still other dimensions. To make templates, paste the sheets to stiff cardboard,
then cut out the individual outlines.

150

New Houses from Old

LENGTH OF PARLOR
GRAND -81"
CONCERT GRANDS
RUN UP TO 108" LENGTH

36"

PIANO BENCH

28"

CABINET
RADIO

60"

CONSOLE PIANO

CLUB
CHAIR

BARREL
CHAIR

WING
CHAIR

LOVE SEAT

32"

CARD
TABLE

SECRETARY

24"

END
TABLE

18" -

STRAIGHT
CHAIR

WINDSOR
CHAIR

THESE DIMENSIONS ARE COMMON TO
A VARIETY OF STRAIGHT CHAIRS, IN-
CLUDING BEDROOM, DINING ROOM,
DESK, AND KITCHEN CHAIRS.

42"

COFFEE
TABLE

26"

ROUND
TABLES
ARE MADE
IN MANY
DIAMETERS

60"

DINING
TABLE

42"

CHINA
CABINET

60"
SIDEBOARD

Fig. 13.4.

How to Do Remodeling
F-IT

T 1 J 16"

23'

L -

WATER
CLOSET

COR.

Lav.

20"

STALL SHOWER SHELF BACK
LAVATORY

LEG
LAVATORY

54"

DOUBLE
BED

48"

THREE-
QUARTER
BED

151

48"

SINK

44"
RANGE ki

REFRIGERATOR

34"

DAY
BED

OVERALL
DIMEN-
SIONS

BED DIMENSIONS EXCEPT DAY BED ARE INSIDE DIMENSIONS. FOR

OVERALL DIMENSIONS ADD 4 IN. TO LENGTH FOR METAL BEDS

AND 4 IN. OR MORE TO BOTH LENGTH AND WIDTH FOR WOOD BEDS.

39"

1
1
1

CHAISE
LOUNGE

36"
bo

1
1
1

._ J i

DRESSER OR
CHEST OF
DRAWERS

DRESSING TABLE

18" J.

y* — btlNUH

1
1
1

36"
DESK

Osl

NIGHT ^

TABLE

Fig. 13.5.

How to Do Remodeling 153

ordinate paper). This paper is available in various rulings, but a con-
venient one for use in house planning has eight lines to the inch. This
number of lines permits the use of one side of a square as the equivalent
of 1 ft. for a scale of ^s in. equals 1 ft., which is a good scale for the first
drawings. After the planning has advanced somewhat and you need to make
certain of the placing of furniture and equipment, it is well to use a larger
scale, which can be done on the same paper. For example, by using the
sides of four squares as the equivalent of 1 ft., drawings can be made on
the scale of /4 in. equals 1 ft. Or if you wish to use the furniture and equip-
ment outlines in Figs. 13.4 and 13.5, which are drawn to the scale of
^4 in. equals 1 ft., scale your second drawings by using the sides of two
squares as equal to 1 ft.

A good procedure in remodeling is to draw first the plan of the room or
floor as it exists. This should be drawn in pencil; then when the whole plan
is correctly drawn, the lines should be inked, preferably with India ink, so
that they will not rub off as you continue to work on the sheet. The changes
that are to be made in the remodeling can then be drawn in pencil. Erase
and alter these as much as you wish, and after you have them right, ink
these lines with a different color of ink. Another scheme for distinguishing
between existing and new construction is to indicate the first with shaded
lines and the second with solid lines (Fig. 2.26). Architects sometimes indi-
cate existing construction that is to be removed by using dotted lines.

The drawings that you have made in this way will not serve as working
drawings unless you are going to do the remodeling yourself. However, they
can be taken to your architect or builder to show him what you want done.
If the actual work will be undertaken by a contractor or if plans must be
filed in order to obtain a building permit, a complete set of working draw-
ings must be prepared. These drawings are usually made in an architect's
office. They are drawn in pencil, and after you have approved them, several
blueprint copies are made for use by the architect and builder, for filing
with the municipal authority that issues the building permit, and as a record
for you.

Changes in the exterior of the house require a different technique. Here
you will be concerned with the effect that the changes you are contemplating
will have on the appearance of the house as it is viewed from the outside. If
an architect is in charge of the remodeling, he will probably have scaled
drawings made of the elevations (sides) of the house that will be changed
in the remodeling. Such drawings, if they are to be of much use, require
careful measuring of all the important details (Fig. 13.13) of the fagade.
They are too difficult for amateurs to attempt.

Architectural photographs. Fortunately, there is a simpler way of finding
out how your house will appear if you make exterior changes; and it is

154

New Houses from Old

necessary only that you know how to take architectural photographs or that
you hire someone who does know to take them for you. The photographs
should be made with an anastigmatic lens so that the lines of the house
will not be distorted by the camera. If you take the photographs yourself,
place the camera on a tripod or some other solid support. Stop the lens
down to make the photograph sharp, and time the exposure to produce a
negative with good contrasts. The camera should be centered in relation to
the side of the house you are photographing, as shown in Fig. 13.6.

HOUSE

CAMERA

Fig. 13.6. — Place the camera squarely in relation to the house to obtain a photo-
graph for enlarging to scale.

A camera that has a front that can be tilted is an advantage but is not
absolutely necessary. Have an enlargement made from the negative of such
a size that the dimensions of the house in the picture will have some easily
calculated relationship to the actual dimensions of the house. For example,
if the side of the house that you have photographed is 30 ft. wide, making
it 7% in. wide in the enlargement will give you a scale of ^4 i"- equals 1 ft.
When you have the finished enlargement home, fasten it with thumbtacks
to a drawing board or table top, tack tracing paper over it, and draw the
house on the tracing paper. Next, remove the tracing paper and tack it
down over a sheet of graph paper. You will then be ready to draw in the
alterations that you wish to make and to judge their effects.

Figs. 13.7 and 13.8 illustrate another way in which photographs can be

How to Do Remodeling

155

Fig. 13.7. — A photograph taken as remodeling was started.

Fig. 13.8. — Artist's rendering based on the photograph. It shows a possible appear-
ance of the house after remodeling.

(Fir/s. 13.7 and 13. S, courtesy Johiis-Manvillc Sales Corporation.)

156

New Houses from Old

Fig. 13.9.

How to Do Remodeling

29 '-9

157

SlDE^WJiUK.

FIRST FILOORPT>.ATKir —

Fig. 13.10.

SiDSl Wal,ic

158

New Houses from Old

29-9

-29-9'-

BIKCOMB FILO OR F]L.AM-

— SC^qLE g V4"=l-0" —
Fig. 13.11.

How to Do Remodeling

159

H2-o"l*-

2-r ' -M2-0 H-
^E(aTIOM''!A-A.^^

-^2'0"U-

Fig. 13.12.

160

New Houses from Old

fOf;^

How to Do Remodeling 161

used. Here the photographer has taken a view of the house from one corner,
and a drawing has been made from the photograph to show a possible ap-
pearance of the remodeled house. When the photograph is made from an
angle in this way, it is not easy for a person who has not had some training
in drawing to draw the proposed alterations in their true proportions; but
if you understand the principles of perspective drawing or can get someone
who does to help you, you will find these views from an angle very helpful
in visualizing the finished house.

Plan reading. Figs. 13.9 to 13.13 are reproductions of part of a set* of
working drawings for a small modern house. The working drawings that
are necessary for the remodeling of your house may be much simpler than
these, or they may be more complicated, depending on the work that is to be
done; but these drawings are shown to give you an idea of the details that
are necessary on good working drawings.

Observe how many dimensions must be given even though the drawings
are made to a precise scale. As in most architectural drawings, the mark '
is used to indicate feet and the mark " to indicate inches; thus 7'6" means
7 ft. 6 in. Notice how the framing details are indicated when they cannot
be shown. For example, "2-x-6's over. 16" o.c." in the two larger bedrooms
on the second floor means that joists of 2-in. by 6-in. lumber, spaced 16 in.
from the longitudinal center of one joist to the longitudinal center of the
next, are to be used in the framing of the bedroom ceilings. The arrows
indicate the direction that the joists are to run. As you can see, the locations
of permanent equipment such as bathroom fixtures, radiators, and radiator
cabinets, even window screens, are all clearly shown. Doors are indicated
by straight lines and short arcs to indicate the direction of swing. Double-
hung windows are shown by straight lines, but casement windows are indi-
cated similarly to doors. Observe how the details and dimensions of the
fireplace and chimney, including the diameters of the two flues, are shown.

The accurate reading of plans is in itself an art that can be learned fully
only by much study or experience, but you will not need to learn much of
it in order to do your remodeling successfully. Although many symbols are
used, the meaning of most of them will be obvious when you have a set of
plans before you. Some of the standard symbols used in house plans are
shown in Fig. 13.14. Electrical symbols are shown in Fig. 29.5.

Contracts and Related Legal Matters

The importance of written contracts when the remodeling will be done
for you cannot be too strongly emphasized. Because many remodeling opera-

* The complete set appears in G. H. Cooper's Building Construction Estimating, N. Y.,
McGraw-Hill, 1945, from wliich these drawings are reprinted by permission of the author.

162

New Houses from Old

^^'

rt\

ROUGH WOOD

V)l)

1 \

<///

y jI

METAL

GUT STONE

^ ■ •-

^•/ ;> -v .

CONCRETE

"JTTi .1, ^ -J

FINISH WOOD ROUGH WOOD EARTH PLASTER

Fig. 13.14. — Architectural symbols for common materials.

tions involve small amounts of money in comparison to new construction,
homeowners are prone to undertake them without bothering with such legal
formalities as written contracts. Misunderstandings between an owner and
a builder occur even when the work is covered by a written contract; and
if there is nothing between you and your builder but a verbal agreement, the
chances of irritating and costly disagreements will be greatly multiplied. If
you employ an architect, he will usually have the contract documents drawn
up as part of his services to you, but you may still want a lawyer to look
over them. If you don't employ an architect, you will certainly need the
services of a lawyer, since practically all standard contract forms must be
modified to adapt them to particular cases of remodeling.

A good and widely used contract form is the American Institute of Archi-
tects' American Institute of Architects' Short Form for Small Construction
Contracts. Although this copyrighted form is intended primarily for new
construction, it can readily be adapted to remodeling operations. The In-
stitute recommends its use only when the proposed work is simple in char-
acter, when it is sinall in cost, and when a stipulated sum forms the basis
of payment. This form consists of four parts: an agreement between the con-
tractor and owner, a statement of the general conditions of the contract, the
drawings, and the specifications. The drawings must, of course, be expertly
prepared working drawings. Forms covering other types of building opera-
tions are also issued by the Institute, which does not, however, issue a special
form for remodeling. Standard forms for building contracts are also sold by
dealers in legal forms.

The specifications in the contract are exact descriptions of the materials
that are to be used and the manner in which they are to be installed. If you
put the work in charge of an architect, he will attend to the specifications,
but if you have the contract drawn up by a lawyer, you will probably have
to supply the specifications. Most manufacturers will furnish specifications

How to Do Remodeling 163

for their products on request. For example, if you are going to install a
copper roof on your house, you will be able to obtain a recommended form
of specifications for the installation from a manufacturer of this kind of
roofing. A collection of specifications that is often useful in drawing up a
contract for remodeling is the Home Owners' Loan Corporation's Master
Specifications, which is listed in Useful Books and Pamphlets.

In most communities, remodeling operations that are in the nature of
repairs do not require the issuing of building permits; but operations that
involve structural changes in the house or the installation of plumbing come
under the same laws as new building. In cities and villages there are usually
building codes that apply to remodeling as well as to new construction.
Building permits are usually required in such communities. Some states, also,
have building or sanitary codes that apply throughout the state including
the rural districts. Workmen's compensation insurance, which provides for
payment to workers who may be killed or injured while at work on your
property, will be your responsibility in most states if you hire the men
directly. Unless you are well informed on such matters, you will need the
advice of someone who is an expert in them.

Financing Remodeling

There are two general methods of borrowing for remodeling. The first is
to obtain a loan on the basis of your income and credit rating. This method
does not require the pledging of the property for security. Loans of this
type are usually short-term — that is, they must be repaid within a compara-
tively short period, five years, three years, or less. The second method is
to place a mortgage on the property as security for the loan, or if it is
already mortgaged, to increase the amount of the existing loan. This method
is used when the amount of money needed is comparatively large. The
period, or term, for repayment may be longer, and the transaction is handled
in much the same way as a loan for new construction. Loans guaranteed by
the Federal Housing Administration are usually available for remodeling;
and veterans may borrow for remodeling under the G.I. Bill of Rights.

Information about the types of loans available and the charges and terms
for them is best obtained from a bank, savings and loan association, or other
lending institution in your community at the time when you are ready to
begin your remodeling. However, if you can pay for the remodeling without
borrowing, by all means do so, for then the money that you spend will go
to pay for its actual cost rather than partly for interest and other charges
that usually must be paid when money is borrowed.

\njTJTJTJTJ\rLriJTJTJTJTJXriJUlJTJTJXrUTJT^^

FOURTEEN

Masonry Work

IVXasonry includes concrete that is cast in place and structural units,
such as concrete block, brick, structural clay, and stone, which are usually
set in mortar. Masonry work in remodeling may involve the repair of exist-
ing masonry or the construction of new.

Concrete

The ingredients of concrete are usually Portland cement, sand and gravel
(aggregates), and water.

Portland cement. Portland cement is not a brand name but is the name
of a kind of cement, of which there are many excellent brands produced by
various manufacturers. Portland cement is sold in heavy paper bags, each
of which contains 94 lb. (equal to 1 cu. ft.) of cement. Four bags are equal
to one barrel. Portland cement must be protected from dampness. When it
is purchased, it should be dry and free flowing and it should be stored so
that it will remain dry until it is used. Cement that has become slightly
lumpy in the bag can be used if the lumps pulverize when struck lightly;
but if the lumps are hard and difiicult to break up, the cement should be dis-
carded.

Sand. Sand for concrete should be clean, sharp, and of a suitable fineness.
Sand from ocean beaches should not be used. It is especially important that
the sand should contain the least possible amount of organic matter. Wher-
ever washed sand is available, it should be used in preference to unwashed
sand from a gravel bank. Where washed sand is not available, unwashed
pit sand is commonly used. However, even though the sand has the reputa-
tion of making good concrete, it should be tested if it appears to be dirty.
Suspected sand can be tested for dirt by placing a layer of it about 4 in.
deep in a quart fruit jar, nearly filling the jar with water, shaking thor-
oughly, and allowing the mixture to stand overnight. In the morning, dirt
in the sand will have settled on top of it, forming a band between the clean
sand and the water. If there is more than a trace of dirt, do not use the sand

164

Masonry Work 165

unless you are willing to undertake the labor of washing it. A test with
sodium hydroxide — ^the procedure for which is described in most books on
concrete work — is more reliable and should be made if sand of doubtful
quality must be used on an important job.

Small quantities of sand, such as may be needed for a small batch of
mortar, can be washed in a pail by swirling the sand in plenty of water.
The washing of larger quantities requires some homemade equipment. A
flat-bottomed wooden trough about 2 ft. wide and 14 ft. long and with sides
4 to 6 in. high is made of fairly heavy lumber. A fine wire screen with forty
meshes to the linear inch is built into the bottom of the trough about 4 ft.
from its end; and a coarser screen — about eight meshes to the inch — is built
in about 2 ft. from the same end. The finished trough is supported on trestles
so that its higher end is 5 or 6 ft. above the ground and its lower end is
about 1% ft. from the ground. The trough is placed so that the screens are
at the lower end. The dirty sand is shoveled into the upper end of the trough,
and water from a hose is played on it. The water and sand mixture will flow
down the trough, water and dirt will pass through the fine screen, the sand
will pass through the coarser screen, and the gravel will roll out at the end
of the trough.

Even though the untreated sand from a pit or bank is clean, it should be
screened, since the correct proportioning of fine and coarse aggregates is
one of the requirements for good concrete. The sand as it comes from the
pit should be passed through a screen with four openings per linear inch
to separate the sand from the gravel. Gravel as coarse as 1% in. in diameter
can be used in walls 4 in. or more thick. Gravel as coarse as % in. in diam-
eter can be used in concrete from 2 to 4 in. thick. Coarser gravel should be
picked out or, if there is much of it, screened out. When handling sand and
gravel, always place lumber on the ground to receive it. The lumber will
protect it from dirt and will make cleaning up of the area much easier Avhen
the work is done.

Water. Water for use in concrete should be clean and free of salt, alkali,
and the products of decaying vegetable matter. "Water fit to drink" is the
usual rule, and it is a good one.

Other ingredients. Although the materials that have just been discussed
are all that are used in most concrete, other materials are sometimes added
or substituted. Stone that has been crushed and screened for concrete making
is the equivalent of gravel and can be used in place of it. Cinders are widely
used as the aggregate in making lightweight concrete blocks. Their use in
home-mixed concrete is always a gamble and should not be attempted in a
large batch until a small experimental batch has been made and tested.

166 New Houses from Old

Cinders as they come from the furnace are never suitable until they have
been washed and screened.

Sometimes it is desirable to color cement. Suitable natural pigments and
manufactured pigments are available for the purpose. Pigments recom-
mended for the more popular colors are red, red oxide of iron (Indian red) ;
blue, cobalt blue; green, chromium oxide; gray or black, magnetic black
oxide of iron. A weight of pigment that equals 10 per cent of the weight of
the cement used in the mix will produce deep shades; smaller percentages
will produce light shades. Unless the manufacturer's directions specifically
recommend a larger proportion, the quantity of pigment should not exceed
10 per cent.

Cement and mortar formulas. Cement and mortar formulas are stated in
volumes rather than in weights and are abbreviated as follows: 1:3:5, which
means 1 volume Portland cement, 3 volumes sand, 5 volumes gravel. If only
two numbers appear in the formula, thus 1 : 2, these are read 1 volume Port-
land cement, 2 volumes sand. However, sometimes three numbers, thus
1:1:2, may read 1 volume Portland cement, 1 volume hydrated lime (or
lime paste), 2 volumes sand. In computing volumes, 1 bag of Portland
cement is always taken to be the equivalent of 1 cu. ft. Sand and gravel
are usually purchased by the cubic yard (27 cu. ft.), but in some localities
they are sold by the ton. A ton of sand or crushed stone measures about 22
cu. ft.; a ton of gravel, 20 cu. ft.

Estimating quantities. The shape and fineness of the aggregates have a
considerable effect on the quantities of dry materials needed for a given
quantity of concrete, consequently none of the several methods of estimating
gives precise results. Quantities can be estimated approximately from the
data in Fig. 14.1, which is adapted from a table that appears in several
publications of the Portland Cement Association.

Proportioning the water. It is very important not to put too much water
in concrete and mortar mixes. Five gallons of water for each bag of cement
is the maximum amount that should be used in concrete prepared for the
usual jobs in remodeling, such as the making of basement walls, footings
for posts, concrete floors and walks. If the mix produced with this amount
is too stiff, decrease the amount of sand slightly; but if it is too wet, decrease
the amount of water. In preparing mortar, enough water should be added
to make a workable mass, but mortars should never be sloppy.

Mixing concrete. The best way to mix concrete is to use a power-driven
mixer. In many communities the only way to rent a mixer is to hire also
the man who owns it; but inasmuch as he will be an expert on its operation
and presumably also on the mixing of concrete, this should be no disad-
vantage. Ingredients, including water, should be as carefully measured when

Masonry Work

167

Fig. 14.1
Approximate Amounts in Cubic Feet Required per 100 Sq. Ft. of Surface

Concrete

Thickness, inches

Formula

Materials

1:2:3

Cement

6.5

8.6

10.8

Sand

13.0

17.2

21.6

Gravel

19.3

25.8

32.2

1:2^:33^

Cement

5.5

7.3

9.1

Sand

17.6

18.1

22.6

Gravel

19.1

25.4

31.8

1:3:5

Cement

4.3

5.7

7.1

Sand

12.8

17.0

28.4

Gravel

21.3

28.4

35.5

Mortar

Thickness, inches

Formula

Materials

1:2

Cement

1.5

2.0

4.0

Sand

3.0

4.0

7.9

1:3

Cement

1.1

1.5

3.0

Sand

3.4

4.4

8.9

a mixer is used as when concrete is hand-mixed. The mixer should not be
loaded above its rated capacity, and it should be run at least two minutes
for each batch. A strong, open-bottomed measuring box with handles for
lifting it will be needed for measuring the sand and gravel. The box may
have inside measurements of 12 in. deep by 12 in, wide by 12 in. long, thus
giving it a capacity of 1 cu. ft. The box is used by placing it on the loading
scoop of the mixer or on the mixing platform if the concrete is to be hand-
mixed. The sand or gravel is shoveled into it and leveled off; then the box
is lifted, leaving the aggregate on the platform. The cement need not be meas-
ured in the box, since a bag contains 1 cu. ft.

If only a moderate quantity of concrete is needed or if no mixer is avail-

168

New Houses from Old

able, the mixing may be done on a wooden mixing platform. One-inch
tongued-and-grooved lumber is a good material of which to make the plat-
form, and 8 ft. by 12 ft. is a convenient size. A smaller size can be used for
small quantities, and small batches of mortar and grout can be mixed in a
pail. The procedure for mixing on a platform is as follows. The aggregates
are measured on the platform. The dry cement is poured over them in a
fairly uniform layer. The dry pile is turned over with the shovel until no
streaks of pure cement or uncoated aggregate are visible and the color is uni-
form. A conical hole is then made in the pile, and the measured water is
poured into it. The dry materials around the circumference are then shoveled
into the water in such a way that none of the water is lost. Finally, the wet
paste is shoveled to distribute the moisture evenly through it.

Implements used in the mixing should be cleaned thoroughly when the
work is halted and always before the adhering cement has hardened. A
mixer can be cleaned by running a batch of clean sand and water through it;
shovels can be washed with water; and the mixing platform should be
scraped, then washed.

I L ,

y/Mm

Fig. 14.2. — A. Cross section of simple stud form for wall. Suitable for use when
wall to be poured is not over 4 ft. in height and earth is firm enough to serve as
outer form. B. Plank and stake form for walk or footing.

Forms for concrete. Typical forms for walks, footings, and walls are
shown in Figs. 14.2 and 14.4. Vertical forms such as are used for walls must
be rigid and well braced. A form such as is shown in Fig. 14.4 can be
braced with stakes or by running 2-by-6's or heavier lumber across the

Masonry Work

169

8 PENNY COMMON NAILS,.
OR FORM NAILS

RANGER-
BRACE-

NAILING

STONE BRACE-

30 PENNY COMMON NAILS
LEAVE HEAD PROJECTING
FOR EASY REMOVAL.

Kmm^^^'

footing-
Fig. 14.3. — Cross section of double form for poured concrete walL Used for walls
over 4 ft. high or when earth will not serve as outer form.

excavation to the form for the opposite wall. Enough wires and spreaders
(Fig. 14.3) should be used so that the forms will not be distorted by the
weight of the wet concrete. The spreaders are designed to be removed as the
concrete reaches them in the pouring. A wire attached to each one and tacked
temporarily to the top of the form will be a safeguard against leaving some
of them in the concrete. The tie wires are left in the concrete. Forms should
be made level and plumb before the braces are nailed.

Openings for pipes can be made by placing in the form a section of pipe
of a diameter somewhat larger than the pipe that will pass through the
opening. These sections of pipe remain in the concrete. Boxes of the required
size and shape are built into the form to make the openings for windows. If
wooden window frames are to be installed in the finished wall, dovetail-
shaped wooden blocks are fastened to the outside of the box. These remain
in the concrete, and the window frames are later attached to them. If metal
frames are to be used, these are built into the boxes so that their edges pro-
trude. The exterior surfaces of the boxes should be lightly painted with
automobile oil to prevent adhesion of concrete to them. The adhesion of
cement to the form facing also can be prevented by painting the forms with

170

New Houses from Old

used motor oil, but oil should not be used if you plan to apply paint or
another finish to the concrete or if the oil will interfere with the use of the
lumber in another part of the remodeling operation. A paste or jelly made
from laundry soap is somewhat less effective in preventing adhesion but is
more easily removed from the concrete and the lumber.

Placing of concrete. Concrete should be placed in the forms within thirty
minutes after it is mixed. If possible, the work should be planned so that it
can be completed without interruption. This is particularly important for
structures that are meant to hold water, as joints between one day's work
and the next will almost certainly leak. In shallow forms the mix should
be tamped as it is placed. In deep forms it should be spaded, and if reinforc-
ing steel is being used, it should be worked with a steel rod. Tamping, spad-
ing, and rodding are done to eliminate air bubbles and holes and to work
the mix into all parts of the form. The spade is also used to produce a smooth
face on the wall. It is inserted next to the face, then rocked backward slightly

2X4 STUDS SPACED

24 IN. CENTER TO CENTER

FACING OF I- IN.
BOARDS OR 3/4
PLYWOOD

3 X 4 OR 4 X 4 RANGERS
LOWEST SPACED I FT
UP FROM BOTTOM OF
WALL. HIGHER ONES
MAY BE SPACED AT
GREATER DISTANCES.
RANGERS OFTEN OMIT
TED IF WALL TO BE
POURED IS LESS
THAN 5 FT. HIGH.

TIE WIRE
{No. 8 IRON WIRE )

RANGERS BUTTED
HERE. JOINTS
SPLICED WITH
METAL STRAPS
OR WOOD BLOCKS

2X4 SOLE

Fig. 14.4. — Detail of inside corner of wall form built on the same principles as the
form shown in Fig. 14.3.

Masonry Work 171

into the wet mix. This forces the coarse aggregates away from the face and
permits the finer materials to flow in next to it. If it is worked too much,
wet concrete tends to separate, the water and lighter materials coming to the
top and forming a scum called laitance on the surface. Spading and rodding
should, therefore, be limited to the least that is necessary to insure that the
form is solidly filled. Concrete may separate somewhat if it is jolted over
rough ground on the way from the mixer to the form. The same effect may
be produced if it is dropped more than 3 or 4 ft. in placing it in the form.
Too great a drop can be avoided when a deep form such as a well lining is
being filled by using a chute or a sheet-metal pipe.

Damp-curing of concrete. The curing (hardening) of concrete and mortar
is a chemical process that requires the presence of water. To insure complete
curing, the surfaces of concrete that are not in contact with forms must be
kept moist. Horizontal surfaces may be covered with a 1-in. layer of wet
sand, earth, or sawdust or with a 6-in. layer of wet straw. Vertical surfaces
should be covered with burlap, old carpeting, or some other textile material,
which is then kept moist by occasional sprinkling. Concrete and mortar
made with regular-type Portland cement should be damp-cured for seven
days.

Finishing concrete. Floors and walks are often placed in two layers, the
first of which contains a regular concrete mix with some coarse aggregate.
This layer is then topped, preferably in not less than forty-five minutes, with
a layer at least % in. thick of a 1:2 mortar mix. If color is desired, either
colored sand or colored cement can be used in this layer. The top layer is
struck off level with the top of the form by passing a straight-edged piece
of lumber over it, using a sawing motion. The surface is then smoothed with
a wooden float, and finally it can be tooled to mark it off in sections or in
an irregular pattern. A steel trowel should not be used for the final smooth-
ing, as it will make a slick surface that will be slippery. If the top layer
cannot be applied before the base has become hard, before it is topped the
base should be painted with a grout of straight Portland cement and water.

Walls and other vertical surfaces can be given a number of attractive
integral finishes. Using a material such as plywood as facing for the forms
will produce a smooth surface. Coarse-grained lumber or lumber applied in
a pattern can be used to produce various novelty effects. Finishing methods
after the forms are removed include rubbing, hammering, scrubbing, and
sand-floating. For a rubbed finish, the concrete is allowed to become hard,
then the surface is wet with water and rubbed with a carborundum block.
A hammered finish is made by chipping off a thin layer of the surface by
striking it with a bush hammer. To produce a scrubbed finish, it is necessary
to remove the forms while the surface of the concrete is still green (slightly

172 New Houses from Old

soft). A layer about ^4 6 i"- i^ thickness is then removed by scrubbing with
a wire brush, thus exposing the coarse aggregate. The forms are also re-
moved while the concrete is green to produce a sanded finish. Sand is then
rubbed into the soft surface with a steel trowel or wooden float. A circular
motion with the tool is necessary to avoid streaks and patterns.

Even though the concrete is not to be given an integral finish, any holes
or honeycombed areas that are found when the forms are removed should be
filled. This is done by dampening the areas, then pressing into them a 1:2
mortar mix. The patches should be damp-cured, the same as new concrete.

Concrete can also be painted with various types of paint (Chapter 23),
and it forms an excellent base for stucco (Chapter 19).

W atertight concrete. Making concrete so that it will be watertight is de-
sirable not only in septic tanks and other structures designed to hold water
but in walls and floors as well, since these are often placed where they must
resist the passage of water. Many tests have demonstrated that concrete can
be made watertight if good-quality ingredients are used and are correctly
proportioned, if the amount of water in the mix is carefully controlled, and
if the concrete is correctly placed. Many waterproofing compounds that are
designed to be mixed with the concrete to make it watertight are on the
market. Those that contain metal stearates of one kind or another will de-
crease the tendency of water to move through the wall by capillary action,
but their effectiveness in resisting the passage of flowing water is open to
question.

Concrete Block and Tile

The only difference between concrete block and tile is in their dimensions,
the smaller sizes being called tile. Concrete blocks are useful materials in
remodeling. They can be used, for example, to build basement walls under
an existing house. Since no forms are required and the blocks can be handled
easily by one man, the operation is simpler and less expensive than the
building of a cast-in-place concrete wall under the sa^fie conditions. Concrete
block can also be used to build walls above grade and chimneys. Two types
are available in most localities. The standard type is made of the same ma-
terials as Portland-cement concrete and is the preferred kind for basement
walls. The other type is made with cinders or some other lightweight aggre-
gate and is suitable for walls aboveground, particularly walls that are to be
stuccoed.

Standard sizes are shown in Fig. 14.5, but other sizes and styles may be
available locally. Estimating the number of blocks needed is best done by
dividing the number of square inches in the face of one block into the total

173

UNITS SHOWN ARE CHIEFLY FOR 8 IN. WALLS. UNITS ARE MADE ALSO IN 10 IN. AND
12 IN. NOMINAL WIDTH FOR THICKER WALLS. MOST UNITS ARE REGULARLY MANU-
FACTURED ALSO IN HALF -UNITS WHICH ARE HALF AS LONG AS REGULAR UNITS.

Fig. 14.5. — Standard shapes of concrete block and tile.

number of square inches in the net area of the walls to be built. The net
area is found by calculating the gross area of the exterior faces of two
parallel walls and the gross area of the interior faces of the other two walls
(thus avoiding counting the corners twice) and deducting the areas of
openings.

The mortar joints are the critical factors in building satisfactory walls of
concrete block. A 1:3 Portland-cement mortar with hydrated lime not ex-
ceeding 25 per cent of the cement by volume should be used in joints below
grade unless the wall is to be coated on the exterior with Portland cement as
a waterproofing measure, in which case a 1:6 mortar with hydrated lime
equal to I volume of the cement can be used. The latter mix is satisfactory
in any case for joints above grade. Mortar is placed only on the ends of the
blocks and on the edges that parallel the faces. The webs (inner partitions)
are not coated with mortar, since it is desirable to avoid joints that pass

174

New Houses from Old

REINFORCED
CONCRETE LINTEL

STEEL LINTEL

Fig. 14.6. — Typical lintels and sills for opening in masonry walls. The concrete
lintel is visible in the finished wall. The steel lintel is largely concealed. The lug
sill is used chiefly in new walls, particularly brick walls. The slip sill is used for
openings cut into old walls and always in stone walls.

through the wall. Joints should be well filled and joints at the ends shoved
up tight. Joints below the ground level are usually struck off flush with the
face of the block. Joints above grade are best made flush if the wall is to be
stuccoed; otherwise, they should be finished by pressing them with a rounded
or V-shaped tool.

Masonry Work 175

Window frames and doorframes in concrete-block walls are set in special
jamb units (Fig. 14.5). Precast lintels and sills (Fig. 14.6) are used at the
tops and bottoms of windows. Steel or wood lintels can also be used. The
National Concrete Masonry Association's Facts about Concrete Masonry
shows many constructional details for building with concrete block.

Brick

Brick is an attractive and durable building material; but its use in re-
modeling is limited in most cases to small operations such as the building
of walks, chimneys, and fireplaces. It is not a good material for basement
walls because the large number of mortar joints offers many passages for
water. If the original house is brick and you wish to build an addition of
the same material, you are advised to have the work done by experienced
bricklayers. The building of a brick house may appear easy to an inex-
perienced onlooker, but the skill that is necessary to lay the wall plumb
and true, with well-filled and even mortar joints, can be acquired only by
long experience. On the other hand, there is no reason why you should not
undertake simple bricklaying jobs that are necessary in your remodeling.

There are three grades of brick that are of interest in remodeling. Common
brick is ordinary red brick. Its shade and also its quality vary widely, but
unless it has been specially manufactured and selected for appearance, it is
still common brick. Face brick likewise is made in many colors and qualities,
but its distinguishing characteristic is that it has been manufactured of
selected materials and by special methods to give it the hardness and attrac-
tive appearance that are desirable in the face of a wall. Firebrick is made
of special clays that give it a high degree of resistance to heat.

Common brick is now usually manufactured in the standard size of 3%
in. width, 2^ in. thickness, 8 in. length. This is also a standard size for face
brick, but this brick is still manufactured in a variety of sizes. The standard
size for firebrick is 4^4 in. width, 2^4 in. thickness, 9 in. length. The simplest
way of estimating the number of bricks needed for a small structure is to
calculate the number of cubic feet of brick masonry that will be built. As-
suming that the mortar joints will average ^ in. in thickness, then for each
cubic foot of masonry, seventeen and one-tenth standard-size bricks will be
needed. The number of bricks needed for repairing an existing brick wall is
usually best estimated by counting. Bricks of odd sizes that are no longer
manufactured are often found in old brick houses. Some suggestions about
finding brick to match them have been made in Chapter 3.

A satisfactory mortar for brick in average construction consists of 1
volume Portland cement, 1 volume hydrated lime or lime paste, and 6 vol-

176

New Houses from Old

Masonry Work 177

umes clean sand. A 1 : 3 Portland-cement mortar is better for brick laid in
walks and also for the portions of chimneys that are exposed to the weather.
The addition of hydrated lime equal in volume to one-quarter the volume of
cement will greatly improve the plasticity of this mortar and will not seri-
ously affect its resistance to the weather.

Three of the more common ways of laying up brick are illustrated in
Fig. 14.7. Note that the word "bond," when used in connection with brick-
laying, has a different meaning than when the word is applied to adhesion,
as between masonry units and mortar. Three ways of making corners are
shown in Fig. 14.8. "Closers" can be obtained as stock items from dealers
in brick. Half-size and three-quarter-size brick ("bats") can be purchased
or cut on the job.

3^ BRICK

COMMON BOND

Yz BRICK-7 ^CLOSER

ENGLISH BOND WITH ENGLISH CORNER
-% BRICK

ENGLISH BOND WITH DUTCH CORNER
Fig. 14.8. — Three ways of forming corners in brick walls.

178

New Houses from Old

In contrast to hollow concrete-block masonry, all joints in brickwork
should be coinpletely filled. Standard ways of finishing the face joints are
shown in Fig. 14.9. The flush joint is the easiest to make and is often used
where appearance of the finished structure is not important. However, it is
the least satisfactory joint from the standpoint of resistance to water pene-
tration, because the mortar in it is not compacted and small holes are often
left unfilled. The weathered joint and struck joint are both made with the
point of the trowel, which is held at an angle and drawn along the joint
in such a way as to cut away a strip of mortar. The raked joint is first cut
off as a flush joint; then after the mortar has partly set, the joint is finished
with a steel rake. A type of raked joint can be made by using a stick or
block of wood to remove some of the mortar while it is still quite soft, then
by brushing the mortar with a stiff fiber brush. The concave joint is attrac-
tive, has good water resistance, and is easy to make. The joint is first cut
flush, the mortar is allowed to set partly, then a small strip of board with
a rounded edge is used to finish the joint. The cross or vertical joints in a
small section of wall are usually finished first, and the bed joints are done
second. Flush, weathered, and struck joints are usually made as the bricks
are laid. Other kinds of joints are finished after several courses of bricks
are laid in order to give the mortar time to set.

fW4,

^^^^

////

' ■

■

ABODE

Fig. 14.9. — Mortar joints in brickwork. A. Flush joint. 5. Weathered joint. C.
Struck joint. D. Raked joint. E. Concave joint. The weathered joint and concave
joint are excellent types because they shed water outward from the wall.

Masonry Work

179

TRIG MADE OF TWO BRICKS PLACED
TEMPORARILY ON WALL

CUT NAIL OR
FACTORY MADE
LINE HOLDER

Fig. 14.10. — Line and trig. The trig is unnecessary in building short walls.

The construction of a typical brick wall is diagramed in Fig. 14.10, which
shows how the corners are built up ahead of the rest of the wall and how
they are kept level by use of a line. This line must be a good-quality cord,
preferably one that has been made for the purpose. Ordinary wrapping
twine will not do because it is too difficult to keep it taut. The line is held
by fastening it to two cut nails or to special fasteners that can be purchased.

In laying up a brick wall that will be exposed to view, dropping of
mortar on the face of the brick should be avoided as much as possible. After
the job is finished, mortar stains can be removed with a dilute solution of
muriatic acid. If it is necessary to halt the work before the structure is
finished, the top of the wall should be protected from rain by covering it
with lumber or roll roofing.

Stone

Stone masonry fits into two general types, called ashlar masonry and
rubble masonry. Ashlar masonry (Fig. 14.11) is made of cut and dressed
stone. Usually, particularly in recently built houses, ashlar masonry has
only a stone face that is backed with brick or some other relatively inex-
pensive material. Ashlar masonry is expensive. The stone must be purchased
or laboriously dressed on the job. Considerable skill is required to lay up
such a wall in an attractive pattern, in spite of the comparative regularity
of the stones. If your remodeling operation requires the construction of this
type of masonry, the best thing you can do is find the best stonemason in
the community and give the work to him.

Rubble masonry is much less expensive in most cases because the stone
can be had for the cost of picking it up. Stone fences, stream beds, and old
foundation walls are good sources for it. In rocky regions, such as parts
of New England, good stone for rubble masonry can be picked up in the
fields. Rubble-masonry walls are usually all stone. The building of them
is slow, painstaking work, but some persons with little or no experience
in masonry have made good jobs of it.

180

New Houses from Old

UNCOURSED FIELDSTONE

POLYGONAL MOSAIC

COURSED FIELDSTONE

SQUARED RUBBLE (COURSED)

RANGE ASHLAR

BROKEN RANGE ASHLAR

Fig. 14.11. — Typical stonewall patterns.

The labor and cost of building rubble masonry can be kept down only
by having at hand an adequate supply of stone that requires little or no
shaping or dressing. Stone walls generally offer such a supply, because
the stones in them have already been selected to a certain extent. Stratified
stone is an excellent material with which to work because it can be shaped
with comparative ease, but most rubble-masonry houses are built of field-
stone (Fig. 14.11). However, rounded fieldstone is a poor material for
good walls. If possible, stones should be selected that have some flat sur-
faces and sharp edges. Most stone taken from old walls or picked up in the
fields or stream beds must be cleaned. Slime, moss, and soil should be re-
moved by scrubbing the stones with coarse fiber brushes and w^ater; other-

Masonry Work

181

wise, good mortar bonds will not be produced when the stone is built into
the wall.

A good mortar mix for stone masonry is 1 volume Portland cement, 1
volume hydrated lime or lime paste, and 6 volumes clean sand. A thick
stone wall built of fieldstone requires considerable quantities of mortar.
About the only way to estimate the quantity is to build a section of wall
while you keep track of the mortar used, then to make the estimate on the
basis of the number of cubic feet in this section in comparison with the
number of cubic feet still to be built. Rubble-masonry walls must be thick.
The minimum adequate thickness depends, of course, on the weight that the
wall must bear. Twelve inches is an adequate thickness or width for stone
walls under frame houses. In houses with stone walls all the way up, 24 in.
is a good width for the basement portion of the house, 20 in. for the first-
floor portion, and 16 in. for the second-floor portion. These successive set-
backs at the various floor levels are made on the inside oi the wall and at
the right levels to provide bearings for the floor joists. Thicker walls are
found in many old houses; and in building an addition, you may wish to
make the new walls the same thickness as the old in order to match the depth
of the door and window openings.

It is important to use plenty of bondstones in building the wall. These are
the stones that extend through the wall from the face to the back. If the

BOND STONE
(HEADER)

FACE JOINTS
TOOLED FOR
APPEARANCE
AND TO SHED
WATER

BOND STONE
(HEADER)

Fig. 14.12. — Cross section of well-built
rubble stone wall.

Fig. 14.13. — Good placing of bond stones
under an opening in rubble stone wall.
Bond stones are marked B.

182 New Houses from Old

wall is built of stratified, sedimentary stone, a high proportion of the stones
should run through the wall. If it is built of ordinary fieldstone, there should
be at least one bondstone in each 10 sq. ft. of the face of the wall. Under
openings, such as windows, the bondstones should be set so that the sides
of an equilateral triangle based on the bottom of the opening and drawn
downward will pass through them (Fig. 14.13). Round stones should not
be placed in the interior of the wall, and face stones should be selected for
shape so that they don't depend on the mortar to keep them from falling
out of the wall. Stones for corners should be specially selected so that good
bonds will be produced with both of the intersecting walls and so that the
corners will be square. Some shaping of the cornerstones is usually neces-
sary. All stones should be placed in the wall so that their stratification, or
grain, is roughly horizontal rather than vertical. To use the language of
stonemasons, they should "be laid in their natural beds."

Stones are placed in the wall by first making a bed of mortar to fit ap-
proximately the individual stone. Spalls (Fig. 14.12) can be placed where
they are needed to fill chinks and crevices, but they should not be used instead
of mortar to support stones. Each individual stone in the wall should be solidly
surrounded by mortar except at the back and face of the wall. When building
a wall aboveground, it is a good idea to set posts at the corners and to
stretch a line between them so that the level of the wall can be checked
occasionally. As in the building of other masonry walls, the; top of the wall
should be covered to keep out rain when work is interrupted.

Window frames and doorframes can be set into the wall as it is built.
However, if wooden frames are to be used, it is better to build in dovetail-
shaped nailing blocks to which the frames can be nailed after the mortar
has cured. Steel or reinforced concrete lintels should be built into the wall
over openings. If concrete sills are used under windows, precast slip sills
rather than lug sills should be selected. Slip sills can be placed after the
wall is completed. Girder pockets should be made if they will be needed, and
joist anchors should be embedded in the masonry. Openings for electrical
conduits and plumbing pipes should also be built in.

Exterior and other exposed surfaces of stone walls can be given a number
of finishes, such as whitewash or stucco; but since one of the chief reasons
for building of stone is to have walls that require little maintenance, stone
walls are usually not given a surface treatment. The mortar joints in the
face of the wall can be finished flush, but this is not the better method be-
cause flush joints are somewhat unattractive and also because such joints
tend to direct rain into the interior of the wall. The better way to finish
the joints is to strike the mortar out of them to a uniform depth, say % in.
or 1 in. Special tools are available for finishing mortar joints in other types

Masonry Work 183

of masonry, but the best tools for rubble masonry are flat sticks of assorted
widths, each with a notch on it to mark the desired depth of the joint. The
mortar is allowed to set for thirty minutes to an hour after a small section
of wall has been laid, then the sticks are used to compress the mortar in the
joints and to remove the excess. The face of the wall should be kept as clean
as possible during the work, because, although spilled mortar can be re-
moved by washing with muriatic acid, mortar may cause stains on the stone
that will be difficult or impossible to remove.

Repairs to Existing Masonry

Wide cracks that run more or less vertically in masonry walls are usually
caused by inadequate footings or poor soil conditions under the walls. The
exact cause should be sought before repairs are attempted. In some cases
further cracking can be prevented by installing draintile at the base of the
wall. Inadequate footings under a wall that is laid up in mortar or that is
built of solid concrete cannot usually be replaced without destroying the
wall, but the advice of an architect or engineer should always be sought
in such cases. Cracks that are localized and do not extend to the base of
the wall are not usually related to foundation defects.

Cracks in masonry can be repaired by first digging out with a chisel or
old screw driver all of the old mortar and any other loose material. The
sides of the crack are then damped and the crack is completely filled with a
1 : 2 Portland-cement mortar. The mortar should be carefully damp-cured,
otherwise it will dry out before it sets completely and the repair will fail.
Portland-cement mortar lacks elasticity, hence vibration of the structure or
further settling causes this type of repair to fail in a few cases. A commercial
preparation for which a certain amount of elasticity is claimed has recently
been introduced, but complete information about it is not available as this
book is being prepared. Cracks in concrete floors can be filled with asphalt
or tar preparations. The crack is cleaned out in the same way, but it need
not be dampened. Rather it should be as dry as possible. The asphalt is
placed in the crack by pouring it or by troweling it in with a narrow putty
knife.

The outer edges of mortar joints in old masonry are often in bad condi-
tion. They are repaired by removing all of the loose mortar and by cutting
the remainder back to a solid edge. The open joint is then dampened and
fresh mortar pushed into it to completely fill the joint. After the newr mortar
has been in place for an hour or two, it is compressed and the outer edge
finished with a jointing tool. Repairing of mortar joints is called "pointing
up." The cleaning of masonry walls is discussed in the next chapter.

TjxoruTJTJiJTJ'xrLriJinjTJTJTJ'iJTJxriJTJTJTJxr^^

FIFTEEN

Foundations

-EPAIR OR RECONSTRUCTION of the foundation under the house is some-
times necessary in remodeling. In many cases the necessary repairs are
minor; in others they amount to an extensive rebuilding of the old founda-
tion; and in still others a new foundation must be built.

Fig. 15.1 shows a section of a well-constructed foundation wall for a frame
house. This figure has been included primarily as a guide to the moderniza-
tion of foundations and not as a yardstick for judging the quality of an old
house. Very few houses built more than three decades ago have these fea-
tures, and you should not expect to find them.

Many old foundations were built by the so-called "dry-wall" method. The
"dry" in this term refers to the fact that such a wall is laid up dry — that
is, without mortar. Modern foundations are built of poured concrete, or of
stone, or of masonry units, such as brick and concrete block laid up in
mortar.

Houses without basements and portions of houses, such as ells, that have
no basements under them are often supported on piers, which are essen-
tially posts sunk into the ground. In some old construction, piers were made
of stone laid dry; but stone laid in mortar and poured concrete are the most
common materials used for piers at the present time. In cheap construction,
wood was sometimes used. Wooden piers are often found under old porches,
and they are the chief reason that so many porches have sagged.

Structural Repairs to Old Foundations

If the house you are remodeling has a dry-wall foundation that is in
good condition, you will not need to reconstruct it unless you wish to make
the basement dry in order to install a heating plant or to use it for a recrea-
tion room. On well-drained sites, it may not even be necessary to rebuild
it to keep out water. Methods for making a dry wall resistant to the passage
of water are described below under Dampproofing and Waterproofing.

Sometimes a dry-wall foundation will be in fairly good condition but will

184

SILL ANCHOR
SILL

Foundations

185

GRAVEL

MIN. DIAMETER
OF BOLT 1/2 IN.
MIN. LENGTH IN
MASONRY 15 IN.

WALL OF POURED
CONCRETE, CON-
CRETE BLOCK,
OR STONE LAID
IN MORTAR

FOOTING

DRAIN TILE-

-COMPACTED
GRAVEL OR
CINDERS

-FLOOR

Fig. 15.1. — Details of a well-built house foundation.

not be holding the house level either because the top of the wall was not
accurately leveled when it was first made or because at some time in the life
of the house portions of the wall have caved in and been laid up again
without making them level with the adjacent parts of the wall. The house
sill may be bowed down over such spots. These places can usually be fixed
by driving the sill up with wedges or by jacking it up. If jacking is neces
sary, a piece of heavy timber is placed under the deepest part of the bow
Jacks are then placed under each end of the timber, one jack in an excava
tion outside the wall, the other jack on shoring built up in the basement
The jacks are screwed up simultaneously until the sill is level horizon
tally. Several courses of the wall are then taken down under the low
spot and the stones are laid up again in good beds of mortar. After the
mortar has hardened for about a week, the jacks can be removed. The hole
that was occupied by the timber is then filled in with stones and mortar.

186 New Houses from Old

Foundation walls that are made of masonry units, such as brick or hollow
concrete block, are usually level. However, they may be cracked, or the
mortar joints may be failing. The repairing of such defects is discussed in
Chapter 14.

Dampproofing and Waterproofing

Architects and builders distinguish between dampproofing and water-
proofing in this way. Dampproofing is designed to reduce the passage of
water through the wall by capillary action — that is, water carried through
the wall as water is carried upward in a wick. Waterproofing "is designed to
prevent a flow of running water through the wall as, for example, when
water from the eaves or melting snow pours into the soil outside the wall.
Dampproofing measures are sufficient for basements built on sites with
average drainage. Waterproofing measures are necessary when the basement
is constructed in a poorly drained site and, sometimes, when the house is
located on a sloping hill down which water flows in wet seasons.

One of the most effective and least costly things that can be done to keep
water out of a basement is the installation of a line of draintile around the
foundation at its base. Tile with plain ends, the so-called drainage tile, is
used. Such tile is available made of impregnated fiber, of fired clay, and of
concrete. All of these materials are durable, hence the selection can be made
on the basis of availability and cost. The line is laid on a slight grade, 3 to
5 in. per 100 ft. It should terminate in an open outlet or in dry soil at least
8 ft. from the wall. The joints in the line are left open but are wrapped with
strips of roofing paper to keep out silt. Often no other measures are neces-
sary to keep Avater out of the basement. In fact, some basements are rendered
reasonably dry by the installation of such a line of tile inside the basement
at the base of the foundation.

If the line is placed outside, coating of the exterior of the wall at the
same time should be considered. A very good coating material for basement
walls is a 1:2 Portland-cement mortar mix. Before this mix is applied,
cracks and holes in the wall should be repaired (Chapter 14). The outer
surface of the wall is scrubbed with water and a coarse fiber brush to remove
all of the adhering soil. The mortar mix is then applied to the wall by
plastering it on evenly with a trowel. A first coat about % in. thick is ap-
plied and is damp-cured for about three days. A second coat of the same
thickness is then applied over the first. This coat should be damp-cured for
about twenty-four hours or until it is firm to the touch. Then the trench
can be filled. If the filling material is dry, it should be moistened as it is
placed in order to continue the damp-curing of the cement plaster.

Foundations 187

The Portland-cement coating has a very high degree of water resistance
if it is properly applied, but if the wall settles after the plaster is applied,
cracks will develop. A few narrow cracks are not serious if the site is well
drained, but they will leak badly if the wall is subject to the pressure of
standing or flowing water. An asphalt coating is equally effective as a barrier
to water, and it has considerable elasticity, enough so that it will not be
broken by fine cracks that develop in the wall. A wide crack in the masonry
will, of course, rupture it. At one time it was necessary to heat the asphalt
and to spray or brush it on the wall while it was still hot. Now, asphalt
preparations are available that can be applied without heating. The wall
is prepared in the same way as for the Portland-cement coating. Then the
asphalt preparation is sprayed or brushed on. Manufacturer's directions for
the number of coats and other details of application should be followed.

Where soil-water conditions are unusually severe, a built-up membrane
is applied to the wall and in some cases under the basement floor as well.
These built-up membranes are made by lapping layers of special textile
materials or roofing felt. Each layer is coated with asphalt as it is placed.
This type of waterproofing is expensive, and it is not effective unless the
work is carefully done. The operation should always be in charge of an
expert. Preferably specifications for it should be drawn up by an architect
and the work done under contract.

Obviously, if the foundation does not require structural reconstruction, it
is much easier to apply dampproofing or waterproofing on the inside of the
basement wall than on the outside. Dozens of commercial dampproofing and
waterproofing compounds are on the market that are designed to be applied
to the inside of basement walls. The question that you will want answered,
if you do not want to go to the work or expense of digging the soil away
from the exterior of the wall, is whether these compounds or other inside
waterproofing are effective. The truth is that it is not difficult to apply
materials to the inside of a basement wall that will temporarily halt the
passage even of flowing water through it. However, the water will be dammed
up in the wall. If the wall or even its upper portion is subjected to freezing
temperatures, the water will freeze and may do serious damage to the
masonry. Another thing that may occur with flexible materials is the forma-
tion on the interior of the wall of blisters, which eventually break.

Portland-cement plaster and asphalt coatings can be applied to the inside
of the wall as well as to the outside. If the basement is to be heated in cold
weather and the soil around the basement is well drained, they will keep
water out of the basement. On the other hand, if the basement is not heated
or if enough water accumulates to create hydrostatic pressure in the wall,

188 New Houses from Old

interior coatings of these materials or of any other water-resistant material
usually fail.

Constructing New Foundations under Existing Houses

It is not uncommon to find that an old foundation is failing in its chief
function, that of supporting the house. Dry stone walls, particularly, are
prone to cave-ins due to the pressure of soil or freezing water behind them.
The old way of repairing such cave-ins was to lay the wall up again, using
the same stones and usually laying them again without mortar. This proce-
dure is not recommended unless you are going to make only temporary use
of the house.

The best way to repair a dry-wall foundation that has partly caved in or
that is leaning inward is to take it down and rebuild it. This operation can
be carried out in two ways. The first and best is to shore the house up so
that it does not require the support of the foundation. The old wall is then
taken down and piled in the basement. The top stones should be placed on
the floor of the basement, the next course of stones is then placed on them,
and this procedure is repeated until the wall is taken down to the footing
stones. In other words, the old wall is turned upside down. The reason for
doing this is that the stones in the original wall will have been selected to
fit together more or less. Keeping them in order will save the work of select-
ing them again for size and shape.

The old wall will probably have a base of large footing stones. These
can be left in place, but the soil should be cleaned out around their sides
and the stones thoroughly washed. From this point on the rebuilding of the
wall in mortar proceeds in the same way as the laying up of any rubble-
masonry wall (Chapter 14).

The other way of rebuilding a dry stone wall is to work progressively
around the wall, taking the old wall down, cleaning the stones, and imme-
diately relaying them in the new part of the wall. Working space is made
by first removing a section of wall from 3 to 4 ft. wide and piling these
stones in the basement. This method is economical of time only when the
stones are fairly regular in shape and are small enough to be handled by
one or two men. Since the order of the stones is upset, it is necessary to
select them again for size. When the wall is rebuilt by this method, the
house usually does not have to be raised completely from the foundation.
Instead, only the portion that is being worked under is jacked just enough
to lift the sill a few inches from the top of the wall. It is not possible to get
so good a joint between the sill and the top of the wall, but small cracks
can be filled with mortar or a calking compound after the wall is rebuilt.

Foundations 189

In some cases, the foundation walls must be constructed of new materials.
Although most stone foundation walls under old houses were built of selected
stone, occasionally old dry walls are found that were built of any stone
that was at hand. The old builder simply piled the stone up into a massive
wall that stood by virtue of sheer weight. Such a wall cannot be rebuilt
economically because, for one thing, the amount of mortar required would
cost more than the materials for a completely new wall. New materials are
also required when a wall built of other masonry materials, such as brick,
has failed badly. The best thing to do in such cases is to have the house
raised and shored up. The old walls are removed completely, then new
walls are built of concrete block or stone laid in mortar. Poured concrete is
sometimes used, but the building of such a foundation under an existing
house is complicated. The shoring interferes with the construction and plac-
ing of forms. Pouring of the concrete, and spading and tamping it in the
forms go slowly because the house itself is in the way.

Footings. Footings are often omitted under poured-concrete foundation
walls if the house is of frame construction, if the walls will not be less than
12 in. thick, and if the soil under them has good load-bearing capacity.
However, a poured-concrete footing is necessary under a masonry-unit wall if
only to provide a solid, level base for the first course of units. Footings
under frame houses, which are comparatively light in weight, are usually
designed by rule of thumb. A good rule for the dimensions of an adequate
footing is to project the footing on both sides of the wall a distance that is
equal to one-half the thickness of the wall and to make its depth equal to
one-half its spread. Thus the footing under a 12-in. wall would be 24 in.
wide and 12 in. deep. However, some footings are built that are only as
wide as the wall itself, and many are made only wide enough to give a 3- or
4-in. projection on both sides of the wall.

The bearing capacities of various soils per square foot are usually taken
as follows: soft clay, 1 ton; wet sand, 2 tons; firm clay, 2 tons; mixed or
layered sand and clay, 2 tons; fine, dry sand, 3 tons; coarse sand, 4 tons;
gravel, 6 tons; hardpan, 10 tons; medium rock, 15 tons. The weight of an
old house can be estimated with fair accuracy only by an expert, but few
two-story frame houses with masonry foundation walls impose a weight of
more than 1% tons per sq. ft. on the base of the wall. In most cases, the
required area of footings in relation to the bearing capacity of the soil can
safely be calculated on the basis of this weight. The presence of different
types of soil, such as wet clay under one corner of the house and hardpan
at the other, complicates the figuring of the footing dimensions. In such a
case, the calculations should be made by an architect or engineer. Skimping
on the footings never pays, because it costs little to make them large enough

190 New Houses from Old

when they are built, and it may cost a good deal to repair the damage
caused by a foundation that settles unevenly.

The position of the footing can be found easily by suspending plumb
lines from the corners of the raised house. Footings are sometimes poured
into a trench cut in the soil, but a better method is to use a form made of
planks nailed to stakes (Fig. 14.2). The soil on which the footing is to be
placed should be made as level as possible, but it should not be loosened,
as it is quite important to pour the footing on undisturbed soil. Stones that
are embedded in the soil between the planks present a real problem. In
most cases it is better to leave them where they are if after the footing is
poured there will be 2 or 3 in. of concrete over them. Stones that will
project through the concrete must be removed, but the holes should be
filled with tamped concrete rather than soil. A 1:3:5 concrete mix is satis-
factory for footings. Building of the wall can be started as soon as the
concrete in the footing has hardened enough so that it does not dent when
walked on, usually a period of twenty-four hours.

Building a concrete-block foundation wall. Standard dimensions and other
details of concrete block have been given in Chapter 14. The first step in
the building of the wall is to locate the corners by dropping plumb lines
from the outside corners of the house sills. Two or three courses of blocks
are then laid at the corners. Corner blocks with one closed end can be
used, but the open-end blocks are satisfactory below ground in corners that
will be concealed from view. A line of blocks is next placed along the foot-
ing between two corners, and their positions are adjusted so that the stretch
of wall is filled with a given number of blocks, with or without a half block
as the need may be. This step avoids the breaking of blocks or the making
of joints that are too wide when the blocks are set in mortar. Once the line
of blocks has been adjusted to fit the space, the positions of the vertical
joints are marked on the footing with chalk and the blocks are lifted off.

Mortar formulas for joints in concrete block and the joints themselves
are discussed in Chapter 14. The footing should be grouted with Portland
cement mixed with water just in advance of the placing of the blocks in
the first course. Mortar joints that are wider than % in. should be avoided
in basement walls made of hollow concrete block. In the portions of the
wall that are below grade, mortar joints should not extend through the wall.

The second course of blocks is laid so that the vertical joints come half-
way between the vertical joints in the first course. This breaking of the
vertical joints is continued all the way up the wall. A line stretched between
the corners of the wall (Fig. 14.10) will aid in keeping the wall level, or
a home-made T-square can be used for the same purpose.

Foundations 191

Foundation Details

The rebuilding of an existing foundation and the construction of an en-
tirely new one both provide the opportunity to include desirable features
that were not present in the original wall. Anchor bolts (Fig. 15.1) for the
sills are now incorporated in the foundations of most new frame houses.
They should be spaced not farther than 8 ft. apart around the wall. Lining
up these anchor bolts for an existing house requires careful workmanship.
The holes for the bolts are bored upward through the sill after the house
is raised and before building of the new wall is started. The holes should be
at least % in. larger in diameter than the bolts. When the wall has been
built up to the level where the bolts are to be installed, plumb lines are
suspended through the holes to find the bolt positions. If possible, the build-
ing of the top courses of the wall and the lowering of the house should be
planned so that the sill can be placed on the foundation before the mortar
in the wall has set hard. If this can be done, bolts that prove to be a little
out of line can be tapped into position with a hammer. The full weight of
the house should not be placed on the foundation at this time. Instead the
house is lowered only until the sill just makes contact with the wall. Wash-
ers and nuts then are placed on the bolts and the latter turned down by
hand. After the wall has cured for a week, the lowering can be completed
and the nuts then turned down tight with a wrench.

Unless the sill makes a tight joint with the foundation wall, wind will
blow into the basement and will chill the house in cold weather. Old farm-
houses are customarily "banked" in the winter because this joint is not
tight. The top of a stone wall should be made as level as possible by care-
ful selection of the last course or two of stones. The top of a concrete-block
wall is prepared for leveling by filling the cells of the last course of blocks
solidly with mortar. Then on either type of wall a layer of mortar about 2
in. thick is placed on top of the masonry. It is a good idea to embed a strip
of galvanized wire fabric (often sold as hardware cloth) in this mortar.
The house is let down on the layer of mortar while it is still plastic. The
full weight of the house is not put on the wall at once; rather the lowering
is carried out in two stages as described above. If termite shields (see be-
low) are to be installed, they are placed before the house is lowered.

A line of draintile and an exterior waterproofing coating can be in-
stalled after the foundation walls are completed, but the line of tile can be
placed before the wall is built if you wish. If no exterior coating is to be
applied, some excavating can be saved this way, since the soil outside the
wall need only be dug back 1 ft. or so to give room for the footing and the

192 New Houses from Old

tile. Application of an exterior waterproofing coating from the inside as the
wall is built is not practical. Such a coating must be applied from the out-
side after the wall is built, and enough excavation to provide working space
will be necessary.

Other details that must be remembered in connection with the foundation
are openings for doors and windows, water-supply- and plumbing-system
pipes, openings for electrical conduits, a coal chute if solid fuel is to be
burned, a filler pipe and a vent pipe for the fuel-oil tank if one is to be
installed in the basement. Methods of making such openings have been
indicated in Chapter 14.

Foundation Widths

The necessary thickness of the foundation wall depends on the weight of
the structure that it must support. For a frame house only one story high,
a wall made either of poured concrete or of hollow concrete block need be
only 8 in. thick, but a wall made of stone placed in mortar should be at
least 12 in. thick. For frame houses two stories in height, recommended
minimum thicknesses are 10 in. for poured concrete, 12 in. for hollow con-
crete block, and 20 in. for stone laid in masonry. If building in your locality
is regulated by a building code, the minimum thicknesses of foundation
walls will probably be stipulated by the code.

Footings under Posts

The exterior walls of the house are supported by the foundation; but in
most houses from one-quarter to about half of the weight of the interior is
borne by the posts under the girders in the basement. These posts and their
footings are important parts of the structure of the house ; but in many houses,
both new and old, they are far from adequate. In fact, in some old houses, par-
ticularly farmhouses, the only footing under the posts is a small stone stand-
ing in wet soil. The required areas of footings should be figured by an expert
if possible; but since experts are not always available and many builders are
inclined to size the footings by rule of thumb, it is well to know how to
make the calculation yourself.

The method can be illustrated best by taking a specific example of a
house which has two stories and an attic and which is 25 ft. wide by 30 ft.
long. In such a house the weight on the floors, including the dead load (the
weight of the structure itself) plus the live load (the weight of the furniture
and occupants), can be assumed to be 50 lb. per sq. ft. for the first and
second floors and 20 lb. per sq. ft. for the attic floor. The estimated total

Foundations 193

weight of the house is calculated thus : 25 X 30 X 50 X 2 plus 25 X 30 X
20 = 90,000 lb. Of this weight it is practical to assume that one-half, or
45,000 lb., must be supported by the post footings. As has been pointed out
earlier in this chapter, soils vary considerably in their load-bearing capaci-
ties; but the soil under this house is a firm clay with an assumed capacity
of 2,000 lb. per sq. ft. The footings should, therefore, have an area of
45,000 -i- 2,000 = 22.5 sq. ft. The basement is laid out so that three evenly
spaced posts can be placed under the girder. The footing under each one
should have, therefore, an area of at least 7.5 sq. ft. each. To be on the safe
side, they will be made 2 ft. by 10 in. square.

In larger houses, and also in houses with massive interior framing, the
weight that must be supported by the footings is sometimes considerably
greater. If you cannot have the figuring done by an expert, the best thing
to do in such cases is to make a calculation in the way that has been out-
lined and then to increase the calculated minimum area by 25 or 50 per
cent. Footings are comparatively inexpensive to make, hence nothing is lost
by making them somewhat larger than is necessary. Footings need be only
10 to 15 in. deep ; and a 1:3:5 Portland-cement concrete mix is satisfactory
for them. Footings should be placed on firm, undisturbed soil. Don't base
them on a concrete floor even though it appears to be in good condition.
The spacing of posts and footings in relation to girders is discussed in
Chapter 17.

Pier Foundations

Sometimes the piers under an old house will be out of plumb due to
settling or to the house having been subjected to an extraordinarily strong
wind. Solid concrete piers can sometimes be shoved back into position with
a jack, but piers of stone or of masonry units must be rebuilt. Minimum
cross-sectional areas for piers under light houses are as follows: poured
concrete, 10 in.; brick, 12 in.; concrete block, 16 in. Under light frame
houses, piers should be spaced not farther apart than 8 ft. on center under
sills that support joists and not farther apart than 12 ft. on center under
sills that run parallel to joists.

If you build an addition to the house and decide to support it on piers, it
is necessary to make the piers high enough above the ground to provide a
"crawl space" under the first floor. This space is necessary so that the under-
side of the framing can be inspected occasionally for decay and termite
damage. Adequate ventilation of the space is also necessary. This is usually
provided for by leaving openings in the wall, which are fitted with screens to
keep out small animals. The area of the ventilators can be computed by

194 New Houses from Old

this rule: 2 sq. ft. of ventilator area for each 100 ft. of perimeter and an
additional 0.5 sq. ft. for each 100 sq. ft. of area of the basementless space.

However, even when ventilators of adequate area are provided, they do
not always remain effective. Vines and shrubbery grow over them, and it is
human nature to cover them in the winter to keep the floors of the house
from becoming cold. The result is that the joists and other wooden parts of
the house that are exposed underneath the house are subject to high humidity
for long periods of time. Recent experiments have indicated that this condi-
tion can be cured rather simply by covering the soil under the house with
asphalt roofing paper. The paper is rolled out on top of the soil, the seams
are lapped, but they do not have to be cemented.

Wooden siding should never be in contact with the ground. Therefore,
when a house is supported on piers, the area between the ground and the
house sills should be enclosed with some other type of material. A curtain
wall of masonry units, such as brick or concrete block, is often used. Also,
there are several types of impregnated fiber or mineral sheathing that are
satisfactory for such enclosures.

Termite Protection

Although the proportion of houses infested with termites in the United
States is not high, there are enough cases of infestation to make the inclu-
sion of termite protection worth while when foundations are repaired or new
foundations are built in remodeling.

Dry-wood termites are found in the southern coastal regions of the United
States. Once dry-wood termites have gained access to a building, the only
remedies are poisoning the colony and replacing the parts of the house that
have been extensively damaged. The extermination of the colony must be
done by someone experienced in the operation if it is to be complete. Dry-
wood termites can be kept out of buildings only by building and maintaining
the house so that there are no cracks or unpainted wood exposed on the
exterior. Joints in siding and other exterior wooden surfaces must be tight.
Ventilators, windows, and doors must be kept screened. When new wood
is applied to the exterior, it must be painted promptly after installation, then
kept painted.

The subterranean termite is more widespread than the dry-wood termite
and causes much more damage to buildings. Detecting the presence of sub-
terranean termites is discussed in Chapter 4, and pictures of termite shelter
tubes and damage are shown in Figs. 4.1 and 4.2. Damage already done by
termites to wooden parts of the house can be repaired only by removing the
damaged wood and replacing it with new. Whether this operation will be

Foundations

195

4
-8

>| H-WALL THICKNESS i
"T"

WALL CONSTRUCTION

k§^'

^^-

2t* 2f-

ST'D. BARRIER SHIELDS
(WIDTH OF SHEET="T"+6")

ESTIMATING TABLE
(FOR STRAIGHT RUNS)

WALL WIDTH OF ORDERS-

THICKNESS SHEETS

8"
10"
12"'
16"

14" I4"X96" C.R. SHEET

16" I6"X96" II

18" I8"X96" 11

22" 22"X96" 11

EXCLUSIVE OF CORNERS AND SPECIALS

SEAM

(SEE DET)

CUT, LAP, AND
SOLDER CORNER^^

WALL
THICKNESS

"T"

SOLDER IN
AUXILIARY PIECE

6"MIN.

SEAM
(SEE DET)

PLAN OF CORNER SHEET
(MIN. WIDTH TO 0RDER="T"+I2" )

T 1t1t1t1t.4"RT

COPPER- I6.0Z.

TIGHTLY
MALLETED,

^20.0Z. C.R. COPPER

■k LOCK SEAM

PRE- TIN
AND SOLDER

r LAP SEAM

CROSS SEAMS

TERMITE BARRIER SHIELDS

OUTSIDE
(BARRIER)

-POINT OF DETECTION

BRICK PORCH

-FINISHED BASEMENT
WALL

:a\ °\' '■■'-:^ i ■.■■'. 'J'4

A ■ ;■■■/«.■-■■:

A B

TERMITE DEFLECTOR SHIELDS

{Courtesy Copper and Brass Research Association.)

Fig. 15.2.

196

New Houses from Old

FRAME
CONSTRUCTION

BRICK VENEER
CONSTRUCTION

SOLID MASONRY
CONSTRUCTION

TYPICAL FOUNDATION WALLS

(^Courtesy Copper and Brass Research Association.)
Fig. 15.3. — Termite shields.

worth while depends on the value of the house and, also, on the extent of the
damage. Usually, however, termite infestation is discovered before the
structure of the house is damaged so extensively that repairs are not justified.
The repairing of termite damage should go hand in hand with the correc-
tion of the faulty elements in the construction that permitted the termites
to infest the structure. Even if the house is not infested with termites, safe-
guards against infestation should be incorporated in any remodeling pro-
gram that involves work on the foundations or sills if other houses in the
region are infested.

Termites cannot live long in the dry wooden parts of a house unless they
have access to moisture. Although a few cases have been reported where
termite colonies sustained themselves with moisture from dripping pipes,
subterranean termites usually obtain the moisture that is necessary for them
to continue to live from the soil under or around the house. In most cases,
they reach the soil through wooden parts of the house that are in contact
with it, but they can also reach it through dry-wall stone foundations and
through other types of foundations that are not solidly built.

The standard method of termite protection is placing metal barriers
called termite shields on top of the foundation walls and at other points

Foundations

197

where the wood of the house comes in contact with wood or masonry that
is embedded in the soil. Soil poisons, which are frequently used after a
termite infestation is discovered, are only temporarily effective. Figs. 15.2
and 15.4 show standard types of shields and typical installation details.
In Fig. 15.2, the abbreviation C.R. stands for cold rolled, and the abbrevia-
tion R.T. stands for roofing temper.

^16 02. COPPER PLATE
SOLDERED TO
I/2" BRASS DOWEL

POINT OF DETECTION

It."
il. ■

^m^M

DOOR SILL

18" CLEARANCE
TO GROUND

PORCHES

PLAN

SHEET

}>^TL

[r-'.-l

{■.: . .■ )

SECTION A-A

CELLAR BEAM POCKETS

CELLAR POST SECTION OF POST IN
UNEXCAVATED AREA

l^ll

^POINT OF— V M
g^/ DETECTION \p

{Courtesy Copper and Brass Research Association.)
Fig. 15.4. — Termite shields.

198 New Houses from Old

The barrier type of shield is used on top of foundation walls and at other
places where occasional inspection of the shield would be difficult. Termites
are unable to build their shelter tubes over the projecting lip of this type
of shield, hence if it is properly installed, it offers complete protection.
Where sill anchor bolts pass through barrier shields, the space between the
shield and the bolt should be solidly filled. Asphalt or pitch is a suitable
material, or the opening -can be filled with a copper washer held in place
by two nuts, as illustrated in detail A in Fig. 15.2. Deflector shields are
just as effective as barrier shields if they are inspected occasionally for
termite shelter tubes. Shields of either type can be included in such re-
modeling operations as the rebuilding or construction of foundation walls
and the installation of new footings and posts under girders. Openings in
the basement floor or foundation walls around pipes or conduits that are
in contact with the soil should be filled with asphalt or pitch, or f this is
not practical, circular termite shields should be placed on the pipes and
conduits.

Wood that must be placed in contact with the ground should be treated
to render it repellent or poisonous to termites. Creosote is commonly used
for such treatment, but it is effective only when it is applied with special
commercial equipment. Home treatment that consists of brushing creosote on
the exterior of untreated lumber is worthless. The disadvantage in using
treated lumber in remodeling is that the lumber should be treated after
being cut to the dimensions in which it will be used. It is usually possible to
purchase treated lumber in dimensions suitable for sills and girders, but it is
difficult to purchase small sizes suitable for the construction of such things
as trellises and steps. If treated lumber must be cut after it is purchased,
the cut ends should be painted with creosote or some other termite repellent.

Since termites can gain access to the house through any wooden structure
that is in contact with both the soil and the house, special attention must
be given to such structures as wooden steps, porches, and supports for vines
and bushes. Properly constructed masonry steps do not constitute a termite
hazard, but if your house has a wooden porch or steps that you wish to
retain, the supports under them should be capped with termite shields.
Trellises that are in contact with the house can be made safe by basing
them on small piers that are capped with the barrier type of termite shields.

If the house, or part of it, is over an unexcavated area, the unexcavated
area should be completely cleared of wood and scrap lumber. The distance
from the soil level to the termite shields on foundation walls or piers in an
unexcavated area should be at least 18 in. Even with such protection, it
will be well to inspect the walls and piers at least once a year for termite
shelter tubes.

IJTJTJTJXriJTJTJTJTJTJTJTJTnjXnjTjnjTJTJTJ^^

SIXTEEN

Chimneys and Fireplaces

i\.LTHOUGH THERE ARE many well-built old chimneys, there are also many
that must be thoroughly repaired or reconstructed to make them function
satisfactorily and to render them safe. When an old house is remodeled, the
chimney work should not be skimped, for the condition of the chimneys
may determine whether you will be able to enjoy the house a reasonable
number of years or whether you will lose it in a fire. New chimneys built as
part of the remodeling program must be constructed according to the local
building code if there is one. Even though there are no code requirements
to be met, both the building of new chimneys and the repair of old ones
should be done according to good standards. The National Board of Fire
Underwriters' A Standard Ordinance for Chimney Construction is the stand-
ard guide to good principles of chimney and fireplace structural design.

Chimney Elements

The elements of a typical house chimney that contains a flue for the heat-
ing plant, a fireplace and its flue, and a third flue for the kitchen range are
diagramed in Fig. 16.1. Such a chimney in a frame house usually stands on
an independent footing made of poured concrete. The footing should be
located so that its top is at least 6 in. below the frost line. Recommended
minimum dimensions on undisturbed soils of good bearing capacity (Chap-
ter 15) are as follows: a depth of 8 in. for chimneys up to 15 ft. in height,
12 in. for chimneys 16 to 30 ft. in height, and 16 in. for chimneys 31 to 45
ft. in height; and a horizontal area that will provide a projection on all
sides of the chimney of at least 6 in. Chimney footings that must be placed
on permanently wet soil or on filled land should be designed by an expert.

In masonry houses, chimneys are sometimes supported by the wall or are
built directly into it. A common type of support, especially for chimneys
that start above the level of the first floor, is made by corbeling out the wall.
In order for this construction to be safe, the wall must be solid and at least
12 in. thick, the corbeling must be done so that no course of masonry

199

200

New Houses from Old

CEMENT WASH
CHIMNEY CAP

ROOF

PLAN
CAP FLASHING-
BASE FLASHING

FIRE STOPPING ON
STRIP OF METAL OR
METAL LATH

SUGGESTED

CLEARANCE FOR

MINOR FLUES

-BEGINNING OF FLUE-
LINING FOR FIREPLACE

SMOKE CHAMBER

DAMPER -

CELLAR ^
FLOOR

■2 STUDDED-OFF
CLEARANCE
SRACE

CAST IRON
DOOR AND-*^
FRAME

FIRE STOPPING
ON STRIP OF
METAL OR
METAL LATH.

-WIND SHELF

-4" CLEARANCE

FIRE STOPPING
ON STRIP OF
METAL OR
METAL LATH

-ASH PIT

ELEVATION

SECTION "A-B"

(CoJirtcsy National Board of fire Undcrzcriters.)

Fig. 16.1. — Elevation and section of an interior independent chimney showing
recommended construction. For details of framing around the chimney, see Figs.
17.14 and 17.15.

Chimneys and Fireplaces 201

projects more than 1 in. over the course immediately below it, and the total
projection of the wall must not be more than 8 in. In many old masonry
houses, the chimney was constructed by making the wall extra thick and by
building the flues within it. Chimneys of this type are shown in Figs. 2.27
and 2.28. The most inadequate type of footing or support found in old
chimneys is the wooden beam, a kind of support that is found too often in
old frame houses. There is no way to make such a chimney safe. Instead, it
should be torn down and the materials used to build another chimney, unless
the chimney can be dispensed with altogether.

Chimney materials. Good-quality masonry materials should be used to
build the chimney. Brick is the most popular material not only because of
its attractiveness but also because it is easily built into chimneys. Special
chimney brick is available, but ordinary building brick is commonly used,
hard-burned face brick for exposed exterior walls and tops and good-quality
common brick for walls that are not exposed to the weather. Chimneys are
also built of reinforced concrete, concrete block, structural clay tile, and
stone. It is seldom economical to build a single chimney of reinforced con-
crete because of the cost of the forms that are required. Concrete chimney
block is solid and is manufactured in special sizes for use in chimneys. It is
an excellent material for interior chimneys, since the units are regular in
size, easy to handle, and laid up in mortar similarly to brick. Structural clay-
tile chimneys are usually built only as integral parts of walls of the same
material.

Stone chimneys can be made of either cut and dressed stone (ashlar
masonry) or fieldstone (rubble masonry). Although cut stone is relatively
expensive, the quantity needed for the average chimney is not large, and
some of the material cost is returned in labor saving, for cut stone lays up
rapidly in a chimney. The stone for rubble-masonry chimneys should be
carefully selected, and particular attention must be paid to good bonding.

Recommended mortar formulas for chimney joints are as follows: por-
tions of the chimney that are exposed to the weather, 1 volume Portland
cement, ^ volume hydrated lime or lime paste, 3 volumes clean sand; joints
in flue linings, 1 volume Portland cement, 3 volumes clean sand; joints in
firebrick as in the lining of fireplaces, fire clay; for all other parts of the
chimney, 1 volume Portland cement, 1 volume hydrated lime or lime paste,
6 volumes clean sand. All mortar beds in masonry chimneys should be
solid, and spaces between flue linings and masonry should also be solidly
filled.

Flues. The flues in the chimney must have cross-sectional areas large
enough for the heating equipment that they will serve. Many manufacturers
of furnaces and boilers specify a minimum flue area for their equipment,

202

New Houses from Old

and often they will not guarantee satisfactory operation if the flue is smaller.
In general, a flue with an area of at least 70 sq. in. is required for central
heating plants, but this area should be increased if a larger area is recom-
mended by the manufacturer of the heating plant that you will install. Fur-
naces or boilers fueled with oil, gas, or anthracite coal will operate satis-
factorily with a relatively small flue, but a larger flue may be required if it
is necessary to convert the system to burn bituminous coal or wood; hence,
when a new chimney is built or an old one reconstructed, it may be prudent
to install a flue larger than the minimum size that is needed at the time.
The minimum flue area for a cooking or heating stove that burns coal or
wood is 40 sq. in.; for a gas- or oil-burning range or hot-water heater, 10
sq. in. Minimum flue areas for fireplaces are computed as follows: 50 sq.
in. or an area equal to one-twelfth of the fireplace opening, whichever is
larger.

A fire-clay flue lining should always be included in a new chimney or in
one that is extensively rebuilt. Such linings are manufactured in both round
and rectangular shapes. The rectangular shapes are more popular for house
chimneys, partly because it is easier to build small chimneys around them.
However, since smoke traveling upward in a flue moves in a spiral, the
entire inside area of a rectangular lining is not effective. Joints in flue

Fig. 16.2
Effective Areas of Some Standard Flue Linings

Rectangular linings

Round linings

Outside

Effective

Inside

Effective

dimensions,

area, square

diameter,

area, square

inches

inclies

inches

73^ by 7K

30.7

28.3

8^ by 8>^

41.3

50.3

8>^ by 13

70.0

78.5

83^ by 17H

96.5

113.0

13 by 13

100.0

176.7

13 by 173^

150.0

linings should be staggered so that no joint in one flue is closer than 7 in.
to a joint in an adjacent flue. Turns or offsets in flues must be managed
so that the area of the flue is not reduced at any point. Turns greater than
30° from the vertical should be avoided.

Chimney dimensions. Theoretically, the best height for chimneys is deter-
mined by such matters as the altitude and whether the heating appliance

Chimneys and Fireplaces 203

attached to the chimney burns by mechanical or natural draft. Practically,
chimney heights are usually determined by the height of the house. The
chimney should project at least 2 ft. above the highest point of the roof of
the house, and this requirement should be met even though the chimney
is attached to a one-story ell of a two-story house. Fortunately, on most
houses building the chimney at least 2 ft. above the roof gives it a height
of from 30 to 35 ft., which is adequate for a good draft at average altitudes.

Recommended minimum wall thicknesses for lined chimneys are as fol-
lows: reinforced concrete, brick, solid concrete block, and ashlar masonry,
3% in.; rubble masonry, 12 in. If linings are omitted, these thicknesses must
be approximately doubled if the chimney is built of one of the materials in
the first group and increased by one-half for rubble masonry. Often wall
thicknesses must be increased for structural or architectural reasons. Fig.
16.1 shows how the inclusion of a fireplace makes it necessary to increase
the thickness of at least the walls in the lower portion of the chimney.

Chimney accessories. Smoke-pipe thimbles and cleanout doors should be
set into the masonry when the chimney is built. Thimbles are made of metal
(usually cast iron) or of fire clay. The diameter of the opening in the
thimble should fit the smoke pipe that will be used. The length of the
thimble should match the thickness of the chimney wall so that the masonry
will be covered but so that the end of the thimble will not project into the
chimney. The joint between the masonry and the thimble should be filled
with fire clay. Cleanout doors are usually of cast iron and have cast-iron
frames that are set directly in the masonry. Chimney flashing is discussed
in Chapter 18.

Smoke tests. A new chimney or an old one that has been rebuilt should
be given a smoke test before being put to use. A smoky fire of damp straw
or wood is built in a heating device or a fireplace connected to the base of
the flue. After the smoke is rising well, the top of the chimney is plugged
with wet sacking, then the entire length of the chimney is inspected for
leaks. If a leak is found, the crack should be repaired before the chimney
is put to use. If there is more than one flue in the chimney, the flues should
be tested separately. While the smoke-filled flue is plugged, the other flues
should be observed. If smoke comes from them, it indicates a leak between
the flues that must be remedied.

Vents

Many building codes require venting for gas-fueled heaters and cooking
stoves. An outside vent for the cooking stove, even though it is an electric
one, is an asset to a good kitchen. Although most kitchens in old houses

204 New Houses from Old

have chimneys, there may not be a chimney in the room to which you wish
to transfer the kitchen in your remodeling. There are several types of vents
manufactured for use with small gas-fired appliances. Some are made of
insulated sheet metal, others of some other incombustible material. If you
need to use such a vent in your remodeled house, the main point is to use
one that has been approved by the Underwriters Laboratories and to in-
stall it according to the requirements specified in their approval report.

Repairing and Modernizing Old Chimneys

Whether an old chimney is worth repairing depends first on its condition
and second on whether, if it is repaired or rebuilt, it will be adequate for
the use you intend to make of it. However, if the chimney stands on a good
footing, is suitably located, and has a flue of adequate size, it can probably
be put in good condition at less cost than the building of a new chimney.

Mortar joints. Mortar joints in chimneys are subject to disintegrating in-
fluences from both the inside and the outside. For this reason simple point-
ing up of joints that have deteriorated may not be enough. For example,
the joints above the roof line are sometimes so far gone that it is necessary
to take the chimney down to a level 1 ft. or more below the roof and to lay
it up again in fresh mortar. When this is done to an unlined chimney, two
or three lengths of flue lining should be installed in the top of the chimney
to reduce the fire hazard if the joints fail again. Another method of repair
is raking most of the old mortar out of the joints, then filling them full of
fresh mortar. The outside of the chimney is then plastered with a layer %
in. thick of a 1:3 Portland-cement mortar. Of course, there are also many
chimneys, especially lined chimneys, in which the joints can be adequately
repaired by pointing up.

Obstructions. Chimneys that have not been used for some time are often
clogged with debris such as birds' nests and fallen bricks. Some old chimneys
have interior linings of mortar that have gradually broken up and dropped
down through them. Debris that has fallen all the way down can be re-
moved through the opening at the base of the flue. Material that is lodged
part way down can usually be loosened by working a heavy chain up and
down in the chimney; but if there is an offset in the flue, material may be
packed into it so solidly that the chain will not dislodge it. If the lodged
material cannot be loosened from the top or bottom of the flue, the only
way to get at it is to break an opening in the chimney next to the offset.
The opening can be filled in again after the debris is removed.

Creosote. Creosote results from chemical reactions that occur between
substances in wood smoke. Since many old chimneys served wood fires for

Chimneys and Fireplaces 205

long periods of years, they are often heavily coated with creosote. The best
method of removal is a heavy chain that is worked up and down inside the
chimney and oscillated from side to side to crack the creosote deposits and
cause them to fall to the bottom of the chimney. All of the loosened creosote
should be removed from the opening at the base of the flue before a fire is
started. Burning creosote out of a chimney is not to be recommended because
the heat of the fire may crack the chimney. A vigorous chimney fire is also a
danger to the house itself and to other buildings in the vicinity.

Flues. Old chimneys often have single flues that were used for several
stoves or fireplaces. Authorities now agree that for the sake of safety there
should be only one fireplace or heater attached to a flue. Superfluous open-
ings in an old chimney can be filled in by removing the thimble, if there is
one, and filling the hole solidly with brick set in 1 : 3 Portland-cement mortar.
You may find that some previous householder has stopped up some of the
unused openings with metal caps that have been papered over. These should
be hunted for and removed before they set the house on fire. Usually they
can be found by looking for bulges in the wallpaper, but several layers of
wallpaper will pretty thoroughly conceal them. If you do not plan to remove
the wallpaper in the room, you can find these caps by tapping the wall
lightly with a hammer. Look for them in every room through which the
chimney passes.

If the walls of a chimney are thick enough and the mortar joints are in
good condition, a fire-clay flue lining is not necessary for safety. Neverthe-
less, when an old chimney is taken down and rebuilt, such a lining should
always be built into it. Installation of flue linings is always worth while
if you can stand the expense, for they not only reduce the number of joints
through which flue gases may find their way to the wood in the house but
also improve the performance of old chimneys in which the flues are rough.

It is difficult to install a lining in an old chimney that has walls less than
12 in. thick without tearing the chimney down and rebuilding it, but linings
can be installed in massive chimneys of the type found in some old houses
by tearing out only one side of the chimney. The mortar is chipped out of
the joints with a narrow chisel. Then the stones or bricks are removed one
by one. If the stones are fieldstone, it is advisable to keep them in order.
The old flue is thoroughly cleaned of soot and creosote. The flue lining is
then placed with the same care for good workmanship as would be taken
in building a new chimney.

The accurate cutting of flue lining for installation in offsets is not difficult.
The lines for the cut are carefully drawn on the outside of the lining. The
length of lining is then placed on a firm surface and is solidly filled with
damp sand. A shallow groove is then made the entire length of the lines

206

New Houses from Old

with a sharp cold chisel. Once the groove is well defined, the cut can be
completed by striking a sharp blow with the chisel.

After the mortar in the joints has dried, the flue is given a smoke test.
The stones or brick that were removed are then cleaned and set back in
place in solid beds of mortar. Care should be taken in replacing them not
to turn the ends that were originally next to the flue to the outside where
they will come in contact with plaster or paint.

SOOT

MANTEL

SMOKE
CHAMBER-

FLUE

■HEADER

-ASHPIT

ELEVATION

SECTION

PLASTER

ASH DUMP

PLAN

WOOD
CENTER

SECTION

SHOWING ALTERNATE HEARTH

Fig. 16.3. — The parts of a modern fireplace.

Chimneys and Fireplaces

207

Fireplaces

The elements of a correctly designed fireplace are shown in Fig. 16.3.
The relation of a typical fireplace to the whole chimney can be seen in Fig.
16.1. The ashpit and ash dump are conveniences that should be included
if a new chimney and fireplace are built, but they are not essential to the
operation of the fireplace. The smoke or downdraft shelf is a critical element
that is sometimes lacking in old fireplaces. If the fireplace is to burn well
without smoking, there must be a rather precise relationship between the
area of the opening and the area of the flue. Other parts of the fireplace
should also be correctly proportioned (Figs. 16.3 and 16.4).

Fig. 16.4
Recommended Dimensions in Inches for Fireplaces

(Letters at heads of columns refer to Fig. 16.3)

Opening

Inside

Mini-
mum

Vertical

Inclined

Outside dimen-

diam-

eter of

Depth,

back

sions of standard

stand-

Width,

Height,
h

(hori-
zontal).

wall,
a

wall,
h

rectangular flue
lining

ard
round

flue

lining

16 to 18

8Mby 83^*

16 to 18

8>^by 8H

16 to 18

83^ by 81^

16 to 18

8J^ by 13

16 to 18

W2 by 13

1 42

16 to 18

8M by 18

18 to 20

8M by 18

18 to 20

13 by 13

18 to 20

13 by 13

18 to 20

13 by 13

18 to 20

13 by 18

18 to 20

13 by 18

18 to 20

13 by 18

20 to 22

13 by 13

20 to 22

13 by 18

20 to 22

13 by 18

20 to 22

18 by 18

20 to 22

18 by 18

22 to 28

18 by 18

Figs. 16.3 and I6.4 reprinted from Farmers' Bulletin 1889, issued by The U. S. Department of Agriculture

* The authors of this book do not recommend the use for fireplaces of rectangular flues smaller than
8 ]/2 in. by 13 in.

208 New Houses from Old

The bottom and the back of the fireplace are preferably lined with fire-
brick, which is set in fire clay rather than mortar. The bricks in the bottom
of a fireplace should be stood on edge to give a floor 4 in. thick, and those
that line the back of the fireplace should be laid flat (Fig. 16.1) to make
a lining of the same thickness. When laid this way, the lining may be in-
cluded in calculating the minimum permissible thickness of the fireplace
walls, which is 8 in. if the fireplace is built of brick, 12 in. if it is built of
stone. Firebrick linings are sometimes omitted if the fireplace has unusually
thick walls.

Cast-iron fireplace dampers and ash dumps can be purchased in various
sizes from building-supply dealers. In some types of dampers the lintel that
supports the masonry over the fireplace opening is part of the damper
frame, but with other types a separate lintel must be used. For fireplace
openings of average size, lintels can be made of iron bars ^o ^^- thick and
3 in. wide or of angle irons ^4 ^^- thick with sides S^o ^^- wide.

Two methods of supporting fireplace hearths are shown in Fig. 16.3. Con-
struction of the flat slab is easier for persons who are not skilled in masonry
work, but the trimmer-arch method is not difficult. A piece of plywood can
be curved to support the arch until the mortar has set. The hearth should
extend into the room a minimum distance of 20 in. from the front edge of
the fireplace and 12 in. on each side of the opening. A hearth built flush
with the floor is better if the floor is to be left bare or covered with small
rugs; but if the floor is to be covered solidly with carpeting, a hearth raised
y? in. above the floor will look better. Framing around chimneys and fire-
places is discussed in the next chapter.

Repairing and Modernizing Fireplaces

In some old houses, the first operation in remodeling the fireplaces is to
uncover them. Often the openings have been filled in with brick, the old
mantels removed, and the area covered with plaster and wallpaper, or even
with wainscoting or other woodwork. In some cases, the woodwork was
installed over unfilled openings. Removal of the covering material is usually
a simple matter. Removal of the masonry that has been placed in the open-
ings is usually not difficult either, because a hard-setting mortar was
seldom used in such places. In other houses the fireplaces have not been
covered over, but they may need repair and perhaps reconstruction.

The flue. The first thing to investigate is the flue. If the chimney does not
have a fire-clay flue lining, installation of one is undoubtedly the best thing
to do. However, if you don't want to undertake the expense of this opera-
tion, the old flue should be cleaned and all obstructions removed. If there is

Chimneys and Fireplaces 209

another opening into it for a fireplace or stove, this opening should be
sealed. This may seem a severe requirement, but two fireplaces, or a fire-
place and a stove, located on different floors and connected to the same flue
constitute a fire hazard of the first order. The area of the fireplace opening
should be proportioned to the area of the flue, hence it may not be advisable
to restore the fireplace opening to its full, original size, because often the
opening in the old fireplace was built too large for the flue.

The smoke shelf. This element is often lacking in old fireplaces. Fortu-
nately such fireplaces are usually deeper than need be, hence a smoke shelf
can be constructed by building a new back and lining in front of the old
ones. It is usually necessary to remove the first layer of old masonry in
order to obtain a firm, clean surface to which the new masonry will bond.
The original masonry should be thoroughly dampened just before the new
is placed against it, and all spaces between the old and the new should be
solidly filled with 1:3 or 1:2 Portland-cement mortar. The new masonry
should be carefully damp-cured for at least a week, and no fire should be
built in the fireplace for at least two weeks.

The damper. Strange as it seems, some old fireplaces were built without
dampers. Perhaps this was not a serious lack when the fireplace was in
nearly constant use in cold weather, but much heat can be lost from a
modern house through a fireplace without a damper or through one with
a damper if the damper is left open. Fireplace dampers in cast-iron frames
are available. These are designed to be set into the masonry. Their installa-
tion in an old fireplace is usually not difficult, particularly when the fireplace
must be partly rebuilt anyway.

The lintel. In very old houses the fireplaces sometimes have massive
wooden lintels set into the masonry. Usually the sides that are exposed to
the fire have been plastered to reduce the tendency of the wood to char or
to catch fire. Obviously, these lintels are fire hazards. On the other hand,
they are antique features that most persons with a feeling for antiques will
wish to preserve. If there are such fireplace lintels in the house you are re-
modeling, you will probably elect to keep them. If you do so, by all means
avoid building a hot fire too close to the lintel. Replacing the wooden lintel
with a steel one or with a masonry arch is better from the safety viewpoint.

Smoky fireplaces. Fireplaces may draw poorly or smoke for a number of
reasons. Consistent smoking is usually caused by an obstructed flue or by
one that is too small in proportion to the fireplace opening. Fireplaces
vented through outside chimneys often draw poorly when the fire is started
in cool weather but work all right after the fire has been burning a while.
This effect is due to the cold masonry in the chimney, which must become
warmed before the flue will function well. If the fireplace burns well most

210

New Houses from Old

of the time but occasionally puffs smoke, there are several possible causes.
The flue may be too small. There may be no downdraft shelf. The top of
the chimney may not stand high enough above the roof, or it may be too
close to tall trees.

iCourtesy Superior Fireplace Company.)
Fig. 16.5. — Details of a standard fireplace unit.

A less obvious cause of smoking is inadequate ventilation in the house.
Rather large volumes of air must pass up the chimney when a fire is burning
in a fireplace, and equivalent amounts must flow into the house from the
outdoors. This was no problem in the typical old-time house with its loosely
built walls and poorly fitted doors and windows; but if, in remodeling, the
exterior walls are tightly sheathed and the windows and doors are weather-
stripped, air may not be able to enter fast enough to produce a good draft
in the chimney. The remedy is to open a window slightly when there is a
fire in the fireplace.

Fireplace Units

A fairly simple way of modernizing an old fireplace, or of constructing a
new one for that matter, is to build a fireplace unit (Fig. 16.5) into it.
These units have several advantages. Their proportions are correctly de-
signed, hence if they are installed in a tightly built chimney that has a flue
of the right size, the fireplace can be depended on to perform satisfactorily.
They serve as a form for the fireplace masonry, thus making it possible
for a relatively unskilled person to build a good fireplace and saving time
even for skilled masons. The damper, smoke chamber, and smoke shelf are
built into them.

Chimneys and Fireplaces 211

Fireplace units are built with hollow walls designed so that air circulates
between the walls when the fireplace is in operation and is discharged into
the room after it has been heated; thus the fireplace heats not only by
radiation as does the conventional fireplace but also by convection.

When a fireplace unit is used, cool-air inlets and warm-air outlets must
be provided. Often there is no attempt to disguise these openings. On the
other hand, some homeowners prefer to conceal them. In Fig. 6.3 the cold-
air intakes are in the sides of the fireplace near the floor, and the warm-air
outlets are under the metal hood, which is hung so that the heated air flows
out at the top. In Fig. 6.4 the warm-air outlets have been concealed in the
recessed niches above and at the sides of the fireplace. Sometimes the cold-
air inlet is placed so that it draws fresh air from outside the house; but
since this scheme reduces the heating effect of the unit, the cold-air inlets
are usually placed near the base of the fireplace so that they draw cool air
from the floor. The heated air is usually discharged into the same room, but
the warm-air outlet can be located in another room on the same floor or
even on the floor above. Sometimes a small electric fan is installed in the
cold-air inlet to increase the circulation of air through the unit. Manu-
facturers of these units will supply detailed directions for various types of
installations.

irUXnJlJTJTJTJlJTJTrUXriJlJX/TJTJTJTnJTJTJT^

SEVENTEEN

House Framing

ANY REMODELING OPERATIONS involve alterations in the frame of the
house. Operations such as the cutting of new windows and doors cannot be
intelligently planned unless the framing members that are concealed in the
wall can be visualized. Removal of partitions or building them must be
based on a knowledge of framing. If the floors of the house are uneven, you
will have to understand how they are supported in order to plan or carry
out their leveling. Even in operations such as the installation of a bathroom,
it is necessary to know how the studs are spaced in the walls and the direc-
tion the joists run under the floor of the room in order to plan the installa-
tion of the fixtures.

Types of Frames

The three principal types of house frames are illustrated in Figs. 17.1
to 17.3. There are many variations of these basic types, but variations in
details are much more common than variations in main elements. The balloon
type of frame has been used in more houses in recent years than any other
type, but the Western or platform type is more common in some sections of
the country. Old houses along the Eastern seacoast, especially in the New
England States, usually have braced frames. In the very old ones, rather
massive timbers were used that were fitted together with mortised joints held
together by wooden pins. These frames were essentially the same as those
that can be seen in most old barns.

A rather new type of framing for houses is known as the plank and beam.
This type is not described in this book, but the National Lumber Manu-
facturers' Association has published an excellent brochure on the subject,
which is noted under Useful Books and Pamphlets. It is unlikely that you
will be remodeling a plank-and-beam house, but since this method may be
used to produce interior details that harmonize well with old braced frame
construction, you may wish to consider it if you are planning an addition to
an old house. Fig. 6.6 shows a living room in a house with plank-and-beam

212

House Framing

213

RAFTER HIP TIE TO BE USED ONLY

WHERE ROUGH FLOOR
IS OMITTED

PLATE -

STUD

ROUGH
FLOOR

LEDGER B'D
OR RIBBON

DIAGONAL BRACING
LET INTO FACES
OF STUDDING

ROUGH
FLOOR

SILL-

SHEATHING

CORNER POST

BUILD UP
GIRDER

LEDGER OR

SPIKING

STRIP

CROSS
BRIDGING

MASONRY
WALL

note: standard spacing for studs should be 16 INCHES CENTER TO CENTER
TO RECEIVE WOOD LATH. JOISTS ARE ORDINARILY SPACED SIMILARILY UNLESS
FURRING STRIPS OR STRAPPING ARE USED. ROUGH FLOORS WHERE LAID DIAGONALLY
GIVE ADDITIONAL STRENGTH TO THE STRUCTURE BUT WHERE LAID HORIZONTALLY
ECONOMY OF MATERIAL IS OBTAINED. EXTERIOR WALLS SHOULD BE BRACED WITH
DIAGONAL BRACES FOR STIFFENING PURPOSES WHEN HORIZONTAL SHEATHING IS
USED.

BALLOON FRAME CONSTRUCTION

{Courtesy National Lumber Manufacturers Association.)

Fig. 17.1.

214

New Houses from Old

RAFTER

HIP

TIE TO BE USED
ONLY WHERE ROUGH
FLOORING IS
OMITTED

PLATE

STUD

ROUGH FLOORING

DROP GIRT

NOTCHED OR
TENONED a PINNED

DIAGONAL BRACING

ROUGH FLOORING

SILL

CORNER POST

KNEE BRACES
RESORTED 'TO
WINDOW IS CLOSE
TO CORNER

NOTE- STANDARD SPACING FOR STUDS SHOULD BE IG CENTER TO CENTER
TO RECEIVE WOOD LATH. JOISTS ARE ORDINARILY SPACED SIMILARILY UN-
LESS FURRING STRIPS OR STRAPPING ARE USED. ROUGH FLOORING WHERE
LAID DIAGONALLY GIVE ADDITIONAL STRENGTH TO THE STRUCTURE BUT
WHERE LAID HORIZONTALLY ECONOMY OF MATERIALS IS OBTAINED.
EXTERIOR WALLS SHOULD BE BRACED WITH DIAGONAL BRACES FOR STIFF-
ENING PURPOSES WHEN HORIZONTAL SHEATHING IS USED.

BRACED FRAME CONSTRUCTION

CROSS BRIDGING

SILL

KNEEBRACE

MASONRY WALL

(Courtesy National Lumber Manufacturers Association.)

Fig. 17.2.

House Framing

215

RAFTER HIP CROSS
BRIDGING

ROUGH FLOOR
PLATE

STUD

HEADER
SILL-
SHEATHING
MASONRY WALL

JOIST

PARTITION
CAP

CROSS
BRIDGING

NOTE- STANDARD SPACING FOR STUDS SHOULD BE 16 INCHES CENTER
TO CENTER TO RECEIVE WOOD LATH. JOISTS ARE ORDINARILY SPACED
SIMILARLY UNLESS FURRING STRIPS OR STRAPPING ARE USED. ROUGH
FLOORS WHERE LAID DIAGONALLY GIVE ADDITIONAL STRENGTH TO THE
STRUCTURE BUT WHERE LAID HORIZONTALLY ECONOMY OF MATERIAL IS
OBTAINED. EXTERIOR WALLS SHOULD BE BRACED WITH DIAGONAL BRACES
FOR STIFFENING PURPOSES WHEN HORIZONTAL SHEATHING IS USED.

WESTERN FRAME CONSTRUCTION

(Courtesy National Lumber Manufacturers Association.}

Fig. 17.3.

216 New Houses from Old

floors. An older and somewhat uncommon type of plank house has exterior
walls that are made of planks laid flat upon one another. This type is not
actually a frame house. Rather it resembles a masonry house with the dif-
ference that its exterior walls are made of solid wood instead of solid
masonry.

Lumber Sizes

The cross-sectional areas of lumber are regularly given in inches. Since
inches are universally understood as the unit of measurement, the designa-
tion of sizes is usually shortened to such terms as 2 by 4 and 4 by 4, which
mean, respectively, nominal sizes of 2 in. by 4 in. and 4 in. by 4 in. These
sizes refer to the dimensions of the lumber before it is finished, hence the
actual dimensions of planed lumber are somewhat smaller than the nominal
sizes. The actual sizes are % in. less for pieces nominally 4 to 7 in. wide
and % in. less for pieces 8 in. or more wide. Framing lumber is usually
dressed on two sides only; therefore, its actual width is less than the nominal
size, but its depth is the actual size. Throughout this chapter we shall refer
to lumber in terms of its nominal sizes.

Sills

In a frame house the exterior walls stand on the sill, which in turn stands
on the foundation wall. In old and middle-aged houses the sill is usually a
substantial piece of timber, 8 by 8 or sometimes larger. In modern houses
it is usually much smaller, sometimes as small as 2 by 6, but 4-by-6 sills
are more common. Modern types of sills can be seen in Figs. 17.1 and 17.3,
and large details are shown in Fig. 17.4.

Replacing the sills under an existing house is a major undertaking; but
in regions where there are many old houses, there are usually a considerable
number of carpenters and builders who are skilled in such work. The job
is simplest in houses where the joists and studs stand flush on the sill and
are fastened with nails. It is more complicated when the joists or the studs
are mortised into the sill, as they are in many old houses. No matter how
the sill is constructed, the house must be raised from the foundation and
shored up in order to replace the sill.

It is usually not necessary to construct the sill in the same way as the
old one. For example, cutting mortises in the new sills for the studs or
joists would be a waste of time and money. Instead, the tenons are cut off
and the studs are toenailed to the new sill or to a sole placed on it. In
most cases, an old, heavy sill can be replaced with a box sill; but in some

ouse J:'rammg

217

HEADER

Fig. IIA.—A. T-sill. B. Box sill. C. Built-up sill. D. Old-style solid sill.

cases it is better, for one reason or another, to install a new sill of the
same type and dimensions as the old. If the house sits close to the ground,
it is advisable to use lumber for the new sill that has been treated with
creosote or some other wood preservative to protect it against decay and
termite attack.

218 New Houses from Old

Girders

Girders are heavy timbers that hold up the interior of the house. A built-
up girder made by spiking together separate pieces of narrow lumber is
shown in Fig. 17.1, and a solid girder is shown in Fig. 17.2. In old houses
the girders are usually made of solid pieces of lumber, but the built-up
girder is just as strong and is often installed in place of a defective girder
of the other type.

In some old houses, especially houses in which the basements have
earthen floors, the girders will be decayed somewhat throughout their entire
length. Decay at the end of the girder where it rests on the foundation wall
is, however, more common. Girders that rest on dry-wall foundations or on
other types of foundations that are not solid masonry are also prone to
termite damage. A girder that is no longer a sound piece of lumber capable
of supporting the house must be replaced. Again, the exact details of the
operation depend on how the framing members that are supported on the
girder are attached to it, and the operation is one that should be undertaken
only by skilled carpenters.

The new girder should be protected against dampness and termites. The
most effective way to accomplish this is to use treated lumber. If treated
lumber is not available and the girder ends rest in pockets in the founda-
tion wall, the pockets should be lined (Fig. 15.4) with 16-oz. sheet copper
or heavier or with some other corrosion-resistant metal, such as lead. The
lining should be made to fit the pocket, and any necessary seams in it should
be carefully soldered. Girders should have a minimum bearing of at least
4 in. at their ends, and there should be an air space of at least ^o in.
around the sides and top of the girder. If the old pocket does not provide
a bearing and air space of this depth, it will be best to make it larger.

A split girder can sometimes be adequately repaired by jacking it back
to its original level then reinforcing it with pieces of lumber that are
bolted or spiked to it on both sides of the break. A post should be placed
under the repaired areas before the jacks are removed. A girder that is too
flexible, resulting in a shaky floor overhead, can be stiffened by putting more
supports under it, provided that the wood in the girder is still sound.

The girder is supported at its ends by the foundation wall; but between
the walls it is supported by one or more posts. Footings for these posts are
discussed in Chapter 15. A good rule of thumb for spacing posts in average
houses is to use two of them under a girder about 20 ft, long, three under
a girder about 30 ft. long, and four under a girder about 40 ft. long and
to place the posts so that the girder will be supported evenly. Thus, the
two posts under a 20-ft. girder are placed 6 ft. 8 in. from the foundation

House Framing

219

walls. Another spacing rule is to place the posts so that the girder supports
are not farther apart than twelve times the height of the girder. Thus, if
the girder is 8 in. high (Fig. 17.5), the supports should be no more than
96 in. apart. A post should be placed under each joint in the girder whether

Fig. 17.5. — Section of built-up girder.

the girder is made of solid lumber or is built up of narrow lumber. In
houses where the basement is not over 8 ft. high, 6-by-6 lumber or steel-pipe
columns of from 2^2 to 4 in. nominal diameter are used.

Wood is a satisfactory material for the posts if the footing projects high
enough above the basement floor to keep the bottom of the post dry and
to protect it from termites; but hollow iron columns are inexpensive and
are more satisfactory. Adjustable iron columns with screws built into the
tops are available. These are especially useful when new footings or posts
must be placed under existing houses.

The adjustable type of steel post can be used also to level a girder that
has bowed due to the failure of a post or footing. Such girders can be
restored to their original level by jacking if you decide not to use adjustable
posts. Both wood and steel posts should be capped with a steel plate some-
what larger in area than the rest of the post to prevent crushing of the
wood in the girder by the top of the post. Factory-made steel-girder posts
usually have a rectangular plate at the base also. If this plate has holes for
bolts, the bolts should be placed in the concrete of the footing when it is
poured.

Joists

Joists are the timbers that directly support the floors in the house (Figs.
17,1 and 17.3). Note in these figures the various methods of support for

220

New Houses from Old

the joists at the different floor levels. Ordinarily, the first-floor joists rest
on the sill at one end (Fig. 17.4) and on the girder at the other end. If
the girder ends rest in pockets in the foundation wall, the joists are usually
supported on top of the girder; but if the girder ends rest on top of the
foundation wall, the joists are supported by iron stirrups or ledger strips
attached to the girder, or their ends may be mortised into it. Mortised
joints where the sills meet the girder are common in old houses and are
still used in some houses at the present time. However, it is doubtful whether
the cutting of mortised joints when joists are replaced in remodeling is
ever justified, because adequate support for the joists can be obtained by
any of the methods shown in Fig. 17.6.

In old houses, the joists, particularly the first-floor joists, are often made
of rather heavy lumber and are widely spaced. The use of small logs sawed

JOIST-

IRON STIRRUP

JOISTS HUNG ON GIRDER
WITH IRON STIRRUP

GIRDER

JOISTS LAPPED ON
TOP OF GIRDER

JOIST

LEDGER STRIP-

-GIRDER

JOISTS SIZED DOWN

IN.

ON GIRDER WITH LAP

GIRDER-

GIRDER CONSTRUCTION TO
EQUALIZE SHRINKAGE
BALLOON FRAME

{Courtejy National Lumber Manufacturers Association.)
Fig. 17.6.— Various methods of supporting joists on girders.

House Framing

221

in half for the first-floor joists persisted until rather recent times in houses
built in rural districts. In modern houses joists are almost always made
of lumber of 2-in. nominal width and are usually spaced 16 in. center to
center.

DIAGONAL BRIDGING

SOLID BRIDGING

Fig. 17.7.

It is desirable that the joists should be stiff in order to avoid springy and
creaky floors. Stiffness is obtained by using lumber of adequate height and
by bridging (Fig. 17.7). In new construction the top end of the bridging
is nailed before the subflooring is placed, and the bottom end is nailed after
the subflooring has been nailed to the joists. The same procedure is fol-
lowed in remodeling if the floor is removed; but if the floor is not removed,
bridging of the usual type cannot be installed. However, bridging made as
shown in Fig. 17. 7B can be installed without removal of the floor, pro-
vided that there is no ceiling in the way.

Replacement of the first-floor joists is sometimes necessary because they
are exposed to the moisture of the basement and also to the moisture that
rises in the foundation wall. First-floor joists can be replaced without remov-
ing the flooring if the floor is made of only a single layer of boards. They
should be replaced one at a time. If the old joist is mortised into either the
sill or the girder, the ends are cut off. If it is nailed at the sill end to a
stud in the wall, it is pried loose. After the ends are free, the joist is pried
away from the flooring. Once the joist is out of the way, the old nails may
be removed by driving them up through the floor, or they may be cut off.
The new joist is then put in place and its ends are secured by nailing or
otherwise. If the piece of lumber is a little warped, it should be pushed into
line with short braces tacked to the adjacent joists. Nailing the floor to it
is then a simple matter, as the position of the joist will be indicated by

222 New Houses from Old

the old nails or nail holes. If the floor above the joists is double, the top
or finish layer of flooring must be removed in order to replace the joists.

In new construction the correct height and width of joists should be
determined by using a joist table for the particular species of lumber that
is to be used. Sometimes such tables are included in the local building code.
If joist sizes are not specified in the building code or if no building code
applies, a compilation of tables such as the Federal Housing Administra-
tion's Tables of Maximum Allowable Spans for Wood Floor Joists, Ceiling
Joists, Rafters in Residential Construction should be used. However, it is
seldom possible in remodeling to change the height of the joists unless the
heights of the sill and girder are also changed. If there are not enough
joists under the floor to give it the desired stiffness, additional stiffness
can be built in by bridging. Second-floor and attic-floor joists are seldom
decayed; but they may be too flexible because the original carpenter did
not size them properly or spaced them too widely. Nothing can be done to
the second-floor joists unless the ceiling in the first-floor rooms is removed.
If the old ceiling is removed in order to give it a new covering or to install
a suspended ceiling, additional stiffness can be given to the second-floor
joists by installing bridging.

The joists under the attic floor are often spaced rather widely because
when the house was built, use of the attic for purposes other than storage
was not contemplated. If you plan to use the attic for living quarters, it
may be necessary to install additional joists. Installation of more joists may
also be necessary in order to strengthen the roof frame. If there is a floor
in the attic, it should be removed. Installation of additional joists is then
an easy matter. Observe in Figs. 17.1 and 17.3 how the attic-floor joists are
supported.

Some houses have a second story that overhangs the first. In such houses,
the second-floor joists usually project over the plate on top of the first-floor
studs (Fig. 17.8).

Studs

The studs in the walls seldom need replacement in remodeling, but occa-
sionally a house is found in which a few wall studs have decayed because
water got into the wall through dilapidated siding or other leaks. Wall
studs can also be damaged by termites. Fortunately, such cases are rare.
Usually the only interest in the studs in remodeling occurs when pipes
must be run in the walls or when openings must be cut for new windows
or doors. In these operations you will need some knowledge of stud con-
struction and spacing.

House Framing

223

Notice in Figs. 17.1 and 17.3 that the studs in a balloon frame house
run in one piece from the sill to the level of the attic floor but are only
one story in height in frames of the other two types. This difference makes
it possible to run pipes and wires in a balloon frame wall without cutting
through any heavy timbers. Note also the corner braces and how they are
applied to the frame. Obviously corner braces that are let into the studs—
that is, plpxed in notches cut in the outer edges of the studs — will not be
in the way of electrical cable and small pipes; but the other type of brace
(Fig. 17.2), which is as wide as the studs and intercepts them, will be in
the way.

STUD

Fig. 17.8 — Framing details of a typical second-story overhang.

In old houses, the bottom ends of the studs are often mortised into the
sill; but in modern houses, they are nailed to it. Usually they are toenailed
— that is, the spikes are driven at an angle through the ends of the stud
and into the sill. In the building of some new houses, carpenters construct
the wall on the ground, then raise it into position. When this is done, spikes
are driven through the sill into the ends of the studs. If there are no nails
visible at the end of the studs where they rest on the sill, this technique has
undoubtedly been employed.

The standard spacing for studs in house walls is now 16 in. center to
center, but variations from this spacing are common in old houses. In houses
with braced frames, the studs are sometimes few and far between. In many

224 New Houses from Old

of the old braced frames, the studs were not designed to carry any of the
weight of the house but were put in the wall only to provide wood to
which the window frames and doorframes and the sheathing could be nailed.
In very old frame houses, the space between the studs and other timbers in
the outside walls is often filled with a low-grade brick or other material.
This material — called nogging — is a filler only and supports none of the
weight of the house.

In the plank house there are no studs at all. Any changes in the wall§
of a plank house require cutting through solid wood, and there is, of course,
no space within the walls for pipes. The plank house is, nevertheless, one
of the easiest kinds to remodel, because new openings can be cut practically
anywhere in the walls, and old ones can be filled in easily.

Partitions

Partitions are interior walls. In remodeling, when partitions must be
moved, it is necessary to distinguish between those that are bearing and
those that are nonbearing. Examples of bearing partitions can be seen in
Figs. 17.1 and 17.3. Observe that they support the inner ends of the joists
in the floor above them. Obviously such partitions cannot be removed with-
out making provision to support this weight. As a general rule, it is best to
plan remodeling so that bearing partitions do not have to be removed.
When they must be removed, they are replaced with beams. The dimensions
of the beam inust be carefully calculated, a way must be found for securely
fastening it at its ends, and the floor must be shored up while the partition
is being removed and while the beam is being put in its place. The oper-
ation should be in charge of an experienced architect or builder.

On the other hand, nonbearing partitions can be removed without affect-
ing the strength of the house frame. The only safe way for determining
whether a partition is bearing or nonbearing is to make a thorough study
of its position in relation to the frame of the house. Practically all parti-
tions that are located over girders are bearing partitions. Partitions that
run at right angles to the joists below and above them are usually bearing
partitions. On the other hand, partitions that run in the same direction as
the joists are usually nonbearing. In case of doubt, however, it is best to
call in an expert before tearing out the partition. Pipes, warm-air ducts,
and electrical wires that run in a partition must be relocated when a par-
tition is removed.

Bearing partitions are constructed when the house is built. Nonbearing
partitions can be put in at any time. Details of typical nonbearing parti-
tions are illustrated in Fig. 17.9. Partitions are usually constructed of 2-by-4

C.J.

RS.
A

House Framing

-C.J,

-2X4 BLOCK

P. S

-C.J.

225

PLATE

£1

-C.J

2X4 PLATE

■C.J.-

RS.-

^ ^

1X2 STRIPS

-SOLE

mmrm

2X4 BLOCK

~Hwvi

1X4 PLATE

1X6 BOARD

Fig. 17.9. — Nonbearing partition details. A, B, C, D, E, and F illustrate various
methods of framing the top; G, base of the partition; H, I, corner framing. C.J,
indicates ceiling joist; P.S., partition stud.

studs. The studs can be placed with the 4-in. dimension at right angles to
the partition; but they are sometimes placed with the 4-in. dimension in
line with it. The first method makes a wall 5 to 6 in. thick, and the second
method, one that is 3 to 4 in. thick after the wall covering is placed on
both sides. Although the bridging in the partitions shown in Figs. 17.1 and
17.3 is more or less standard practice, it has been proved to have little, if
any, structural value. Since it is a nuisance if you wish later to place
electrical cable or piping in the partition, you may as well omit it unless
it is required by your building code.

226

New Houses from Old

Stairs

The planning of stairs and their dimensions have been discussed in
Chapter 5. Typical stair framing is shown in Fig. 17.10. Notice the wall
stringer between the first and second floors. This stringer is grooved to
receive the edges of the risers and treads and is constructed so that wedges

DOUBLE TRIMMER

ATTIC FLOOR
JOIST

CARPENTER
SUILT STAIR

ROUGH FLOOR

SECOND FLOOR
JOIST

DOUBLE TRIMMER

LEDGER BOARD
OR RIBBON

WALL STRINGER

FIRST FLOOR
JOIST

MASONRY WALL

DETAIL OF STAIR CONSTRUCTION

(Courtesy National Lumber Manufacturers Association.)

Fig. 17.10.

House Framing

227

can be driven in under the treads and risers to hold them firm and to pre-
vent squeaking. Stringers of this type are usually made to order in a wood-
working shop or purchased from manufacturers of woodwork. The type of
stringer that is shown in this figure for the attic stairs is usually cut on the
job by the carpenter. Stringers placed against a wall are nailed to the wall
or to the partition studs.

Stairs that have poorly proportioned treads and risers (Chapter 5) can
be modernized only by replacing them with a correctly designed stair. Stairs
that are satisfactorily proportioned but are squeaky can be fixed by a
number of methods. If the stair has a wedged stringer that is accessible from
the underside, the wedges can be driven in a little tighter. If the stringers
are of the more common type, squeaks can usually be taken out by nailing
the treads and risers more solidly. If the treads and risers are poorly fitted
and you do not wish to replace them, squeaks can be cured by placing
narrow strips of thin rubber under the treads on the stringer and also in the
joints between the treads and risers. It is necessary to remove the treads in
order to do this.

LINTEL (OR HEA-
DER) MAY BE
MADE OF TWO
PIECES OF LUM-
BER (USUALLY
2X4'S) STOOD
ON THEIR NAR-
ROW EDGES, AS
HERE, OR LAID
ON THEIR SIDES,
AS IN DRAWING
AT LEFT

Fig. 17.11. — Rough framini
is indicated by shading.

of door and window cut into existing wall. New wood

Framing Around Openings

Openings for ivindows and doors. Typical framing for narrow openings
in exterior walls and bearing partitions are shown in Fig. 17.11. A method

228

New Houses from Old

of framing wider openings is shown in Fig. 17.12. Openings in nonbearing
partitions are framed similarly to Fig. 17.12, except that the diagonal mem-
bers can be omitted. The openings must be made to fit the window frames
and doorframes that are to be installed in them; therefore, if the studs in
the wall are not spaced to frame an opening of the right size, extra studs
are inserted in the wall. The installation of corner windows in old houses
is usually not advisable. However, they can be installed if you wish to
undertake the expense. A method of framing such a window is shown in
Fig. 17.13.

Fig. 17.12. — Framing a wide openins

Openings for chimneys and fireplaces. Since properly constructed chim-
neys and fireplaces stand independently of the house frame, framing around
them is also essentially a matter of framing openings. Recommended
methods are illustrated in Figs. 17.14 and 17.15. An important point to
be observed in such framing is that of keeping wood or any other com-
bustible material at least 2 in. away from the masonry. The space between
the masonry and load-bearing framing members is filled with incombustible
insulating material, such as mineral wool, loose cinders, or gypsum block.
Light woodwork, such as baseboards and mantels, which are not load-carry-
ing members of the house frame, can be installed on chimney masonry, as
shown in Fig. 17.16.

The cutting of framing members. Before an opening is cut in a wall, it
is, of course, necessary to remove the wall covering on both sides. Two-by-
four's or heavier lumber are then nailed temporarily across the studs that
are to be cut (Fig. 17.17). If the opening is to be made in a load-bearing
wall or partition and is more than 3 ft. wide, it is advisable to spike lumber
to both sides of the studs and to place shoring under it to hold the weight
until the new framing around the opening is in place. Before nailing the

House Framing

229

temporary cross supports, stand the longer pieces of the new frame in the
wall adjacent to the places where they are to be installed. Then cut off the
studs and nail the headers and trimmers in place around the opening. The
procedure for cutting openings in floors is the same, except that it is neces-
sary to nail lumber temporarily only to the lower surface of the joists and
to base the temporary support on the floor below.

Special care should be taken in constructing the trimmers and headers
around large openings in floors, particularly openings around fireplace
hearths and floor registers, because of the heavy live load imposed on such
areas when many persons congregate around them. The correct procedure
for nailing such openings is shown in Fig. 17.18.

Fig. 17.13. — Framins; for insertion of a corner window.

230

New Houses from Old

HEADER BEAM

2" CLEARANCE
SPACE FILLED
WITH LOOSE
INCOMBUSTIBLE
MATERIAL AS
FIREST0PPIN6

TRIMMER BEAM

4 INCH CLEARANCE SPACE-
FILLED WITH LOOSE
INCOMBUSTIBLE MATERIAL

HEADER BEAM

TAIL BEAMS — ^ STEEL JOIST HANGER

{Courtesy National Board of Fire Underwriters.)

Fig. 17.14. — Floor framing around fireplace.

1/8 THICK ASBESTOS -
PAPER BEHIND FURR-
ING AND GROUNDS

METAL STRIP
NAILED TO
HEADER BEAM

PLASTER ON
BRICK

SELF FURRING LATH
AND METAL WALL
PLUGS FOR NAILING

FIRECLAY FLUE
LINING

_ _ ^FIRESTOPPING

SELF FURRING
METAL LATH

APPROVED WOODWORK PROTECTION

METAL STRIP
_J SET IN BRICK
— WORK JOINT

{Courtesy Natiotial Board of Fire Underzvriters.)

Fig. 17.16.

House Framing

-HEADER BEAM

231

-STEEL JOIST
HANGER

-TRIMMER
'6"

-TRIMMER
BEAM

2 CLEARANCE
SPACE FILLED
WITH LOOSE
INCOMBUSTIBLE
MATERIAL

-DOUBLE JOISTS
FOR TRIMMER

I'^—A h-i2'^"

(.Courtesy National Board of Fire Underwriters.)

Fig. 17.15. — A. Floor framing around a chimney that projects both sides of an
interior wall. B. Ordinary floor framing around a chimney. All timbers clear the
masonry by at least 2 in., and the space is filled with fireproofing material. C. Ar-
rangement of studs when a partition crosses the back of a chimney. D. Arrange-
ment of studs when a partition crosses behind a fireplace. (See Fig, 17.14 for
fire-stopping details.)

232

New Houses from Old

H , !^l , 111 i Tim 111 lllljl , !{1.,JIL

A B

Fig. 17.17. — A, B, and C, successive steps in cutting and framing an opening; c,
temporary bracing; d, long lumber placed in the frame before temporary bracing
is nailed. D shows another method of framing the same opening.

Fig. 17.18. — The frame of a weight-bearing opening should be nailed in two stages.

i_r

House Framing

233

NOTCH MAY BE CUT AT
EITHER BOTTOM OR TOP
OF JOIST, BUT MAXIMUM
DEPTH IS '/6 HEIGHT OF
THE JOIST.

MAXIMUM DIAMETER FOR
HOLE IN 10 IN. JOIST IS
2l/2 IN. MINIMUM DISTANCE
FROM TOP OR BOTTOM
EDGE IS 2 IN.

A CUT OF THIS TYPE
SHOULD BE MADE ONLY
AT TOP OF JOIST. SHADED
WOOD IS LET-IN REINFOR-
CING BLOCK OF SAME
THICKNESS AS JOIST.

Fig. 17.19. — Recommended ways of cutting studs in bearing partitions and joists
in floors.

GABLE ROOF

RIDGE

COLLAR BEAM

RAFTER

LOOKOUT

STUD

GAMBREL ROOF

RAFTER

Fig. 17.20.

234

New Houses from Old

The installation of electrical wiring and pipes for plumbing and heating
systems in existing houses usually requires some cutting of joists and studs.
Cutting should be avoided as much as possible; but where it is necessary,
it should be done so that the cut members do not lose too much strength
(Fig. 17.19).

Reinforcement of Floors under Bathrooms

The dead load on the floor under a bathroom may be much higher than
the dead load on floors in other parts of the house. Live loads in bath-
rooms, particularly under bathtubs, are exceptionally high. The joists in
an old house may have adequate strength to carry the added load of a
bathroom, but usually they do not. Even in houses of very recent construc-
tion, the weight that is added when the average room is converted to a
bathroom is sometimes enough to cause the floor joists to sag sufficiently
to crack plaster and tile work. Joists under bathrooms can be strengthened
most easily by doubling them. Hanging the bathtub on concealed wall
hangers that are nailed or screwed to the wall studs also helps to carry
the added weight.

Roof Framing

The parts of two typical roof frames are shown in Fig. 17.20. The span
of a roof is the distance from the outer edge of one plate to the outer edge
of the opposite plate, but the span of a rafter is only half of this distance.
The span of a rafter is also called the run. The pitch (slope) of a roof
can be described in terms of foot of run^ — thus 5 in. in 12, which means
that for every 12 in. of the horizontal span the height of the roof increases
5 in. Pitch is also described in such terms as Y^, %, and full pitch, which
terms express the relationship between the width of the building and the
total rise of the roof. The correspondence between pitch expressed this
way and rise in inches per foot of run is as follows.

Fig. 17.21

Pitch

Rise,

Pitch

Rise,

Pitch

Rise,

inch

1.9

Full

House Framing

235

Roof-frame repairs. The plates in an existing house are usually in good
condition, but in a few houses they are found to be decayed or split. The
first condition usually results from neglected leaks in the roof. The second
condition may result from the plates not being heavy enough to withstand
the weight imposed on them by a load of snow on the roof or the strain
imposed by a high wind. A roof that is based on "tender" plates is not a
strong structure that can be depended on to support a heavy load of snow
or even heavy roofing material. A roof on which the plates are in this
condition sometimes shows no outward signs of weakness when the house
is occupied the year round but collapses in the wintertime after it has been
converted to a summer home, the reason being that an unusually heavy
load of snow piles up on the roof when the house is unheated. Plates can
sometimes be replaced without dismantling the roof, but the operation is
complicated and it should be undertaken only by experienced carpenters.
Defective plates can always be replaced by taking down the roof frame, but
this is an expensive operation. Usually the plates are decayed or split only
in small areas. In such cases, it may be enough to install iron straps that
tie together the rafters and the wall studs adjacent to these areas (Fig.
17.22). Such straps are not stock items, but they can be made by any
blacksmith.

Fig. 17.22. — Two methods of tying rafters to a weakened plate.

Some roofs are weak because they are not adequately tied together. The
collar beams (Fig. 17.20) are often placed high up on the rafters in order
to give headroom in the attic. Collar beams so placed are relatively in-
effective as ties. If the attic is not to be used, considerable additional
strength can be built into the roof by installing collar beams low down on
the rafters. Spiking a floor joist to each rafter also adds a large amount of
strength to the roof frame.

In a few old houses cracked or decayed rafters will be found. A rafter
can be completely replaced only by removing the roof covering and sheath-

236 New Houses from Old

ing and, also, in most houses by dismantling the cornice at the lower end
of the rafters. However, if the rafter is not too far gone, it can be reinforced
from underneath the roof by cutting a rafter so that its lower end will
come flush with the edge of the plate and so that its upper end will rest
against the ridge. The new rafter is then put in place and solidly spiked
to the old one. If the old rafter is bowed downward, it should be straight-
ened by jacking it before the new rafter is nailed to it.

Rafter layout. Unless the shape or pitch of the roof is to be changed, it
is not usually necessary in remodeling to figure out the way to cut rafters,
because, even though some of the rafters in the old roof must be replaced,
measurements for the new rafters can be taken directly from one of the old
ones. However, if the roof line is to be changed or if an addition is to be
built on the house, new rafters must be laid out and cut. The framing of a
complicated roof is one of the highest skills of the carpenter, but if you
feel that your ability in this craft is up to roof framing, you will find
directions for cutting rafters in the books on carpentry and on the use of
the steel square that are noted in Useful Books and Pamphlets.

Dormers and other openings in the roof. H an attic that was used only
for storage is converted to living space, windows are often provided by
building dormers. Dormers are built also to provide higher ceilings in
knock-head rooms (Chapter 10). The framing of a typical narrow dormer
is shown in Fig. 17.23. This figure shows both double headers and trimmers
around the dormer. Double headers are essential, but double trimmers are
not always used under narrow dormers. Wider dormers (Fig. 17.24) usually
have shed roofs. Double trimmers and headers are both necessary around
the opening for a wide dormer, because these headers and trimmers carry
the weight of a considerable area of roof.

As can be seen from a study of Fig. 17.23, the frame of a dormer itself
does not carry any of the weight of the roof; consequently, the usual type
of dormer can be removed rather easily in remodeling. When a dormer is
removed, the hole should be filled in with rafters and covered with sheathing.
Towers and cupolas on roofs also are usually rather easy to remove. Some-
times, however, they contain windows or stairways that will still be needed
in the remodeled house. In such cases, they can sometimes be altered to
remove their ugliness (Figs. 2.20 and 2.21).

Changes in roof shape and pitch. Sometimes a great improvement in the
appearance of a house can be brought about by changing the type of roof
or the pitch of the roof. Gambrel roofs are sometimes changed to straight
gable roofs with good architectural results. An operation of this kind is
essentially the same as the construction of a new roof. The chief difference
in remodeling is that sometimes the lumber in the old roof can be used to

House Framing

237

CEILING JOIST
PLATE

STUD

NOTE- DORMER MAY BE FRAMED ON ROOF BOARDING OR ON TOP
OF RAFTERS. WHERE ROOF BOARDING IS EXPOSED AT EAVES,
USE SELECTED STOCK. DORMER STUDS MAY RUN DOWN FACE
OF RAFTER FOR NAILING BASE FOR LATH OR CONTINUE TO
CEILING JOISTS IF ATTIC IS FINISHED.

DETAIL OF TYPICAL DORMER

{Courtesy National Lumber Manufacturers Association.)
Fig. 17.23.

238

New Houses from Old

ROOF BOARDING

METHOD OF BRACING ROOF
WHERE RAFTERS ARE AT
RIGHT ANGLES TO JOISTS

note: DORMER MAY BE FRAMED ON ROOF BOARDING
OR ON TOP OF RAFTERS. WHERE ROOF BOARDING IS
EXPOSED AT EAVES USE SELECTED STOCK. DORMER
STUDS MAY BE RUN DOWN FACE OF RAFTER FOR
NAILING BASE FOR LATH OR CONTINUE TO CEILING
JOISTS IF ATTIC IS FINISHED.

DETAIL OF DORMER
OVER STAIR HALL

{Courtesy National Lumber Manufacturers Association.)

Fig. 17.24.

House Framing

239

build the new one. For example, a steeply pitched gable roof has long,
unbroken rafters and therefore usually contains all the lumber that will be
needed for a roof of lower pitch on the same house. On the other hand, if
a roof of low pitch is altered to one of steep pitch or if a gambrel roof is
changed to a gable roof, not much of the old lumber can be used in the
new roof because the main elements of the roof, the rafters, will be too
short. If the only change in the roof framing is the removal of a deep over-
hang, the rafters are usually only shortened where they project beyond the
house walls. The details of removing a deep overhang depend on the way
the eaves of the roof are finished, hence they must be worked out for each
specific case.

B 0

Fig. 17.25. — A. End-nailing. B. Toenailing. C. Face-nailing. D. Blind-nailing.

Porch Roofs

Porch roofs are usually shed roofs with frames similar to the frame of
the shed dormer illustrated in Fig. 17.24. Often it will be found in an old
house that the rafters in the porch roof have pulled away from the house,
thus creating a gap between the roof covering and the side of the house
through which rain leaks. If the porch is to be retained in the remodeled
house, it should be jacked up to its original level and good masonry posts
put under it. After this is done, the rafters in the porch roof can be nailed
again and they will hold.

Nailing

The manner in which the frame is fastened together is a very important
factor in good construction. Mortised joints were used extensively through-

240

New Houses from Old

out the framework of houses buih in colonial times and somewhat later in
some localities, but for many years house frames have been nailed together.
Nailing is the most practical method in remodeling, even in cases where the
original frame is mortised. The following table indicates good nailing prac-
tices for typical joints in the house frame. It is intended for lumber of the
usual dimensions used in modern building; and, therefore, it should be
modified when heavier lumber is encountered in remodeling. Whenever
possible, joints should be face-nailed or end-nailed, but toenailing (Fig.
17.25) produces strong joints if it is carefully done.

Fig. 17.26
Nailing Recommendations

Weight

Number

of nails

in joint

Joist to sill or girder

16-penny

Plate to stud

16-penny

Stud to stud

16-penny

30 in. o.c.

Plate to plate

16-penny

24 in. o.c.

Stud to sole

16-penny

Joist, ceiling to plate

16-penny

Rafter to plate

16-penny

Sole on flooring to joist

blocking

20-penny

16 in. o.c.

Bridging to joist

8-penny

Subfloor, 1 in. by 6 in.,

joist

8-penny

Subfloor, 1 in. by 8 in..

joist

8-penny

Fire Stopping

Unless fire-stopping measures are incorporated in the house frame, fire
that starts in one part of the house, such as the basement, may spread so
quickly through the interior of the walls that the house will be engulfed
in flame before the occupants can escape. Old houses are particularly
faulty in this respect because most of them were built before much atten-
tion was paid to fire resistance. Fire stopping is particularly important in
balloon frame houses because of the uninterrupted passages in the exterior
walls. In braced frames and platform frames the solid second-floor girts
serve as fire retarders; and in many braced frames the construction of the
sill is such that there is no opening into the walls.

Fire stopping in the basement is the most important, because a large
proportion of house fires start there. A basement ceiling constructed of

House Framing

241

»/VWvvi/

INDICATES INCOMBUSTIBLE
MATERIAL SUCH AS
MINERAL WOOL

Fig. 17.27. — Typical fire-stopping methods. A, B. At sill. Material such as mineral
wool may be packed into open space, then compressed with board or block. C.
Partition base. Wall covering mnst be removed to place fire-stopping material. D.
Fire stopping around pipe or vent. E. Fire stopping at eaves. Loose material may
be packed in after supporting boards are nailed between rafters. F. Fire stopping
around floor register.

fire-retarding materials, such as Portland-cement plaster on wire lath, is
one very effective fire-stopping measure. Other types o:*^ fire stopping that
can be added in remodelmg without great expense are shown in Fig. 17.27.
Loose mineral wool, vermiculite, or any other incombustible pellet or fiber
insulating material can be used as fire stopping. Brick, concrete, and cinders
are also suitable. In fact, thick wood is a fairly effective fire retardant,
and wooden blocks fitted between the studs just above the sill are required
by some building codes.

242

New Houses from Old

Framing in Masonry Houses

The interior framing in houses with solid masonry walls is essentially
the same as the interior framing in a frame house. The chief difference
between a typical house with masonry walls and a typical frame house is
that in the masonry house the outer ends of the joists are supported on
the masonry wall. In modern construction, these joist ends are cut on a
bevel and attached to steel anchors embedded in the masonry. In some
modern houses with masonry walls not only are the joists anchored at their
ends but also the first three or four that parallel an exterior wall are
attached to anchors in the masonry (Fig. 17.28). In older masonry houses
either the sills rest on a ledge formed by reducing the thickness of the
masonry wall or their ends are embedded in the masonry. In such houses
the walls are often tied together by wire tie rods which pass through the
house between the joists and which are secured to the walls by ornamental
nuts or plates on the exterior.

JOIST

STEEL ANCHOR SET
IN MASONRY WHEN
WALL IS BUILT

-STEEL ANCHOR

JOISTS

-^-^

MASONRY
• .WALL

■4-

Fig. 17.28. — Joist anchors. The style shown in A, used at the ends of joists, is
common in existing houses. B ilhistrates a style used in well-built houses for tying
in joists that parallel the wall.

TJTJTJTJTJTJTJXriJXriJXriJlJTJTJ'lJTJTJTJTJTJTJT^ UTJTJTJXTTJTXUlJlJTrTJTJTJljaJTJTJTjaJTJTJ'TJTXU^

EIGHTEEN

Roofs

Xhe various elements of the roof covering, together with the eaves and
downspouts, are shown in Fig. 18.A,

Sheathing

Sheathing not only provides a base for the roof covering but also ties
the rafters together horizontally and adds considerably to the frame's stiff-
ness and stability. Sheathing should be laid carefully with all joints made
over rafters and should be well nailed. Solid sheathing may be made of
square-edged, shiplapped, or tongued-and-grooved boards of nominal 1-in.
thickness. Preferably they should not be more than 6 in. wide. Open sheath-
ing is usually installed only when wood shingles are to be used as the roof
covering. Open sheathing is made of l-by-3, l-by-4, or wider strips of lumber.
These strips are nailed horizontally across the rafters and spaced so that
their centers are the same distance apart, as the shingles will be exposed
to the weather.

Flashings

In order to make a watertight roof, flashings are necessary around chim-
neys and soil-stack vents, in valleys, and at various other points (Figs.
18.1 to 18.6).

Soft (roofing temper) sheet copper weighing 16 oz. per sq. ft. is a
highly satisfactory material for flashings. Figs. 18.1 to 18.6 and the follow-
ing instructions for making copper flashings are printed here by courtesy
of the Copper and Brass Research Association.

Valleys. Open-valley flashing — slate or shingle roof. Starting at the bottom
with an 8-ft. sheet, fold the top edge back Vz in. to prevent water blowing past
the lap. The next sheet is then laid, allowing a 6-in. lap. The exposed part of the
valley should be not less than 4 in. wide at the top and, to give more capacity,
increased in width by 1 in. for each 8 ft. in length of the valley. The copper

243

244

New Houses from Old

Roofs

245

should extend at least 4 in. under the slate or shingle. Where one side of the
valley is much steeper, or receives a much greater volume of water, form an
inverted V in the center. If cold-rolled copper is used in place of soft copper.

•4" MIN.

COPPER CLEATS
12" O.C.

OF VALLEY

SECTION A-A
OPEN VALLEY FLASHING
Fig. 18.1.

the valley should be formed in the shop. Nails used to fasten slate or shingles
should not perforate the copper, which is held by the cleats. Where sheet-copper
tile or shingles are used, the same general principles apply, but manufacturers'
literature should be consulted for special details.

246

New Houses from Old

Closed-valley flashing — slate or shingle roof. A closed valley may be laid in
with each course of slate, using pieces long enough to extend 2 in. past the top
of the slate upon which they rest, to allow lap for nailing or for cutting lugs to
be turned under slate, to prevent slipping, or it may be laid with copper 14 in.
wide, bent in the center, using 8-ft. sheets, allowing 6-in. laps.

Chimneys. Chimney flashing — slate or shingle roof. The base flashing at lower
end of chimney extends out on the slate or shingles at least 4 in., with a hem
edge. The lowest piece of shingle flashing on each side folds around the corner

-SET COPPER SHEETS
BACK OF SHINGLE BUTTS

EXTEND COPPER SHEETS 2" ABOVE
SHINGLES FOR NAILING TO SHEATHING

DIAGRAM OF
COPPER SHEET

CLOSED VALLEY FLASHING

Fig. 18.2.

Roofs

247

of the chimney and is soldered to the base flashing. Many roofers prefer to lock
as well as solder all four corners. Shingle flashing at sides should be lapped
4 in. and extended out 4 in. from the brickwork. The base flashing and shingle
flashing are cap-flashed as shown, overlapping the base flashing 4 in., and

CAP FLASHING
IN ONE PIECE

ALTERNATE METHOD
ONE PIECE FLASHING
AT BOTTOM OF CHIMNEY

CHIMNEY FLASHING

Fig. 18.3A.

248

New Houses from Old

stiffened at the bottom with a hem edge. The copper-base flashing and cap flash-
ing may be formed in one piece on the low side of the chimney if it is desirable
to make this flashing less conspicuous. The copper may then be turned into the
second course of brick above the top of wood sheathing. The lowest shingle flash-
ings are folded around the corner and locked, forming a hem edge above the line
where the base flashing turns into the brick joint. The metal should be bent to
fit very tight against slate in order to take up the shrinkage that develops in the
rafters and sheathing.

PEINFORCING
PIECE

SOLDERED

CHIMNEY FLASHING

Fig. 18.3B.

Saddle flashings may be made in one piece as shown, with V-shaped pieces
locked and soldered to close openings. Large saddles are flashed in two pieces,
with a locked and soldered seam at the ridge line of the saddle. The top shingle
flashings are reinforced before setting, each with a small piece of copper soldered

Roofs

249

on the underside to close corners properly. The vertical seams are then locked
and soldered.

Narrow chimneys on steep roofs are frequently flashed without saddles by al-
lowing the metal to extend 3 in. beyond the brickwork on each side and folding
over the corner to form a triangle extending beyond the chimney. Both top shingle
flashings must extend far enough under saddle flashing to prevent leakage. If the
top of chimney is not properly cemented, water may penetrate between flue lin-
ings and brickwork, and the resulting leaks may be attributed to nonexistent
faults in the sheet-metal flashing. . . .

COPPER DRIVE
SCREW

SADDLE HIP FLASHING

RIDGES AND HIPS

Fig. 18.4.

Vents. The copper vent-pipe flashing is turned under the slate or the shingle
at the top and passes over the slate or shingle at the bottom. The sheet has a
^/^-in. edge folded over on both sides of the vent to prevent water from driving
under the slate. The copper cap is slit every % in., turned down in the pipe 2 in.,
and soldered. Special pipe fittings provided with a space to receive base flashing
are frequently used, and where the pipe terminates without a thread, a threadless
cap may be used. In another method shown, a flat piece of copper cut to a radius
is neatly soldered to the cap-flashing tube. This operation is usually done in the
shop.

250

New Houses from Old

Ridges and hips. The beveled copper ridge covering of the type illustrated in
Fig. 18.4 must be made slightly larger than the wood supports or difficulty will be
experienced in springing the metal in pldce. A copper drive screw is recom-
mended for attaching the copper, after which the hemmed edge is malleted to
45° covering the nails. The flanges of the copper ridge roll must be made to fit
tight against the slate. The copper drive screws are used to fasten the metal with

t SOLDERED

\ JOINT

VENT PIPE FLASHING
Fig. 18.5.

a 24-in. spacing. The intersection of the slate at the ridge line is flashed with
8-ft. lengths of inverted V-shaped concealed flashings covered by the top courses
of slate. A separate piece of concealed copper flashing, formed in an inverted
V-shape, is laid in with each course of slate on hips, and occasionally on ridges,
as shown. On hips, lugs are turned on the high side to prevent the copper from
slipping below the slate.

Roofs

251

Intersections. Fig. 18.6 shows method of flashing at a change of slope in slate
or shingle roofs. The copper on the upper side extends to just short of the
nailing line and is cleated. On the lower slope it extends 4 in. to cover the nail
holes. A cant strip, held with soldered straps, raises the butts of the last course
on the upper slope to permit proper laying of the shingles. The exposed end is

FLASHING CHANGE
OF SLOPE

BRASS SCREW S
LEAD WASHER OR
COPPER SCREW
NAIL WITH LEAD
COVERED HEAD-^

CONCEALED
FLASHING

BRICK

STUCCO

2 COPPER
^^^^ CLEATS

r^#" i8"o.a

CONCEALED M^
COPPER
^' FLASHING

HOLES MUST BE DRILLED IN SLATE BEFORE NAILING

HALF TIMBER

ROOF AND WALL INTERSECTIONS
Fig. 18.6.

screwed down with copper alloy screws through washers, if extended down so
far that its own rigidity is not enough to keep the sheet tight. If a closed joint
is desired, concealed flashing is used. On the upper slope the construction is the
same as described above. On the lower slope the copper is carried down between
the shingles.

252 New Houses from Old

Sheet lead, galvanized iron sheeting, sheet aluminum, and asphalt roll
roofing are also used for flashings. Sheet lead is available in a soft temper
that also in the form of an alloy known as hard lead. Recommended mini-
mum weights for soft lead are 4 lb. per sq. ft. and for the hard lead,
2 lb. per sq. ft. Galvanized iron or steel sheeting is not so easily worked
as softer materials, and its cut edges are not protected by the zinc coating
and covers the uncut sheet. When terneplate (steel coated with an alloy of
tin and lead) is used for flashings, it should be painted on both sides before
it is applied to the roof, unless it is already painted when purchased. The
weight called IX should be used for flashings. When metal flashings are
used, it is important not to use in conjunction with them nails made or
coated with dissimilar metals, because when moisture is present, an elec-
trical action may be set up that will result in the rapid corrosion of one
of the metals. For example, if zinc-coated nails are used in the roof cover-
ing, enough copper nails should be on hand to secure the flashings and
the roof covering applied over their edges.

Asphalt roll roofing is often used for flashings when the roof is to be
covered with the same material or with asphalt shingles. It is an excellent
material for valley flashings. A double thickness is used for valleys. The
first layer can be made of a strip 18 in. wide. If the material is coated
with mineral granules on one side, the mineral surface should be placed
down. A strip 36 in. wide is used for the second layer and is placed with
the mineral granules upward.

This material is inferior to a corrosion-resistant metal for chimney
flashings, but it is often used when the roofing job must be done at mini-
mum cost. No cap flashing is used, and the flashings are not set into the
mortar joints. Instead, flashing strips are fitted around the chimney and
are turned up about 4 in. along its sides. The turned-up portions are
cemented to the chimney with a plastic flashing cement. The same cement
is then applied to the chimney above the flashing in a band about 4 in.
wide, which is shaped with a trowel so that rain that strikes the chimney
will be conducted to the outside of the flashing. A lightweight asphalt roll
roofing or asphalt felt is better than heavy for chimney flashings.

In addition to the methods shown (Fig. 18.5) for the flashing of soil-
stack vents, flashing of these can also be done with manufactured flanges
and collars. One type of lead flashing has the collar and flange in one piece.
The unit is slipped over the top of the soil pipe and the flange is placed
against the roof. The edges of the collar are then made tight against the
soil pipe by tapping them with a mallet. Another type of vent-pipe flashing
has a built-in adjustable joint that permits fitting it to roofs of different
slopes.

Roofs 253

Usually it is better to install open rather than closed valleys when a
roof is covered in remodeling, because open valleys drain faster and are
less likely to become clogged with leaves.

Roof-Covering Materials

Roof areas are calculated in terms of the square, which is 100 sq. ft.
A square of roof material is not, however, 100 sq. ft., but the amount of
material required to cover 100 sq. ft. of roof. A roll of asphalt roofing
designed to be lapped 2 in. contains 108 sq. ft., while roofing material,
such as wood shingles, which is laid so that there are two or three layers
of roofing over any spot in the roof, requires two or three times 100 sq. ft.
of material to cover one square of roof. The term exposure to the weather
— thus, 16-in. shingles with 3%-in. exposure to the weather — indicates the
length of the portion of the shingle or roofing strip that is exposed in
the finished roof.

Wood shingles, mineral-surfaced asphalt shingles, slate shingles, asbestos-
cement shingles, clay tile, asphalt roll roofing, galvanized steel, terneplate,
zinc, sheet copper, and aluminum are some of the covering materials used
on sloping roofs. The two main considerations in selecting a roofing material
are its cost in relation to expected service and its suitability in relation to
the age, architectural style, and setting of the house.

Wood shingles. At one time wood shingles were the most popular roofing
material for houses, but in recent years building-code requirements and the
preferential rates given by fire-insurance companies when fire-resistant roof
coverings are used have reduced their use in many localities. Nevertheless,
wood shingles have many advantages. They make an attractive roof that
looks right on wooden houses. They are easy to apply on both new and
old roofs. When good-quality shingles are correctly laid, they produce a
durable roof with desirable structural and insulating qualities.

Wood shingles are manufactured from various species of weather-resistant
wood, such as redwood, cypress, and red cedar. By far the larger proportion
is made of western red cedar. The best-quality shingles are cut so that the
edge of the grain is exposed in the surface of the shingle. Edge-grain
shingles warp very little or not at all after they are applied to the roof.
Flat-grain shingles are less expensive but are more likely to warp. Fig. 18.7
shows the covering capacity of the three commercial lengths and also gives
other data about wood shingles manufactured under the grade rules of the
Red Cedar Shingle Bureau.

254

New Houses from Old

Fig. 18.7
Shingle Data

Grades

Shingle

thicknesses,
green

Approximate bundle
thickness, inches

Number of
bundles
required

per square

Number of

running

inches

per square

Butts

Inches

Green

Dry

Roof

Side
wall

Roof

Side
wall

No. 1—24 in. (Royals)
No. 1—18 in. (Perfections)
No. 1—16 in. (Perfects 5X)

4
5
5

21/4

61-i. to 7
8

6H to 6^4

7Ji
7?i

4
4
4

3
3
3

1,996
2,664
2,960

1,497
1,998
2,220

No. 2—24 in. (16 in. clear)
No. 2—18 in. (12 in. clear)
No. 2 — 16 in. (12 in. clear)

4
5
5

21/4

61/2 to 7

8!,i
8

6H to 6?4

734

4
4

3
3
3

1,996
2,664
2,960

1,497
1,998
2,220

No. 3—24 in. (10 in. clear)
No. 3 — 18 in. (8 in. clear)
No. 3—16 in. (8 in. clear)

4
5
5

65-4 to 6?4

7?i

6 to6^i

7 1/2

4
4

3
3
3

1,996
2,664
2,960

1,497
1,998
2,220

Courtesy of Red Cedar Shingle Bureau

Shingles are nailed to shingle lath, which may be applied directly to
the rafters or may be nailed to solid sheathing. A doubled or tripled course
of shingles is first laid at the eaves. In this course, the butt ends of the
shingles are made flush over one another and are laid so that their ends
project about 1 in. beyond the edge of the roof. Two nails should be placed
in shingles of average width and three nails in extra-wide shingles. Only
good-quality nails should be used. If you can afford them, use copper or
copper-alloy nails, but steel roofing nails with a heavy zinc coating are
usually used. The 3-penny size is suitable when the shingles are being nailed
directly to lath, but longer nails are required in overroofing.

Shingle bundles contain shingles of random width. Widths should be
selected so that the joints in successive courses are broken (Fig. 18.8). If
flat-grain shingles are being used, the center line of a heart should not come
over a joint in the course below. Although some roofers soak shingles before
applying them, it is considered better practice to lay the shingles dry and
to space them not less than % in. apart. The best method of keeping the
courses straight is to snap a chalk line to mark the position of the butt
end of each course before it is laid. The best method of making hips and
ridges is illustrated in Fig. 18.9. Factory-made hip and ridge units, prefabri-
cated so that they have a similar appearance, are also available in con-
venient lengths.

Wood shingles can be applied over an old roof that is covered with wood
shingles. The old roof should first be repaired so that it forms a sound and

Roofs

255

MAKE SIDE LAP
1 1/2" AT LEAST

RIGHT

SPACE JOINTS
THIS WAY

I r I'r, '1 '1 '1 T

wrong!

"THESE JOINTS
SHOULD NOT
BE IN LINE

(^Courtesy Red Cedar Shingle Bureau.)
Fig. 18.8. — Joints and side laps in a wood-shingle roof.

reasonably smooth surface. Rotted shingles should be removed and replaced.
Warped shingles should be split and their separate halves nailed down
with good roofing nails. Old valley flashings need not be removed, but
valleys should be filled in with lumber that is thick enough to bring the
surface of the valley about flush with the old roof covering. New valley
flashings are then applied over the lumber. Flashings around dormers and
at wall intersections need not be removed, but new flashings should be
applied as for a new roof. Chimneys that are flashed with cap flashings and
counterflashings are best handled by leaving the counterflashing in place
but removing the cap flashing and replacing it with new.

Along the eaves and gable ends, the old shingles are cut back a distance
of 3 or 4 in., and these spaces are filled in with 1-in. boards. Drip from
gables and the formation of icicles in the wintertime can be prevented by
using a strip of bevel siding under the shingles, as shown in Fig. 18.10. Nails
should be used that are long enough to pass through both the new and old
shingles and to penetrate the sheathing about % in. If the old shingles are
applied on shingle lath, not all of the new nails will strike the lath; but this

256

New Houses from Old

(.Courtesy Red Cedar Shingle Bureau.)
Fig. 18.9. — Approved method of constructing a modified "Boston" hip.

iCourfesy Red Cedar Shingle Bureau.)

Fic. 18.10.— A beveled strip under the shingles along the gable ends is a good idea,
particularly on old houses that may no longer be standing true.

Roofs 257

is not important, since some of them will strike it and the others will secure a
good hold in the old shingles.

Asphalt shingles. The base material for asphalt shingles is a special paper
or felt that is impregnated with asphalt and is then coated with more
asphalt. The surface that is to be exposed to the weather is given an addi-
tional coating of mineral granules. The fiber composition of the base varies,
but usually it has a high proportion of fiber obtained from rags. The
material for the granules also varies. Sometimes they are made of crushed
slate, but often they are made of other rock. The actual composition of
the fiber base and the granules is somewhat less important than the weight
of the finished material. Asphalt shingles are available in a variety of
colors, sizes, and types. The principal types are illustrated in Fig. 18.11.

Exact procedures for laying asphalt shingles will not be described be-
cause manufacturers regularly supply specific instructions. However, the
main procedure is fundamentally the same as the laying of a wood-shingle
roof. Asphalt shingles are usually, but not always, placed over an underlay
of asphalt-saturated felt weighing not less than 15 lb. per square or of
asphalt-saturated and asphalt-coated building paper weighing about 10 lb.
per square. The underlay is applied across the roof and the strips are lapped
about 2 in. along their edges. A strip of galvanized metal about 3 in. wide
is placed along the eayes and gables and is projected about ^ in. beyond
the roof boards. The purpose of this strip is to prevent the shingles bending
downward at these places. Hips and ridges can be covered with narrow
strips of asphalt roll roofing (usually sold as ridge roll) or with shingles.
If the latter are used, they can be placed over a flashing of ridge roll.
Many types of asphalt shingles are nailed similarly to wood shingles, but
some are made for use with wire staples and other special fastening devices.

The preparations for overroofing with asphalt shingles are the same as
for wood shingles unless the manufacturer of the asphalt shingle makes
different recommendations. Sometimes when rather thin asphalt roofing is
applied over an existing roof, the asphalt shingles sag into depressions in
the old roof, thus creating bumps and high spots that are unsightly and
may wear through rapidly. To prevent this, some roofers nail beveled strips
of lumber horizontally between the courses of shingles to make a flatter
surface for the new roofing material, but this is a somewhat expensive
procedure. Another method of providing a level surface, which is applicable
when heavy asphalt shingles are used, is nailing shingle strips to the old
roof. However, when an old roof is so rough that strips are necessary to
level it before applying asphalt shingles, it is better to remove the old
roof covering.

Asphalt shingles should never be applied over green or damp sheathing

258

New Houses from Old

TYPE SIZE

INDIVIDUAL SHINGLES

RECOMMENDED MIN.
WEIGHTS PER SQ.

STANDARD TYPE 9" X 12^/^"

12" X 16"

HEXAGONAL TYPE

TAB SHINGLES
RECTANGULAR

THREE -TAB STRIP
(THICK BUTT)

FOUR- TAB STRIP

10- IN. SHINGLES
FOUR- TAB STRIP
12 1/2- IN. SHINGLES

16 X 16

12 X 36

10" X 36"
12/^' X 36"

250 lbs.
306 lbs.

138 lbs.

200 lbs.

195 lbs.
240 lbs.

HEXAGONAL

TWO- TAB STANDARD

TWO- TAB HEAVY

II '/s X 36"
12^3 X 36"

Fig. 18.11. — Data on common types of asphalt shingles.

157 lbs.
220 lbs.

or over a damp roof, because the changes in dimension that accompany
drying of lumber will result in some movement of the shingle nails. When
two nails that pass through the same shingle move closer together, as they
do if they are nailed into the same board, the result will be a bulge in
the shingle. If the nails move farther apart, as they will do if they are
nailed into adjacent boards, the result may be tearing of the shingle. When
bulging or tearing occurs in an asphalt roof, the only remedy is to pull the
nails out of the affected shingles on a hot day and to smooth the shingles
by pressing them with the hand or a board. Nails are then driven in new
positions, and the old holes are filled with dabs of roofing cement. The
repair will not last unless the roof sheathing is dry when it is done.

Slate shingles. Slate shingles are one of the most permanent types of
roofing materials. Years ago it was customary to buy ungraded slates. These
slates were then sorted out by the roofer, and the thicker slates were
applied over rafters and at such points as along the eaves and gables, the
thinner slates were applied in the areas between, or the thick and thin
slates were mixed throughout the roof according to some pattern worked
out by the roofer. Modern slates are usually sorted into standard lengths

Roofs 259

and thicknesses by the manufacturer. The standard lengths in inches are
as follows: 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24. The thickness used on house roofs
now is most commonly the %g in., if a smooth-textured roof is wanted,
or the % in., if a rough-textured roof is desired. Slates that are not graded
as to thickness are still used on some modern roofs when a novelty effect
is desired.

Fig. 18.12
Approximate Weights of Slate Shingles

Thickness,
inches

716

Approximate weight
per square, pounds

700 to 800

950

1,400

1,800

2,500

It is commonly believed that a slate roof is extraordinarily heavy. This
is true of the thicker slates, but a slate roof built of the -^^g-in. thickness
weighs between 7 and 8 lb. per sq. ft. — about three times the weight of a
standard shingle roof. This weight will not overload a well-constructed roof
frame. However, slate should not be applied to an old roof frame in
remodeling unless the frame is strong and sound.

Slate roofs are applied over solid sheathing. The sheathing should be
covered with asphalt roofing felt weighing not less than 15 lb. per square.
The felt is laid horizontally with horizontal laps of 2% in. and vertical
laps of 6 in. The underlay is applied also over hips and ridges. Hips and
ridges should be covered also with copper flashing. The recommended maxi-
mum exposures to the weather are as follows: 10-in. slate — 31'4-in. expo-
sure; 12 in. — 4^^ in.; 14 in. — 5% in.; 16 in. — 6^ in.

Only top-quality corrosion-resistant nails should be used in a slate roof,
because such a roof is designed for permanence. The nails should be
driven carefully. H driven too tightly, they will break through the slate
when they are driven or will crack it when changing moisture conditions
cause the sheathing to swell or shrink. If they are driven too loosely, they
will project above the top of the slate and interfere with the slate in the
next course. Seams in successive courses of slates should be staggered.
This is accomplished when slates of a single uniform width are used by
having on hand a number of slates one and one-half times this width and
starting every other course with one of these wider slates. A strip of bev-

260 New Houses from Old

eled lumber is nailed along the eaves before the first course of slates is laid.

Slates are regularly furnished with two holes for nails. However, it is
usually necessary to make some holes on the job. Holes are made most
easily with a slater's punch, but a few of them can be made in emergencies
with a metal-cutting drill. A drilled hole should be countersunk slightly to
provide room for the nailhead. Cutting of slate should be avoided as much
as possible, but some cutting is unavoidable when slates must be placed
around chimneys and over flues. Cutting is done with a slater's knife.
The slate is first scored along the line of the cut. The scored slate is placed
over the edge of a piece of lumber or a slater's stake so that the part to
be cut off overhangs and is then struck with the knife. Small slate-cutting
machines, which operate somewhat like the familiar paper cutter, are avail-
able and should be obtained if much slate is to be applied.

Ashestos-ceinent shingles. Asbestos-cement shingles are factory made of
asphalt fiber and Portland cement. They are very durable and are fireproof.
Asbestos-cement shingles may be applied to the roof sheathing or over other
roof coverings. In either case, they should be applied on a sound surface.
Only good-quality roofing nails should be used. Asbestos shingles can be
cut easily by scoring them and then bending them over a piece of lumber.
Manufacturers' directions for application should be obtained and strictly
followed.

Copper roofing. Copper offers many advantages as a roofing material.
Under most conditions, its durability is very high. Furthermore, it is light
in weight, and in contrast to some metals used for roofing it requires no
painting or similar maintenance. Fig. 18.13 shows the construction details
of a residential copper roof. Note that the units of the roof are applied as
"pans," which are formed from strips of copper 16 in. wide and 6 ft. long.
Note also that there are no nails through the pans. Standing seams of the
type illustrated are formed on the roof with roofing tongs. Horizontal seams
in this type of roofing are formed by folding. Soldered seams are, however,
necessary at some points such as corners of chimneys.

The laying of a copper roof is relatively simple, but some knowledge of
sheet metalworking is required. Copper roofs should not be applied over
old roof coverings. A smooth, solid deck of good-quality sheathing is neces-
sary as a base. Manufacturers' directions should be followed as to the under-
lay and other details.

Terneplate. Terneplate roofs are usually encountered on such locations
as decks and porch roofs of very low pitch. Terneplate is a lightweight and
fireproof material, but it requires painting to keep it from rusting. A new
roof of this material should always be applied by an experienced roofer or
sheet metalworker.

Roofs

261

DOUBLE LOCK

STANDING SEAM

DETAILS

ROOF PANS ASSEMBLED

SECTION A-A

SECTION B-B

SECTION C-C

{.Courtesy American Brass Company.)

Fig. 18.13. — Construction details of a copper roof.

262 New Houses from Old

Two types of seams are used. Flat seams are formed by lapping the
sheets about 1 in. and soldering the lap. The soldering must be carefully
done, because such a lap is structurally weak and expansion and contrac-
tion of the sheets put a considerable strain on it. Seams that are rolled or
folded before soldering are more durable and less likely to leak.

Other metals. Galvanized roofing is often found on farmhouses that are
purchased for remodeling, but it is seldom applied as a new roof covering
when a house is remodeled. Other kinds of metal roofs, such as zinc, lead,
and aluminum, will not be covered in this book because they are seldom
found on old houses and are not widely used on new ones. Their omission
should not be taken as an indication that the authors feel that these roofing
materials have no merit. Rather, if such roofs have given satisfaction in
your locality, they are worth investigation ; and information about them
should be obtained from your architect, building-supply dealer, or manu-
facturers. At the present time, aluminum roofing is being actively promoted,
and the indications are that it will prove to be a popular and satisfactory
roofing material.

Built-up roofs. Roofs on flat surfaces, such as sun decks and sleeping
porches, are often covered with built-up roofs made with lapped layers of
roofing felt embedded in pitch or asphalt. The building of such roofs can be
done satisfactorily only by experienced roofers who have the necessary
equipment. Roofs of this type are surfaced with gravel, or a special grade
of slag, or with mineral-surfaced asphalt roll roofing. Their advantage is
that walking on them does not injure them or cause leaks if the roof has been
properly constructed.

Canvas roofs. Canvas bedded in white lead paste is sometimes used as the
covering material on exposed flat decks. Such a roof will be satisfactory
only if it is placed on a smooth, tight surface. The deck should first be
covered with narrow (not over 4 in.) tongued-and-grooved boards that are
free of knotholes. Nailheads should be countersunk. After the wood has
been made smooth and swept clean, it is covered with a paste made by
thinning white lead paste with linseed oil or linseed replacement oil. Heavy-
weight canvas of the type used for sails and for covering decks on boats is
then placed in the wet paste. The seams are nailed with tacks made of copper
or other corrosion-resistant metal. The canvas is stretched as it is tacked.
A tack is driven about every 2 in. along the edge of the first strip. The
second strip is then lapped 2 in. or more on the first, and tacks are driven
in its edge so that the finished seam has a tack in approximately each inch
along the whole length. The strips are turned up 4 to 6 in. at wall inter-
sections and are cemented at these points with the lead paste. After the
canvas is laid, it is given two coats of the lead paste, which may be applied

Roofs 263

with a stiff brush or a broad putty knife. There should be an interval of
three to seven days between application of the two coats. A deck covering
made this way will last a long time if it is repainted every two or three
years with a good-quality lead-in-oil paint.

Draining the Roof: Gutters, Downspouts, and Dry Wells

Gutters (Fig. 18.14) can be made of wood, but they are usually made of
metal. If made of wood, the wood should be of a decay-resistant species,
such as redwood or cypress. If wood gutters are hung so that they drain
completely, they do not require a metal lining. Galvanized steel, zinc, and
copper are the principal materials used for metal gutters. Galvanized steel
or iron should not be lighter than 26 gauge, and it should have a coating
of not less than 1^ oz. of zinc (total weight both sides) per sq. ft. of metal.
Metal with a 2-oz. coating of zinc is worth its extra cost. If the gutters are
to be painted, galvanized metal that has been prepared by the manufacturer
for painting should be used, or the surfaces to be painted must be given a
special treatment (Chapter 23). Gutters of galvanized metal eventually rust
through and require replacement. Sheet copper in hard "cornice temper"
and weighing not less than 16 oz. per sq. ft. is an attractive and nearly
permanent material for gutters, but precautions should be taken not to place
another metal in direct contact with it. Thus the portions of the gutter
hangers that are in contact with the gutter should also be copper, and the
strainers placed over the downspout connections should be of copper wire.

House gutters should measure not less than 4 in. across the top and
should be larger if an unusually large area of roof drains into a single
gutter. Gutters are given a slight but steady slope toward the downspouts.
Gutters that hang from the eaves should be supported by strong hangers
spaced not over 3 ft. apart. In regions where there is considerable snow,
the gutter should be placed so that its outer edge is about 1 in. below a
line formed by the projection of the roof to allow snow to slide off the
roof without clogging the gutter. The old-style "pole" gutter, which was
constructed of lumber and placed on the slope of the roof 1 or 2 ft. from
the eaves is not very satisfactory, especially in regions with heavy snowfall.

The same metals used for gutters are also used for downspouts (leaders).
Downspouts are made both in round and rectangular shapes. Both styles
are usually made with corrugations to allow for expansion if water freezes
in them. Round downspouts should be not less than 3 in. in diameter, and
rectangular ones not less than 2 in. by 3 in. in cross section. About 1 sq. in.
of downspout area should be provided for each 100 sq. ft. of roof.

In some cities rain water may be discharged into the same sewer that

264

New Houses from Old

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Roofs 265

carries sewage. In still others it may be discharged into a sejaarate storm
sewer; but in many cities and, of course, in rural regions, it must be dis-
posed of in some other way. The usual method is to run it into structures
called dry wells. A dry well is nothing more than an excavation 3 or 4 ft.
deep that is filled with medium-sized stones up to a level about 1 ft. below
the surface of the ground and then covered with soil; but this is not a very
satisfactory kind for the reason that eventually soil and organic matter will
fill all of the spaces between the stones. When this occurs, the water from
the roof will back up in the tile and the downspouts. A much better type
of dry well is a walled excavation (Fig. 18.14), which can also be covered
with soil but can be opened and cleaned every year or two. Dry wells should
be located at least 8 ft. from the foundation walls of the house in order to
prevent the water that flows into them from finding its way under the
foundation or into the basement.

Repairing Roof Leaks

The first problem in repairing a roof leak is to find it. This is not always
easy, because water that comes through a roof will often travel a consider-
able distance along the top of a rafter or some other concealed part of the
frame before it emerges where it can be seen. If the underside of the roof
is exposed, as in an unfinished attic, it should be inspected during a rain-
storm and the water traced back from the point where it is discovered to
the place where it comes through the roof. If the roof covering is wood
shingles or some other material through which a nail can be pushed, the
position of the leak can be marked with a nail inserted from the underside
and forced through far enough so that it can be seen from the outside. If
the roof is made of slate or some other hard material, measurements can
be taken horizontally to an outer wall and in the opposite direction along the
slope to the eaves. The same measurements are then repeated on the top
side of the roof with allowances made for the thickness of the walls and
the depth of the overhang beyond the walls.

If the underside of the roof is concealed, finding a leak is more difficult.
The search must be made from the outside, and the defect to be looked for
will depend largely on the material with which the roof is covered. Split and
warped shingles are the most common causes of leaks in wood-shingle roofs,
split or missing slates in slate roofs, loose nails or holes caused by rusting
in corrugated metal roofs, whereas metal roofs made of sheets laid flat leak
most frequently at the seams. Flashings should always be suspected when
a roof leaks in the vicinity of chimneys, soil-pipe vents, and valleys.

Roofs made of asphalt shingles, slate, or tile, which are watertight in an

266 New Houses from Old

ordinary rain, will sometimes leak during a hard, driving rain. The fault in
such a case may be that the roof covering was applied on a roof of lower
pitch than the slope for which it was designed, or that it was installed with
too little head lap, or that an underlay was omitted. In the case of asphalt
shingles, the trouble may be that the exposed ends of the shingles blow
up in a strong wind.

Once the leak is found, the method of repair depends also on the type of
roofing material. The last-mentioned type of leak is the most difficult to
repair. If the roof is slate, it is usually necessary to remove the entire roof
covering, to apply an underlay of roofing felt, and to replace the slates. A
few asphalt shingles that have lost their stiffness can be fastened down by
nailing their exposed ends with roofing nails, then covering the nailheads
with roofing cement; but an asphalt shingle roof that blows up in the wind
over a large part of its area should usually be replaced. However, if the
material in the roof is still in serviceable condition, blowing up can be
cured by fastening the shingles down with wire staples. These staples are
similar to the wire staples used in offices to fasten paper. A staple-tacking
machine is required to apply them.

A leak caused by a split or slightly warped wood shingle can often be
effectively repaired with a small strip of asphalt roofing about the same
width as the shingle. The asphalt strip is coated moderately thickly on both
sides with roofing cement and shoved under the defective shingle. Two
roofing nails, preferably of copper, are then driven through the wood
shingle and the asphalt strip and their heads covered with dabs of roofing
cement. Considerable areas of warped shingles are best replaced with new
shingles, which can be stained to match the roof. The courses first placed
in the patch are nailed through their concealed ends in the usual way. The
last course or two, which cannot be so nailed, is laid in roofing cement, and
the exposed ends of the shingles are each nailed with one or two copper
roofing nails.

Missing or broken slates in a slate roof should be replaced with new
slates. All fragments of a broken slate should be removed if possible. Roofers
use a slater's hook to reach under a course of slates and remove concealed
nails. If such a tool is not available, the nails can sometimes be cut off
with a hack-saw blade. A piece of sheet copper is cut in the same width
as the replacement slate. One end of the strip is turned down about Y^ in.,
and the copper is placed in the gap so that the turned end hooks over the
upper end of a slate that is firmly attached in the roof. The replacement
slate is slid in on top of the copper, which is then cut off and turned up
over the exposed end of the replacement slate (Fig. 18.15).

Replacement of flat shingle tile in a tile roof can be done in the same

Roofs

267

way; but replacement of interlocking, French, Spanish, and mission tiles
is difficult and should be done by an experienced roofer. Temporary repairs
to a tile roof can be made by covering the defective area with a piece of
asphalt roofing. The upper edge is shoved under tiles that are still attached
to the roof, and the lower edge is held down with roofing cement.

REPLACEMENT
SLATE

COPPER
STRIP

-COPPER STRIP
OVER NAILS

SLATE

COPPER

OF COPPER STRIP

REPLACEMENT
SLATE

A B

Fig. 18.15. — Two methods of replacing a slate. A. The new slate is held in place
with a hooked copper strip. B. The new slate is nailed, then the nails are covered
with a copper strip held in place with roofing cement.

Small holes in a metal roof can be patched with a dab of roofing cement.
Larger holes can be covered with a square of canvas or even with cotton
sheeting, which is buttered on both sides with roofing cement, then pasted
down over the hole. Nails that have backed out of galvanized iron roofing
should be replaced with zinc-clad nails % to 1 in. longer than the original
nails. Sometimes it is necessary to drive the new nail in another spot and to
patch the old hole. Leaky seams in flat metal roofs can be repaired by
soldering, but a simpler and effective method in most cases is to work roofing
cement into them with a putty knife.

Leaks in asphalt roll roofing can be repaired by coating the area around
the hole or crack with roofing cement, then nailing a patch of the same type
of roofing over it. Viscous roof coatings, usually made of a bituminous
material combined with fiber and a solvent, are available that are designed
to be mopped over the entire surface of a metal-, asphalt-, or wood-shingle
roof. If they are applied according to the manufacturers' directions, they

268 New Houses from Old

can be expected to make a poor roof watertight for a while; but because a
roof repaired in this way is not attractive, such materials are seldom put on
house roofs. Occasionally they are useful when a house is being remodeled
piecemeal and when some other part of the program must take precedence
over the replacement of the roof covering. Asphalt-shingle roofs are often
found that are still fairly good but are unsightly because a large proportion
of the mineral granules have come loose and have been washed off. Coating
materials that contain mineral granules are available for rejuvenating such
roofs.

Leaks in built-up roofs, such as are used on flat decks, occur most often
where the roofing material is turned up against a wall. Often an application
of asphalt emulsion or roofing cement at these points will cure the leak;
but stubborn cases may require rebuilding of the flashing. Damaged areas
and large holes in a built-up roof must be repaired by stripping them down
to the wood underlay and rebuilding with layers of roofing felt and asphalt.
The felt in the patch must be skillfully lapped into the layers of the original
roof, hence this type of repair is better done by an experienced roofer. Low
spots in built-up asphalt roofs can be filled in with a mixture made of Port-
land cement, a water emulsion of asphalt, and sand, or with factory-mixed
compounds. The wet mix is applied to the low spot with a trowel and is
floated to a smooth finish. One or two layers of asphalt felt or roll roofing
are then applied over the entire roof.

Holes in the exposed part of a valley flashing can be repaired temporarily
by filling them with roofing cement. If the metal in the valley is corroded
in a number of places, the valley should be painted with an asphalt paint
to prolong the life of the repairs. Valleys that leak because the flashings are
not wide enough can be fixed only by replacing the narrow flashing with a
wider one. The flashing on old chimneys is sometimes lacking entirely and
is frequently in poor condition. Flashings that are cemented to the outside
of a chimney eventually give trouble because the swaying of the chimney in
the wind together with the drying out of the cement cause them to come
loose. Temporary repairs can be made to asphalt-felt flashing by sticking
the flashing down again with fresh cement, but metal chimney flashings that
have rusted through must be replaced.

When a house is remodeled, it usually pays to install metal chimney
flashings. Installation of metal flashings is not difficult on existing chimneys
made of brick or other small masonry units. The old mortar is dug out of
the joints to a depth of 1^^ or 2 in. The ends of the flashing are then in-
serted and the joints filled again with Portland-cement mortar or an asphaltic
flashing compound. Installation of flashings on stone chimneys is accom-
plished in the same way if the stone is laid more or less in courses. If it is

Roofs 269

random fieldstone, the chimney must be taken down to the roof line and
rebuilt so that straight joints occur where they are needed. Roofers some-
times extend metal flashings through the chimney wall and turn them up on
the inside. This should not be done on a stone chimney.

"Weeping" Roofs

A "weeping" roof should not be mistaken for one that leaks. This condi-
tion occurs most often when the roof is covered with a material that has a
high conductivity for heat and a low permeability to water vapor. Such
materials include metal roofing and asphalt shingles. The moisture that
collects on the underside of such a roof is formed by condensation when the
warm air from the interior of the house strikes the cold undersurface of the
roof. The trouble can be cured in two ways. The simplest and cheapest is to
provide enough ventilation under the roof to evaporate the moisture as it
forms. This can be done easily in attics that are not used for living quarters
by installing louvers that remain open the year round. The other way is to
install insulation and a vapor barrier (Chapter 25) on the underside of the
roof. This is the method that should be used when the space cannot be con-
tinuously ventilated.

Working on Roofs

An experienced roofer has no difficulty working in safety on roofs of all
types because he has learned the tricks of his trade and the value of being
careful; but climbing about on roofs is hazardous for the inexperienced
person. The most convenient safety device for doing small jobs of repair
on a roof is a ladder with a hook on its upper end that can be hooked over
the ridge of the roof. Such hooks can be purchased at hardware stores. The
same type of ladder can be used to work from when roofing is applied up
and down the roof, but a plank toe-hold scaffold is needed when roofing is
applied across the slope of the roof. Some roofers nail wooden supports for
such scaffolds through the roof covering, but this practice makes holes in the
new roof. A better scheme is to use slotted steel brackets or anchors, which
can be purchased ready-made. These are nailed to the roof ahead of the
new roof covering. The covering is applied over them. When it becomes
necessary to move the scaffold, the slots make it possible to work the
brackets off the nails, which are left under the roof covering.

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NINETEEN

Exterior Walls

Sheathing

Many colonial houses, and some houses of more recent date, were not
sheathed. Sheathing was usually omitted when the space between the framing
members in the wall was filled with nogging, and it was sometimes omitted
even when the walls were not filled. Sheathing is now treated as an im-
portant structural element. If it is correctly applied, it adds considerably to
the stiffness and strength of the frame. Its other functions are to retard the
passage of air and heat through the wall and to serve as a base for the
siding material.

Lumber sheathing. The sheathing material most commonly found in exist-
ing houses is lumber. Lumber of 1-in. nominal thickness in 4-, 6-, or 8-in.
widths is used. The boards can be applied horizontally (Fig. 17.1) or diag-
onally (Fig. 17.3). Tests made by the United States Forest Products Labora-
tory demonstrated that the gain in strength when the sheathing is applied
diagonally is very large. Diagonal application is especially necessary on
balloon frames and on platform frames if diagonal corner braces are omitted.
However, diagonal sheathing should not be used under stucco. The braced
frame, particularly the old type of heavy braced frame, does not usually
require the additional strength of diagonal sheathing.

Tongued-and-grooved boards are recommended for diagonal sheathing
because they result in a stronger wall, but square-edged boards are often
used. Long boards are probably better, even though their use involves con-
siderable waste. To avoid waste and to make the sheathing easier to apply,
short lengths of tongued-and-grooved end-matched lumber are now some-
times used. Tongued-and-grooved boards are recommended also for hori-
zontal sheathing, because the joints produced will leak less air. Square-
edged boards are satisfactory if they are well covered with sheathing paper
or other tight material. Two nails should be driven in each board where it
bears on a stud, corner post, or other framing member.

Lumber sheathing is still extensively used in house construction, but

270

Exterior Walls 271

various types of manufactured sheathing board have come into wide use in
recent years, and most of them are as applicable to remodeling as to new
construction.

Plywood sheathing. Plywood sheathing can be made of several woods.
In this country a large proportion of it is manufactured of Douglas fir.
Plywood for sheathing purposes that is manufactured by members of the
Douglas Fir Plywood Association is trade-marked "Plyscord" or "Ext-
DFPA." The essential difference between the two types is that the adhesives
used in "Plyscord" are water resistant but not waterproof, whereas the ad-
hesives used in "Ext-DFPA" are waterproof synthetic resins. Either "Plys-
cord" or "Ext-DFPA" can be used for exterior walls when the sheathing is
to be covered with siding. Plywood sheathing is manufactured in various
widths, but the 3- and 4-ft. widths are used most commonly for sheathing.
These widths are manufactured in the following standard thicknesses: %6,
%, ^^, and % inches. "Plyscord" and the sheathing grade of "Ext-DFPA"
are made in 8-ft. lengths.

Plywood sheathing that will be covered with siding can be nailed with
common nails. The 6-penny size is satisfactory for thicknesses up to and
including % in., and the 8-penny size is used for the %-in. thickness. Nails
should be driven not farther apart than 6 in. along the edges of panels and
not more than 12 in. apart on other bearings.

Other types of sheathing hoard. Fibrous sheathing boards are also widely
used. In general, this type of sheathing material is made of sugar-cane fiber
(bagasse), wood fiber, or some other vegetable material that is specially
processed and is then compressed into panels. The base material may be
impregnated with asphalt during the process of manufacture to increase its
resistance to water, or the panel may be encased in water-resistant paper.
Another type of sheathing board is made of gypsum, which also may be
encased in water-resistant paper or given some other treatment to make it
resistant to water. These sheathing materials are offered in various dimen-
sions, but the most common thicknesses are % in. and ^%2 i^^- Th^ usual
widths are 2 or 4 ft. The narrow width is designed for horizontal applica-
tion to the house frame and the greater width for vertical application. A
variety of lengths is available, but such lengths as 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12 — all in
feet — are standard. Sheathing of these types is usually nailed with 8-penny
common nails spaced 4 to 6 in. along all bearings, but manufacturers' recom-
mendations for nailing should be followed.

Application of sheathing board. Although all types of sheathing board
can be cut on the job with handsaws or power saws, the choice of a size
that can be applied with little cutting will save time and result in better
joints. Standard widths of sheathing board are designed for application to

272 New Houses from Old

frames in which the studs and other parts of the frame have standard
spacing. If the house you are remodeling has some other spacing, it may be
necessary to insert a few new studs in the walls at the right intervals to
provide bearings for the sheets. Wood blocking is inserted between studs
for nailing the ends of panels and joints that fall between framing members.
It is a good idea to protect the edges of sheathing board with paint or
calking material, especially near wall openings, at corners, and at the
bottom edge of the wall. The edges of plywood sheets may be painted with
two coats of a good oil paint before they are applied to the wall. The
calking of joints with an elastic, waterproof calking compound increases
the tightness of the wall. Metal flashings, placed with their upper ends
turned up behind the sheathing board, are recommended over window and
door openings.

Sheathing Paper

After the sheathing is applied, sheathing paper — also called building
paper — is usually applied over it. The only function of the paper is to
reduce air leakage through the wall, and in this it is very effective. It is
particularly important to apply it to walls that are sheathed with lumber
sheathing, since this type of sheathing has many joints that are far from
airtight. Sheathing paper is not so necessary when the wall is sheathed
with a tight material that is applied in large units, such as plywood, fiber
sheathing boards, and gypsum board, particularly if the joints between the
units are calked. Water-resistant building paper is the most commonly used
sheathing paper. Asphalt-saturated felt is another good material. The ma-
terial should not have a high degree of resistance to the passage of water
vapor unless a more effective vapor barrier (Chapter 25) is to be installed
on the inside of the wall.

Siding

Board siding. Early colonial frame houses were often sided with boards
of a uniform thickness that were lapped over one another on the wall (Fig.
19.1A). Although these boards (called clapboards) gave much the same
appearance to finished walls as some modern types of board siding, they
did not fit closely to the wall, and, therefore, as soon as they had warped
a little, they were relatively ineffective in preventing air infiltration. The
next development was beveled siding, which is thinner at one edge than at
the other and, therefore, makes a closer but still imperfect fit with the wall.
Somewhat later, various types of siding that do make a tight fit against the

Exterior Walls

273

wall were introduced. At tlie present time board siding is manufactured in
stock widths of 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 in., the latter two widths usually being
available only in beveled siding. The thickness of regular types of board
siding is usually less than 1 in. Beveled siding, for example, is ^g in. thick
at its narrower edge and ranges from Yiq to ^^Ig i^^- ^t the wider edge,
the greater thickness occurring in the larger widths.

Only dry lumber, either air- or kiln-dried, should be used for siding,
because green lumber may warp or split after it has been applied to the

ABODE

Fig. 19.1. — Types of board siding. A. Clapboards. B. Beveled siding. C. Shiplapped
beveled siding. D. Rustic siding. E. Drop siding.

wall. New siding should be carefully protected from the weather from the
time it is delivered until it is applied to the house. It is good practice to
paint both sides and the edges of siding with a priming coat of lead and oil
paint before the material is placed on the wall. If this is not done, the ends
of boards should be painted with a good lead and oil paint, and the ex-
terior face of the boards should be painted as soon as possible after they
are applied to the house.

Good nailing is important. Zinc-clad siding nails are best. Sometimes
siding is applied with common nails, which are countersunk after being
driven. The holes over the nails are then filled with putty before the house
is painted. However, this method requires more time and offers little ad-
vantage since it is difficult to putty the holes so that they will be any less
conspicuous than nailheads. The siding should be cut and applied so that
joints will be few in number. If a soft type of sheathing has been used, the
joints must be made over solid members of the frame; but board siding
may be nailed to lumber or plywood sheathing without regard to the frame.

274

New Houses from Old

Joints should be staggered so that no joint will be over another one in the
two courses immediately below. If possible, the siding should be applied so
that the courses at the top of windows and doors and, also, at the bottom of
windows will be full width. This is easily accomplished by adjusting the
depth of the lap in lapped or rabbeted siding. The joints of tongued-and-
grooved siding cannot be adjusted; therefore, when these types of siding
are used, boards must be cut to fit where they pass under and over openings.

A B C

Fig. 19.2. — Corner constructions. A. Siding butted against corner boards. B. Corner
boards nailed over siding. This is a poor method, which should be avoided. C.
Mitered corner.

Corner details are shown in Fig. 19.2. Cutting of accurate miters on siding
of uniform thickness is easy if a miter box is used. Good miters can be cut on
beveled siding by placing two pieces with their thick and thin edges alter-
nated in the box and sawing them as one board. The quantity of board siding
needed to cover a house can be estimated by measuring the number of square
feet in the area of wall to be covered (minus door and window openings)
and adding the appropriate percentage shown in Fig. 19.3.

Wood-shingle siding. Wood shingles are an attractive, durable, and rela-
tively inexpensive siding material. Since hand-split shakes were used on
the walls of some very old houses and the use of shakes, or shingles, as
siding has continued to this day, shingle siding is appropriate on houses
of several styles and periods. Old shingle walls were usually allowed to
weather and thus to acquire a natural finish, but the final color was often
lighter on the north side of the house than on the sides exposed to direct
sunlight. Later, shingle stains were introduced, and shingle siding was often
given a uniform color by staining the shingles before or after they were
applied to the wall. Although shingle stains are still extensively used,

Exterior Walls

275

Fig. 19.3

Percentages to Be Added to Net Area of Wall in Estimating Wooden Board Siding

Type of siding

Width,
inches

Percentage *

Rustic and drop (shiplapped)

Rustic and drop (dressed and

matched)

Bevel

50 (lap, H in.)

38 (lap, 1 in.)

38 (lap, II4 in.)

34 (lap, Ih in-)

28 (lap, IJ2 in.)

* Including 5 per cent for waste in fitting.

(.Courtesy Red Cedar Shingle Bureau.)

Fig. 19.4. — Double-coursed wood shingles and white paint produce an attractive
wall finish.

276

New Houses from Old

shingle siding is now often painted (Fig. 19.4) the same as other wooden
siding.

Shingle side walls can be either single coursed or double coursed. Double
coursing (Fig. 19.5) makes a tighter wall, and it also produces deeper
shadow lines, which add to the attractiveness of the house. For the best
effect, the courses should be adjusted so that even lines will be made with
the tops and bottoms of window frames and other openings in the wall.
Novelty effects can be obtained by using shingles of two or three lengths
(Fig. 19.6).

NO. I SHINGLE TOP COURSE

N0.2 0R NO. 3 SHINGLE
UNDER-GOURSE

WEATHER EXPOSURES

FOR 16 SHINGLES
FOR 18" SHINGLES
FOR 24" SHINGLES

TV;0 NAILS TO A SHINGLE,
NAILED 2 "ABOVE BUTT-LINE
AND 34" FROM EDGE

BUILDING PAPER

OUTER-COURSE '/a' LOWER
THAN UNDER- COURSE

iCoiirtrsy Red Crdar Shingle Bureau.')
Fig. 19.5. — Shingle side-wall details.

Wood-shingle siding is best if laid over solid lumber or plywood sheath-
ing. The shingles are nailed to the sheathing with good-quality rust-resistant
nails. A good system of nailing is to use one nail in the tip of the shingle
that will be covered and to drive two nails through the exposed butt about
3 in. from the butt end and about % iii- fi'om the sides of the shingle (Fig.
19.5). Shingle siding can be applied over the softer sheathing boards, also;
but nailing strips of 1-in. by 3-in. lumber applied over the sheathing are

Exterior Walls

277

{Courtesy Red Cedar Shingle Btireau.)
Fig. 19.6. — Novelty effect obtained by varying the exposure of alternate shingles.

recommended with such sheathing. The strips should be spaced so that their
centers are the same distance apart as the length of the weather exposure
of the shingles. The shingles can be laid tight or with a gap of % to % in.
between the shingles. Corners can be finished with corner boards (Fig. 19.2)
or by the methods illustrated in Fig. 19.7. Inside corners can be made with
or without corner boards.' If corner boards are not used, the corners should
be underlaid with a metal flashing.

Plywood siding. Plywood is the newest type of wood siding material. It is
not likely that you will find it on a house that you are planning to remodel,
but you may wish to use it in re-siding a house or for siding an addition.
Only plywood that is made with waterproof adhesive is suitable for siding.
Plywood in grades suitable for use as siding is manufactured in panels 4, 5,

278

New Houses from Old

6, 7, and 8 ft. long, and in widths that begin at 12 in. and increase in 2-in.
steps to 30 in., and also in 36-, 42-, and 48-in. widths. Thicknesses run from
/le to ^/^ie ill- ii^ increments of Y^q in. The %- or %-in. thicknesses are
commonly used when the siding is applied over sheathing, but the use of a
thickness that matches the thickness of the siding that was removed will save
the expense of altering window frames and doorframes in remodeling.

(.Courtesy Red Cedar Shingle Bureau.)

Fig. 19.7. — Corners in shingle siding. Left, a "laced" corner. Center, shingles
butted against corner boards. Right, a mitered corner.

Before plywood siding is applied to the wall, the edges of the panels
should be painted with a lead and oil paint of fairly heavy consistency. In
damp climates, it is good practice to paint also the backs of the panels with
a priming coat. Vertical joints should occur over studs or other heavy
framing members, whether the panels are applied horizontally or vertically.
A solid backing for horizontal joints must be provided. If the house is
sheathed with lumber sheathing, this sheathing is backing enough. If other
types of sheathing were employed, wood blocking should be nailed between
the studs where joints will occur. Plywood siding should be nailed with hot-
dipped galvanized or other corrosion-resistant nails spaced not more than
6 in. apart along panel edges and not more than 12 in. apart at bearings
away from the edges. Corner boards are used to finish the corners. These
can be nailed to the sheathing and the plywood panels butted against them
or they can be applied over the plywood.

Exterior Walls 279

Asbestos-cement shingles and siding. These siding materials have similar
qualities to asbestos-cement shingles for roofs. They are fireproof and very
durable. Freedom from the necessity of repainting is supposed to be one of
the points in their favor, but asbestos-cement shingles and siding manu-
factured before World War II have given trouble in some localities from
staining and deterioration of the surface finish. However, a new type of
factory-applied finish that will be more permanent is on the way. In general,
these materials should be applied over a solid type of sheathing such as
lumber or plywood. However, before attempting the application of this type
of siding, you should obtain directions from the manufacturer. The house
shown in Fig. 2.12 was re-sided with asbestos-cement shingles and that in
Fig. 19.9 with asbestos-cement siding.

Stucco

In the early days of housebuilding in this country, stucco was commonly
made of lime mortar. Magnesite stucco is a later type that was made of sand,
asbestos, and compounds of magnesium. Either of these types may be en-
countered in remodeling, but most stucco applied in recent years and at the
present time is made of Portland cement, lime, and sand. These ingredients
are mixed with water, and the mixture is applied in two or three coats over
a backing of waterproof paper and metal lath.

Portland-cement stucco is a durable and fire-resistant, but not fireproof,
material. It is often used to modernize the exteriors of houses. However,
for good results careful attention must be paid to all details of the applica-
tion. Good pamphlets for the homeowner (and the contractor, too, for that
matter) to read on the subject are the Portland Cement Association's
Plasterer's Manual for Applying Portland Cement Stucco and Plaster and
the National Bureau of Standards' Recommendations for Portland Cement
Stucco Construction and its Finishes and Maintenance of Portland Cement
Stucco Construction. The application of stucco should be undertaken only by
skilled workmen.

Stone and Brick Veneer

The exteriors of frame houses are sometimes finished with a veneer of
brick or stone. The frame of the house is built and is covered with sheathing
in essentially the same way as if it were to be sided with some other material.
The veneer of brick or stone is then applied over the sheathing to give the
house a siding which is very durable and fireproof and which has the ap-
pearance of a stone or brick house, as the case may be. If brick is used,

280

New Houses from Old

Fig. 19.8. Before.

Fig. 19.9.— After.

{Hedrich-Blessing Studio. Courtesy United States Gypsum Company.)

Exterior Walls 281

the veneer is usually the thickness of one standard brick, 3% in. The same
thickness is adequate for stone veneer if cut stone (ashlar masonry) is used;
but if the veneer is constructed of fieldstone, the thickness should not be
less than 12 in. The construction of a typical veneered wall is diagramed in
Fis. 19.13.

Re-siding and Over-walling

If the siding on the house is quite dilapidated (Fig. 2.11), re-siding with
new material is necessary if the remodeled house is to be attractive. Some-
times replacement of siding that is in good condition is worth while if the
house will gain considerably in appearance. Not all of the improvement in
the remodeled house shown in Figs. 19.8 and 19.9 can be credited to the
new siding, but the contribution of the new siding can readily be judged
in the photographs. Siding should be chosen with both the setting of the
house and its architecture in mind. Fortunately, in normal times there is a
wide choice of siding materials, and since most of them have been in use
for rather long periods of time, it is not difficult to choose an appropriate
material.

In most houses the exterior trim around windows and doors is flush
with the siding; therefore, if a siding material is chosen for re-siding that
has a different thickness from the old, alterations in the window frames and
doorframes will usually be necessary. Some thought should be given to this
problem before the new siding material is selected, because the extensive
alteration of window frames and doorframes can consume much time. If
the new siding material is thicker when it is applied to the wall, window
frames and doorframes can be build out, as shown in Fig. 19.10. If there is
no exterior trim and the jambs (the vertical side members) of the window
frame project from the wall — as they do in some old houses equipped with
the old-style sash windows without compensating weights — it may be pos-
sible to re-side the house so that the new siding will come flush with the
old frames, in which case no alteration in them is necessary. A casing can
be constructed around old frames of this type, but its architectural effect
should be considered, since the absence of trim around the windows may
well be one of the details that makes the architecture of the old house inter-
esting.

Board siding. Although new beveled siding can be installed over old
clapboards or other types of lumber siding, it is sometimes advisable to
remove the old siding to save the expense of altering window frames and
doorframes. However, some increase in the insulating value of the wall is
obtained when the new siding is applied over the old. If you decide not to

282

New Houses from Old

LINTEL

HEAD SECTION

CASING

BLIND STOP-

BLIND
STOP

JAMB SECTION

FURRING

SHEATHING -

BRICK VENEER

PLASTER

DETAIL SHOWING
EXTENSION TO SILL

Fig. 19.10. — Typical window-frame alterations. Left, brick veneer. Right, stucco.

Exterior Walls

283

remove the old siding, you should see that warped boards are nailed down
and that rotted boards are replaced with boards of approximately the same
thickness before the new siding is applied. If there is no sheathing paper in
the wall, air infiltration through it can be reduced considerably by putting
sheathing paper over the old siding.

Wood shingles. Wood shingles can be installed directly over old board
siding. If the old siding is fairly flat, as it will be if it is made of thin clap-
boards, the shingles can be nailed directly to it; but if the old clapboards
are thick, it is usually better to place nailing strips on them for the shingles.
The distance between nailing strips must be adjusted so that each one will
occupy the same relative position on the clapboards. The spacing of the
shingles can, therefore, be determined by the spacing of the clapboards.

WOOD SHINGLES OVER WOOD SHINGLES OVER

OLD BRICK CONSTRUCTION OLD STUCCO CONSTRUCTION

NOTE- CENTER TO CENTER OF NAILING STRIPS= SHINGLE EXPOSURE

(.Courtesy Architectural Record.)

Fig. 19.11.

When wood shingles are applied over old stucco, nailing strips spaced the
same distance apart as the weather exposure of the shingles are nailed over
the stucco (Fig. 19.11). If the house is not sheathed with wood sheathing,
the nails in the strips should be spaced so that at least half of them in a
given strip strike solid wood in the frame. When shingles are used to cover
brick walls, furring strips are first applied vertically to the brick and secured
by anchor bolts designed for use in masonry. The nailing strips are then
placed horizontally across the furring strips. This method increases the
thickness of the wall considerably, but it is the most economical way of
giving an old brick house the appearance of a wooden house.

Asbestos-cement shingles and siding. Shingles and siding of this kind are
also extensively used for re-siding. Typical methods of application are shown

284

New Houses from Old

ASBESTOS CEMENT SHINGLES
OVER OLD WOOD SHINGLES

'/4 PROJECTION
FOR DRIP

ASPHALT FELT
JOINT STRIPS

ASBESTOS CEMENT SHINGLES
OVER OLD CLAPBOARDS

BUILDING PAPER

> ^>\,/^ JOINT STRIPS

ALLOY NAILS

ASBESTOS CEMENT SHINGLES-
NEW CONST. OR OLD STUCCO

PLYWOOD SIDING
NEW CONSTRUCTION

PLYWOOD SIDING OVER
OLD STUCCO OR BRICK

Fig. 19.12.

PLYWOOD SIDING OVER OLD
SHINGLES jDR CLAPBOARDS

(Courtesy Architectural Record.)

Exterior Walls 285

in Fig. 19,12. To make alignment of the new shingles easy, they are spaced
so that the nails through the butt of the shingle rest on the top edge of the
shingle below.

Plywood siding. This is an excellent material to apply over old siding.
In most cases application is easier if the plywood is applied vertically rather
than horizontally. Typical methods are shown in Fig. 19.12.

Stone and masonry veneer. These types of side-wall finish can be applied
over old walls, but the operation is not inexpensive. Details of a typical
installation are shown in Fig. 19.13. Note that an extension must be built
to the existing foundation to provide support for the veneer. Another way
of building out the foundation is shown in Fig. 19.14. A masonry veneer
siding usually entails considerable reconstruction of the window and door
openings and trim (Fig. 19.10).

Repair of Siding

Frequently in remodeling it is not necessary to replace the siding. If the
old siding material is inherently sound and attractive, it can be put into
good condition by simple repairing and refinishing.

Board siding. Lumber siding can usually be repaired at moderate cost by
replacing boards that are warped or decayed. The replacement boards should
be identical in width and pattern with the original siding. If your building-
supply dealer cannot supply stock siding that matches, plain boards can
usually be made to order in a local planing mill. Old siding boards that
have a bead or a handmade decoration present a special problem that calls
for custom work, as stock patterns can seldom be found that match.

Shingle siding. Shingled side walls can also be repaired in spots if most
of the old shingles are still in good condition. Even though hand-split shakes
were used for the original siding, it is usually possible to match them
fairly well with thick shingles of present-day manufacture. In some localities
hand-split shakes can still be obtained. Nailing the top course in a patch
on a side wall brings up the same difficulty as nailing the top course of a
patch in a shingled roof. The best solution on the side wall is to nail the top
course through the butts of the course that heads it. Since these nails will be
exposed, they must be corrosion resistant. If the shingle finish is to be
natural or a dark stain, copper nails are recommended; but if the finished
wall is to be painted white, zinc-clad nails should be used, as copper nails
may cause stains on white paint.

Masonry veneer. Cracks and weak mortar joints are the most common
defects in masonry veneer. Cracks are usually due to the veneer having
been poorly tied to the house wall. If there are many cracks, it will pay to

286

New Houses from Old

NEW COVER MOLD

FLASHING

STEEL ANGLE
(OVER ALL OPENINGS)

NEW COVER
MOLD CAULKED

NEW COVER MOLD

BRICK SILL
FLASHING

BUILDING PAPER

NON-CORROSIVE
METAL TIES NOT
MORE THAN I6I/2
APART VERTICALLY
a 24" HORIZONTALLY

FLASHING

NEW CONCRETE
z-/, I FOUNDATION FOR
y// I VENEER

NEW BRICK VENEER
OVER OLD CONSTRUCTION

(,Courtcsy Architectural Record.")

Fig. 19.13.

BRICK VENEER
ALTERNATE FOUNDATION METHOD

iCourtesy Architectural Record.)

Fig. 19.14.

Exterior Walls 287

take down the veneer and lay it up again. The wall should be taken down
course by course to avoid breaking the stones or bricks. Old mortar must
be cleaned off the units before they are used again. It is advisable to install
new ties unless the old ties were made of a corrosion-resistant metal and
were not broken when the veneer wall was taken down. The new ties should
be spaced closely (Fig. 19.13) and firmly nailed. If there are only a few
cracks in a masonry veneer wall, it is often sufficient to fill them with mortar.
The technique of repairing cracks in masonry walls has been described in
Chapter 14. The pointing up of defective mortar joints is described in the
same chapter.

The appearance of grimy or stained masonry veneer can often be im-
proved by cleaning. Steam cleaning is the best method, but it can be carried
out only by contractors who have the necessary equipment. Hot water and
soap applied with stiff bristle brushes will remove most of the accumulated
dirt in some cases. Green stains from copper and rust stains are hard to
remove. If there are only a few such stains, they can be ground off with a
carborundum block; but if the wall is badly stained, sand blasting is the
only practical method. Sand blasting also requires special equipment.

Repair of Solid Masonry Walls

Usually the only repairs needed to a well-built solid masonry wall are
the pointing up of joints. However, if the wall is cracked, particularly if
the cracks run diagonally to the corners, something is probably wrong with
the foundation (Chapter 14) that supports the wall. Correcting the faults of
a foundation that supports a solid masonry wall is an engineering job, the
details of which must be worked out for each case. After the cause of the
cracking has been corrected, the old cracks can be filled with fresh mortar.
The filling of cracks in masonry and the pointing up of joints are discussed
in Chapter 14. Cleaning is frequently necessary to bring out the original
beauty of old stone walls. The cleaning methods just described for masonry
veneer walls are applicable to solid masonry walls.

Old brick walls that were originally built of good mortar and hard-burned
brick usually present no special problems, but walls built of soft brick may
have deteriorated so much that it is not simple to restore them. However,
an old brick house can appear to be in rather bad condition and still be
worth repair and modernization. If possible, it is best to have such a house
inspected by an architect or by an engineer who has had experience with
similar houses. If the walls can be put in good structural condition — and
they usually can be if they are thick — they can be used as a base for stucco
or for siding material such as shingles or board siding. If the outer face

288 New Houses from Old

of the walls is sound but is unattractive because the original color of the
brick was poor, the house can be given an attractive appearance by painting
the brick (Chapter 23). A house with painted brick walls is shown in Fig.
2.3.

Repair of Stucco

It is not always possible to repair old lime or magnesite stucco. If repair
of stucco of either of these types is necessary, it is best to give the work to
someone who has had experience with them. Portland-cement stucco can
usually be repaired satisfactorily. Fine cracks (hair cracks) can be filled
in with a cement-water paint (Chapter 23). Larger cracks and defective areas
are repaired in essentially the same way as concrete is repaired — that is,
loose material is cleaned out of the crack, the edges of the gap are thoroughly
dampened, and the crack is then filled in with a 1 : 2 Portland-cement mortar.
Patched areas can seldom be colored to match the old stucco exactly. If the
patch is in a prominent spot, the best method is to match the color as well
as possible, then to paint all of the stucco with a suitable paint. Some color-
ing of the patch is necessary, because unless its color approximates the
color of the wall, it will show through the paint.

Before a large defective area is repaired, the cause of the failure must be
found and corrected, otherwise the repair also will fail. Often the fault is
a defective flashing, a leak at the eaves, a gutter that spills water on the
face of the stucco, or some other detail that is not too difficult to correct.
Sometimes the trouble will be more serious. If the original stucco was ap-
plied over wood lath, the swelling and shrinking of the lath may have
cracked the stucco. Since this process will go on as long as moisture con-
tinues to reach the lath, it is difficult to correct. In a few cases it has been
cured by applying a waterproofing compound to the surface of the stucco,
and in others, by application of another coat of stucco; but the success of
such methods is always doubtful. Sometimes it will be found that the metal
lath over which stucco was applied has rusted away, nothing but streaks
of rust embedded in the stucco being left of it in some areas. When this has
occurred, the only remedy is replacement of the stucco.

Stucco can be over-walled with stucco. Occasionally this is done by plaster-
ing the new stucco directly on the old after washing the old surface; but
the method is not to be recommended except in cases where the old stucco
is exceptionally clean and sound. Metal lath or wire fabric can be secured
over dilapidated stucco and new stucco applied to it; but complete removal
of the old stucco is usually the better method. The cost of the removal opera-
tion will often be less than the cost of altering flashings and doorframes

Exterior Walls

289

and window frames, which will be necessary if the thickness of the wall is
increased. Also, stucco can be removed and the house re-sided with other
material; or the new siding material can be applied over the old stucco.

PLATE-

STUD-

STUD

Fig. 19.15. — A, D, E. Sections of typical cornices at eaves. B. Section of rake along
gable end of box cornice shown in A. C. Typical gable details.

Cornices, Belt Courses, and Water Tables

The details of cornice construction (Fig. 19.15) vary widely. Rather
elaborately ornamented cornices were frequently used on old houses. In
remodeling the exterior walls of a house, the old cornice is often removed
and replaced with a cornice that is less obtrusive. Good and simple cornice
trim can be seen on several of the houses illustrated in Chapter 2,

Belt course is the name given to horizontal bands or breaks in the ex- ,
terior wall. In old two-story houses belt courses are often found at the
second-floor level, where they served as a line of division between two dif-
ferent kinds of sidinar material, such as board siding on the first floor and

290

New Houses from Old

shingle siding on the second. Belt courses are often removed when the ex-
terior of a house is remodeled, especially if the same type of siding is
applied all over it. Removal is easy in most cases because on the average
house the belt course was made of lumber that was nailed to the sheathing
or to the frame. Occasionally an old house is found in which the belt course
is based on girts at the second-floor level that project from the wall. Removal
of this type of belt course is not advisable. Instead, a wall treatment should
be adopted into which the belt course can be fitted.

SIDING

SHEATHING-

FiG. 19.16. — Typical water tables.

The water table is found at the base of the wall. Typical structural details
for two types of wall are shown in Fig. 19.16. The purpose of the water
table is to shed outward rain that runs down the wall. Water tables are
often absent on houses sided with board siding.

ijxnjTXLTTJTJTJiJxrinruTJxrTjTJTJxixrLnjTn^

TWENTY

Windows and Doors

Windows

Window problems in remodeling include both the installation of new
windows and the modernization of old ones. Although the latter problem
is the more common, modern windows will be discussed first because a
knowledge of window types and details is essential in order to plan the
remodeling of existing windows.

Types of windows. The double-hung window is the familiar kind with two
sashes that slide up and down in the frame. Double-hung windows have a
number of advantages that account for their popularity. They are compara-
tively inexpensive. They seldom leak rain and can be made fairly airtight.
The necessary hardware is simple and inexpensive. Screens, storm windows,
and weather stripping are easily added. The outside of the window can be
washed from the inside, although not with the same convenience as a case-
ment window. The opening of the window can be adjusted as desired, but
the maximum is half of the window area.

The casement window, the kind in which the sashes swing horizontally as
doors swing, is easy to wash from the inside, and its construction permits
the whole area of the window to be used for ventilation. However, the area
of the window opening is not easily adjusted to a small opening when only
a little ventilation is desired. Both wood- and metal-casement windows must
be very well made; otherwise the frames will warp and prevent tight closing
of the window. As a general rule, screens, storm windows, and hardware are
more expensive for casement windows than for double-hung windows. If the
sashes are arranged to swing out, screens and storm windows must be placed
on the inside; if they swing in, it is difficult to prevent leakage during driv-
ing rains.

Fixed windows are used in houses chiefly as large picture windows, but
occasionally a small window of this kind is installed where light is desir-
able but where ventilation is not needed, as on a stair landing. A fixed
window that is properly set into the frame will not leak either water or air.

291

292

New Houses from Old

HEAD SECTION

BOX FRAME.

JAMB SECTIONS

SHEATHING-

^^S__

-INTERIOR
FINISH CASING

-STOP
-PARTING STRIP

-INTERIOR
ROUGH CASING

-FINISH CASING

-PENDULUM

-STOP

-PULLEY STILE
-PARTING STRIP

SIMPLIFIED FRAME

SILL SECTION

COTTAGE FRAME

DETAILS OF DOUBLE-HUNG WEIGHTED WINDOWS
IN FRAME CONSTRUCTION

Fig. 20.1.

Windows and Doors

n^i-*— BACK BAND
FINISH CASING BLIND STOP

■STOP (OR BAND)—

ROUGH CASING

293

APRON

PULLEY HOUSING
•PULLEY

-ROPE (OR CHAIN)
■PARTING STRIP

-PULLEY STILE

ROPE KNOTTED
HERE

WEIGHT

■ACCESS PANEL-

(WHEN LACKING, ACCESS
PANELS MAY BE CUT
IN JAMB)

Fig. 20.2. — Weight system in double-hung windo-w. See Fig. 20.1 for details of
weight boxes.

294 New Houses from Old

However, some other means of ventilation must be provided in the room,
because a fixed window cannot be opened. The outsides of fixed windows
can be washed only from outside the house.

Glass blocks, which are, strictly speaking, fixed windows, are used where
light is needed but where vision to the outside is not desired. Glass blocks
are set in the wall and are jointed together either with Portland-cement
mortar or a rubber-base adhesive. A lintel must be placed over the opening
so that the weight of the wall does not bear on the blocks, and trim details
are worked out to suit the opening and the architecture of the house.

Window terms and parts. The names of window parts are indicated on
Fig. 20.1 and on other illustrations in this chapter. Construction details of
double-hung windows in frame walls are shown in Fig. 20.1, in masonry
veneer walls in Fig. 19.10, and in solid masonry walls in Fig. 20.3. Of the
three types of double-hung frames shown in Fig. 20.1, the box frame is the
sturdiest and offers the greatest resistance to air leakage, but any of the
three is likely to be encountered in remodeling. The usual arrangement of
the weights in double-hung windows is shown in Fig. 20.2, and one arrange-
ment of spring balances is shown in Fig. 20.7. The details of typical steel-
casement windows are shown in Fig. 20.3. Wood-casement windows are
shown in Fig. 20.4. Fig. 20.5 illustrates two methods of installing fixed
windows.

Glass and Glazing

House windows are most commonly glazed with flat drawn glass, which
is manufactured in various thicknesses, called "strengths" in the trade.
Single-strength glass is about %o in. in thickness and it is suitable only
for panes (lights) less than 24 in. wide. Wider panes, such as those in
average double-hung windows without muntins, require double-strength
glass, which is about % in. thick. Still heavier glass is designated by the
ounce; for example, 34-oz. glass, each sheet of which is approximately %
in. thick.

All flat drawn glass has a somewhat uneven surface and therefore may
produce distorted views. Glass is graded from the standpoint of its freedom
from waves and bubbles as follows: AA, A, B. B grade is commonly used
in houses. Picture windows and other windows through which a clear, un-
distorted view is wanted should be glazed with plate glass. Plate glass can
be purchased in specified thicknesses. The ^g-in. thickness is commonly
used for house windows, but an even greater thickness may be required for
extra-large windows.

The setting of glass in sashes is called glazing. Glass can be purchased

Windows and Doors

295

SILL SECTION

WOOD FRAME

SILL SECTION

BRICK VENEER CONST.

DETAILS OF STEEL
CASEMENT WINDOWS

(OUTSWINGING )

JAMB SECTION

STEEL ___^
LINTEL— ^^^

HEAD SECTION

MASONRY WALL

FURRING

SILL SECTION

MASONRY WALL

FLASHING.

mm^^

22^

HEAD SECTION

SILL SECTION

Fig. 20.3. — Window-framing details. A. Steel casement sash in frame and veneer
walls. B. Steel casement sash in solid masonry wall. C. Wood sash in masonry wall.

296

New Houses from Old

DRIP CAP-

K/t-INTERIOR

OUTSWINGING-*-^ ^< — SCREEN

S^SH ^ ^ OR STORM

HEAD SECTION

OUTSIDE SIDE
CASING

JAMB SECTION

DETAILS OF HEAD AND JAMB SECTIONS
ARE SIMILAR FOR OUTSWINGING AND
INSWINGING WINDOWS, EXCEPT FOR
RELATIVE POSITIONS OF SASH.
HOWEVER, SILL SECTIONS ARE QUITE
DIFFERENT.

SCREEN OR
STORM SASH

APRON

SIDING

INSWINGING
SASH

DRIP MOLDING
APRON

SILL SECTION

TYPICAL WOOD CASEMENT WINDOWS
Fig. 20.4.

from dealers in panes of the size that is needed or in large sheets that are
cut on the job. Glass is cut by first scoring it with a glass-cutting tool. The
sheet is placed over the edge of a table with the score upward and in line
with the edge of the table. The piece that is to be cut off is then pressed

Windows and Doors

297

downward, and the glass will break cleanly along the mark. Panes should be
cut slightly smaller than the opening in the sash.

A suitable putty for wood sashes consists of precipitated whiting and white
lead ground in linseed oil. The rabbets in wooden sashes should be painted
with linseed oil. If this step is omitted, the wood may absorb enough of the
oil in the putty to cause premature failure of the putty. After painting with
the oil, the pane is "back-puttied" by placing a thin ribbon of putty on the
edge of the glass or on the rabbet. The pane of glass is then pressed firmly
into the putty. Flat, triangular zinc points (glaziers' points) are placed along
its edge and are forced partly into the wood. Putty is then placed over the
points and glass and is shaped as shown in Fig. 20.6. Putty that was squeezed
through to the opposite face of the window should be cleaned off before it
hardens. Only putty manufactured for use on steel sashes should be used in
glazing metal windows. Glaziers' points are not used to hold the glass;
otherwise the procedure is the same as for wood sash.

OUTSIDE
CASING

NAILED OR RABBETTE
WOOD STOP. A SIMILAR
STOP IS PLACED ON
JAMBS.

GLASS IS BEDDED
IN PUTTY ALL
AROUND

RABBET FOR
SCREEN AND
STORM
SASH

STRIP SECURED
WITH SCREWS.
SIMILAR STRIPS
ARE PLACED
ON OAMBS.

GLASS BEDDED
IN PUTTY ALL
AROUND

-INSIDE
CASING

STRIP SECURED
WITH SCREWS.
SIMILAR STRIPS
ARE PLACED
ON JAMBS.

STRIP SECURED
WITH SCREWS

Fig. 20.5. — A. Fixed window in wood sash. B. Fixed window with glass set directly
in window frame.

298

New Houses from Old

Double Glazing and Storm Windows

In comparison to wood and other materials commonly used in exterior
walls, glass is a good conductor of heat. The inside face of a single-glazed
window is always colder in cold weather than adjacent wall areas. The
condensation of water vapor on the inside of the window in cold weather
causes mist or frost on the window and sometimes damages woodwork and
wall finish.

A new type of window glass has been developed to get around these diffi-
culties. To produce this new material in the form in which it is used in a
house, two panes of plate glass are joined at their edges with a flexible, air-

6LASS

PUTTY

GLAZIER'S
POINT

Fig. 20.6. — Glazing details in wood sash.

tight seal. The panes are spaced ^4 or % in. apart, and the air space between
them is filled with dry, dust-free air. This glass-air sandwich has a con-
ductivity for heat that is about half the conductivity for single glass. Glass
of this kind cannot be cut to size on the job but must be ordered in the exact
dimensions that are needed. It is set in putty as single glass is set, but
rabbets % or 1 in. deep are required. It cannot be set in standard wood
sash, but wood sash that is designed for this kind of glass is available. It can
be set in most metal-casement windows that are found in houses, and it can
also be set as a fixed window with or without sashes.

Good storm windows are the least expensive way of obtaining the ad-
vantages of double glazing in existing houses. Wooden storm windows should
be well made of seasoned lumber, and they should be well fitted. Storm
windows cannot be made perfectly airtight; but in a well-built house this

Windows and Doors 299

is not a disadvantage because some air infiltration is necessary for ventila-
tion and to provide draft for fireplaces.

Several makes of combination storm windows and screens are available.
These consist of a frame of one kind or another and detachable sashes con-
taining screening or glass. The frame is fitted to the window, and remains
in place the year round. To make the change from storm windows to screens,
or vice versa, at the end of the seasons, it is only necessary to change the
sashes. These combinations are more convenient than separate storm win-
dows and screens, but they are also more expensive. On double-hung windows
and inswinging casement windows, storm windows are installed on the out-
side (Fig. 20.9) of the regular window. Special types of storm windows,
which can be installed on the inside, are necessary for outswinging casement
windows.

Weather Stripping

The purpose of weather stripping is to reduce the leakage of air around
the edges of window sashes and doors. Weather stripping is an excellent
thing to add to poorly fitted windows; but it is doubtful whether average
windows that will be equipped with well-fitted storm windows need weather
stripping except in very severe climates, since storm windows also reduce
air leakage. If winters are cold and the house is in a windy location, it
may be advisable to add weather stripping, as well as storm windows, to
windows located on the side of the prevailing wind. Weather stripping of
doors is worth its cost in most houses because the air leakage around doors
is considerably greater than it is around well-built windows.

There are a number of systems of weather stripping, but most of them
employ thin strips of springy metal, such as copper or zinc. The strips are
placed so that they bear against the edges of window sashes and doors or in
grooves cut into them. Weather stripping can be applied to practically every
type of window or door that is found in houses. Application methods on
wooden windows are simple. The only difficult part is the cutting of grooves
in the edges of door and window sashes for weather-stripping systems that
require grooves. These grooves can be cut most easily with special tools
which have been developed for the purpose and which are used by con-
tractors who install weather stripping. The grooves can also be cut with
a power-driven portable router and by other methods known to any car-
penter. The installation ,of weather stripping on metal windows is some-
what more difficult because most systems require the drilling and tapping
of holes in the metal. Both wood and metal windows are now available
with integral weather stripping.

300 New Houses from Old

Screens

The most important detail in connection with screens is the selection of
the screen cloth. The cheapest cloth is made of ungalvanized steel wire that
is coated with black enamel to give it some resistance to rusting. This kind
of cloth should be purchased only for temporary use, as it soon rusts through
in spite of the enamel. Screen cloth made of galvanized steel wire is much
more durable; but it, too, eventually fails by rusting.

Screen cloth made of copper wire is not subject to rusting but is easily
stretched and soon becomes disfigured with dents. Cloth made of bronze
wire (an alloy of copper and zinc) is equally resistant to corrosion and has
considerable resistance to denting. Steel, copper, and bronze screen cloth
must all be enameled or varnished (Chapter 23) to avoid the staining of
white paint located below the screens. Aluminum screen cloth is corrosion
resistant, is strongly resistant to denting, and does not stain white paint.
Screen cloth made of plastic materials is a new development. It does not
rust or stain paint; and it does not dent under ordinary pressures.

Screen cloth is manufactured in various number "meshes"; 14-mesh cloth
has 14 holes per linear in., 16-mesh has 16 holes, etc. Cloth with 18 meshes
should be used where insects are unusually abundant, as near a swamp or
woods; 16 mesh is adequate for average locations; 14 mesh should be pur-
chased only when strict economy is necessary. The frames of screens should
be constructed so that they will not warp, because unless the screen makes
a tight fit with the window, insects will find their way around the edge of
the screen.

Modernization of Existing Windows

Weightless windows. An old type of window that is frequently encountered
in remodeling is the sliding-sash window without counterweights. This type
resembles the double-hung window; but the difference is discovered as soon
as an attempt is made to open the window, because the entire weight of
the sash must be lifted. Another earmark is the small pull stop that is in-
serted in the edge of the sash and designed to hold the sash when it is open.

Windows of this type were installed in simple plank frames similar in
construction to casement window frames (Fig. 20.4). Since there is no room
for weight boxes, a double-hung window cannot be put in the same opening
without reconstructing the opening. However, many devices have been de-
veloped which can be used in place of weights and which can be installed
without expensive changes in the window. One scheme employs a flat spiral

Windows and Doors

301

spring that is enclosed in a neat metal box. The box can be fastened either
to the head of the window or to the jamb. The connection between the sash
and the spring is made by a flexible metal strap. Other schemes use long
coiled springs that are contained in grooves in the edges of the sashes (Fig.
20.7). Most of these mechanisms (they are called spring balances in the
trade) sprang from the need for converting the old-style weightless win-
dows, hence their installation on such windows is usually simple. However,
if you select a make that requires the cutting of deep grooves in the window

SASH

SPRING BALANCES
IN GROOVES

Fig. 20.7. — Typical position of spring balances in wood sash.

sashes, it will save time to have the grooves cut in a woodworking shop
rather than to attempt the operation with home tools. Spring balances have
proved so successful that they are used on many windows now installed in
new houses.

Another method of converting weightless windows is to use a type of
window in which the sashes slide in slotted guides. There are several short
springs between the guides on one side of the window and the window
frame. The springs hold the guides against the sash and create just enough
friction to hold it in any desired position. New frames and sashes are re-
quired to make this conversion, but the frames can usually be inserted in
the original openings.

Old sash windows are sometimes converted to casement windows, and,
vice versa, wood-casement windows that have proved too drafty are some-
times converted to double-hung windows. Typical details of adapting the
frames for such conversions are shown in Fig. 20.8. It is good practice to

302

New Houses from Old

coat the backs of the new strips with white lead paste or a thick lead and oil
paint before nailing them in place.

Installation of screens and storm sashes on old windows. Modern win-
dows are now made in standard dimensions and modern screens and storm
sashes are made to fit them without cutting and trimming, but factory-made
storm sashes and screens must usually be fitted on the job to windows in

Fig. 20.8. — A. Alteration of double-hung window frame to receive casement sash.
B. Alteration of casement frame to receive double-hung sash. New wood is indi-
cated by heavier shading.

old houses. They should be ordered in a slightly larger dimension than
the window opening, then cut down to fit ( Fig. 20.9) . If the edge of the blind
stop is not even, a simple way of making it so is to build it out with thin,
straight strips of wood. A felt strip tacked along the edges of the screen or
sash frame is another way of achieving a snug fit at this point.

Calking of windoivs. In many old houses — and also in some that are not
very old — there is considerable air leakage through the joints between the
walls and the window frames. Installation of weather stripping or storm
windows has, of course, no effect on leakage around the frame. Calking of
the frames is necessary to correct it. The outside casing should be removed

Windows and Doors

303

from wood windows. Wide cracks should be partly filled with oakum, then
finished with a mastic calking compound. The mastic alone is adequate for
narrow cracks. The oakum is applied by driving it in with a hammer and
screw driver. The mastic can be applied with a putty knife or with a gun

BLIND
STOP

i^g" CLEARANCE

STORM SASH
(OR SCREEN

EXT
CASING

BLIND
STOP

STORM SASH
(OR SCREEN)

Fig. 20.9. — Fitting of storm window or screen. A. To standard casing. B. To
shallow casing.

that is specially made for the purpose. In most cases, windows set in masonry
walls will have been calked and the calking will be visible. If it is cracked
or shrunken, it should be dug out and the joint filled with fresh mastic.

Doors ^

Types of doors. The panel door (Fig. 20.10) is the type most frequently
found in houses that are to be remodeled. The flush type of door ( Figs. 5.4
and 20.11) is also an old type, but it was not much used in houses until
recent years. Batten doors (Fig. 20.12) are usually found only in the base-
ment and in other places where the appearance of the door is not impor-
tant; but in some old houses rather attractive batten doors were used at the
main entrances. The louvered door (Fig. 20.13) is a special type that is
useful in climates where the summers are extremely warm. It is also useful
on closets used for the storage of clothing in humid climates. Folding doors
(Fig. 5.2) are useful in the interior of the house where there is not room
for the swing of a regular door. The old-style sliding door was often bulky
and unsatisfactory, but modern sliding doors are considerably lighter in
weight and can be installed where they are needed with complete assurance

304

New Houses from Old

Fig. 20.10. — An old-fashioned bedroom before remodeling.

Fig. 20.11. — After remodeling.

(Figs. 20.10 and 20.11 Hcdrich-Blcssing Studio. Courtesy United States Gypsum Company.)

Wind

ows an

d D

oors

305

that they will operate satisfactorily. Many building codes require the use
of a fire-resistant door between the garage and the rest of the house when
the garage is an integral part of the house, as when it is built in the base-
ment. Fire-resistant doors are usually batten doors with a sheet-metal cover-
ing.

As a general rule, in remodeling it is advisable to retain as many of the
old doors as possible because of the cost of purchasing and installing new

1 1 1 1

LEDGE

1-
<

^^)

'v J

'■^ >

1 1 1 1

<
IT
Ll.

LEDGE

2
I

iij

/
/

Fig. 20.12. — Batten doors.

doors. However, in some middle-aged houses, the doors are so unattractive
that new doors are more than worth their cost. When only some of the
doors in a house are replaced, it is generally best to purchase replacement
doors that harmonize in appearance with the other doors in the house. Doors
can be made to order in designs that are appropriate to the house, but
custom-made doors are considerably more expensive than stock doors.

Door details. The parts of a typical door installation are shown in
Fig. 20.14. Exterior doors require special sill construction to keep rain
from entering the house. Two methods of constructing exterior door sills
are shown in the same figure.

306

New Houses from Old

To install a door in remodeling, the rough opening is cut in the wall
as shown in Fig. 17.17. A header and extra studs are inserted if needed.
The doorframe is then placed in the opening and is made plumb by driving
wedge-shaped pieces of wood from both directions between the doorframe
and the framing of the opening. The doorframe is then nailed to the framing
of the opening by driving nails through the wedges.

(Courtesy Foiult-i osa I'inc Woodwork.)
Fig. 20.13. — Louvered doors.

To hang the door, it is first sawed and planed along its edges to fit the
opening. It should fit tightly at the edge where the hinges are to be placed,
but there should be a gap of about %g in. at the top and on the lock side
between the door and the frame. If there is to be a threshold strip at the
bottom of the door, the door should clear this also by %6 in. If the thresh-
old strip is to be omitted, the bottom of the door should be about % in.

CASING-

Windows and Doors

-JAMB

307

TOP RAIL

-STILE-

MIDDLE RAIL

BOTTOM RAIL

DOOR

STOP

WEDGES

HOLLOW BACK
CASING

^ PI AQ-

PLASTER GROUND

JAMB SECTION
INTERIOR DOOR

DOOR

SILL-

TYPICAL SILL DETAILS
EXTERIOR DOOR

Fig. 20.14.— Door details.

above the finish flooring. Doors now manufactured under the modular
standards of the National Door Manufacturers' Association will fit without
trimming the frames designed for them.

After trimming, the door is placed in the frame and held in position by
means of thin wedges of softwood. The positions of the butts (hinges)
are marked on both the door and the frame. The door is then removed
and gains are cut for the butts in both the frame and the door. The separate
pieces of the butts are screwed in place on the frame and on the door.
The door can then be hung by placing it in position and joining the butts
with the pins. If the door is properly hung in the frame and swings free,
the doorstops are then nailed in place. Next, the lock, or knob, or both,
as the case may be, is installed on the door by cutting a mortise or by

308 New Houses from Old

boring holes, whichever is required. The position of the latch is then
marked carefully on the doorframe, and finally the lock strike is installed
on the frame. Experienced carpenters may do these operations in a different
order, but an inexperienced workman will usually avoid trouble by fol-
lowing the sequence that has been outlined. Gains are, of course, not cut
for hinges that are installed flush on the door or frame, but the necessary
operations except for this detail are the same.

Modernizing Old Doors

Old doors that are no longer true can usually be trued up. The frame
should first be made square by placing proper supports under the girders
in the house or by making other changes that may be necessary. If the door
is out of square only at the top and bottom, it can be sawed or planed
along these edges. Strips of straight lumber are then secured to th« bottom
and top of the door with glue and casing nails. It is best to make the strips
a little thicker than is required to make the door fit the frame. The nails
are then countersunk, and after the glue has dried, the strips are planed
down to the required dimensions. If the lock side of the door has also been
trimmed so that it also is not straight, the same method of repair can be
used. The only difference is that latches and locks that are in the way are
first removed, and new holes or mortises must be cut in the edge strip for
the latches after the strip has been planed down.

Unattractive old panel doors can be converted to flush-type doors by
covering their faces with plywood. The old door is removed from its hanging
and laid flat. Paint and varnish are removed from the surfaces with which
the plywood will come in contact. If the door is to be used in a location
where it will receive considerable wear, it is best to cut back the top, bot-
tom, and lock edges about % in. A good grade of adhesive is then spread
on the door and also on the plywood. The surfaces are then pressed firmly
together and held in place with sandbags until the adhesive has cured.
The edges of the door are then built out again with strips of a hard lumber,
such as yellow pine. The strips should be wide enough to cover both the
edge of the door and the edges of the plywood. Before the door is replaced
in the frame, it will be necessary to cut back or move the stops to accom-
modate the added thickness. A flush door made in this way is seldom as
strong as a factory-built flush door; but if careful attention is paid to
workmanship, the door should give satisfactory service. Battens, rather than
panels, can be applied when it is necessary only to strengthen the door.

Changing the side from which a door swings is not a complicated oper-
ation unless the door has a lock that is not reversible. Even in such a case,

Windows and Doors

309

the swing of a door can be changed by purchasing a new lock of the proper
"hand." The door is removed from its hangings and the hinges are un-
screwed. The old mortises are filled in with lumber of the appropriate thick-
ness installed with glue and casing nails. The procedure for rehanging the
door is then the same as for hanging a new door. If you wish to change a
door so that it swings outward from a room instead of inward, or vice
versa, the hinges are removed from the doorframe but need not be removed
from the door. This kind of change, however, requires the moving of the
doorstops and, of course, the moving of the frame portions of the butts and
the strike plate for the latch.

Hardware

Window hardware. Typical window hardware is shown in Fig. 20.15. The
only hardware actually required on double-hung windows with conventional
types of weights is the sash fastener and the sash pulleys; but a metal pull
is sometimes used at the bottom of the lower sash. Sash pulleys (Fig. 20.2)

RIM

©.

SURFACE MORTISE

{Courtesy Norwalk Lock Company, Division of Segal Lock & Hardware Company, Inc.)

Fig. 20.15. — A, B. Sash pulls. C. Double-hung sash fastener. D. Casement-window
sash fasteners. E. Casement sash adjuster.

310

New Houses from Old

should be bronze faced to avoid trouble from rusting. Sash pulleys are not re-
quired if the window has spring balances. Many varieties of hardware in addi-
tion to the simple types shown are used on casement windows, but the hardware
that is necessary for any particular make of window is usually described
in the catalogue of the window manufacturer.

O O

STOP

TRIM

DOOR

POSITION
OF DOOR
WHEN OPEN

Fig. 20.16. — A. Strap hinge. B. H-L hinge. C. Ornamental strap hinge. D. Butt
hinge. E. Details of installation of butt hinge on door so as to provide clearance
when the door is fully open.

Door hardivare. Typical hinges and butts for house doors are shown in
Fig. 20.16. The double-acting hinge is used on some swinging doors. Many
swinging doors are constructed with a spring-actuated floor hinge (not
illustrated), which is built into the bottom of the door and pivots in a plate
installed on the floor. The H-L hinges are features of very old houses.
Genuine handmade hinges of this type are valuable antiques, but modern
replicas are available from several manufacturers. Typical modern door-
knobs and handles are shown in Fig. 20.19.

Windows and Doors

311

Lochs and latches. There are two general types of keylocks (Fig. 20.17).
The bit key lock is satisfactory for interior doors, but the ease with which
it can be picked makes it inadequate for exterior doors. Nevertheless, it is
often found on exterior doors in old houses and is sometimes retained in
cases where it has interest as an antique. Locks of both types are sometimes

{Courtesy Norwalk Lock Company, Dh'ision
of Segal Lock & Hardware Company, Inc.)

Fig. 20.17. — A. Bit key mortise lock. B. Cylinder mortise lock. C. Jimmy-proof
rim-cylinder lock.

"jimmied" by forcing a thin knife or similar tool between the doorstop and
the door casing and pushing back the latch. The "jimmy-proof" lock gets
around this hazard by eliminating the latch and using in its place short
bolts that drop into holes in the striker plate. Typical lock, handle, and
knob combinations for exterior doors are illustrated in Fig. 20.18.

312

New Houses from Old

The cutting of mortises in a door for a rectangular lock box is a difficult
operation unless it is done with a special machine. When such a machine
is not available, the mortise is cut by first drilling several holes with an

ruhTi

(Courtesy Norwalk Lock Company, Division
of Segal Lock & Hardware Company, Inc.)

Fig. 20.18. — Knob and lock combinations. A. Key outside only. B. Key outside,
turn knob inside. C. Key on both sides. D, E. Rim-mounted locks with keys outside
and turn knobs inside.

auger bit, then squaring the opening with a chisel. To get around the diffi-
culty, some manufacturers now offer "tubular" locks (Fig. 20.19), which
can be installed by boring round holes with a brace and bit.

Various combinations of knobs, latches, and escutcheons are used. A few

Windows and Doors

313

typical ones are shown in Fig. 20.20. Knobs and latches are sufficient on
closet doors and other interior doors where locks are not needed. On bath-

(Loiiitcsy iiclilagc Lutk tomt'aiiy.)
Fig. 20.19. — Tubular lock and knob assembly.

room doors it is advisable to use locks that can be operated from the out
side with special keys in emergencies.

A B

{Courtesy Norwalk Lock Company, Division of Segal Lock & Hardware Company, Inc.)

Fig. 20.20. — A. Handle and thumb latch with separate key plate. The handle is
placed on the outside of an exterior door as shown in B. C. Knob with escutcheon
containing a keyhole. D. Knob with separate key plate. The circular plate around
the knob is called a rose.

314

New Houses from Old

The designations "RH," "LH," "RHRB," and "LHRB" found in catalogue
descriptions mean, respectively, "right hand," "left hand," "right hand
reverse bevel," and "left hand reverse bevel" (Fig. 20.21). The bevel refers
to the bevel on the latch and, in some cases, on the lock case. Some locks
are reversible and are so designated in catalogues.

LEFT HAND

LEFT HAND
REVERSE BEVEL

■'ZZJ

£11

RIGHT HAND RIGHT HAND

REVERSE BEVEL

{Courtesy Norwalk Lock Company, Dh'ision
of Segal Lock &• Hardware Company, Inc.)

Fig. 20.21.— The "hand" of doors and locks.

Windows and Doors 315

Cabinet hardware. Cabinet hardware is used mainly on kitchen cabinets
and similar storage cabinets installed in the bathroom and elsewhere in
the house. There are many makes and types. Well-stocked hardware stores
usually display the products of several manufacturers, and catalogues that
illustrate and describe the products of many manufacturers are included in
Sweet's Architectural Catalogs. Good-quality hardware should be purchased
for storage cabinets that will receive frequent use. Aside from this con-
sideration, the main points to be borne in mind in selecting cabinet hard-
ware are convenience of operation, attractive appearance, and durable finish.

Hardware finishes. Low-cost hinges and butts are often finished with cad-
mium, tin, or zinc. A variety of finishes is used on more important hard-
ware. Typical ones are brass, bronze, nickel, and chromium — all of these
in both dull and polished finishes, black finishes, and various antique
finishes. Some hardware is also painted. The nickel, brass, and bronze
finishes require occasional polishing to remove tarnish; chromium finishes
remain bright without polishing; and the black and antique finishes require
no polishing. A finish that suits the room should be selected. Chromium
finishes are commonly used on kitchen cabinet hardware because of their
durability and also because they are appropriate to the modern kitchen.
Some suggestions on the refinishing of old hardware are given in Chap-
ter 23 under Painting of Metal.

\njTXLnXLriJTJTJXnJTJlJTJTJTJ"TJTJTJTJTJTJT^^

TWENTY-ONE

Interior Walls and Trim

Interior walls (and ceilings) can be remodeled with a variety of ma-
terials, which include plaster, wallboards of various types, and selected
lumber. In many cases old plaster can be successfully repaired.

Dry-wall Construction

Although most new houses are finished on the interior with plaster, and
this is the most common wall finish found in houses that are remodeled,
plaster is not a convenient material to apply in many cases of remodeling.
Any plastering operation more extensive than patching introduces into the
house a large quantity of water that may damage interior trim and finish
flooring, a hazard that is avoided in new construction by not installing these
parts of the house until the plaster is dry. There is the further disadvantage
that good plastering is highly skilled work. Persons who are inexperienced
in the craft can seldom do it well, and skilled plasterers are hard to find
in some communities.

Dry-wall construction avoids the introduction into the house of the large
amount of water that must be incorporated in fresh plaster, thus avoiding
the possible damage to the woodwork in the house and making it possible
to live comfortably in the house while part of it is being remodeled. In
this type of construction, the walls are finished with such materials as fiber-
board (also called insulation board), gypsum board (also called plaster-
board), plywood panels, or natural woods in the form of specially manu-
factured lumber. Materials of the first three types are sometimes referred
to as wallboard.

Wallboards. When the manufactured wallboards were first introduced,
not much thought was given to handling them from an aesthetic viewpoint.
In most cases economy was the chief motive for using them. Usually the
panels were simply nailed to the wall and the joints between them were
covered with strips of wood. Houses finished in this way gained a reputa-
tion for cheapness and ugliness that should not be extended to the use of

316

Interior Walls and Trim

317

these materials today. Quite satisfactory methods have now been developed
for producing with these materials walls that have plane, unbroken surfaces
similar to plastered walls. Furthermore, the problem of joints in walls in
which the existence of panels is frankly recognized has been studied, and
excellent ways have been devised for making walls in which the joints are
visible but not ugly.

STUD

16- MESH
GALVANIZED
WIRE SCREEN

SWEDISH PUTTY-
OR PROPRIETARY
COMPOUND

Fig. 21.1. — Making of plane joints between wallboard panels. A. With special fiber
tape. B. With wire cloth. Panels may be butted as in A or spaced about % in.
apart as in B. Furring strip is used when surface of studs is very uneven. After
filling compound has thoroughly dried, joint is smoothed with sandpaper.

Fiberboard and gypsum board for interior wall finish are made of ap-
proximately the same range of materials as sheathing board (Chapter 19),
but interior wallboards are usually more dense, and if they are covered
with paper, it is of a different type. Sometimes the paper is processed
for use as the wall finish without further painting, or it can be designed
to be painted or covered with wallpaper. Both fiberboard and gypsum
board are available in panels that have recessed edges that can be filled to
disguise the joints and to produce a plane wall. Two typical methods for
making these plane joints are diagramed in Fig. 21.1.

Plywood wallboard is made similarly to other types of plywood except
that it is usually made with water-resistant rather than waterproof glue.
Also, plywood panels intended for interior wall finish are available with
faces made of a large variety of woods, including both common woods and
fine and rare ones. Rooms finished with plywood faced with oak are shown
in Figs. 11.10 and 21.3. However, it is not necessary to use the more ex-
pensive types of plywood to obtain an attractive effect. Plywood faced with
fir, for example, can be used to produce an attractive room by one of
several methods.

Application of wallboard. Wallboards of all the types mentioned are
manufactured in various thicknesses, widths, and lengths that adapt them

318

New Houses from Old

Fig. 21.2. — If the panels are not to be disguised, the joints may be made decorative.
The joints shown are particularly suited to plywood but may be used with certain
other types of panels.

to remodeling. For example, plywood suitable for interior walls can be
had in Y^-, %-, and ^2-'^^- thicknesses, in a width of 48 in., and in lengths
of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 ft. Although any of the wallboards can be easily
cut with either handsaws or power saws, a length should be selected that
can be applied with a minimum of cutting.

If the studs or other members of the house frame are spaced 12 or
16 in. on center, plywood ^4 i"- thick, gypsum board % in. thick, or
fiberboard % in. thick can be used. If the spacing is 20 in. on center,
the recommended thicknesses, respectively, are ^4 in., /2 ^^-i ^^^ /4 iii-?
and for 24-in. -on-center spacing, % in., ^4 in., and % in. In houses with
old braced frames where there are no studs in the walls, studs must be
inserted at the right intervals. Some blocking must usually be inserted
between studs to support the ends of panels. In most cases wallboards are
nailed directly to the studs; but in houses where the studs and other framing
members present an uneven surface, it is necessary to build them out to
a plane surface with thin boards or plywood strips before applying the
panels.

Manufacturers' directions should be followed for nailing; but if the
wallboard is to be applied over an old wall covering, such as plaster, the
nails should always be long enough so that they will extend through the
plaster and enter into the solid members of the frame. When wallboards

Interior Walls and Trim

319

(Cuitrtay L'nifrd Sfafcs Ply-^'ood Cori>iirat-'i>n.)

Fig. 21.3. — Smooth panels of plywood and squares made by sawing stock panels
were both used to finish the walls in this room.

are applied to a ceiling, they are attached to the joists either directly or
through the old plaster. Flexible, or "resilient," fastening methods are used
with certain types of wallboard, particularly fiberboards that expand and
contract under varying conditions of humidity. Adhesives can be used to
attach some types (Fig. 21.5). At least one adhesive method has been
developed for use with plywood that produces a wall entirely free of nails.
However, plywood panels are usually fastened with finish or casing nails
driven about 6 in. apart along the edges of the panels.

Wall Finish with Natural Lumber (Paneling)

Walls can also be finished (paneled) with specially selected and pre-
pared lumber. Probably the most familiar wall finish of this type is knotty-
pine paneling (Fig. 21.6). Knotty pine has enjoyed a considerable vogue,
but many other woods are equally or even more suitable. The chief require-
ments are sufficient hardness to resist impact and abrasion, a pleasing color,
and an interesting grain. Red oak, white oak, hard maple, red gum, black
gum, beech, white ash, cypress, sycamore, and many other American woods

320

New Houses from Old

— in addition to the rare and exotic woods used in expensive paneling —
possess these qualities. As a general rule, this kind of wall finish costs more
than the types described above. Furthermore, the application of complicated
paneling is a job for an expert carpenter or even a cabinetmaker. How-
ever, simple paneling is well within the skill of average carpenters or
good amateur carpenters, especially if stock paneling is used.

ONE-PIECE^
WOOD CORNER

MITERED
CORNER

PANEL

FURRING

SLOPED
BASE

4 '
MOLDING

TTTTi^ ^zzzn.

OLD CASING
J

OLD PLASTER7

FURRING

A,B,C, INTERNAL CORNERS. D,E,F, EXTERNAL CORNERS. 6, BASE MADE OF PLYWOOD PANEL
AND STOCK MOLDING. H, BASE MADE OF STRIP OF PLYWOOD. I, WALL PANEL FINISHED WITH
STOCK MOLDING. J,K,L, FITTING OF PANELS AT WINDOW AND DOOR FRAMES: J, PANEL
APPLIED OVER OLD WALL. K, OLD PLASTER REMOVED AND NEW FINISH CASING APPLIED.
L, OLD PLASTER LEFT IN PLACE, FINISH CASINGS REMOVED, AND PLYWOOD APPLIED DIRECT-
LY TO WINDOW AND DOOR FRAMES.

Fig. 21.4. — Woodwork details for plywood and other interior wall panels.

Elaborate paneling requires special methods of application, but the fol-
lowing directions cover the essentials of applying simple, horizontal, or
vertical paneling. Adequate bearings to which the paneling boards can be
nailed must be provided. If the boards are to be applied horizontally to
the wall, they can be nailed directly to the frame; but if they are to be
applied vertically, wood nailing strips, usually made of 1-in. by 2-in.
lumber and spaced about 2 ft. apart, are first nailed horizontally to the
wall. If the old wall covering is removed, the strips can be nailed directly
to the studs. If it is not removed, they should be nailed through the existing

Interior Walls and Trim

321

wall covering, in which case the nails must be long enough to pass through
the old wall covering and to penetrate the framing members 1 in. or more.
Finish or casing nails are used to apply the paneling to the nailing strips.
Usually the nail heads are set after they are driven, and the holes are
filled with a plastic filler, but the nails are left exposed in some walls.

(Courtesy Armstrong Cork Company.)

Fig, 21.5. — Attaching fiberboard "tiles" with adhesive. This method produces a
wall finish without nail holes.

Exterior walls under paneling made of lumber should be tight, other-
wise the many joints between the boards will permit much air infiltration.
If the old wall is plastered, holes and wide cracks in it can be repaired
and the nailing strips for the new wall finish then applied over it. This
results in a fairly tight wall. If the old plaster and lath are removed, rigid
insulation board can be applied to the studs and the nailing strips placed
on it, or the spaces between the studs can be insulated with a fill insulation.

322

New Houses from Old

Since the individual boards in a wall of this kind change considerably
in dimension under varying conditions of humidity, shiplapped or tongued-
and-grooved joints are used. If the boards are simply butted along their
edges, disfiguring cracks will eventually develop in the wall.

(Courtesy Western Pine Association.')

Fig. 21.6. — Knotty-pine paneling and wallpaper have been combined in this at-
tractive room.

Linoleum Wall Covering

Linoleum is most commonly used as a wall covering in bathrooms and
kitchens, but its use in other rooms of the house is increasing.

Linoleum must be applied over a solid, smooth backing, because irregu-
larities will show through it. Smooth plaster or wallboard, such as gypsum
board applied with filled joints made plane with the wall, is a satisfactory
backing. Old plaster is prepared to receive linoleum by removing from it
any such materials as wallpaper, oilcloth, and water paints. Oil paints can
be left on, but they must be cut through by sanding with coarse sandpaper.
Cracks and holes in the plaster are filled with patching plaster and sanded
smooth after the plaster hardens.

It is quite necessary to have both the linoleum and the wall to which
it is to be applied at a temperature of at least 70° F. Linoleum is delivered
in rolls. Before it is unrolled, it should be kept at a temperature of 70° F.

Interior Walls and Trim 323

for at least forty-eight hours. The walls should be held at the same tempera-
ture for at least twenty-four hours. After the linoleum is placed on the
wall, the same temperature must be maintained until the cement has set,
usually twelve hours.

Various accessories are available for finishing corners, bases, and cornices
on linoleum walls. Information about these accessories and detailed direc-
tions for the application of linoleum are readily available from linoleum
manufacturers or dealers.

Glass and Tile on Walls

Colored plate glass is used to some extent for surfacing bathroom and
kitchen walls. It is an excellent material, but it is difficult to use in remodel-
ing because openings in the glass sheets for the accommodation of faucets,
valves, etc., must be cut at the factory from working drawings furnished
by the architect or contractor. However, sheets of stock sizes without open-
ings are available for installation at such points as behind the range in
the kitchen.

Glazed ceramic tile is almost a standard finish for bathroom walls, and
it is used also on some kitchen walls. Methods of installation are discussed
in Chapter 22.

Many substitutes for ceramic tile on walls have been developed. These
include metal, such as steel or aluminum, with various types of finishes
including fused-on porcelain, fiberboards and plasterboards that are faced
with coatings that somewhat resemble the surface of tile, and plastic tile.
These materials are available in dimensions similar to the dimensions of
wall tile and also as larger sheets that are scored to resemble the conven-
tional dimensions of tile. Many of them can be readily applied over old
walls, often without removal of the old plaster or other wall covering. For
example, one metal tile system uses a grooved base that is nailed through
the old wall covering to the studs. The individual metal tiles are then set
in the grooves in the base with cement. The exact methods of application
vary with each type and make of material, but specific directions are always
supplied by the manufacturer or dealer.

Bathroom and Kitchen Walls

The walls in these areas of the house must be constructed to resist damp-
ness, and they must have surfaces that are easy to keep clean. Ceramic tile
(Chapter 22) meets these requirements, but because of its cost it is used
somewhat sparingly. Some bathrooms are tiled from floor to ceiling, but

324 New Houses from Old

more commonly tile is used on only the lower part of the wall. The remain-
ing wall areas are finished with Portland-cement plaster or Keene's cement.
Tile substitutes, glass, and linoleum are other materials often used on bath-
room and kitchen walls. These materials, too, are often used only on part
of the wall area. Quite satisfactory kitchen walls can also be made of such
materials as wood paneling (Fig. 8.2). The wood should be made resistant
to dampness by treating it with varnish, oil, or wax, and the wall areas
adjacent to the range and to the sink should be covered with a more water-
resistant material, such as tile or linoleum.

Basement Walls

The finish of the basement walls will depend on the use that is to be
made of the basement. Unfinished masonry walls will usually be sufficient
in basements used chiefly for storage and as locations for the heating plant
and laundry; but if you want to have a recreation room in the basement,
you will probably want a more decorative wall treatment. The simplest and
least expensive treatment for masonry walls is to paint them with a suitable
paint (Chapter 23). However, other types of wall treatment are often
desired. Their installation should begin with proper construction of the
foundation wall from the viewpoint of making it watertight (Chapter 15) ;
but even though the foundation wall is dampproofed, some dampness will
find its way through the wall in most locations. Furthermore, since base-
ments are seldom as well ventilated as walls above the basement level, there
is always the danger of considerable condensation of moisture on them.

At one time basement walls were prepared to receive plaster by damp-
proofing them with a coating of asphalt or pitch on the inside of the wall,
and the plaster was applied directly to the coating. However, such con-
struction proved unsatisfactory. At the present time basement walls are
furred out before the wall-covering material is applied. If the house is
located in a region where infestation by subterranean termites may occur, it
is advisable to use only wood that has been treated with creosote or some
other termite-repellent chemical for the furring strips. (Metal furring
strips, of course, would not introduce a termite hazard, but they sometimes
corrode rather rapidly in basements.) The wood furring strips are usually
secured to the wall with square-cut nails or with special screws or anchors
designed for use in masonry. Nails are difficult to drive in a hard masonry
wall, and the cutting of holes for screw anchors is a tedious process. A new
method is to use nailing anchors that are simply cemented to the wall with
a special rubber-base adhesive.

Portland-cement plaster is preferred for use in basements, because it has

Interior Walls and Trim

325

more water resistance than lime or gypsum plaster. There should be an
air space of at least 1 in. between the back of the plaster and the masonry.
Basement walls can also be finished with plasterboard, many of the fiber-

ALTERNATE:30d NAILS,
NOT OVER 3'O.C.IN BOTH-
DIRECTIONS AND 5" UP
FROM BOTTOM EDGE
OF JOIST

(.Courtesy Metal Lath Manufacturers Association.)
Fig. 21.7. — Suspended ceiling constructed with metal runners and lath.

-JOISTS IN \

OLD CEILING \

2 X2 HANGERS
SPACED NOT
MORE THAN 4'
APART ALONG
JOISTS

2 X 4

-JOISTS IN
OLD CEILING

2'X2" HANGERS
SPACED NOT
MORE THAN 24"
APART

?;7?\

-NEW CEILING ^NEW CEILING

A B

Fig. 21.8. — Wood-suspended ceilings. A. With joists in new ceiling running in
same direction as joists in old ceiling. B. With joists in new ceiling running at
right angles to joists in old ceiling.

boards, plywood, and wood paneling. These materials also should be applied
on furring strips so that there will be an air space of at least 1 in. between
them and the basement wall. If plywood is used, it is advisable to use the

326 New Houses from Old

exterior type. Some of the fiberboards that are suitable for use in rooms
above the basement level deteriorate under basement conditions; therefore,
it is best before applying one of them to a basement wall to find out
whether the manufacturer recommends it for such use. When fiberboard,
plywood, or wood paneling is used on a basement wall, the installation
should be planned so that the wood cannot serve as an access for termites.

Suspended Ceilings

It is often desirable in remodeling to lower ceilings that are too high.
This is done by constructing what is called a suspended ceiling. The sim-
plest way to make such a ceiling is to construct it of metal runner chan-
nels, metal-channel cross furring, and metal lath (Fig. 21.7). The hangers
should be located about 4 ft. apart so that no one of them will support
more than 16 sq. ft. of ceiling. Galvanized wire of No. 8 gauge is suffi-
ciently heavy for hangers. Suspended ceilings can also be built on frame-
works of wood suspended from the ceiling joists (Fig. 21.8). The suspended
surface must be built so that it will make a suitable backing for the par-
ticular material. The construction shown in Fig. 21.7 is good for the sup-
port of plaster; but if the ceiling is to be covered with plywood panels,
for example, the suspended framework should be constructed of wood and
its members spaced to provide nailing bearings for the plywood panels.
Another method of making a ceiling in the basement is to nail wood fur-
ring strips across the joists and to apply gypsum board to the furring strips.

Repairing Old Plaster

The common causes of plaster cracks are listed in the National Bureau
of Standards' Recommended Minimum Requirements for Small Dwellings
as follows:

(1) Inadequate or fauhy footings under bearing posts, (2) too small girders
or too few bearing posts, (3) joists of insufficient depth, (4) joists under parti-
tions not doubled, (5) improper framing over wide openings, (6) uneven settle-
ment due to shrinkage of wood frame improperly designed and constructed, (7)
chimney not independent of the frame, (8) settlement of wall footings and foun-
dations, (9) separation of partitions from walls, and (10) failure to conform to
good plastering standards.

Some things that will cause plaster to crack within a few months after a
new house is finished eventually correct themselves and, therefore, will not
cause further cracking after the plaster is repaired. Examples are the shrink-

Interior Walls and Trim

327

age of green wood, which in an old house will have run its course, and
the uneven settlement of foundations, which often reach a state of stability
after a certain amount of settling. On the other hand, defects in the house
structure, such as inadequate posts under girders and inadequate girders,
must be corrected or the repaired plaster will crack.

Various makes of patching plaster are on the market. These materials
should be used in accordance with the manufacturers' directions, but, in
general, the procedure is as follows. The sides of the crack are cut back
to solidly attached plaster and are made slightly wider at the bottom than
at the top (Fig. 21.9). The crack is then cleaned of all loose material and

LATH

-OLD PLASTER

JOIST OR
STUD

^%^^ife%%f=i is^g^:

LATH

OLD PLASTER

w^ ^^^^^^^

Fig. 21.9. — Cutting back of old plaster to repair crack. A. When lath is firmly-
nailed. B. Wider cut to permit renailing of loose or "springy" lath.

is dampened, after which the patching plaster is shoved into the crack and
leveled off with a trowel. After the plaster has hardened, it can be made
level and smooth by rubbing it down with sandpaper. Large broken areas
should be thoroughly cleaned and the old plaster keys between the lath
knocked out. Such areas can be filled with patching plaster or with factory-
mixed gypsum plaster applied in two or three coats. Plaster of Paris, which
is sometimes used to repair holes and cracks in plaster, is suitable for only
small repairs because it sets so quickly that good work cannot be done on
large areas.

Special pains must be taken with repairs in ceilings to obtain good ad-
hesion of the plaster and to make the repaired area invisible. All of the

328 New Houses from Old

loose plaster on the edges of the crack or hole must be removed and the
lath must be thoroughly cleaned. After the patching plaster has hardened,
the repaired area should be smoothed carefully with sandpaper before the
ceiling is repainted. If the area to be repaired is large, the patching plaster
should be carefully leveled with a plasterer's rod or a straight piece of
lumber before it has set.

Old plaster can easily be covered over with other types of wall-finishing
materials, such as linoleum, the various wallboards, and lumber paneling.
The attractive walls in Fig. 21.3 were made by applying plywood over old
plaster. Over-walling is often more economical in the long run than ex-
tensive patching of old plaster, particularly if the defects in the old plaster
are due to defects in the house frame that cannot be economically corrected.

Interior Trim

Interior trim includes the woodwork around doors and windows, the
baseboards, picture moldings, chair rails, wainscoting, and the woodwork
around open stairways. In very old houses the trim was handmade; but
stock trim — also called millwork in the trade — has been used since about
the middle of the nineteenth century. The chief requirements for good
interior trim are that it be made of selected lumber practically free of such
imperfections as sap stains, fungus stains, knots, and shakes. Both hard-
woods and softwoods are used for trim. The softwoods, such as pine, are
somewhat easier to apply, and they make satisfactory trim for most houses.
Good trim of modern manufacture is air- or kiln-dried.

Trim is usually secured with casing nails, which are driven through it
into solid members of doorframes and window frames or into wall and
partition studs. The nailheads are set, then the holes over them are filled
with a suitable filling material, such as plastic wood, Swedish putty, or
some proprietary filler. Trim is applied after the plaster or other wall-
covering material but before the wall is painted or papered. The refinishing
of interior woodwork is discussed in Chapter 23.

If the house is a very old one with handmade trim, it is usually desirable
to retain the trim even though this involves considerable expense for repair
and refinishing. If the house has been ill-used or has stood unoccupied for
a number of years, a considerable part of the original trim may be missing.
Replacing it is a job for a craftsman who has the skill and the patience to
duplicate the old headings and other decorations.

In middle-aged and younger houses where the trim is made of stock mill-
work, a decision must be made in each individual case as to whether the
trim is worth rejuvenating or whether it will be better to replace it with

Interior Walls and Trim

329

new. Gingerbready trim of this period is usually not worth saving, but
plain trim made of good wood can sometimes be reworked. This is particu-
larly true of the massive but largely unornamented hardwood trim that was
so popular in the early part of this century. Reworking is an operation for
a home craftsman. The operation will not pay for itself if you keep track
of your time; but if you can disregard this item, you may be able to pro-
duce new woodwork that will unquestionably be made of superior, well-
seasoned wood. The old trim is carefully removed from the wall in order
not to dent its surface or split it. All nails are removed from it, and from
that point onward it can be worked as new lumber. If it must be cut down
much, it is convenient to have a power-driven bench saw and also a router
and shaper.

Although modern trim is now usually made of stock patterns and profiles
that are offered in a wide variety by woodwork manufacturers, there is still
plenty of room for expression of individual tastes and preferences. Examples
of modern trim are shown in a number of the illustrations in Chapters 5,
6, and 7 and elsewhere in this book. Typical profiles of baseboards and
cornices are shown in Fig. 21.10.

F G H I J

Fig. 21.10. — A to E. Cornices. A. Built-up cornice. B. Cornice formed of triangular
strip. A good type for use with plywood. D. Picture-mold cornice. F to /. Base-
boards. F. Common type of three-member baseboard. /. Modern type with sub base,
/. Flush base.

330 New Houses from Old

Planning Wall Remodeling

The modernization of interior walls in remodeling a house often goes
hand in hand with other operations, such as the placing of insulation in
exterior walls and the installation of electric wiring, switches, fixtures, out-
lets, plumbing pipes, pipes or ducts for the heating system, and sometimes
new windows and doors. If any of these operations are to be undertaken,
they should be planned before the work on the wall is started. If the work
is to be done by a contractor, it will be necessary for you or your architect
to provide him with working drawings on which the location of electrical
fixtures, heating and plumbing pipes, and windows and doors must be
shown. Even though you are going to do the remodeling work yourself, you
will have to plan in advance all of the operations that will affect the walls
and ceilinofs.

xjTjTjTTUTTirLrijTjxiTrxjTJxrxriJTJTriJxnjxru

TWENTY-TWO

Floors

J\ GOOD FLOOR must be firmly supported. The first steps in constructing
a new floor in remodeling are, therefore, a thorough inspection of the
floor joists and the making of any repairs that are needed to them (Chap-
ter 17).

SUBFLOORING

In modern house construction, floors are usually made of two layers of
boards with a layer of building paper or its equivalent between them
(Fig. 22.1). The first layer, which is applied directly over the joists, is
called subflooring. Square-edged lumber, tongued-and-grooved lumber, and
plywood are suitable materials for the subfloor.

Square-edged boards can be laid tight unless they will be exposed to
considerable dampness, in which case they should be laid so that there is
a space of % to ^4 i"- between the boards. The latter method of application
should be used under the first floors of houses that will be occupied only
part of the year, in basementless houses, and over basements with earthen
floors. Joints must be made over joists. Tongued-and-grooved subflooring
(Fig. 22.2) makes a tighter and firmer floor, but it cannot be used in
damp locations. If the lumber is also end-matched (Fig. 22.4), it is not
necessary to lay it so that all end joints will occur over joists. End-matched
joints are strong enough to permit a single end joint between joists, but
two unsupported joints in one strip of flooring should not be made between
a pair of joists, nor should two of them occur in adjacent strips between
the same pair of joists. Square-edged and tongued-and-grooved subflooring
should both be laid diagonally at an angle of 45° to the joists. It is good
practice to run diagonal flooring in one direction on the first floor and
in the opposite direction on the second floor.

The recommended dimensions (nominal) of lumber for subflooring are
1 in. by 4 in. or 1 in. by 6 in. Boards as wide as 1 in. by 10 in. are some-
times used but are not recommended because of their tendency to warp.

331

332

New Houses from Old

Fig. 22.1. — Cutaway view of floor, showing details of construction, a, joists, h,
subfloor. c, building paper, d, finish floor.

The nailing of square-edged flooring and of tongued-and-grooved flooring
is shown in Fig. 22.2. The boards are nailed at every joist, two nails being
driven in square-edged boards 4 or 6 in. wide, three nails in wider boards,
and one nail in tongued-and-grooved boards.

Many woods are suitable for subflooring. Softwoods, such as pine or hem-
lock in the grades known in the trade as No. 1 and No. 2 common, are
usually employed when the lumber must be purchased. In remodeling, it
is often possible to use lumber salvaged in the remodeling operation. In
existing houses where the floors are single layered, the old floor often serves
as the subfloor for the remodeled floor.

Plywood panels make a tight, strong, and even subfloor. Five-ply sheath-
ing-grade plywood is recommended. The /^-in. thickness is adequate for
application over joists spaced 16 in. on center, and the %-in. thickness is
adequate for joists spaced up to 24 in. on center. Plywood panels should
be laid so that the direction of the grain of the outer plies is at right
angles to the joists. Recommended nailing practice is an 8-penny nail every
6 in. on bearings at the edges of the panels and one every 10 in. on bearings
away from the edges.

In houses built before the twentieth century, the floor usually consisted
of only a single layer of boards, which were square edged in early con-
struction and usually tongued and grooved in later construction. In some

Floors 333

SUBFLOOR— N

tW////|^f^\\\\\\l>lt=k^^yr

JOIST

SUBFLOOR-

v^\\v\\\v\^;/;yy;yy/>a;^ijj;)jjj;;i^

JOIST

Fig. 22.2. — Two methods of building and nailing the subfloor. In A square-edged
boards are used. In B the boards are tongued and grooved.

old houses these single-layered floors have now been covered with another
layer of flooring, but many examples of them still exist and are encoun-
tered in remodeling. In very old houses the single-layered floors were often
made of wide, heavy boards that were fastened to the joists with wooden
dowels. These are the so-called pegged floors. Modern plank floors resemble
somewhat the old pegged floors, but the planks are not usually fastened
with wooden pins in present-day construction.

Finish Flooring

In modern construction both softwoods and hardwoods are used for the
finish layer of flooring, which is applied over the subfloor. As a general
rule, the hardwoods are more durable, more attractive, and more expensive.
Because of their greater cost, they are often used only in such rooms as
the hall, living room, and dining room, and the softwoods are used in other
parts of the house.

Hardwoods. The hardwoods regularly used for finish flooring are oak,
maple, beech, and birch. Pecan is a recently introduced flooring wood.
Flooring materials of these woods are now manufactured under grading
rules formulated by the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers' Association
and the Maple Flooring Manufacturers' Association. Rules of the first-men-

334

New Houses from Old

tioned association cover not only oak flooring but also maple, beech, birch
and pecan; while the rules of the second association cover maple, beech,
and birch. Hardwood flooring is manufactured in such thicknesses as
^Ygo in., ^'%2 iri-? ^nd ^%2 iii- ^^ f^ce widths running from 1^ to
3^4 in-9 3rid in lengths running from 1^> to 16 ft., all of these dimensions
being actual rather than nominal. Nominal or "counted" sizes are still used
to some extent in the trade, but they vary considerably from the actual
sizes. The flooring is sold in bundles that contain one thickness and one
width but random lengths.

CROSS SECTION LOG B-FLAT GRAIN

{Courtesy Southern Pine Association.)

Fig. 22.3. — Diagram showing the relative positions of edge-grain and flat-grain
flooring in the log.

Oak flooring is made of both red and white oaks. Although there is a
preference in some regions of the country for one or the other of these
oaks, there is no important difference in their suitability for flooring.
Quartersawed oak flooring is produced by first sawing a round log into
quarters, much as a pie is cut, then sawing each quarter into boards. This
produces a distinctive grain pattern that is well known. Although quarter-
sawed oak flooring is a superior material, it is not so popular now as it
was two or three decades ago. Most oak flooring used at the present time
is "plain-sawed." There is a considerable variation in color in oak flooring
not only because of the use of various species of oak but also because of
the distinct difference in color between the heartwood (the wood in the
interior of the log) and the sapwood (the wood in the outer portion of
the log).

Floors 335

Two species of maple — ^hard maple and black maple — are used to pro-
duce maple flooring. While there is some difference in color between the
heartwood and sapwood of these species, the difference is disregarded in
selecting the regular grades of maple flooring; but special grades selected
for uniformity in color are sometimes available. There are similar vari-
ations between the heartwood and sapwood in beech and birch, but grades
selected for color can be purchased in these woods.

If the remodeling operation includes the installation of hardwood floor-
ing in several rooms, a floor of nearly uniform color can be had in each
of the rooms by sorting the shipment of flooring into as many shades of
color as there are rooms. However, variations in color are usually dis-
regarded in laying hardwood floors, since the variations are not great enough
to spoil the appearance of the finished floor. The higher grades of hard-
wood flooring are all kiln-dried and are finished with side and end matching
and hollowed backs. They are marketed in bundles marked with the grade.
Hardwood flooring is a high-quality and expensive building material, hence
it should be given good care after it is delivered to the job. It should never,
for example, be exposed to the weather or stored in a cellar or other damp
location.

Softwoods. Many woods are manufactured into softwood flooring. Among
them are southern pine, Douglas fir, western hemlock, western larch, red-
wood, southern cypress, western red cedar, spruce, and tamarack. Flooring
made of these woods also is usually manufactured and graded under rules
of manufacturers' associations. The Southern Pine Association has drawn
up rules for flooring made of southern pine, and the West Coast Lumber-
men's Association has formulated rules for flooring made of Douglas fir,
western hemlock, and several other western woods. Softwood flooring is
manufactured in widths that run from 2% in. to as wide as 5^ in. and
in lengths from 4 to 20 ft., all of these dimensions being actual rather than
nominal. Southern-pine flooring is manufactured in two widths — 2% in.
and Sy^ in. Edge-grain flooring (Fig. 22.3) is considered superior, since
it wears more evenly and is less likely to sliver. On the other hand, the
grain patterns in flat-grain flooring are very attractive in many softwood
species.

The better grades of softwood flooring are manufactured with side match-
ing and matched ends and also with hollowed backs and "scratched" backs
(Fig. 22.4). All grades are kiln-dried and are marketed in packages that
carry the grade and trade-mark. Softwood flooring is also a high-grade
building material that should be protected from the weather and dampness
after it is delivered to the job.

336

New Houses from Old

Laying the Finish Floor

The finish floor is not installed until the remodeling of walls and ceilings
is completed. Then the subfloor is scraped free of any adhering materials,
such as plaster, and is swept clean. The lining is then laid over the sub-
floor. The best material for the lining is a waterproof building paper with
a glazed coating. If insulation is needed, as when the floor is directly over
a heating plant or over an open porch, it can be provided by placing fiber
insulation board over the paper and under the finish flooring.

END MATCHED FLOORING

HOLLOW BACK

SCRATCH BACK

(Courtesy Southern Fine Association.)

Fig. 22.4.

If the subfloor has been laid diagonally, the finish floor can be laid in
either direction in relation to the joists. Finish flooring is usually laid
parallel to the long dimension of the house or room and is run through
the doors from room to room without a break at the door. The wooden
thresholds found under the doors in many old houses are usually removed.
If the new floor is thicker than the old thresholds, the bottoms of the doors
must be cut off enough to permit the door to swing over the new floor.

Flooring that is "^^2 ^^- or more thick should be nailed with 8-penny
cut flooring nails. Thinner flooring is nailed with 6-penny wire casing nails.
Longer nails are necessary if an insulation board is placed under the
flooring. The nails are spaced about every 10 in, along the tongue, and the
head of each one is set into the wood after it is driven. The joints must be
driven up snug. An excellent tool for this operation can be made by planing

Floo

337

the tongue off a waste strip of flooring and enlarging the groove with a
chisel or sandpaper so that it will slip easily on and off the tongue of the
flooring strips. The block prepared this way is used by placing it against
the strip of flooring that is being laid and by striking the planed edge
with a hammer or mallet. Experienced floorers usually nail three or four
strips, then drive them up snugly after they are nailed; but it is better
for the inexperienced worker to drive each strip as it is laid.

BASE BOARD

FINISH FLOOR
SUBFLOOR

A B

Fig. 22.5. — Nailing details for first strip of finish floor. A. With base molding. B.
Without base molding. Face nails in B may be countersunk and the holes filled
with plastic wood. (See also Fig. 21.10.)

End joints between strips need not be nailed unless the subflooring is
uneven. If they are nailed, they should be blind-nailed through the tongue
the same as the side joints. End joints should be staggered so that they
will not be in line with one another more often than every three or four
strips. This is easily accomplished by sorting out the strips of flooring by
length. Since the walls of rooms in houses are often not parallel, it is best
to measure them before the flooring is laid and to make small adjustments
in the floor to take care of any irregularity. These adjustments are made
by planing off slightly the tongues and grooves of a few strips of flooring.

After the finish floor is down, it should be carefully protected from dirt
and damage until the finish is applied (Chapter 23). A good method of
protection is to sweep it thoroughly clean and then to cover it with a tough
building paper.

One hundred square feet of flooring as it is sold never covers 100 sq. ft. of
floor. The quantity needed is usually estimated by finding the number of
square feet to be covered, then increasing this number by a percentage that
varies for each width of flooring as follows: 3^ in., 23 per cent; 2% in.,
27.5 per cent; 2^2 in., 20 per cent; 2^ in., 33.33 per cent; 2 in., 25 per

338 New Houses from Old

cent. The apparent discrepancies in these percentages are explained by the
fact that some of the widths are thicker or thinner than others, and the
difference in thickness affects the depth of the tongues and grooves. Even
these increases are not large enough if the room is quite irregular or if
many pieces of flooring will be discarded because of color.

Repair and Modernization of Wood Floors

Old floors, particularly softwood floors, are often badly worn in parts
of the house such as the kitchen and hallways where there is heavy traffic.
If the old floor consists of only a single layer of boards, the best method
of repair in most cases is to treat it as a subfloor and to finish it with
another layer of flooring. Rotted boards should first be removed and re-
placed with boards of the same thickness. Protruding nails in the old floor
should be driven down and bumps should be leveled off with a plane or
with a floor-scraping machine. Hollows can be filled with plastic wood or
with a mastic floor compound. Badly worn spots can be cut out with a
chisel or keyhole saw and the areas filled in with new boards.

A lining is then applied over the subfloor, and the finish floor is placed
over it as in constructing a new floor. Another way of preparing a worn
floor to receive another layer of flooring is to cover it with plywood sheath-
ing of ^- or %g-in. thickness. Because this material, if it is properly nailed,
will resist deflection under average loads, it is not so important to get the
old floor smooth; but protruding nails should be driven down and high
bumps should be leveled off. A lining is placed over the old floor, and the
plywood is nailed through the lining and the old flooring to the joists.
Some of the fiberboards can be used in the same way.

A worn floor that already consists of two layers of flooring can be made
new by removing the top layer of flooring and preparing the subfloor to
receive a new finish floor. Such a complete rehabilitation is necessary only
when the old finish floor is made of inferior wood or when it is so badly
worn that replacement will be cheaper than repair. If the floor is not badly
worn, it can be scraped down and refinished. A powered floor-sanding
machine simplifies the job; but if such a machine is not available, the
floor can be scraped down with hand tools. If cracks have opened up all
over the floor, it will be best to remove the flooring and re-lay it. The
flooring should, of course, be removed carefully in order to avoid splitting
at the joints. If it is solidly nailed, this is a tedious job, but it is worth
while if the old flooring is made of a good hardwood. In re-laying it, the
joints should be driven up tight as they are in laying a new floor. A few

Floors

339

extra strips of flooring will be needed to fill in the space formerly given
up to the cracks.

A different problem comes up in floors that have been Exposed to enough
dampness to cause some of the boards to rise up at the joints, making
bulges in the floor. No attempt should be made to correct this defect until
the house has thoroughly dried out. If possible, the house should be heated
by means of the heating plant for at least a month. Sometimes the floor
will shrink enough under this treatment so that the bulges will flatten out
of themselves. When they do not do so, it is necessary to remove the strips

FINISH FLOOR

-SUBFLOOR

FINISH FLOOR

-SUBFLOOR

Fig. 22.6. — Repairing a bulged floor. The grooves are cut off one strip, as along
dotted line in A. Bottom groove is cut off new strip. Small holes are drilled, as
at h, spaced 18 in. to 24 in. apart, and are filled with plastic wood after nails are
driven and countersunk.

of flooring adjacent to the bulge and to plane them down. Removing and
replacing such boards is not difficult if their edges are square. However,
if they are tongued and grooved, a special technique is necessary.

Squeaky boards in a two-layered floor are the result of insufficient nailing
or of an uneven surface under the top layer of flooring. If only a few of
the boards squeak, the defect can be remedied by lifting them, putting strips
of lining felt underneath, and renailing them firmly. If most of the floor is
squeaky, the only permanent cure is re-laying it. Squeaks in a single-layered
floor usually result from insufficient support under the floor, but they may

340

New Houses from Old

also result from too flexible flooring. If the underside of the floor is access-
ible, extra support under a squeaky spot can be built in as shown in
Fig. 22.7. If the flnderside is not accessible or the squeaky areas are numer-
ous, the floor should be replaced with stiffer lumber or used as a subfloor
for a two-layered floor. If a flooring material that lacks stiffness, such as
linoleum, is placed over such a floor, the floor should first be covered with
a stiff material such as plywood sheathing.

FLOOR

JOIST

Fig. 22.7. — Method of providing extra support under a squeaky spot in single-
layered floor.

If the house you are remodeling is an old one with single-layered floors
made of wide, heavy boards, you will probably wish to retain them in their
original state. The best methods of repairing such floors depend on such
factors as their thickness and how they are laid. If they are level and suf-
ficiently thick, they can be dressed down with a floor machine and re-
finished as a new wood floor; but if they are very uneven and thin in
spots, a floor machine should not be used on them. Instead, they should
be scraped and smoothed as much as possible with hand tools, then re-
finished, even though it is necessary to leave some bumps and hollows in
them. Sometimes a badly worn floor of this kind can be salvaged by turning
the boards over.

Cracks in old wood floors can be repaired by cleaning the dirt out of
them, then filling them with a suitable crack-filling material, of which there
are many on the market Cracks can be filled with a mixture made of fine
sawdust and spar varnish; but if the cracks are deep, this type of filler
sometimes dries rather slowly and shrinks considerably as it dries. Putty
should not be used as a crack filler unless the floor is to be oiled (Chap-
ter 23), since the oil in it will stain the wood adjacent to the cracks.

Floors 341

Linoleum Flooring

Linoleum is a thoroughly established flooring material for the kitchen
and bathroom, and it is used to a considerable extent also in halls and
other rooms in the house. Linoleum is made of oxidized linseed oil com-
bined with finely ground cork, various fibers, fillers, and coloring ingre-
dients. The material is pressed onto a backing of burlap or felt. Linoleum
is manufactured in a great variety of patterns and colors. Although lino-
leum tiles are manufactured, linoleum is usually applied to the floor in
the form of continuous strips in the standard width of 6 ft.

Battleship linoleum is the heaviest grade. It is manufactured in Y^- and
%6-in. thicknesses; and it usually, but not always, has a burlap back.
Battleship linoleum is a very durable material, but because of its cost it is
not often used in houses. Good-quality linoleum for house floors is usually
Vs '^^ %2 ^^- ill thickness and has a felt back. The first thickness, or gauge,
is known in the trade as heavy, and the second is known as standard. Such
terms as inlaid, jaspe, and marbleized refer to the methods of producing
patterns or color effects. Inlaid linoleum consists of blocks or other decora-
tive shapes, which are applied to the backing in distinct units and usually
in contrasting colors. Embossed inlaid linoleum is made in the same way,
but some of the pattern elements are depressed or have depressed borders
to produce the embossed effect. In jaspe linoleum the colors are striated.
Marbleized linoleum has a variegated color pattern that somewhat resembles
the veining of stone. Printed or stamped linoleums are often only enamel
applied to a felt back. They are manufactured in a variety of colors and
patterns; but compared with other linoleums, they have a short life.

Printed and stamped linoleums are usually laid on the floor as a rug is,
without fastening; but the heavier types of linoleum are applied by a
method known as resilient floor construction. Linoleum can be laid over
a wood subfloor or a finished floor. The method of application is the same
in either case. The floor is first made level, smooth, and clean. If it is
old and worn, bumps must be planed off and hollows filled in by one of
the methods described earlier in this chapter. In addition, any floor-finishing
material such as oil, wax, paint, or varnish should be removed in order to
obtain thorough adhesion of the linoleum paste. Plywood and fiberboard
panels can be used over an old floor to prepare it for linoleum.

When linoleum is laid, it is necessary for the floor to be at a tempera-
ture of at least 70° F. The linoleum should be kept at a temperature of
at least 70 °F. for about forty -eight hours before it is unrolled. Linoleum
paste is spread evenly over the floor. A layer of lining felt is then applied

342

New Houses from Old

on the paste. The lining should run across the floor boards. The seams in
the felt are butted tight but not lapped. The felt is then rolled with a lino-
leum roller, beginning at the center and working toward the edges of the
floor. All air bubbles must be worked out in the rolling process, and special
care must be taken to roll the seams and edges of the felt thoroughly.
Edges along the walls are rolled last by running the roller parallel to the
walls. Next, the top side of the felt is coated with linoleum paste.

-WALL LINE

METAL CAP MOLDING-

LINOLEUM-

MIN. HT. 3I/2
MIN. DEPTH 3"

Fig. 22.8. — Linoleum bases. A. Cove base formed with wax fillet strip. A wood
strip may also be used. B. Base formed with metal cove molding. C. Cove base
under cabinet.

Floors

343

The linoleum should be laid so that the number of seams in the finished
floor will be kept to a minimum. Preferably, it should also be laid across
the floor boards; but when this is not possible without increasing the num-
ber of seams, it can be laid parallel to them. When it is laid parallel, a
strip of fabric manufactured for the purpose is pasted to the felt under the
seams. Exposed edges, as in doorways, may be finished with beveled strips
of linoleum available from manufacturers or with metal or plastic or wood
edgings. After it is in place, the linoleum is rolled carefully, beginning at
the center and rolling toward the edges. Sandbags are then placed over
seams and exposed edges and left in place for about twenty-four hours.
Linoleum bases (Fig. 22.8) are frequently installed in conjunction with
linoleum floors.

^•-

-1" L

G H I

(Courtesy R. D. Werner Company.)

Fig. 22.9. — Typical metal moldings for linoleum. A. Cap for wall. B. Outside corner
on wall. C. Inside corner on wall. D. Panel divider on wall. E, F. Floor base mold-
ings. G, H, I, Edge moldings for cabinet sinks and table tops.

The covering of sink and cabinet tops with linoleum is done in essentially
the same way. If the surface is quite smooth, the underlay can be omitted;
but some manufacturers recommend a special type of underlay designed for

344

New Houses from Old

sink tops. Regular linoleum paste can be used as the adhesive, but there is
also available a rubber-base adhesive for sink tops. The linoleum is pressed
down with sandbags. Many shapes of metal moldings are available for
finishing the edges (Fig. 22.9).

Cork Tile

Cork-tile flooring is somewhat similar in composition to linoleum, but
the cork used is not ground so finely and the material is finished so that
it has the appearance of cork. Its special features are that it is quiet and
also warm to the touch, and therefore it is suitable for use in bedrooms and
nurseries. Cork tiles are available in random shades of tan and brown. The
standard thickness is Y^q in., and the tiles are manufactured in two sizes,
6 in. by 6 in. and 9 in. by 9 in. Cork tile is fastened to the floor with an
adhesive (Fig. 22.10). A firm, even base is necessary; but usually no lining
is required under the tile.

(Courtesy David E. Kennedy Company.)
Fig. 22.10. — Laying a cork-tile floor.

Floors 345

Asphalt Tile

Asphalt tile somewhat resembles linoleum in appearance, but the ma-
terials used in it are different. Coloring pigments and asphalt mixed with
asbestos or other types of fibers are the usual materials, but the ingredients
vary. Grease-proof asphalt tile, for example, usually contains synthetic
resins. Asphalt tile is manufactured in solid colors and in jaspe and
marbleized color blends. The standard thicknesses used for house floors
are Yg and Yiq in., and the standard tile is a 9-in. square, although other
dimensions and shapes are available.

Some manufacturers recommend that asphalt tile be laid by the same
method as has been described for linoleum. Other manufacturers recom-
mend laying it without an underlay if the floor is made of tongued-and-
grooved boards not over 3 in. wide. In any event, a smooth, firm surface
must be provided.

After an adequate surface is prepared, it is covered with an adhesive and
the tiles are laid on the adhesive. After the tiles are laid, the floor should
be rolled with a linoleum roller. When a roller is not available, the tiles
can be pressed down with sandbags. Strips of various widths are available
for making borders. Exposed edges of an asphalt-tile floor should be pro-
tected with a wood, metal, or plastic molding.

Linoleum tile, cork tile, and asphalt tile are all easier to lay in an
irregular room than roll linoleum because of the greater ease with which
individual tiles can be cut to fit around such objects as doorframes and
pipes. Floors made of these tiles are also easier to repair.

Asphalt tile can also be applied over a concrete subfloor, even concrete
floors that are in contact with the earth, as in basements. Cracks and irregu-
larities should first be filled in with Portland-cement mortar (Chapter 14).
The floor is then primed with a priming composition. Asphalt cement rec-
ommended by the manufacturer for use on concrete floors is then applied
over the subfloor, and the tiles are laid in it.

Ceramic-tile Walls and Floors

Ceramic tile is made of selected clays, which after processing and shaping
are fired at an intense heat in kilns. The result is a hard, very durable
material with permanent colors. The clay can be fired so that the entire
body of the tile is turned into a glasslike substance (vitreous tile) or so
that it is only partly vitrified (semivitreous tile). Tile can also be made
with a fired-on surface glaze similar to the glaze on dinnerware, or it can

346

New Houses from Old

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Floors 347

be made without a glaze. Glazed tile is usually used on walls. Ordinary
varieties of floor and wall tile can be purchased from most dealers in
building supplies. The small tiles that are commonly used on bathroom
floors are known as ceramic-mosaic tiles. They are about ^4 in. thick and
are usually sold mounted on paper. Larger floor tiles and wall tiles are
sold unmounted. Tiles of special shapes are required at the base and top
of the wall and on outside corners.

Walls. To prepare the wall for tile (Fig. 22.11), metal lath is placed on
the wall studs so that all laps in it occur over either studs or blocking.
The lath must be carefully nailed. A scratch coat composed of 1 part
Portland cement, ^4 part hydrated lime, and 2 parts sand is applied to
the lath. The scratch coat should be about ^ in. thick. After it is placed,
it is thoroughly scratched and then allowed to harden for at least one day.

There are two methods of placing the tiles on the scratch coat, which are
known, respectively, as floating and buttering. If the tiles are floated, strips
of lath are buttered thinly with mortar and stuck vertically on the scratch
coat about 30 in. apart. These strips are carefully plumbed. Mortar of the
same composition as the scratch coat is then troweled on between the lath
and is brought out flush with them. Since the tile must be placed in the
mortar soon after it is applied, it is advisable for the inexperienced work-
man to place the second coat of mortar on only a small section of wall at
a time.

Semivitreous tile should be soaked in water before placing, but vitreous
tile need not be soaked. The cove tile at the base of a wall section should
be placed first and the wall built upward from the floor. A grout made by
mixing Portland cement with enough water to give it the consistency of
thick cream is spread on the back of each tile. The tile is then placed in
the mortar and beaten into it slightly with a hammer and small wood
block. The tiles are kept even and plumb by testing them with a straight-
edged piece of lumber and with a level. Tiles that are beaten in too far
should be lifted and a small additional amount of mortar placed under
them. When a section of wall has been laid, the lath ground on one side
is removed and the groove under it filled with mortar.

If the tiles are applied by buttering, the second coat of mortar is omitted
and the lath guides are not used. Instead, small tiles or broken bits are
spotted on the scratch coat about 2 ft. apart. A thick coat of mortar is
placed on the back of each tile. These tiles are made plumb by tapping
them against the scratch coat until they test plumb with a level (Fig. 22.12).
When an adequate number of tiles have been spotted, the wall tiles are then
set beginning with the cove tile at the bottom and building up. As each tile
is placed, it is first coated with grout, then buttered with mortar. Together

348

New Houses from Old

with the butter mortar, it is then placed on the scratch coat and tapped
sufficiently to make it plumb with the spotted tile.

Joints between the tile are spaced by using a putty knife or other tool
of the desired thickness. The bed mortar should not fill the joints between
the tile. After the mortar has set, the joints between the tile are filled with
cement grout. White Portland cement is usually used for this grout, but
attractive color effects can be obtained by using colored cement. The grout
can be painted into the joints with a stiff paint brush. After the joints have
been grouted, the surface of the wall is washed with clean water and finally
is rubbed with sawdust. No acid should be used in washing glazed wall tile.

•SPOTTED TILE

•LEVEL

-SCRATCH COAT

Fig. 22.12.

There are few tile-setting jobs that do not require some cutting and
drilling of tile. Glazed tiles with soft bodies can usually be cut by scoring
the glaze deeply with a chisel or glass cutter, then tapping the back of the
tile lightly with a hammer while supporting it on the edges parallel to the
score mark. If the body of the tile is harder, the glaze should be scored,
then the line cut gradually deeper with a chisel. Rough edges on cut tile
can be made smooth by nipping along the edge with pincers, then rubbing
them down with a carborundum block. Pincers are used to make curved

Floors

349

cuts. Some tile can be cut on a slate-cutting machine, and practically all
of them can be ground down on a power-driven carborundum grinding
wheel. Tiles should be cut before they are soaked. Small holes can be
drilled in tile with metal-cutting twist drills. Chipping the glaze with a
chisel before drilling is started helps in getting the drill started.

Various substitutes for ceramic tile on walls are available. These are
described in Chapter 21. Often in remodeling, especially when the work
is being done on a limited budget, it is better to cover the bathroom floor
with linoleum or some other waterproof material and to use one of the
tile substitutes for the wall treatment. Installation of these substitute
materials usually requires much less skill than the laying of ceramic tile.

SHRINKAGE MESH

3/4' MIN.
THICKNESS

Fig. 22.13. — Construction details of tile floors over wood. A. The preferable method
in remodeling. B. Conventional method.

Floors. The time-honored way of laying a ceramic-tile floor is to place
the tile in a bed of mortar. This bed may consist of only a single layer of
mortar (Fig. 22.13A) . A wood subfloor made of tongued-and-grooved 1-in. by
6-in. boards is placed diagonally on the joists and securely nailed. The

350 New Houses from Old

boards are then covered with waterproofed building paper lapped at least
2 in. at the seams. A "shrinkage mesh" of wire fabric or metal lath is
applied over the paper, lapped at least one mesh along its edges, and
nailed every 6 in. along the laps. A suitable mortar mix for the bed is
1 part Portland cement to 3 parts sand. This method of making the floor
is preferable in remodeling because it does not require any cutting of joists,
and the floor that it produces is not excessively heavy. However, it does
raise the floor level 1 or 2 in. The construction shown in Fig. 22.13B is often
used in remodeling because it produces a floor that has the same level as
the old one, but it is not recommended because of the great weight that it
puts on the floor joists.

If the tiles are only ^4 i^i- thick, the top of the setting bed can be made
level with the top of the grounds; but if they are thick, the top of the
setting bed should be below the grounds by a distance equal to the thick-
ness of the title minus ^4 ^^- After the setting bed is leveled, a thin layer
of dry Portland cement is placed on it. The tiles are then placed on the
dry cement and are forced into the mortar with a beater. A piece of straight
2-in. by 4-in. lumber about 12 or 15 in. long makes a good beater. The
beater is placed on the tile and is struck gently with a hammer to sink
the tile into the setting bed. Tiles that are glued to a layer of paper are
placed on the mortar with the paper side up. If the tiles are placed in a
pattern, it is best to sketch the pattern on the paper before laying is started
in order to avoid making mistakes. Tiles that are not fastened to paper
are placed on top of the wet mortar individually, and the joints between
them are spaced with the end of a putty knife or some other suitable tool.
To hold unpapered floor tile in the right spacing while work is going on,
the joints are filled with a mixture of dry cement and very fine sand. After
the tiles have been beaten into the setting bed, the surface of the floor
should be tested with a level. Any tiles that are too high should be beaten
down further, and any that are too low should be lifted out and a small
additional amount of mortar placed under them.

The paper on papered tile sheets will tend to loosen during the beating-in
process. If it does not loosen completely, it should be soaked with water
and pulled off carefully after the tiles have been laid. The surface of the
tiles should be cleaned as soon as they have been leveled. This can be done
without disturbing the tiles by wiping over the surface in one direction
with wet cloths. Do not try to remove all of the mortar and dirt in one
wiping, but rinse the cloths out and repeat the process until the tiles are
clean.

The floors in large rooms are laid in sections. After each section is com-
pleted, the ground that borders it is removed and the groove that was occu-

Floors

351

pied by it is filled with mortar. Professional tile setters usually set the tile
in the floor of a small room in one operation and without using grounds.
They obtain a level surface by testing the tile with a level and by correcting
any high or low spots before the mortar under the tile has set.

After the mortar under the tiles has hardened, the loose material in the
joints are brushed out with a fine brush. The grout is then pushed into
the joints with a paintbrush, after which the surface of the tiles is again
wiped clean with wet cloths. As a final cleaning process, the tiles are rubbed
over with sawdust to remove all traces of mortar. It is permissible to use
not more than 10 per cent of muriatic acid in the water used for the first
stage in the cleaning of the floor. The acid water should then be thoroughly
removed with many rinses of pure water. #

WALL

STUD-

TILE-

ADHESIVE-

PLYWOOD

SUBFLOOR

hil;i'iM\!i;t!-t.t'>iiiMri..||^('4 J

GYPSUM LATH,
PLYWOOD, OR
ORIGINAL PLASTER

(Based on data and drawings furnished
by Miracle Adhesives Corporation.)

Fig. 22.14. — Application of ceramic tile with adhesive.

Setting ceramic tile in adhesive. The setting of ceramic tile in Portland-
cement mortar is not an easy operation and it has the further disadvantage
in remodeling of adding much weight to the walls and floor of the room.
There is another method which is easier for the amateur workman and
which also avoids the weight difficulty. In this method the tiles are placed
in a bed of a special rubber-base adhesive (Fig. 22.14). A firm, smooth
base must be provided, but wall tile can be placed over such materials as
gypsum board, fiber wallboard, and plywood, and floor tile can be placed

352

New Houses from Old

on lumber flooring or plywood flooring. After the tiles have been set and
the adhesive has hardened, the tiles can be grouted with Portland cement
in the usual way.

Ceramic-tile floors on porches and terraces. Tile is laid on wooden-frame
porches in essentially the same way as in bathrooms. The chief difference
is that large tiles, such as quarry tiles, which are manufactured in thick-
nesses of % ^rid 1 in. and in 6-in. and 9-in. squares, are used in these places.
Tile porches and terraces are usually given a slight outward pitch so that
water will drain off. A better method of construction for tiled porches and
terraces is to omit the wooden frame and to place the concrete base directly
on the ground. The outer walls should extend to 6 in. below the frost line
(Fig. 22.15). The base pr^j^per is placed on compacted fill such as cinders.
A 1:3:5 mortar mix is adequate for the base, but the tiles are laid in a
setting bed of 1:2 or 1:3 mortar. A similar method of construction can
be used for flagstone and brick porches and terraces.

ASPHALT FILLED
JOINT

-TILE

-SETTING BED

J-l,... ■ - ,.'1

inr;

'4('MMmMm:M^/A^

COMPACTED FILL-

CONCRETE BASE

Fig. 22.15. — Construction details of tiled terrace.

Porch Floors of Wood

Softwoods, such as southern pine, are commonly used for the floors of
porches that are roofed over. If the porch is well ventilated underneath
and the floor will be kept painted, 1-in. by 4-in. tongued-and-grooved boards
can be used. The tongues and grooves should be painted with thinned white
lead paste before the boards are laid. Porches that are not roofed over or
not well ventilated underneath should be floored with decay-resistant wood,
such as redwood or southern cypress. Square-edged boards should be used.

Floors

353

They are laid with tight joints. The boards may eventually shrink and cause
open cracks, but this is not objectionable in porch floors.

Basement Floors

Basement floors are usually made of poured concrete. If the soil is fairly
loose and dry, it can be leveled off and dampened; then the floor can be
placed directly on it. However, if the soil is wet or clayey, it is better to
excavate the area to a depth of 6 to 12 in. and to fill in the excavation
with loose materials such as gravel or cinders. The fill must be leveled
and well tamped before the concrete is placed. The minimum thickness of
concrete that is satisfactory for basement floors is 4 in. If the ground-water
level is close to the bottom of the basement, making it probable that the
floor will be subjected to water pressure during wet seasons, a 6-in. thick-
ness is better. A 1:3:5 concrete mix is commonly used for basement floors,
but a mix with more cement in it will make a more satisfactory floor. Con-
crete basement floors are often constructed in two layers — a base and a top-
ping (Chapter 14). Whether a topping is used or not, the floor should be
floated to bring finer materials to the top and to make it level.

An expansion joint is constructed around the outer edge of the floor by

ASBESTOS-CEMENT
NAILING CONCRETE

WOOD FLOOR OVER CONCRETE WITH
UNDERLAYER OF NAILING CONCRETE

WOOD FLOOR
OVER CONCRETE

INISHED FLOORS

FINISHED FLOOR DIRECTLY ON
SLEEPERS SET IN MASTIC CEMENT
a NAILED TO CONCRETE

■16 O.C
2")'3" SLEf PERS>^

PER
ROUGH FLOORING
CONCRETE BASE

Fig. 22.16.

WOOD FLOOR OVER CONCRETE
WITH SUB-BASE OF SLEEPERS
a SLEEPER FILL
{Courtesy Architectural Record.)

354 New Houses from Old

placing 1-in. boards next to the foundation wall before the concrete is
poured. The boards should be oiled to prevent sticking to the concrete.
After the floor has hardened, these boards are removed and the crack is
filled to within 1 in. of its top with tar or asphalt. The 1-in. gap between
the top of the asphalt and the floor then forms a small gutter to catch
water that may condense on the walls. If the basement floor is to have no
other finish, it should be sloped toward a floor drain so that water used
in cleaning will drain off.

In most houses the basement has a concrete floor that is quite adequate
for ordinary uses. However, if the basement is converted to a recreation
room or other living space, it is usually desirable to apply a finish flooring
of some other material over the concrete. Four ways of placing finish floor-
ing over a concrete slab are shown in Fig. 22.16. Wood that is in direct
contact with the concrete should be treated with creosote or an equivalent
preservative and termite repellent. Asphalt tile, described earlier in this
chapter, is another flooring material that is suitable for application to base-
ment floors.

TJTJTJTJTJTJXmTJTJTJTJTJTTlJTJTJTJ^^

TWENTY-THREE

Painting and Papering

VJOMPLETE REMODELING always includes much painting; and even in oper-
ations such as the installation of a bathroom, there are always surfaces of
one kind or another that must be finished with paint or varnish before the
job is complete.

Paint Terms

Opaque paints always consist of at least a pigment and a vehicle. The
pigment is usually a finely divided solid material that gives the paint its
color and hiding power. The main pigment is often called the base or body
pigment. Typical body pigments are white lead, zinc oxide, and lithopone.
Inert pigments or extenders are solid materials that usually do not contribute
to the color of the paint. Their legitimate use is for such purposes as
imparting a desired characteristic to the paint film or serving as the carrier
for an organic dye. They are sometimes used in cheap paints only to in-
crease the bulk of the paint. Lakes, a term found on some paint labels,
indicates organic dyes rather than naturally colored pigments. Lakes are
not necessarily inferior products.

The vehicle is a liquid whose primary function is to make the paint fluid
so that it can be spread. However, in many common types of paint, the
vehicle does more than this. For example, linseed oil and other drying oils
oxidize when they come in contact with the air and form a tough, elastic
film. On the other hand, in some of the new synthetic paints, such as the
quick-drying lacquers, the vehicle evaporates completely* soon after the
paint is applied. Raiv linseed oil, the most common vehicle in good-quality
exterior paints, is flaxseed oil that has not been heat-treated. Boiled linseed
oil has been heated — although not actually boiled — and certain mineral
salts or mineral soaps have been added to it. Boiled linseed oil oxidizes
more rapidly than raw linseed oil. Heat-bodied linseed oil has been treated
to remove moisture and to thicken it. The treatment improves the oil from
the standpoint of the quality of the final paint film, but a paint with a high
proportion of heat-bodied oil may require more thinner to cause it to flow

355

356 New Houses from Old

out properly. Tung oil {China wood oil), per ilia oil, and poppy-seed oil
are other drying oils that are sometimes used alone but are more commonly
mixed with linseed oil. Linseed-replacement oil is a mixture of oils which
includes some heat-bodied linseed oil and which can be used in place of
raw linseed oil, a thinner, and a drier or boiled linseed oil and a thinner.
Mixing oil is a mixture of drying oils, resins, driers, and other substances.
It is used as a paint vehicle when a semigloss finish is desired. Flatting oil
is a mixture of oils that is used to produce flat or lusterless finishes.

Driers are compounds that speed up the oxidation of oxidizing or drying
oils. Boiled linseed oil, already mentioned, is an oil drier, and this kind
of drier can also be made by adding suitable compounds to other oils.
Japan driers contain metallic soaps or salts combined with turpentine or
other substances that are not oils.

Thinners serve to make paints more fluid, so that they can be applied
more easily, and also to give them greater penetrating power when they are
applied as first coats to bare surfaces. Turpentine, which is produced from
pine gum and wood, is the most commonly used thinner for oil paints.
Mineral spirits is a mixture of hydrocarbons derived from petroleum that
evaporates at about the same rate as turpentine and is widely used in place
of it as a thinner. Turpentine substitute and mineral turps are ambiguous
terms sometimes found on paint labels. Usually they indicate one or more
of the liquid hydrocarbons. Benzol (benzene), also a petroleum derivative,
is sometimes used as a paint thinner, but it evaporates too rapidly to be
satisfactory in most cases. Denatured ethyl alcohol, often designated simply
as alcohol, or grain alcohol is used as both vehicle and thinner in shellac
varnish. Lacquer thinners are for use in synthetic lacquers, enamels, etc.
They contain such compounds as toluene, butyl acetate, and butyl alcohol.

Types of paints are often named to indicate their uses. Thus, exterior
paints are formulated of ingredients that are resistant to exposure to sun
and the weather. Interior paints are intended for use inside the house. The
intended uses of roof paints, floor paints, stucco paints, etc., are obvious from
the terms. Gloss, semigloss, and flat (or matte) refer to the appearance
of the dry paint film; thus a high-gloss paint is shiny after it has dried,
whereas a flat paint or varnish has a soft, lusterless appearance.

Varnishes used to be made of fossil gums and linseed oil, but most
modern varnishes are made of synthetic resins combined with various drying
oils, thinners, and driers. A long-oil varnish contains at least 25 gal. of oil
per 100 lb. of resin; a medium-oil varnish contains from 10 to 20 gal. for
the same amount of resin; and a short-oil varnish contains 10 gal. or less.
Spar varnish, a long-oil varnish, is formulated for exterior use. It is also
good for interior use where water is likely to be spilled. Interior varnish,
a medium-oil varnish, is for interior surfaces. Floor varnishes are made of

Painting and Papering 357

ingredients that produce the tough, flexible coating needed on floors. Rub-
bing varnishes are designed to be rubbed down after they have dried to
produce a surface for more varnish or for wax. Gloss and flat have the
same meanings in connection with varnish as they have with paint.

Enamels are essentially varnishes with pigment added. Lacquers are clear
or colored paints in which the vehicle is a solvent or mixture of solvents
that evaporates when the paint is applied to a surface. Most lacquers, there-
fore, dry very rapidly. Sometimes colored lacquers are sold as enamels.
Enamel undercoaters are paints that are made to have good hiding power
and to produce a flat finish to which the enamel will adhere well.

Shellac varnish is made by dissolving lac resin, the natural product of
an insect, in denatured alcohol. The term cut in connection with shellac
varnish refers to the weight of resin in a gallon of alcohol; thus, a 5-lb. cut
is made by dissolving 5 lb. of the resin in 1 gal. of alcohol. Shellac varnishes
are sold in 4-, 4^{>-, and 5-lb. cuts, which are respectively light, medium,
and heavy bodied. Orange shellac is reddish yellow in color; white shellac
is the same product, from which most of the color has been removed.

Stains are coloring materials that are applied to unfinished wood to
change its color before the wood is shellacked, varnished, or waxed. Chemi-
cal stains contain such materials as tannic acid, chromic acid, ammonia,
and copper sulphate, which are capable of causing chemical changes in the
wood itself. This type of stain is seldom used in finishing house woodwork.
Oil stains can be made of mineral pigments mixed in drying oils or tur-
pentine or of coal-tar dyes dissolved in such solvents as naphtha. Oil stains
for exterior use, as on shingles, are usually made of creosote oil and a
pigment. Spirit stains are usually made of a dye dissolved in alcohol.
Water stains usually contain a dye dissolved in water.

Water paints include calcimine, casein paints, and resin emulsion paints.
All are purchased in the form of paste or dry powder and the vehicle —
water — is added just before the paint is applied. Cement-water paints or
washes are made of Portland cement and other materials mixed in water.
Whitewash is made of hydrated lime and other materials and is also mixed
in water. Plastic paints are compositions that contain a high proportion of
pigment — much of it extender pigment — to vehicle and are designed to
produce a rough-textured rather than a smooth surface. Often the main
ingredient is whiting, but there are many different formulas.

Home-mixed or Ready-mixed Paints?

The question of whether to mix the paints at home or to purchase them
ready-mixed^ usually comes up in connection with exterior painting. The
advantages of home mixing are that the ingredients are known and often

358 New Houses from Old

they cost less than an equivalent amount of ready-mixed paint. The dis-
advantages are that home mixing is laborious, that some of the ingredients
present in good-quality ready-mixed paints cannot be purchased in small
quantities for home mixing, and that if the needed amount of a tinted
home-mixed paint is underestimated, matching of the tint in a second batch
may be difficult.

Ready-mixed paints can be purchased with assurance if certain elementary
precautions are observed. First, a good-quality paint is seldom the lowest-
priced paint offered by a dealer. Neither is it necessarily the highest priced.
Second, the label should show both the name of the manufacturer and the
ingredients of the paint. Third, the ingredients and their proportions should
compare favorably with a standard specification for the particular type of
paint. The National Bureau of Standards' Paint Manual not only contains
much useful information about many types of paints but also identifies the
various Federal specifications that the national government uses in pur-
chasing paint. It can be purchased at a low price from the Superintendent
of Documents, Washington, D. C. Many reputable paint manufacturers
specify on their labels that the paint in the can meets the requirements of
a Federal specification. Of course, all this caution is justified only for
rather extensive painting jobs, such as house exteriors. If you are painting
only a single room, it is enough to purchase a paint that is the product of
a manufacturer of good reputation.

Mixing of paints. The implements needed for home mixing of paints are
one or more containers, wooden paddles for stirring, scales for weighing
dry or paste ingredients, measures for the liquid ingredients, and one or
more strainers. The container in which the mixing is done should be about
twice as large as the quantity of paint to be mixed at one time. The con-
tainer should, of course, be clean. Ordinary household scales are satis-
factory for the weighing. Pint and quart bottles or jars are satisfactory
liquid measures for large quantities, and a kitchen measuring cup is useful
for small quantities. Paints can be strained through muslin, but a strainer
with a sheet-metal body and a wire-gauze bottom is more convenient to use.

In mixing paint, the paste is put in the mixing vessel and the vehicle is
added to it gradually. Only a small quantity of the vehicle should be added
first. It is stirred in thoroughly, then a slightly larger quantity is added
and stirred in, and this procedure is continued until all of the vehicle has
been added. This process is called "breaking down the paste." If two kinds
of pigments are to be used in the paint, they are broken down in separate
containers and are mixed only when both are fluid enough to run freely.
If the paint is to be tinted, the tint is added after enough vehicle has been
added to the paste to make it fairly fluid. Mixing can be speeded up by
pouring the paint back and forth from one container to another.

Painting and Papering 359

After the mixing is completed, the paint is strained into cans or other
vessels that can be tightly covered and is allowed to stand in the covered
containers for at least one day. Just before application, it should be stirred
by pouring it several times from one vessel to another. If a thinner is
needed, it is added at this time.

Ready-mixed paint is prepared by first pouring most of the liquid at
the top of the can into another clean container. The paste at the bottom
of the original can is then stirred thoroughly and the liquid is gradually
added to it. In the last stage of the process, the paint should be poured
back and forth several times between the two containers. Many paint stores
have machines for shaking up cans of ready-mixed paint. Ready-mixed
paints also should be strained before application.

Coloring of paints. Oil paints are tinted with colors ground in oil. Small
quantities of these colors are sold in collapsible tubes, and larger quantities
are sold in cans. The following recommendations for approximate amounts
of colors in oil for each 100 lb. of white lead paste have been published
by the Lead Industries Association: ivory, Y^q pt. medium chrome yellow;
cream, ^2 pt- raw Italian sienna; buff, 1 pt. raw Italian sienna; yellow,
Yg pt. medium chrome yellow; light gray, Ys pt- lampblack; dark gray,
1 pt. lampblack; light tan, Yi pt- burnt Turkey umber; dark brown, IY2 g^i-
burnt Turkey umber and 1 qt. Indian red; light blue, Y\Q P^- chemically
pure Prussian blue; dark blue, 1 qt. chemically pure Prussian blue; light
green, 1 qt. chromium oxide green.

White lead is not used at all or is a minor pigment in certain dark-
colored paints. Typical pigment formulas for dark paints are as follows:
brick red, 100 lb. Venetian red and 80 lb. yellow ocher; maroon, 100 lb.
Tuscan red and 2 lb. lampblack (the pigments known as Indian red and
Tuscan red are used without other pigments to produce their respective
shades of red) ; chocolate (very dark) brown, 100 lb. French ocher, 20 lb.
Indian red, and 10 lb. lampblack. Many of the manufacturers of painting
materials publish booklets in which are given additional formulas for col-
ored paints.

The synthetic enamels and some other special kinds of paint cannot be
tinted with colors ground in oil. Fortunately, these paints are produced
in such a wide range of color that tinting at home is seldom necessary.
However, if you find it necessary to tint such a paint, follow the recom-
mendations of the manufacturer.

How much paint? The estimation of the quantity of paint needed for a
particular job can seldom be exact in remodeling because of the great
variation in the condition of surfaces to be painted. Other factors that
affect the quantity of paint used are how much the paint is thinned, the
weather, the method of application, and the skill of the painter. The table

360

New Houses from Old

marked Fig. 23.1, which is reprinted from the United States Department
of Agriculture's Farmers' Bulletin, No. 1452, is recommended for use in
estimating approximate quantities.

Fig. 2 3. 1

Paint Quantities

Coating material

Character of surface

Surface covered by
1 gal., square feet

1 coat

2 coats

3 coats

Smooth wood

600

325

225

Rough wood

350

200

135

Metal

700

340

230

Oil paiiil (gloss finish)

Plaster
Hard brick

450
400

250
225

175
160

Soft brick

350

200

150

Smooth cement

350

200

150

Rough cement (stucco)
"Smooth wood or wallboard

200
500

100
275

200

Plaster

400

225

160

Oil paint (flat finish)

Hard brick
Soft brick

350
300

200

175

150
125

Smooth cement

300

175

125

Enamel paint

-Rough cement (stucco)
Smooth, painted with under-
coats

150
500

75
250

Exterior spar varnish

Smooth wood

500

275

200

Interior finishing varnish

Smooth wood

450

250

175

Shellac

Smooth wood

600

300

Shingle stain *

Rough wood

125

Asphalt roof paint

j Smooth
1 Rough

250
150

Asphalt-asbestos liquid roof

Smooth

100

cement

Cold-water paint (5 lb.

powder)
Calcimine (5 lb. powder)

Whitewash (4 to 5 lb. hy-
drated lime)

Smooth

Plaster
fWood

Brick
1 Plaster

300

400
250
200
300

* Two and one-half gallons per 1,000 shingles when dipped two-thirds their length.

Application of Paints

Brushes should be selected to suit the type of painting that is to be done.
A flat brush about SY> in. wide with bristles about 4 in. long is suitable

Painting and Papering 361

for painting large areas such as house exteriors, but a brush not more
than 2y> in, wide and with bristles 3 to 3% in. long is better for restricted
areas such as window frames and interior trim. Narrower brushes down
to small penciling brushes are needed in working on ornamented trim.
Oval or round brushes are preferred for varnish. A good brush for exterior
painting with oil paints will contain a mixture of coarse and fine bristles,
but only fine bristles are used in brushes for interior enamels. Bristles of
vegetable fiber are used in brushes for whitewash, roof paints, etc., but
animal or nylon bristles are used in brushes designed for most other types
of paint. A long-fibered dusting brush is usually needed to clean a surface
before it is painted. Casein wall paints are often applied with a carpet-
or felt-covered roller.

The quality of a brush depends on such things as the quality of the
bristles, the treatment they have been given to take out their natural tend-
ency to curl, and the method by which the bristles are attached to the
handle. These qualities are not easy to judge in the finished brush. In fact,
it is difficult for the amateur to perceive any important difference between
a high-priced brush and one priced at 49 cents in a chain store. As a
general rule, brushes offered for sale by a reputable paint dealer will be
priced in accordance with their quality. A small paint job does not often
justify the purchase of the highest-quality brush; but the cheapest brushes
should be shunned, as they usually shed bristles from the first moment of
use. In most brushes, the bristles are set in rubber, and the rubber block
is secured to the handle by a metal ferrule. Metal-ferruled brushes should
not be used in shellac, as there may be a chemical reaction between the
shellac and the metal that will result in discoloration of wood to which the
shellac is applied.

Care of brushes. Before a brush is used for the first time, dust should be
shaken out of it. Brushes used in oil paints can be kept in raw linseed oil.
For short periods of storage it is sufficient to place the brush flat in a
dish or can lid and to pour oil over it, or the brush can be filled with oil
and wrapped in waxed paper. For longer periods the brush should be
suspended in the oil in such a way that it does not rest on its bristles.
Brushes can be stored in turpentine instead of linseed oil, but kerosene or
water should not be used. Shellac brushes can be stored for a short time
in denatured alcohol but should not be so stored for long periods because
the alcohol evaporates rapidly. When a brush has been stored in oil or
some other liquid and is put into use again, it should be dipped twice in
paint and the paint thoroughly brushed out on a piece of board; otherwise
the storage liquid may produce an unsightly spot on the surface that is
being painted. Brushes used in calcimine, cement-water paints, whitewash,

362 New Houses from Old

and quick-drying enamels should be washed out thoroughly after each use
and stored dry. As a general rule, the best fluid for the washing is the solvent
or thinner used in the paint. After a painting job is completed, brushes
used in oil paint should be cleaned out with turpentine or benzol, then
washed with soap and water. Finally they should be rinsed in clear water
and allowed to dry.

Spray guns. On many jobs a good paint sprayer in the hands of a man
who knows how to use it will do better work in much less time than it
would take with brushes. On rough and uneven surfaces such as masonry
and shingles, a sprayer does a superior job because it blows paint around
edges and into crevices that cannot be reached with a brush. However, even
ignoring the cost of the sprayer, spray application has a number of dis-
advantages: windows and other areas that are not to be painted must first
be covered; the gun must be handled skillfully to avoid thick edges and
"tears" and to assure thorough coverage; the gun, hose, and tank must
be thoroughly cleaned each time the machine is used. Spraying of white-
wash is much less tricky than spraying of oil paints.

Removal of Paint

Two considerations determine whether old paint must be removed from
a surface that is to be repainted. Paint that is loose or very rough should
be removed. A paint that is incompatible with the paint to be applied
should be removed; thus, whitewash must be completely removed before
an oil paint is put on the same surface, because the lime in whitewash has
a deleterious effect on oil paint.

Mechanical removers. Old paint can be removed mechanically or chemi-
cally. If the paint is loose, the best method of removal is to brush it off
with a wire brush. Hand brushes are adequate on most wooden surfaces,
but cup or radial wire brushes that can be attached to electric drills are
practically necessary on masonry surfaces. Flame softening combined with
scraping is used on paint that cannot be completely removed by brushing.
This is the so-called "burning off" of paint, but neither the paint nor the
wood should be burned. An acetylene torch or a gasoline blowtorch is held
in one hand and a scraper (painter's broad knife) in the other. The flame
is passed over the surface at just the right rate to cause the paint to bubble
and curl. As soon as bubbling occurs, the softened paint is removed with the
scraper.

Paint is not often removed completely with abrasive paper, but rough
paint is smoothed with it. Sandpaper is commonly used on wood, but the
newer waterproof papers made with garnet or synthetic abrasives have

Painting and Papering 363

certain advantages. They wear better, they can be wet to keep down dust,
and they can be rinsed out when they become clogged. The coarseness of
the paper should be suited to the type of surface. No. 1 sandpaper or its
equivalent is suitable on exterior walls, but finer paper down to No. 0000
is used on interior woodwork. Steel wool is useful in removing tacky
material that will clog paper and in smoothing narrow and irregular sur-
faces such as window frames and moldings. Sandblasting is often the only
practical method of removing old paint from a masonry wall. This tech-
nique requires special equipment, hence the operation is usually given to
a contractor.

Cliemical removers. The paste type of paint remover is the most con-
venient for most jobs. A number of brands of these are available. The one
you select should, of course, be used according to the manufacturer's direc-
tions; but the usual procedure is to spread the remover over the old paint,
allow it to remain fifteen minutes or longer, then remove the compound
and the softened paint together by using a scraper.

The scraper can be a putty knife or a special paint scraper. It should
have a straight, semiblunt edge, and the corners of the blade should be
rounded to avoid scoring or scratching the moist wood. After the paint has
been removed, the surface should be thoroughly washed. Water is the best
washing fluid if the active ingredient in the remover is a caustic. Benzol
or turpentine is used if the active ingredients are volatile solvents. If you
have much old paint to remove, do not buy a large can of paint remover
until you have tried a small sample, because some old paints turn out to
be very resistant to chemical removers.

In general, liquid paint removers are less effective on tough old paint
than the paste removers, but there are exceptions. Sometimes a paint that
yields very slowly to a paste remover will give up at once to a liquid
remover. The liquid removers are usually mixtures of amyl acetate, acetone,
benzol, wood alcohol, and paraffin wax; but the formulas of different manu-
facturers vary. The wax is added to retard evaporation of the volatile
liquids in the mixture. It must be carefully washed off before the paint or
varnish is applied. Use benzol or turpentine for the washing unless the
manufacturer specifies some other chemical.

Before the solvent paint removers were invented, lye was the standard
chemical for removing paint, and it is still used extensively. The use of
lye solutions is attended with some personal danger, and there is also the
hazard that the wood under the paint will be damaged. A lye solution is
made by dissolving lye crystals in cold water. Don't make the solution any
stronger than is necessary to remove the paint. First try a solution made
by dissolving about % cupful of the crystals in 1 gal. of water. If this

364 New Houses from Old

does not prove to be strong enough, increase the strength of the solution
by dissolving more lye in it. Lye can also be dissolved in a moderately
thick solution of laundry starch, and it is easier to handle in this form.
A starch and lye paste can be thickened by adding enough whiting (obtain-
able in paint stores) to make a stiff paste that is even easier to apply, but
it will be somewhat less effective as a remover. Lye is applied with a cot-
ton dish mop or a cheap brush with bristles of vegetable fiber. To avoid
damaging the wood, scrape it off as soon as the old paint has softened,
then wash the bare wood with plenty of clean water. If you are working
inside the house and cannot use a large amount of water, use vinegar for
the first rinse, then follow it with clear water. It is difficult to use lye with-
out darkening the wood somewhat, but the color can be restored, if neces-
sary, by using a bleach.

Weaker alkalis that are safer than lye will remove some old paint. One
of these is ordinary washing soda. Another is trisodium phosphate. Either
can be used in solution, or in a thin starch paste, or in a thicker paste made
with whiting. A suggested formula is % cup of trisodium phosphate dis-
solved in 1 qt. of warm starch solution, to which is added enough whiting
to make a paste of the desired consistency. The paste is applied to the sur-
face with a putty knife or thin wood paddle, smoothed out, allowed to
remain about an hour, and then scraped off. The scraped surface should
be washed with clear water.

All removers that are dissolved in water will raise the grain of the wood;
hence, if a smooth surface is desired, the surface must be sanded before
the new finish is put on.

Safety in Painting

Painting around a house is accompanied by a variety of hazards. Any
painting operation that must be done from ladders and scaffolds should
be planned to avoid falls. Only solidly built ladders and scaffolds should
be used, and they should be carefully placed.

The use of a blowtorch to soften paint carries with it the hazard of fire,
particularly on an old house where wood is dry and where dust and in-
flammable rubbish have accumulated inside the walls. The hazard is not
great when the torch is used on flat surfaces such as the side of the house,
but it is considerable when the torch is used under eaves and other places
where there may be openings through the wood to the interior of the frame.
The use of the torch in the interior of the house is especially dangerous.

Rags that become soaked with linseed oil or with any of the drying oils
can start a fire if they are thrown into a corner and neglected. Such cloths

Painting and Papering 365

should be disposed of by burning them or, if this is impractical, by storing
them under water. Painters' dropcloths are special hazards if paint is
spilled on them, because they are too valuable to throw away. These should
not be folded up and stored away but should be hung up where air can
circulate about them freely. Benzol and many of the other solvents used in
paints and paint removers readily form explosive vapors if they are used
in a closed space without adequate ventilation.

Some of the ingredients of paint are poisonous if they are taken into
the human system. This is especially true of lead. When you are painting
with a paint that contains lead, it is very important not to get the paint
into your mouth or open wounds. Wash your hands and face thoroughly
with soap and water before eating and when you finish work for the day.
Dust produced when a lead paint is scraped or sandpapered is especially
hazardous. On some operations it can be kept down by dampening the
surface and by using waterproof abrasive papers, but this method is not
practical when old paint is removed with a wire brush. Whenever dust
cannot be avoided, wear a respirator. Rubber gloves and safety goggles
should always be worn when solutions of either alkalis or acids are being
used.

Exterior Wood

Before a house is repainted, the old paint should be examined thoroughly
as its condition will often reveal structural and surface defects that must
be corrected if the new paint is to give satisfactory service.

Blistering and peeling. This condition in an old paint coat practically
always indicates a leak or some other source of dampness inside the wall.
The blisters form because moisture in the wall is converted to water vapor
faster than it can escape through the relatively impervious paint film.
Eventually most such blisters break, whereupon the broken paint curls back.

Moisture usually gets inside walls through leaks in the roof or eaves,
through poorly joined corners, cracks in the siding, and poorly flashed
windows and doors. Another possible source is water vapor from the interior
of the house, which under certain conditions will condense on the con-
cealed side of the sheathing and siding. This condition can be corrected
by the installation of a vapor barrier (Chapter 25) on the room side of
the wall. Siding or other wood in contact with the soil may carry moisture
upward and cause blistering and peeling near the bottom of the wall.
However, this rather common condition is not always due to a struc-
tural defect. It may result from the application of paint to green wood or to
wood that has not thoroughly dried out after a period of wet weather. It oc-

366 New Houses from Old

curs sometimes on limited areas, such as doors, when fresh paint is struck
by a hot sun.

Cracking and scaling. This type of defect is not easy to distinguish from
blistering and peeling, especially when both conditions are in their latter
stages. Paint that has failed through cracking and scaling tends to hang
onto the wall in rather large, thick flakes, although under certain conditions
small flakes are formed. Cracking and scaling are usually due to too much
paint on the house. Either paint has been applied without adequate thin-
ning and brushing, thus forming a film that was too thick, or a thick coat
has been built up in a number of successive paintings. They can also be
caused by the application of inferior paint, and by the application of fresh
paint over paint that has become hard and brittle. The remedy for cracking
and scaling is to remove the old paint completely before repainting.

Stains. Pitchy knots and resinous streaks will discolor paint that has
been applied over them and often cause it to flake off. Such spots are easily
discovered before repainting is started. Any remaining paint and any beads
of resin on them should be scraped off. Painters sometimes "kill" the pitch
and resin by heating the areas with a blowtorch. Another method is to
put a coat of orange shellac on them. The best method, however, is to
paint them with a primer made by mixing 2 lb. of aluminum powder in
1 gal. of good-quality spar varnish. Corroding iron and steel often cause
rust-colored stains on paint, and copper screens and other copper fixtures
cause green stains. The remedy is to paint or varnish the metal so that the
new paint will not be stained. (See Painting of Metal later in this chap-
ter.) In extremely humid climates, mildew sometimes grows on oil paints,
producing black stains. Old paint that is mildewed should be scrubbed
before repainting with a solution made by dissolving 1 lb. of trisodium
phosphate in 1 gal. of water. The mildewed areas are scrubbed with the
solution and are then rinsed with clear water. Various fungicides that will
prevent the growth of mildew are available for mixing with the paint before
application.

Checking, alligatoring, and ivrinkling. Fine cracks in the top layers of
a paint coat are called checking. If the checking is severe, it produces the
effect called alligatoring, in which there are numerous small areas of paint
separated from one another by distinct cracks. In checking and alligatoring,
the cracks do not extend through to the bare wood at first. Eventually,
however, the paint in the coat next to the wood will erode under the cracks;
but even at this stage a checked or alligatored surface can easily be distin-
guished from a cracked and scaled surface. Checking and alligatoring are
caused by the use of a paint in the top coat or coats that is not sufficiently

Painting and Papering 367

elastic or by the application of this coat before underlying coats have
become dry.

Too much elasticity in the top coat will cause wrinkling, a condition
marked by folded but unbroken ridges and lines. Wrinkling occurs when
the top coat of paint has not been brushed out well. It is not necessary to
strip off checked, alligatored, or wrinkled paint before repainting if the
surface can be made smooth enough without doing so. Often only wire-
brushing and sanding are necessary.

Erosion and chalking off. Some old paints appear to have been partially
washed off by the rain. The paint is streaked in broad patches, some areas
being considerably lighter and thinner than others. This condition (erosion)
comes from too little drying oil in the final coat.

A paint surface that dusts off slightly when rubbed is said to be "chalking
off." Chalking also is due to loosening of the pigment particles by failure
of the oil in the outer layer of paint. Slow chalking is advantageous, since
it tends to keep the paint clean. Eroded and chalky oil paints should be
brushed or sanded sufficiently to produce a smooth, firm surface, but it is
not usually necessary to remove them.

Defects in the wood itself. Paint will not adhere to decayed wood, nor
can it be counted on to disguise cracks and holes. Rotted boards should be
replaced before painting is commenced. If the remainder of the wall does
not require a priming coat of paint, the new wood should be primed and
the paint allowed to dry before the main painting operation is started.

Putty is the best material for filling small holes and cracks. If all the
paint is removed from the wood, putty is applied after the house exterior
has been painted with the priming coat; but if the wood is not bare and
therefore does not require a priming coat, cracks and holes are puttied
before the first coat of new paint. In this case, the areas to be puttied are
first painted with raw linseed oil to prevent the wood's drawing the oil out
of the putty. The putty is pushed into the hole or crack with some force
in order to completely fill it, then the surface is smoothed with the putty
knife or sandpaper.

Hoiv many coats? If the old paint is left on, two coats of new paint over
it should be all that are necessary. However, bare spots should be painted
with a priming coat and this coat allowed to dry before the main painting
is started. If the old paint has been removed or if the house has been
re-sided, a priming coat should be applied all over; and you must also
decide whether you want a two-coat or a three-coat job. At one time it was
thought that three coats were absolutely necessary on new wood. The three-
coat system is still followed by many house painters who consider that
the two-coat system is a mark of cheap work. However, recent improve-

368 New Houses from Old

ments in exterior paints, particularly in their opacity, have made it pos-
sible to do two-coat work which is not easily distinguished from three-coat
work and which often proves as durable.

Paint formulas. Suggested paint formulas for white lead exterior paints
to be mixed at home and applied to clapboards or similar wood siding
are as follows:

For Previously Painted Wood

First Coat Second Coat

White lead soft paste 100 lb. 100 lb.

Raw linseed oil 2 gal. 3 gal.

Turpentine 2 gal. 1 pt.

Liquid drier 1 pt. 1 pt.

To make about 73/8 gal. 6^8 gal.

For New Wood (Three-coat System)

Priming Coat Second Coat Third Coat

White lead soft paste.. 100 lb. 100 lb. 100 lb.

Raw linseed oil 4 gal. 1 14 gal. 3 gal.

Turpentine 2 gal. 1 H gal. 1 pt.

Liquid drier 1 pt. 1 pt. 1 pt.

To make about 93^8 gal- 63^ gal. 6^8 gal.

' For Neiv Wood {Two-coat System)

First Coat Second Coat

White lead soft paste 100 lb. 100 lb.

Raw linseed oil 11-^ gal. 2% gal.

Exterior spar varnish ^ gal.

Turpentine 3^ gal. 3 pt.

Liquid drier 1 pt. 1 pt.

Raw umber in oil 3^ pt.

To make about 6 gal. 63^8 gal.

Although it is not usually economical or practical to attempt to include
a variety of pigments in a home-mixed paint, zinc oxide is often added as
a second pigment for the finish coat. This pigment produces a harder paint
film that is more resistant to chalking off. The fraction of zinc oxide pig-
ment in a white lead and zinc oxide home-mixed paint should not exceed
20 per cent. The proportioning is done by weight, never by measure, since
zinc oxide is far more bulky than lead. To produce a paint that contains
15 per cent zinc oxide and 85 per cent white lead on the basis of dry pig-
ments, 17 lb. of zinc oxide paste and 83 lb. of white lead paste are used;
for 20 per cent zinc oxide and 80 per cent white lead the amounts are
22 lb. of zinc oxide paste and 78 lb. of white lead paste.

Painting and Papering 369

Many ready-mixed exterior paints now on the market contain mixtures
of such pigments as white lead, leaded zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and
magnesium silicate. The last mentioned is an inert pigment or transparent
extender. Lithopone, long considered an unsuitable pigment for exterior
paints because it turned gray under long exposure to sunlight, is being
used again in some exterior paints. Recently developed special grades of
it are said not to be subject to this defect. Zinc sulphide and leaded zinc
oxide are usually combined with lithopone in exterior paints. The vehicles,
also, are often mixtures. Raw linseed oil is often mixed with bodied (thick-
ened) linseed oil, tung oil, and other drying oils. Synthetic resins are also
being used, especially in the modern "enamelized" paints. Some of these
new ingredients represent real improvements in paints. There is no doubt,
for example, that titanium dioxide has more hiding power than older,
standard pigments, and it gives other desirable qualities to the paint film.
Others were born out of wartime material shortages and may not have
enduring value.

Applying the paint. The painting should be started at the highest point
of the wall, and eaves, cornices, and gable ends should be painted before
the siding. A good brushing technique is to spread the brushful of paint
quickly along the board, using a long vigorous stroke, then to paint cross-
wise on the board with short strokes, and finally to "lay off" by passing
the empty brush lengthwise on the board over the paint. The next stroke
with a full brush should begin 2 in. or so beyond the strip that has just
been painted. After the brush has been partly emptied, the gap is then
filled in smoothly. Exterior paint should be well brushed out.

When painting is halted for lunch or at the end of the day, the stop
should be made at some such place as a window frame. Windows, especially
second-story windows, should be painted before the scaffolding or extension
ladders are taken down, in spite of the fact that this requires a change of
brushes. First-story windows and doors that can be reached with a short
ladder can be painted without inconvenience after the siding is finished.

Each coat should be allowed to dry before the next coat is applied. The
amount of time needed for adequate drying depends on the drying qualities
of the paint and on the weather. The paint should become dry enough so
that it will not cause sandpaper to "gum up" quickly, but too long an
interval should not intervene between coats. Generally, the least time re-
quired is two days, and the longest period necessary under poor drying
conditions is ten days.

Painting wood shingles. Wood shingles installed as siding can be left
untreated, stained with shingle stains, or painted with oil paints. Attractive,

370 New Houses from Old

although quite different, effects can be achieved by any of these methods,
but the modern trend is toward the use of paint.

Whether shingles on an old house can be successfully painted depends
on the previous treatment of the shingles. If they have not been stained,
good results can be obtained by painting even though the shingles are con-
siderably weathered. If they have been stained, it will be necessary to find
out whether the old stain will "bleed" through paint. Select a few shingles
on which the stain is unfaded and fairly uniform and paint them with a
sample of white paint that is the same or similar to the paint that you
wish to use on the house. If the stain is not picked up in the fresh paint
and does not discolor it in the course of a week or so, it will be safe to
assume that it will give no trouble. If it does bleed into the paint, give up
the idea of painting the shingles. Shingles that have been painted rather
than stained, of course, present no such problem.

The whiteness of a good oil paint cannot be achieved with shingle stains,
but a very attractive exterior can be obtained with colored stains. Shingle
stains do not have the hiding power of paints, consequently it is not prac-
tical to change shingles that have been stained brown or another dark color
to a lighter color by using a stain. Ready-mixed stains are inexpensive and
their use is recommended, but shingle stains can be mixed at home. A sug-
gested basic formula is 4 gal. raw linseed oil, 2 gal. creosote oil, 1 gal.
Japan drier. Soft paste pigments — that is, pigments ground in oil- — can be
added to this formula. The required amount of pigment depends on the
kind of pigment and the amount of color that are desired, but 20 lb. for
7 gal. of vehicle is an average amount. Another formula that does not
contain creosote oil and therefore can be given a light tint is 2 gal. boiled
linseed oil, 1 gal. turpentine, and the pigment. This formula can be thinned
further, if necessary, with turpentine.

The most convenient method of staining shingles is to apply the stain
before the shingles are applied. The stain is placed in a keg or some other
suitable container, and a wooden trough is arranged to drain into it. The
shingles are dipped individually. The entire shingle need not be stained
but only the portion that will be exposed after the shingle is in place on
the wall. After dipping, the shingles are stood in the trough to drain for a
few minutes, then are stacked to dry. Shingles already in place on a wall
can be stained by spraying or by brushing.

Masonry Walls

Paints in which linseed oil or some other drying oil is the vehicle are
suitable for dry masonry but are quite unsuitable for walls that contain

Painting and Papering 371

moisture. On the other hand, whitewash, cement-water paints, resin emulsion
paints, and rubber paints are not much affected by moisture. The texture
of the surface is also an important consideration. Masonry walls with a
coarse texture, such as cinder-block walls, are best painted with a paint
such as whitewash in which water is the vehicle, since these paints can be
applied with coarse brushes and thoroughly scrubbed into the surface.
Resin emulsion paints give a more attractive finish to close-textured surfaces.

Whitewash. Whitewash that is properly mixed and applied is a very satis-
factory finish for masonry walls, but like other paints, it must be put on a
clean, firm surface if it is to remain attached for a reasonable length of
time. Preparation of the surface is often slighted before whitewashing, and
this factor has tended to give this type of paint the reputation of a short life.

An unpainted surface should be thoroughly cleaned by brushing. An
electric drill equipped with a radial-type wire brush is a convenient tool
in this operation, but the brushing can be done by hand with wire or coarse
fiber brushes. It is especially important to remove all such substances as
grease, soil, and scaly old whitewash. In some cases, thorough cleaning
requires the use of a weak acid solution, such as vinegar or muriatic (dilute
hydrochloric) acid. The wall should be thoroughly washed with water after
using acid. Surfaces that have been painted with an oil paint require
cleaning by sandblasting. Cracks and holes should be filled (Chapter 14).

The National Lime Association's Bulletin No. 304-£ contains a number
of tested formulas for whitewash, from which the following formula has
been selected:

Casein, 5 lb.; trisodium phosphate, 3 lb.; formaldehyde, 3 pt.; lime paste,*
8 gal. Soak the casein in about 2 gal. of water until thoroughly softened (about
two hours). Dissolve the trisodium phosphate in 1 gal. of water; add this solution
to the casein and allow the mixture to dissolve. Dissolve the formaldehyde in 3
gal. of water. When the lime paste and the casein solution are thoroughly cool,
slowly add the casein solution to the lime, stirring constantly. Just before using,
slowly add. the formaldehyde solution to the batch, stirring constantly and vigor-
ously. Care must be taken not to add the formaldehyde too rapidly, as this may
cause the casein to form a jellylike mass, thus spoiling the batch. Do not make
up more of this formula than can be used in one day, as it may deteriorate. This
formula is recommended highly for most uses, as the coating is white, does not
rub or chalk, and is quite weather resistant.

Colored whitewash is sometimes needed in remodeling when a special
color scheme is wanted or when a dark, unattractive wall is to be coated

* Either quicklime or liydrated lime can be used for the preparation of the lime paste.
For the best results, the manufacturer's directions should be followed in making this paste
by slaking quicklime or by soaking hydrated lime. Approximately 8 gal. of stiff lime paste
are produced by slaking 25 lb. of quicklime with 10 gal. of water or by soaking 50 lb.
of hydrated lime in 6 gal. of water.

372 New Houses from Old

and it is desirable to avoid a spotty appearance when the whitewash begins
to fail. The National Lime Association has published in the bulletin just
mentioned the following information on colors:

There are three factors to be considered in connection with colors used to
tint whitewash and cold-water paints; first, that they shall not react chemically
with the lime; second, that they shall be insoluble in water; and third, that the
mixing shall be as nearly perfect as possible.

The following pigments can be purchased as dry powders. The amount of pig-
ment necessary will depend on the shade of color desired. To be sure that the
desired shade will be obtained, it is always advisable to prepare a small sample
and allow it to dry before mixing any considerable quantity.

Blacks — Magnetic black oxide of iron is safe. Ivory black and carbon black
are nonreactive with lime, but they are lacking in strength.

Blues — Ultramarine and cobalt blue are the only blues recommended.

Browns — Pure precipitated brown oxide of iron or mixtures of the magnetic
black oxide of iron with Turkey or Indian red are highly recommended. Sienna
and Turkey umber are lacking in strength but may give good results.

Greens — Chromium oxide (opaque) and chromium oxide (hydrated) are rec-
ommended. These are known as chromium or chrome oxide greens and should
not be confused with mixtures of chrome yellow and Prussian blue, known as
chrome greens, which are not lime proof.

Reds — Indian red made from pure ferric oxide is highly recommended. Madder
lake and toluidine vermilion are alkali fast but have little strength and are fugi-
tive to light.

Violets — Cobalt violet and mixtures of the reds, whites, and blues suggested
are satisfactory.

Whites — Lime itself is satisfactory. Lithopone and ground marble also are used
as white pigments.

Yellows — Those made by using precipitated hydrated iron oxides are most satis-
factory. Ochre, raw sienna, lemon cadmium, orange cadmium, and golden cad-
mium are less suitable, as they may change in shade, lack strength, or be af-
fected by light. Chrome yellow is not lime proof.

The whitewash should be passed through a fine wire screen to remove
lumps. Application can be by sprayer or by brush. A power-driven farm or
garden sprayer equipped with a Bordeaux-mixture nozzle is an excellent
tool for the spraying. Whitewash should not be applied with ordinary paint-
brushes, because the lime attacks the animal bristles. Special whitewash
brushes about 7 in. wide with bristles about 3% in. long are manufactured,
but roof brushes, which are stiffer and heavier, work somewhat better on
coarse surfaces.

Before the whitewash is applied, the masonry should be moistened with
water. The whitewash should not be applied too thickly. It does not matter
if the surface of the wall is visible through the wet whitewash, for if the
whitewash has been correctly mixed and is applied all over the surface, the
surface will be hidden when the material dries. On many walls one coat

Painting and Papering 373

of whitewash is enough; but when it is needed, a second coat can be
applied after the first has become thoroughly dry, usually in one or two
days.

Cement-water paints. When cement-water paints are correctly mixed and
applied, they form weather-resistant coatings of considerable durability.
Because they fill up pores and small cracks, they increase the water resist-
ance of the wall and for this reason are sometimes used as dampproofing
compounds. Surface preparation is essentially the same as for whitewash.
Old cement-water paint and whitewash should be brushed but need not be
completely removed. However, oil paints must be completely removed.
Cement-water paints can be applied over areas that have been freshly re-
paired with mortar.

Cement-water paints can be prepared by home mixing. A suggested for-
mula is 2 parts white Portland cement and 1 part clean sand, measured
by volume. The fineness of the sand should be such that all of it will pass
through a wire sieve with 20 meshes per linear in. This formula is suitable
for both coats, but if a smoother finish is wanted, the sand can be omitted
in the finisji coat and the paint made of 70 parts white Portland cement
and 30 parts hydrated lime, measured by volume. The dry ingredients are
mixed with enough water to give the paint the consistency of heavy cream.
The mixture should be applied to the wall soon after it is mixed. Another
formula suggested by Robert S. Boynton of the National Lime Association
is equal weights of white Portland cement and hydrated lime, equivalent
to 2 parts hydrated lime and 1 part white Portland cement by volume.

Paints made by these formulas can be colored with the pigments recom-
mended above for whitewash.

Cement-water paints and the cement-iime-water paint just described are
applied most effectively on large areas with roofing brushes and on re-
stricted areas with fender brushes. The latter are sold at automobile-supply
stores for cleaning the underside of automobile fenders. Floor scrub brushes
can be used but are not so effective as brushes with longer bristles. The
wall is dampened before the paint is applied. On coarse-textured surfaces,
the paint should literally be scrubbed in. One coat of cement-lime-water
paint will cover even a red-brick wall, but two coats of cement-water paint
are necessary on many v/alls. The first coat should be given time to set —
about two days — before the second coat is applied. Both coats should be
damp-cured. This is done by spraying the wall with a fine spray as soon
as the paint has set hard enough not to wash off, usually six to twelve
hours, then by repeating the spraying as often as necessary to keep the
wall slightly damp for at least forty-eight hours. If damp-curing is omitted,
the cement will fail to set and the paint will dust off.

374 New Houses from Old

Oil paints. Oil paints are used most frequently on old brick walls,
although they can be employed on any masonry wall that is thoroughly
dry and protected from moisture. Before applying an oil paint, it is very
important to make sure that door and window openings and other places
where water might enter the wall are properly flashed.

The surface of masonry walls should be cleaned in the same way as for
whitewash or for a cement-water paint. Whitewash should be removed, but
old oil paint or cement-water paint that is adhering firmly need not be
removed. If there are cracks and holes in the wall that must be repaired
with fresh mortar, these create a special problem, as an oil paint cannot
be applied over fresh mortar. The best procedure in such a case is to
repair the wall, then to allow the mortar to cure for at least three months.

Ready-mixed oil paints that have been specially formulated for masonry
walls are recommended. They should be thinned and applied according to
manufacturers' directions. Formulas and directions for home-mixed white
lead and oil paints for masonry have been published by the Lead Industries
Association, 420 Lexington Avenue, New York City.

The technique of applying oil paints to masonry is basicaUy the same
as that of applying them to wood. The same precautions should be taken
against the weather as have been described above for the painting of wood.
A masonry wall should be given plenty of time to warm up after a cold
night, otherwise there may be trouble with moisture condensing on its
surface.

Resin emulsion paints. This type of paint contains drying oils that have
been extended with synthetic resins. The incorporation of an emulsifying
agent makes it possible to mix the paints with water. They may be applied
to either dry or damp masonry. The surface is prepared for them in the
same way as has been described for whitewash, with the exception that any
previous coating, whether it is whitewash, a cement-water paint, or an oil
paint, need not be removed if it is adhering firmly. A coarse-textured wall
should be given a preliminary coating of a cement-water paint that con-
tains sand, but fine-textured walls need no special first coat.

This type of paint cannot be prepared at home. It is usually purchased
in paste form and should be thinned with water according to the directions
on the package. It can be applied by brushing or by spraying. Unless the
manufacturer's directions are to the contrary, the wall should be dampened
before the paint is applied. However, dampening of the paint after it has
been applied is not necessary. An interval of about twelve hours is usually
all the time that is necessary between coats.

Resin emulsion paints are also excellent for the refinishing of cement-
asbestos shingles that have turned gray or become streaked.

Painting and Papering 375

Painting Of Stucco

Stucco can be painted with the same types of paint and by essentially
the same techniques as have been described for masonry surfaces. However,
cement-water paint is recommended because it is easy to apply to stucco
and it will fill fine cracks that have developed in the stucco and thus will
increase its resistance to water.

The stucco should first be cleaned. If it is stained or soiled with soot,
washing with a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) fol-
lowed by thorough rinsing with clean water is the most effective method.
Road dust and similar dirt can usually be removed without acid. After
the wall has been washed, holes and cracks (except fine hair cracks) should
be repaired as directed in Chapter 19. Cement-water paint can be applied
as soon as the mortar in the repaired spots has set. If the color of the
paint that is to be applied is greatly different from the color of the mortar,
it is a good idea to give the repaired areas a preliminary coat about two
days before the wall is painted.

The paint is applied in the same way as to a rough-textured masonry
wall. The wall is dampened beforehand, but there should be no free water
standing in hollows in the surface when painting is commenced. Each coat
of cement-water paint should be carefully damp-cured (page 373).

Painting of Metal

Corrosion-resistant metals such as copper, zinc, aluminum, and cast iron
do not require paint for protection from corrosion, but it is sometimes
desirable to paint them to improve their appearance. Good-quality gal-
vanized metal does not need paint for protection until the zinc coating
begins to deteriorate. On the other hand, iron or steel with a thin pro-
tective coating, such as terneplate, will corrode rapidly under weather ex-
posure unless it is kept painted.

The painting of a copper roof is not recommended, as the metal will of
itself eventually take on an attractive green color. Copper gutters and down-
spouts can be painted by sanding them lightly, then applying an aluminum
paint as a priming coat, and covering this with one or two coats of exterior
house paint well brushed out. Copper or steel screens can be prevented
from staining the paint below them by applying to them a thin coat of
spar varnish or, if a colored finish is desired, one or two coats of a thin
enamel.

New galvanized metal will not hold paint unless it has been treated to etch

376 New Houses from Old

the zinc surface. Some, but not all, of the galvanized metal now sold has
been etched at the factory. An economical way of etching galvanized metal
that has not been so treated is to leave it exposed to the weather and un-
painted for at least six months. New metal can be prepared for immediate
painting by washing it with a zinc phosphate or phosphate-chromate solu-
tion, obtainable under various brand names at paint stores. Still another and
perhaps better method is to use a zinc dust-zinc oxide priming paint.
After either of these treatments, gutters and downspouts can be painted with
one or two coats of exterior house paint well brushed out.

Roofs can be finished with a zinc paint or with commercially prepared
roofing paints. Old galvanized metal that has been exposed to the weather
does not require etching before painting, but rusty spots should be thor-
oughly wire-brushed to remove all scale and to expose as much fresh metal
as possible. The spots should then be coated with a zinc dust-zinc oxide
priming paint. Galvanized metal downspouts that have corroded through
from the inside are not worth painting, but a few more years of service can
often be gotten from gutters that have "pinholed through" by painting the
inside with an asphalt paint.

New terneplate should be painted as soon as possible after it is installed.
Metal of this kind is usually supplied with a priming coat already applied.
Any good-quality roofing paint can be brushed on over this coat.

The repainting of old terneplate and, in fact, any other iron or steel about
the house that has been exposed to the weather can be carried out in the
following way. The surface is first wire-brushed to remove all rust and scale.
Pitted areas can be sanded to remove rust. If any grease or oil is present, the
surface is washed with benzol. A rust-inhibiting priming paint is then
brushed on. Pitted areas should have a preliminary coating of the primer,
which is allowed to dry before the entire surface is painted.

There are many good metal primers. The zinc dust-zinc oxide paint al-
ready mentioned is one. Probably the most commonly used one is red oxide
of lead. Other good pigments are basic red chromate (also sold as scarlet
red chromate), chrome red, chrome orange, and blue lead. The last pigment
produces an attractive slate color. Finish coats may contain the same pig-
ment as the priming coat, or any good exterior oil paint may be used. Other
paints suitable for the finish coat if a silvery finish is desired are zinc paints
and aluminum paints. A good aluminum paint for metal can be made by
mixing 2 lb. of aluminum powder in 1 gal. of spar varnish.

The main problem in connection with painting radiators is the preliminary
cleaning. Dust can be removed from the columns in the interior of the
radiator with a special radiator brush or by pulling rags through the rad-
iator. The parts that are exposed to view should be wire-brushed to remove
loose paint and scale. If the old paint is very rough, it can be removed

Painting and Papering 377

completely with paint remover. Radiators can be painted with any good oil
paint that has been prepared for interior use. The paint should be well
brushed out. It is not advisable to paint radiators with aluminum paint,
as this material reduces somewhat the emission of radiant heat. However, if
the radiator has a coat of firmly adhering aluminum paint, it is not neces-
sary to remove it. Painting over it with an interior paint will nullify the
effect of the aluminum coating.

Plating with chromium or some other suitable metal is the best way of
refinishing worn interior hardware. The hardware must, of course, be re-
moved and taken to a plating works. Oil paints and varnishes should not
be used on doorknobs, as they tend to remain slightly sticky and to collect
dirt. Synthetic lacquers are free of this fault, but they will wear off hardware
that is handled often.

Painting of Plaster

An old plaster wall that is to be painted should be repaired and cleaned.
If the wall is papered, the paper should be soaked off. Cracks and holes
should be filled (Chapter 21). After the repaired areas have hardened, the
entire wall should be rubbed with fine sandpaper or steel wool, and finally
the wall should be thoroughly dusted.

Oil paints are desirable on plastered walls in bathrooms and kitchens, as
they produce a surface that can be washed without causing rapid deteriora-
tion. Special precautions are necessary to prevent the eventual flaking off
of this type of paint. The plaster should be perfectly dry, and it should not
contain free alkali. Plaster that has been on a wall for several months or
years should be fairly free of alkali; but if the plaster dried out partially
before it hardened, there may be alkali present. Old plaster that contains
soft and dusty areas usually will not hold an oil paint unless it is specially
treated to neutralize the alkali.

An old, standard treatment for alkali in plastered walls was to brush the
plaster with a solution of zinc sulphate in water. The value of this treatment
has been questioned. A more reliable method is to allow the wall, if it is
new, or the repaired areas, if it is old, to become thoroughly dry and hard.
After light sanding and dusting, the wall is sized by painting it with a
medium-oil varnish thinned with turpentine or mineral spirits at the rate
of 1 or 2 qt. of thinner to 1 gal. of varnish. After the varnish has dried, one
coat of an interior oil paint that contains a high proportion of boiled linseed
oil can be applied. After this coat has dried, the wall can be painted with
a finish coat of any good interior oil paint. There are also a number of ready-
mixed plaster primers on the market, some of which are formulated to size
the plaster and to hide the surface at the same time. Such a primer made

378 New Houses from Old

by a reputable manufacturer and applied according to the directions on the
package should give satisfactory results.

Water paints can be used without danger of peeling on both new and
old plastered walls provided only that the plaster is clean. They can even
be applied to damp walls; and the plaster will dry out through them.

Calcimine is an old standard water paint for plastered walls. Old calci-
mines had the fault of rubbing oif, but this defect has been largely corrected
in modern preparations. The chief disadvantage of calcimine is that a calci-
mined wall will not stand washing.

The wall should be repaired, if necessary, and all dirt thoroughly cleaned
off. If it has been calcimined previously, the old calcimine should be washed
off with a sponge and warm water. The wall is allowed to dry and then is
treated with a glue size. The manufacturer's directions for mixing should
be followed. The paint is applied with a wide calcimine brush. The brushing
must be done carefully in order to distribute the calcimine evenly, otherwise
thick areas will appear darker when dry than thin areas. It is best to work
in strips narrow enough so that the second strip can be started before the
edge of the first strip has dried. Every effort should be made to completely
cover the surface with one coat.

Casein paints of the types that are sold in paste form to be mixed with
water at home are excellent for use on both old and new plaster. They have
good hiding power, consequently one coat is usually enough, although two
coats may be needed if the old plaster is stained or if it is darker than the
paint. These paints will tolerate an occasional washing after the paint and
the plaster have become thoroughly dry. No special preparation of the
plaster is needed other than patching and cleaning. The paint is easily
applied with either a brush or a carpet-covered roller.

Plywood Walls

Plywood that is surfaced with a veneer of fine wood, such as mahogany,
oak, or walnut, is usually given a natural finish that enhances the beauty
of the wood. A typical treatment for a close-grained wood is to sand the
surface of the panels lightly with No. 00 or No. 000 sandpaper, then to
apply two coats of a clear lacquer or interior varnish. Each of these coats
should be rubbed with fine steel wool. The second coat is then waxed with
a white wax. Open-grained woods, such as oak, are sanded lightly with
No. 00 sandpaper, then filled with a wood filler. After the filler is dry, it
is sanded lightly and dusted off. The panel is then finished as above. Pre-
finished plywood panels in fine woods can also be purchased.

Common grades of plywood have rather vivid grain patterns that are

Painting and Papering 379

unattractive in some rooms unless they are subdued. The Douglas Fir Ply-
wood Association recommends the following procedure for natural stain
finishes that subdue the grain pattern somewhat but do not completely
hide it.

These finishes are accomplished by a procedure that is basically as follows:

1. A coat of interior white undercoater, preferably thinned as follows: 6 lb. of
flat undercoat, 3V2 <It- of pure turpentine, and 1 pt. of linseed oil. When dry,
sand lightly with No. 000 sandpaper.

2. One coat of white shellac, steel-wooled when dry with No. 1 wool. (This
shellac coat may be omitted when greater penetration by the color coat is desired.
This would give a more vivid color.)

3. One coat of the desired color in blending oils, applied thinly and wiped or
dry-brushed to the proper color tone.

4. One coat of flat varnish. For best effect the varnish coat should be steel-
wooled.

A limitless variety of effects can be secured by changing the color coat.

An inexpensive but attractive finish can be obtained with a single coat of in-
terior white undercoater pigmented to the desired tint and thinned sufficiently so
that the figure of the wood will show through. A second coat of clear shellac or
varnish will add to the durability of this finish and will give a deep luster.

To obtain a very smooth enameled finish on plywood, it is necessary to
cover the wood with some such material as unbleached muslin. Nail holes
and joints are first filled with Swedish putty or with a good ready-mixed
crack filler. The wood is then primed with one coat of a thinned flat oil
paint. After the paint has dried, the muslin is applied to the wall with paste
in essentially the same way that wallpaper is hung on a plastered wall. The
only difference is that the joints between strips are overlapped about 1 in.
and then are cut flush with a razor blade. After the paste has dried, the
muslin is given one coat of a glue size. Any good interior enamel can then
be applied.

In kitchens and playrooms, the broad grain pattern of ordinary interior
plywood is not objectionable, hence in such rooms plywood panels are
often given no other treatment than a coat of white shellac and a coat of flat
drying varnish. A liquid wood sealer can be used in place of the shellac.
Plywood can also be stained.

Fiber Wallboards

Most fiberboards can be satisfactorily painted with calcimine or casein-
water paints and also with oil paints and enamels. Casein paints can be
applied directly without any special preparation of the surface, but the sur-
face should first be sized with a thinned varnish if calcimine is to be used.

380 New Houses from Old

A varnish size is usually a satisfactory preparation for insulation board
that is to be covered with a flat oil paint or an enamel.

In some areas of the house it is necessary only to change the light color
of the board. The best type of stain for fiberboard is made by dissolving
^2 lb. of glue in 1 gal. of boiling water. A dry pigment is iriade into a paste
by adding water to it, and the paste is then stirred into the hot glue mixture.
Many fiber wallboards are manufactured with one surface already finished
with a paint, or a stain, or a tinted paper.

Wood Trim

Interior wood can be given a natural finish that shows the grain of the
wood, or it can be painted with an opaque paint. Which type of finish
should be selected depends on the quality of wood in the trim and on your
own taste.

Clear or natural finishes. Complete removal of paint is necessary to re-
store old trim to a clear finish. Paint removers will not remove stains that
have penetrated the wood, nor will sanding do so unless much of the surface
is cut off, but most stains can be bleached out. Oxalic acid is used extensively
as a bleach; but its use is rather hazardous, as it is a poison. Furthermore,
it is not very effective on some stains. A saturated solution, made by adding
oxalic acid crystals to hot water until no more will dissolve, is more effective
than a weaker solution. The solution is brushed on the wood liberally and
can be left on for a few minutes or for a number of hours, depending on
how stubborn the stain proves to be. The surface is then washed liberally
with water and finally is sanded. Since this solution contains water, it will
raise the grain and roughen the wood. This fault can be circumvented by
dissolving the oxalic acid in denatured alcohol that is, of course, not heated.

A bleach that works on some woods can be made by dissolving 1 lb. or
less of sodium hyposulphite (photographers' "hypo") in 1 gal. of water.
A third method — and this is the most effective of all — uses two solutions.
The first solution is made by dissolving 1 oz. of potassium permanganate
(obtainable at drugstores) in 1 gal. of water. The second solution is made by
dissolving 3 or 4 oz. of sodium bisulphite in 1 gal. of water. The first solu-
tion is brushed liberally on the wood; then before it dries, the second solu-
tion is brushed over it. The applications can be repeated if the wood is not
whitened sufficiently the first time. Finally, the wood is thoroughly washed
with clean water.

There are a number of commercial bleaches, some of them patented, or
the market that are very effective. If you use one of these, follow the manu-
facturer's directions.

Painting and Papering 381

After the wood is bleached, holes and cracks should be filled with a crack
filler, such as plastic wood or some other prepared crack filler. After holes
have been filled, the wood should be sanded smooth with No. 000 sandpaper
or its equivalent in some other abrasive paper.

If a very light finish is desired — the so-called blond or platinum finish — a
coat of bleaching lacquer is applied to the bleached wood. This coat is not
sanded but is covered as soon as it has dried with one or two coats of white
shellac. Each coat of the shellac is sanded with No. 0000 sandpaper. A
clear, flat-drying lacquer is then applied as the final coat.

Woods with open pores, such as oak, need a paste wood filler applied
after the bleaching lacquer. The paste is spread on the wood by brushing it
across the grain. As soon as the filler has dried enough so that it will remain
in the pores of the wood but before it has become "tacky," the excess is
wiped off with a wad of burlap or other coarse cloth rubbed crosswise of
the grain. After the filler has dried overnight or longer, the surface should
be sanded lengthwise of the grain of the wood with No. 000 sandpaper and
thoroughly dusted before the shellac is applied. Wiping off the dust with
rags moistened with turpentine is superior to dusting with a brush in in-
terior work because it keeps the dust out of the air. If a very light finish is
not wanted, the bleaching lacquer can be omitted and varnish can be used
in place of shellac.

"Limed" finishes (also called pickled pine when they are applied to pine)
are produced by rubbing a paste pigment, such as white lead or lithopone,
into the pores of the wood. The paste is thinned somewhat with raw linseed
oil or lead mixing oil and is applied and wiped off in the same way as has
been described for wood fillers. After the paste that remains in the pores of
the wood has hardened, the wood should be sanded, then finished with shellac
and varnish or with varnish alone. Interior paints such as white enamel
undercoater can be used instead of a paste pigment.

The type of flat, clear finish so often seen on knotty pine can be produced
in several ways. The simplest method is to sand and dust the wood and then
to apply a coat of paste wax, which should be rubbed enough to spread it
evenly but not enough to produce a high gloss. Another method is to brush
the wood with raw linseed oil that has been thinned with an equal volume of
turpentine. The first coat of oil can be followed with a second one after
twenty-four hours. The latter treatment darkens the wood somewhat, and
both the oil and the wood will grow darker in time. Still darker finishes
can be produced by adding a pigment ground in oil to the linseed oil and
turpentine mixture or by applying an oil stain before the mixture is applied.
Clear finishes can also be produced with factory-made wood-sealing com-
pounds and wax.

382 New Houses from Old

Stained finishes. The several basic types of wood stains have been de-
scribed earlier in this chapter. Of these types, the oil stains are the easiest
to apply, and they have the further advantage of not raising the grain of the
wood. Prepared oil stains are available in many colors and shades and
their use is recommended.

An old wood surface is prepared for a stained finish by essentially the
same procedure as for a natural finish. Bleaching out of the old stain is
not necessary, however, unless the new finish is to be lighter or if the color
is to be changed, for example, from mahogany to light brown. The stain
is applied by brushing and is allowed to dry about twenty-four hours. Then
if the wood is an open-grained one and the surface has been sanded down
to the bare wood, a paste filler is applied. After the filler has dried, the wood
is sanded, then dusted. A coat of interior varnish is applied, allowed to dry
at least twenty-four hours, and then sanded with No. 000 sandpaper. The
surface is again dusted, and a second coat of varnish is applied. Varnish
stains in which a stain is combined with the first coat of varnish are avail-
able. They save the work of applying a separate stain but sometimes produce
inferior results.

Fine varnish finishes used to be produced by rubbing down each coat
with powdered pumice stone wet with water if a dull finish was wanted or
with linseed oil for a satiny or semigloss finish. This technique is still a
good one if you have the time, but almost as good finishes can be obtained
by the use of flat-drying or semigloss varnishes, which require no rubbing
down.

Painted surfaces. The preparation of previously painted or varnished wood
for repainting is often much simpler than preparing it for varnishing, be-
cause the opacity of the paint will hide many imperfections that would
show through varnish. If the old finish is rough or scarred, it should be
removed; but if it is fairly smooth and is adhering firmly, sanding is all
that is necessary in most cases. There are, however, two exceptions. Stains
that contain an aniline dye will frequently "bleed" through fresh paint.
Mahogany stain is a particularly bad offender in this way. The vehicles
used in some modern interior paints, particularly in some of the synthetic
lacquers and enamels, are incompatible with oil paints. They act on them
much as paint removers do, causing them to soften and to let go of the wood.
Either of these situations requires complete removal of the old finish.

Oil and lead paints for interior wood can be purchased ready mixed, or
they can be mixed at home if a fairly large quantity is required. A suggested
formula for previously painted surfaces is equal volumes of white lead
paste and lead mixing oil. New or bare wood requires a priming coat that
can be prepared of 3 volumes of white lead paste, 3 volumes of lead mixing

Painting and Papering 383

oil, and 2 volumes of turpentine, plus ^ pt. of Japan drier to each gallon of
paint. Oil and lead paints are, however, used less commonly for interior
woodwork than are other kinds.

Because of the great variety of formulas used for interior paints, the
safest procedure in applying a particular paint is to follow strictly the
manufacturer's directions both as to the undercoater to use and as to the
method of application, but here is some general advice. Ready-mixed paints
of all types should be passed through muslin or a fine wire screen just be-
fore application to remove any "skin" or coarse particles. Thinning should
be done only when it is recommended by the manufacturer and only with the
type of thinner specified. Most interior paints, and especially the quick-
drying enamels and lacquers, should be applied when the temperature in
the house is between 70° and 75°. They should be flowed on with a full
brush in such a way that it is not necessary to brush over the paint once it
has been spread on the surface. Laps should be joined by flowing them
together. Although many of the quick-drying enamels and lacquers will
become firm to the touch in two to four hours, they usually are not hard
enough to be sanded for at least twelve hours. Each coat, except the last, is
sanded lightly and thoroughly cleaned of dust. The room should be well
ventilated while painting is in progress and for several hours afterward.
The air in the room should be kept as free of dust as possible until the
paint has hardened.

Floors

Before a wooden floor is refinished, it should be put in good structural
condition (Chapter 22). If the floor is to be given a clear finish, it must
usually be stripped down to the bare wood. This is best done with a powered
sanding machine. The machine should be a good one with properly aligned
bearings, otherwise the floor will be scarred. The sanding is usually started
with No. 2 sandpaper or its equivalent in another abrasive paper. As the
work progresses, finer grades of paper are used, and the last stage of the
work is done with No. % or No. 0 paper on softwood floors and with No.
00 on hardwood floors. The machine is first operated across the grain, and
the final sanding is done by passing the machine lengthwise of the grain.
When the floor appears to be smooth, it should be swept and inspected at
close range in a good light, such as sunlight or the light of a 100-watt bulb
in a reflector. The floor should be completely free of visible scratches and
other irregularities, for any such defects that can be seen at this stage will
show plainly through a clear finish. When a powered sanding machine is not
available, floors can be put in condition by handscraping and sanding. Some

384 New Houses from Old

handwork is necessary in corners and in other restricted areas even when a
powered machine is used unless a small machine for corners is also available.

After the sanding is done, the floor should be swept clean. Wiping with
rags moistened with turpentine will remove fine dust that is missed by the
brush or broom. Everything possible should then be done to keep the floor
clean and free of scratches until the finish can be put on. If for some reason
the floor must be walked on before it is finished, it should be covered with
clean building paper.

Finishes for softwood floors. Contractors often use orange shellac for the
first coat on softwood floors and sometimes completely finish the floor with it.
Unfortunately, shellac has several faults from the homeowner's point of
view. The hard, brittle coat that it forms is easily scratched. It tends to wear
through rapidly in spots where traffic is heavy. The water that is in emulsion
(nonrubbing) floor waxes may discolor it, and spilled water may produce an
opaque white spot.

Floor varnish, thinned somewhat for the first coat, is more satisfactory
than shellac. The varnish should be applied when the floor and the air in
the room are about 70°F. The first coat should be allowed to dry about
twenty-four hours. Then it should be sanded lightly with No. 000 sandpaper
and finally brushed or wiped clean. A second coat of unthinned varnish
should then be applied. After this has dried, a third coat can be applied in
the same way or the floor can be finished with wax.

However, the most satisfactory and economical way of finishing a floor
is to use a good factory-made floor-sealing compound. The manufacturer's
directions for a floor seal should be followed, but a typical procedure is to
apply the compound with a brush or special applicator and to allow it to
stand on the floor for the specified interval of time. The excess compound is
then wiped off with rags or a rubber squeegee. Either varnish or wax can
be applied as finish coats over most floor seals, but wax, rubbed in with a
powered floor-waxing machine is recommended.

A clear floor seal, finished with wax, produces an effect that is just as
pleasing as an oiled finish. However, if you want a genuine oil finish, it can
be had by heating raw linseed oil to about the temperature of boiling water
and by brushing the hot oil on the wood. The first coat of oil will probably
penetrate the wood unevenly, but the spotty appearance will disappear when
a second or third coat is applied. Several days or even weeks should inter-
vene between coats. Each coat should be polished with a coarse cloth
wrapped around a block of wood or a brick. The faults of a linseed-oil
finish are that it dries slowly, tends to collect dust, and inevitably darkens
with age.

Softwood floors are not usually stained if a light finish is desired. The

Painting and Papering 385

whitish appearance of the sanded wood disappears when either shellac,
varnish, or a floor seal is applied. If a dark finish is desired, the wood should
be stained with an oil stain in the same way that other woodwork is stained.
The stain is applied before the first coat of shellac or varnish. A good method
of producing a dark finish is to use a floor seal in which the desired color
has been incorporated by the manufacturer.

Softwood floors that are to be painted should be made smooth, then
cleaned. A prepared floor paint should then be applied according to the
manufacturer's directions. The average good-quality floor paint brushes on
smoothly and dries in twenty-four hours or less. Two coats are usually
necessary when the finish is built up from bare wood. Three coats are recom-
mended in front of doors and in rooms where the floor will be subject to
considerable wear.

Finishes for hardivood floors. The finishing of hardwood floors is not
much different from the finishing of softwood. However, most hardwoods
will take a smoother finish than most softwoods, and this characteristic is
taken advantage of by using a finer abrasive paper for the last stage of
the sanding. Red-oak flooring is porous and must be filled with a paste wood
filler before the first coat of shellac or varish is applied. The filler is applied
in the same way as it is to interior trim. Some floor seals manufactured for
use on oak do not require a separate filler. A filler is not necessary on white
oak, maple, beech, or pecan flooring. Hardwood flooring finished at the
factory with a floor seal and wax can be purchased.

Special problems in refinishing old floors. Old softwood floors that have
been oiled are sometimes rather difficult to refinish. In most cases the floor
has become dark because of the ageing of the oil. To restore the floor to a
light color, it is necessary to remove the old oil. In some cases, this can be
done by saponifying the oil with a solution of a mild alkali, such as wash-
ing (not baking) soda or trisodium phosphate. A lye solution is more effec-
tive but is much more likely to damage the wood. The solution is applied
liberally to a small area of the floor, allowed to stand for a few minutes,
and then scrubbed vigorously with a stiff brush. Finally, the area is washed
with clean water. This treatment will raise the grain of the wood and will
cause the floor to become rough. It may also turn the wood gray. After the
floor has thoroughly dried, the roughness is removed by sanding. If the
floor is still gray, the light color can be restored by the use of a bleach.
Sometimes an old oiled finish proves to be so resistant that removal is not
practical. Application of fresh oil to such a floor will not improve its ap-
pearance much and will not lighten its color at all; but if the floor boards
are in good condition, a new oiled floor can be produced by turning the
boards over and starting fresh.

386 New Houses from Old

An old oiled floor is usually a good surface on which to apply paint. Its
suitability for varnish is somewhat uncertain because some modern varnishes
will not flow out well on such a surface or will thicken after they have been
applied. On the other hand, some floor varnishes react very well. A pre-
liminary test on a small area of the floor is the only way to find out.

Floors that are in good structural condition and on which the old finish
is in fair condition can be refinished by fairly simple methods. If the new
finish is to be a clear one, worn areas will require special treatment. These
should be sanded and cleaned. If the wood is darkened under these areas,
it can be lightened with a bleach. Care should be taken not to bleach the
color too much or the spot will appear lighter than the rest of the floor
after the new finish is applied. After the sanding and bleaching, the worn
areas should be built up to the level of the old finish by the application of
one or more coats of varnish. After the varnish in the repaired areas has
hardened, the entire floor should be sanded sufficiently to cut the gloss off
the old finish and to remove rough spots. It is then thoroughly cleaned of
dust and varnished. If the floor is to be painted, the same procedure should
be followed for building up worn spots, but bleaching of the wood is
omitted. The worn areas are, of course, built up with paint.

Old shellac can usually be removed from a floor by brushing on a liberal
application of denatured alcohol, which softens the shellac so that it can
be scraped off. Removal of a stain requires the taking off of all the varnish
or shellac that has been applied over the stain. If the stain has not pene-
trated deeply into the wood, the simplest method of removal is sanding with
a power-driven floor sander; but if it has penetrated deeply, it must be
removed by bleaching.

Concrete floors. Dampness that is present in all concrete floors that are in
contact with the soil makes it inadvisable to paint such floors with oil paints
or even with paints that contain varnish as a vehicle. However, a type of
paint known as rubber-base paint will adhere to concrete floors whether they
are wet or dry, provided that the paint is correctly applied. Paints of this
type are available in several colors. Application should be made according
to the manufacturers' directions.

If the only trouble is that the concrete dusts off, this condition can be
corrected by painting it with a hardener. A hardener that can be made at
home consists of 2 lb. of magnesium fluosilicate dissolved in 1 gal. of water.
The solution is applied with a broom or mop and is allowed to dry twenty-
four hours, then a second coat is applied. If crystals form, they can be
washed off with clear water after the second coat has dried several days.
Another hardener is made by diluting 1 gal. of sodium silicate with 3 gal.
of water. This solution can be applied in the same way, but one coat is usu-

Painting and Papering 387

ally enough. Commercially prepared hardeners can be purchased in paint
and hardware stores.

Wallpaper

In remodeling, wallpaper is a useful, decorative, and relatively inexpen-
sive wall covering. Often it is the only wall finish that is practical when a
rough, cracked, or unsightly wall must be made attractive at minimum
expense. The qualities of ordinary wallpaper are well known. Washable and
even quite waterproof papers are available for use in such rooms as the
kitchen, bathroom, and nursery. Special products, such as wall cloth, which
is a decorated cotton fabric, are sometimes available and are worth con-
sidering for walls that are in such poor condition that papering with wall-
paper is difficult. Wallpaper is usually applied to plaster but may also be
applied to plasterboard, fiber insulating boards, and plywood.

Preparing the surface. A wall that has previously been papered is best
prepared for repapering by removal of the old paper. Only when the old
paper is thin — not more than one or two layers — smooth, and adhering firmly
is it advisable to leave it in place. Ordinary wallpaper can be removed rather
easily by spraying, sponging, or brushing warm water over the surface.
The water is allowed to soak through the paper to the paste underneath.
The paper can then be pulled off in strips from most areas, but stubborn
spots may require scraping with a paint scraper or wide putty knife. The
surface of water-resistant papers and papers that have been painted or
varnished must be scored before the water will penetrate. This is done by
rubbing the surface of the paper with coarse sandpaper.

A single layer of wallpaper on fiber wallboard is best left in place if it
is smooth and firmly attached. If it is necessary to remove it, the least water
that will loosen it should be used. After the paper is removed, the board
should be given one coat of shellac or varnish. This material is allowed to
dry, then the board is sanded to cut off the fibers and fuzz pulled up when
the paper was removed. Paper that has been applied over lining felt on
plywood should also be left in place if possible, because soaking may loosen
the felt and necessitate installation of new lining.

Calcimine should be removed from a calcimined wall before papering.
This is done by sponging with warm water. Walls that have been painted
with an oil paint should be rubbed thoroughly with No. ^ sandpaper,
washed with soapy water, then rinsed with clear water. An oil-painted wall
can be prepared also by washing it with a solution of 1 lb. of washing soda
or 3 tablespoonfuls of trisodium phosphate in 1 gal. of water, then rinsing
with clear water. Wallpaper should not be applied over fresh plaster until
the plaster has aged at least two months.

388 New Houses from Old

Hair cracks in plaster can be ignored, but large cracks and holes should
be repaired (Chapter 21). Isolated rough areas and areas where there are
inany cracks can be covered with a lightweight muslin if the plaster is not
loose. The next step is application of a glue size to the entire wall. One
pound of flake or ground glue (obtainable at paint stores) is soaked several
hours in two or three times its volume of cold water. When the glue has
softened, the mixture is heated in a double boiler until all lumps disappear
and the mixture has a uniform consistency. It is then poured into about 1^4
gal. of warm water and stirred. The mix should feel just slightly sticky
when tested between a thumb and finger dipped in it, then held in the air.
The size is applied to the wall with a wide brush.

Rough plaster walls, fiber wallboards, and plywood require somewhat
different treatments. Rough plaster walls should be covered with a lining
paper, a heavy, un figured paper that is applied the same as wallpaper. A
rather stiff glue size thickened to the consistency of paste by adding fine
whiting can be used in place of ordinary glue size on fiber wallboards. This
mixture should be evenly brushed out and allowed about one day to dry.
Gypsum wallboard (plasterboard) should be treated with a pigmented var-
nish size formulated for plaster. The manufacturer of a wallboard will
usually furnish on request specific directions for the application of wall-
paper to it.

The Douglas Fir Plywood Association has supplied the following in-
formation about wallpapering on "Plywall":

Panels should first be closely butted and the joints filled with a good crack
filler, such as plastic wood, Swedish putty, or similar material. After the filler
has dried, joints should be lightly sandpapered. Panels should now be coated with
a wheat flour paste to which has been added a gelatine size. Over the plywood a
layer of % lb. deadening felt or smooth wall-liner felt paper, both of which come
in 36-in. widths, is applied after it has been treated with the same paste and size
used on plywood panels. Occasionally blank stock is used in place of the felt.
Felt is neatly butted at joints, rolled, and smoothed. From ceiling it should run
down about 1 in. so that the strips applied to the side wall will lap over the ceil-
ing strips by that amount. Lap will be covered by a moulding or border. Many
decorators like to go over the felt with a smoothing brush to assure uniform ad-
hesion to the plywood. The wallpaper is then ready to be hung in accordance with
standard practice, using ordinary wheat flour paste.

Estimating paper. American wallpapers are sold in single rolls that are
8 yd. long and in double rolls that are twice as long. The standard trimmed
width is 18 in. The number of rolls needed for a room can be determined
by measuring around the room in widths of 18 in. to find the number of
strips required. The number of strips that can be cut from a roll depends
on the length of the strips and also on the length that must be cut off every

Painting and Papering 389

other strip in order to match the pattern. Assuming that each strip is 7 ft.
long and that 6 in. must be cut off ahernate strips for trimming and match-
ing, each o-yd. roll will make three strips, and there will be a piece 2 or 2^/4
ft. long left over. If these short ends are long enough, they can be used
over doors and below and above windows; but if they are not, paper needed
for these areas should also be calculated in the equivalent of full-lenght
strips. At least one extra roll should be purchased to provide for waste and
as a reserve in case the paper ever needs repairing. A more rapid but less
accurate method of estimating is to calculate the number of square feet that
must be covered and to divide this number by the number of square feet
of paper in a roll of paper — 36 sq. ft. in a single roll, 72 sq. ft. in a double
roll. About 20 per cent should be added to an estimate made in this way
for matching, narrow strips and waste.

Equipment for hanging paper. A pasting table about 2 ft. wide and 7 ft.
long is essential. It can be made by supporting boards on two sawhorses,
two kitchen tables, or even large boxes. The surface of the table should be
made smooth by putting a strip of plywood, heavy linoleum, or other solid
material over the boards. A scaffold for papering the ceiling can be made
by supporting planks on sawhorses or on stepladders. A stepladder is ade-
quate for working on side walls. One wide brush will be needed for applica-
tion of the paste to the paper and another for smoothing the paper. A seam
roller helps greatly in making firm, well-stuck seams. Other tools needed
are a plumb bob and line, a sharp knife or 10- or 12-in. shears for trimming,
and a straight piece of wood or flat metal for use as a straightedge. A supply
of rags for wiping up spilled paste and a receptacle for trimmings are also
necessary.

Paste. Prepared pastes for wallpaper can be purchased. A good-quality
prepared paste usually contains special ingredients that improve the paste
and retard its spoiling. However, quite satisfactory paste can be made at
home from wheat flour. Four pounds of flour are placed in a pail. Cold water
is stirred into the flour until a thick paste is produced. All lumps should be
broken up at this stage. Then 2 gal. of boiling water are stirred in gradually.
The addition of the boiling water will produce a jellylike product of uni-
form consistency. This mixture is allowed to cool. It can then be thinned
with cold water to the right thickness for easy brushing. One tablespoonful
of alum added to the flour will make the paste dry more rapidly, but alum
should not be used on papers on which the manufacturer has printed a pre-
caution against its use. One-half pound of casein glue mixed with water and
stirred into the paste makes a better product for use on porous or uneven
walls. Paste will sour within two or three days, hence it should not be mixed
too long in advance.

390 New Houses from Old

There are also wallpapers that do not require pasting. Such papers should
be handled according to the manufacturers' directions, but as a general rule
they need only be soaked in water to prepare them for hanging.

Hanging the paper. The most difficult job in paper hanging is papering
a ceiling. A plain ceiling paper rather than a figured one does away with
the nuisance of matching. Papering should be started near the middle of
the ceiling. A straight-edged piece of lumber 3 or 4 ft. long is held in the
angle between the ceiling and the wall, and a steel square is based on it
with the blade of the square against the ceiling. A pencil line is drawn on the
plaster along the blade. Then with the piece of lumber as a guide, the pencil
line is continued across the ceiling to the opposite wall. This line will serve
as a guide for the first strip of paper. If there is a chandelier in the room,
"drop" it so that it hangs on the wires. The line should bisect, or come within
1 or 2 in. of bisecting, the point where the chandelier was attached to the
box in the ceiling. (The piece of lumber can be notched to clear the wires
when the line is being drawn.)

The ceiling paper is cut from the rolls in lengths that equal the width of
the room plus 4 in. The extra 4 in. are necessary so that the ceiling strips can
be carried down 2 in. on the walls. Place a strip face down on the pasting
table and apply the paste, brushing it from the middle of the strip toward
the edges. To avoid getting paste on the table top and from there onto the
face of the next strip of paper, the edges of the paper can be raised as the
paste is brushed on them; but beginners usually find it more convenient
to have plenty of plain paper, such as butchers' wrapping paper, on hand
to cover the pasting table. When half a strip of wallpaper has been pasted,
fold it accordion-fashion at one end of the table, paste the other half, then
fold it up on the first half. Several strips can be pasted before turning to the
hanging. Selvages — the edges which carry printing and which are meant to
be trimmed off — can be removed with shears before the paper is pasted; but
if this is done, it is difficult to apply enough paste but not too much to the
edges. Trimming after pasting is therefore better. It can be done either with
shears, using the edge of the table as a guide, or with a razor-sharp knife.

Experienced paper hangers have their own methods of hanging ceiling
paper; but the simplest way for the beginner is to hold the roll of folded
paper in one hand and the smoothing brush in the other. Walk to one end
of the scaffold, unfold 2 or 3 ft. of paper, and while holding the loose end
with the smoothing brush, place the paper so that its edge is along the
penciled line and about 2 in. of it are hanging down on the wall. Stick the
paper temporarily by pressing it against the ceiling with the brush, then
walk back along the scaffold, unfolding the paper against the line and
sticking it with a few quick strokes of the brush as you go.

Painting and Papering 391

Once the paper is out of your hands, go back over the strip, brushing
carefully so that all of the paper is pressed tightly against the ceiling. You
may brush both lengthwise and across the paper, but don't brush too vigor-
ously in the latter direction or you may push the paper out of line. Finally,
break the paper so that it fits snugly at the chandelier, and stick down the
ends on the wall. Succeeding strips of paper are hung in the same way,
except that instead of a pencil line, the edge of the last strip applied serves
as a guide. Papering of a ceiling can be started at one end in rooms where
there is no lighting fixture in the ceiling; but if the end walls of the room
are not exactly parallel, as is the case in many houses, the last strip will
require special fitting.

Joints between strips can be overlapped slightly, but it is not easy to
keep such joints straight. Butted joints, in which the edge of each strip is
placed smoothly against the edge of the preceding one, are easier to make.
After a few strips are in place, roll the seams with the seam roller. A strip
of less than standard width will probably be needed at the end of the room.
It is better to cut such strips before pasting. When determining their width,
don't overlook the 2 in. of width that will be needed for lapping down on the
wall.

If the room has a picture molding that is placed just below the junction
between the ceiling and the wall, the ceiling paper is, of course, not lapped
on the wall. Instead it is tucked in as neatly as possible above the molding
and is stuck down with a narrow implement such as a small paintbrush or a
table knife. If the picture molding is located some distance below the ceil-
ing, the space should be filled in with a wallpaper border. Before the border
is applied, the lapped edges of the ceiling paper should be trimmed to a
straight line.

The strips of paper for the walls of the room must be cut so that the
pattern will match. Patterns in wallpaper are either "straight" or "drop."
Straight patterns have matching patterns opposite each other on the edges
of the paper, but drop patterns are not alike on their opposite edges and
therefore must be matched by hanging the strips so that the pattern in one
strip adjoins the midpoint of the pattern in the adjacent strip. There is some
waste if successive strips of a drop-pattern paper are cut from the same
roll, but this can be avoided by cutting them from alternate rolls after
first cutting from one of the rolls the short length that must be discarded
to bring about the matching. The strips should be cut somewhat longer than
the height of the wall to allow for trimming at the top and bottom.

Begin hanging the paper on a principal area of the wall, such as over
the mantel if there is one in the room, or between a pair of windows, or
on the most prominent expanse of unbroken wall. If there is a large figure

392 New Houses from Old

or wide stripe in the pattern, this should be centered in the area where work
is started. The position of the first strip is marked by suspending a plumb
line from the picture molding or at the point where the wall joins the ceiling
and by making a pencil line along it. More than one area may require
centering in this way.

To apply the paper to the wall, rest half of the folded strip on the step-
ladder and place the upper half in position along the penciled line. Use
the smoothing brush to stick the paper, then unfold and stick down the
lower half. Score the paper at the baseboard and at the molding with the
blunt side of a knife, pull the ends away from the wall, and cut them off
slightly above the mark made by the knife. Work the trimmed ends smoothly
against the molding and baseboard. As on the ceiling, the edge of the first
strip serves as a guide for the next strip, and so on. Switch plates should be
removed and the paper placed under them. At corners, the edge of one strip
is lapped about ^2 ^^- ^^ the adjacent wall, and the edge of the first strip
on the adjoining wall is placed flat on the lap. Carrying a wide strip around
a corner will result in early loosening and cracking of the paper along the
line where the two walls come together. The simplest way of getting a good
fit around woodwork projections, such as the ends of window stools, is to
cut a cardboard pattern to fit the projection and to use it to mark the wall-
paper for cutting.

If a border is to be used, it is put on after the walls are papered. Paper-
ing of only a portion of the room, such as the wall over the mantel or be-
hind the bed in a bedroom, is a modern idea that produces excellent decora-
tive results. A good paper with an attractive pattern should be used and
the rest of the wall should be painted in a color that harmonizes with the
background color of the paper.

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TWENTY-FOUR

Heating

W HEN A NEW HOUSE is planned, the heating system can be designed as an
integral part of it. The location of the chimney, the size of its flue, the loca-
tion of pipes or ducts, radiators or registers, and other details can all be
worked out in advance to suit the house plan and the requirements of the
system. But in remodeling, the heating plant must be designed to fit a struc-
ture that is already built. Such things as the location of an existing chimney,
the location of partition walls, and the layout of the house become important
factors in the choice of a system. However, such restrictions do not mean
that the heating system in a remodeled house must be less satisfactory than
one in a new house. A heating plant can be designed for any remodeled
house that will perform just as well as a system planned for a new house.
It is necessary only to choose an appropriate type of system and to design
it expertly.

Types of Heating Systems

Central heating systems are classified according to the medium that is
used to conduct the heat from the furnace or boiler to the rooms of the
house.

Gravity warm air. The heat generator in this type of system is called a
furnace. The old-style round furnace was essentially a rugged cast-iron stove
with a sheet-metal casing around it. However, modern furnaces have been
modified and improved so that the resemblance to jacketed stoves has all
but disappeared in many makes. Nevertheless, the essential principle re-
mains the same. An inner shell contains the fire pot, the primary and sec-
ondary heating surfaces, the flue-pipe connection, and, if a solid fuel is
burned, the grates and ashpit. The outer shell is a sheet-metal casing, usually
double walled to prevent the escape of an excessive amount of heat and
supported so that there is a substantial air space between the two shells.

The air circulation in this system depends on the difference in weight be-
tween warm air and cool air. The air in the space between the two shells
of the furnace takes up heat from the hot inner shell. As it becomes warmer,

393

394 New Houses from Old

it expands, becomes lighter in weight, and is literally pushed upward
through the warm-air pipes and the registers by the heavier air in the
bottom of the furnace and in the cold-air return piping. In the room, the
warm air loses some of its heat, grows denser, and flows back to the furnace
through the cold-air intake. As long as there is sufficient heat in the furnace,
the cycle is continuous.

The gravity warm-air system is flexible enough to maintain comfortable
temperatures in the house over a wide range of outdoor temperatures. It
responds well to sudden demands for heat, as on cold mornings. When it is
necessary to shut the system down, nothing need be done other than to let
the fire go out and to clean the grates. Disadvantages are that sound, odors,
and dust travel easily from one part of the house to another via the piping;
filters to remove dust cannot be used in the system; strong winds often affect
the air circulation and cause cold rooms on the windward side of the house;
and there is some fire hazard from overheated pipes unless the system is
carefully installed and controlled. The leader pipes, which conduct the warm
air from the furnace to first-floor registers and to the risers for higher
floors, should be approximately equal in length and not over 12 ft. long.
The furnace must be located below any room that is to be heated. These re-
quirements limit the system to compact houses with basements and centrally
located chimneys.

Generally, the cost of a gravity warm-air system is less than that of other
types of central heating systems; but in remodeling, this factor may be
affected greatly by installation difficulties. Installation is easy in one-story
houses, but partition walls must usually be broken into in order to install
the second-floor risers in multistory houses. At one time it was standard prac-
tice to provide only one, or at most two, cold-air registers, which were
usually located on the first floor; but modern practice is to provide cold-air
intakes in all of the principal rooms, including rooms on the second and
third floors. Installation of a complete system of cold-air return ducts in a
house already built may prove very expensive.

A pipeless furnace — so-called because the air is not piped to the separate
rooms of the house — is a special type of gravity warm-air system. A pipe-
less furnace performs satisfactorily in house heating only when the house
is compact and small. Doors must be left open to obtain even a fair circula-
tion of the heated air throughout the house. The large register in the floor
of a main room of the house is an inconvenience from the viewpoint of
furniture arrangement. In spite of its faults, however, the pipeless furnace
is a satisfactory heater for small houses used as summer homes or located in
climates where heating demands are not severe.

Floor furnaces operate similarly to pipeless furnaces. The furnace unit

Heating

395

is sunk into the floor and is usually supported on the floor framing. No
basement is required, but there must be enough space under the floor to
accommodate the furnace, to provide an air space of 6 to 12 in. around it,
and to give access for servicing. Floor furnaces use gas or oil as fuel. Gas-
fired floor furnaces can be installed in second-floor rooms when the furnace
unit can be placed over a garage, utility room, or closet large enough to
provide the necessary air space around the unit. A wall furnace is a variety
of the floor furnace that is designed for installation in a wall instead of the
floor. Floor and wall furnaces have essentially the same limitations in house
heating as pipeless warm-air furnaces; but in some sections of the country,
rather large houses are heated with them by installing several in the house.
Forced warm air. The air circulates through a forced warm-air system
in the same direction as in a gravity system, but a motor-driven fan is used
to create a positive pressure that is more dependable than the pressure pro-
duced by the different densities of warm and cool air in a gravity system.

[.Cotirtcsy Chrysler Corporation.)

Fig. 24.1. — Cutaway view of a modern gas-fired forced warm-air system. The fan
and air filters are on the left. The burner is in the center.

396 New Houses from Old

Because of this pressure, the system has rather different characteristics.
High air temperatures are not necessary to create a circulation, hence in
mild weather the air that issues from the warm-air register need be only
slightly above the desired room temperature. The response when heat is
needed is even more rapid than in the gravity system. It is not necessary to
locate the furnace centrally in relation to the house. In fact, the furnace need
not be located in the basement, since the warm air can be forced to rooms
located below the furnace. Smaller ducts and registers can be used. Humidi-
fiers and dust filters can both be incorporated in the system. A typical
modern forced-air unit is illustrated in Fig. 24.1. Forced-air systems are
often advertised as winter air conditioners. They can also be used for sum-
mer air conditioning if cooling equipment is included; but the addition of
such equipment adds considerably to the cost of the system.

Forced-air systems are somewhat easier to install in remodeling, because
the location of the furnace is not critical and because the piping and the
registers can be smaller. However, if the house has more than one story,
partitions must still be broken into in order to install the risers to the floors
above the first, unless the risers can be concealed in closets or cupboards.

One-pipe steam system. In this system the heat is generated in a boiler.
House-heating boilers are usually constructed of hollow cast-iron sections
(Fig. 24.2), but boilers made entirely of steel are also on the market. The
hollow parts of a steam boiler are partly filled with water. When there is a
fire in the boiler, the heat raises the temperature of the water until part of it
is converted to steam. The steam flows by its own pressure through piping
or tubing to radiators in the rooms of the house. In the radiator, it gives
up a large part of its heat, becomes liquid again and, in one-pipe systems,
flows back to the boiler through the same pipe.

This type of system is, in most cases, relatively low in cost. It is a favorite
system in climates where winters are extremely cold because the supply of
heat to the rooms of the house can readily be increased by increasing the
steam pressure. The boiler must be located in a basement below the space
to be heated, but it is not necessary to place it at the center of the house.
The system has several objectionable characteristics. The chief of these is the
lag between a demand for heat and the delivery of steam to the radiators.
This lag is most noticeable when the weather is mild and demands for heat
are infrequent.

As the system is ordinarily installed, the radiators are equipped with vent
valves which permit cool air to flow out of them but which close when steam
reaches them. The valves remain closed as long as the radiators are filled
with steam; but when the pressure drops, the valves open again and permit
air to flow into the radiators and into the pipes that lead to the boiler. This

Heating

397

air must be expelled before steam will again flow into the radiators; conse-
quently, each time there is a demand for heat, steam pressure must be built
up to the point where it can force the air out of the pipes and the radiators.
However, if a special type of vent valve — often called a vacuum valve —
which allows air to flow out of the radiator but does not permit it to flow
in, is used, the steam flows at a lower pressure, and the lag is considerably
reduced but not entirely eliminated.

iCourtesy National Radiator Corporation.")

Fig. 24.2. — Cutaway view of a medium-sized oil-fired steam boiler with internal
heating coil for domestic hot water.

Another disadvantage of one-pipe steam systems is that the radiators must
be either completely on or completely off, since a partially opened supply
valve will restrict the return flow of the condensed water and will cause the
radiator to become waterlogged. This characteristic makes it difficult to main-
tain an even temparature in the rooms. A minor fault is that the boiler must
be drained when the system is not in use during cold weather.

A one-pipe steam system is comparatively easy to install in remodeling
if the house has a basement. Connections to first-floor radiators are made
through a single hole bored through the floor for each radiator. Pipes or
tubes to radiators on second floors are much easier to install than the large
risers and ducts necessary in a warin-air system. Often they can be placed
without cutting into the walls and with only a little cutting of floors.

398 New Houses from Old

Two-pipe steam system. In this type of heating system separate lines of
pipe are used to conduct the steam to the radiators and to conduct the water
back to the boiler. Each radiator has two connections. The connection on the
supply side is made through an adjustable valve; while on the return side
it is made through a special thermostatic trap that permits air and water
but not steam to flow into the return piping. This arrangement permits each
radiator to be adjusted to maintain the desired room temperature. Two-pipe
systems are usually designed as "vapor" systems. The radiators are not
vented into the rooms, but a special "air eliminator" located near the boiler
removes any air that gets into the system. Only a few ounces of steam pres-
sure are required to produce a flow to the radiators; consequently the system
responds rapidly. Otherwise its characteristics are the same as a one-pipe
system.

The special valves, thermostatic traps, and double lines of piping make the
initial cost of a two-pipe system higher than the cost of a one-pipe system
for the same house. Installation difficulties are increased by the second line
of piping. However, a well-designed two-pipe system is often worth its
extra cost.

Gravity hot ivater. The heat generator in hot-water heating systems is
called a boiler in spite of the fact that the water is not heated to its boiling
point. The construction of the boiler differs from that of a steam boiler only
in the lack of space at the top for the collection of steam. In a hot-water
system not only the boiler but also the pipes to and from the radiators and
the radiators as well are filled with water. The flow of water through the
system is produced by the different densities of warm and cold water.

Provision for the expansion of the water when it is heated is made in
two ways. The older method, which is still followed in some installations,
was to extend a line of pipe to some point above the topmost radiator and
to connect it to a small tank that was open to the atmosphere. An overflow
pipe was connected near the top of the tank to carry off any excess water.
A closed expansion tank, located near the boiler, is now more commonly
used. The closed tank is partly filled with water and partly filled with air.
When the water in the system expands, the air is squeezed into a smaller
space and exerts a pressure on the water that is greater in most systems than
the pressure exerted by the atmosphere. The increased pressure raises the
boiling point of the water, thus permitting the water to be heated above
212° F. without turning into steam.

Two lines of piping are required, one to conduct the heated water to the
radiators and the other to conduct the cooled water back to the boiler. The
pipes must be large in comparison to steam and forced hot-water systems.
The system responds rather slowly, but it can be regulated to maintain a

Heating 399

uniform temperature when the outdoor temperature does not fluctuate too
rapidly. The flow of water through individual radiators can be regulated,
thus making it possible to maintain different temperatures in different rooms.
The system cannot be "forced," hence it must be correctly designed if it is
to maintain comfortable temperatures in the house during very cold weather.
Larger radiators are required than in a steam system. A fairly central loca-
tion for the boiler is desirable but not absolutely essential, since the flow
of water through the system can be balanced by adjusting the supply valves
to the radiators or by the use of special valves for the purpose. The boiler
is usually placed in the basement; but if the house lacks a basement, it
can be placed in a utility room or any other location where its weight can
be supported and where the connection for the returned water at the base
of the boiler will not be higher than the lowest radiator in thr; system. If
the boiler is placed on a wooden floor, a "wet-base" boiler, in which the
water-containing sections extend below the fire pot, should be selected.

Heat cannot be supplied to rooms located below the boiler with this
system, and the entire system must be drained if the house is not occupied
during freezing weather. Installation problems in a house already built are
the same as for a two-pipe steam system, except for the fact that the some-
what larger piping necessitates more care when studs and joists are cut.

Forced hot water. As a motor-driven fan can be used in a warm-air heat-
ing system to circulate the air, a motor-driven pump (often called a cir-
culator) can be used in a hot- water heating system to circulate the water.
The addition of the pump gives the system a more rapid response and makes
it more flexible to meet fluctuating demands for heat. Since more water can
be passed through the radiators in a given period of time, both the piping
and the radiators can be smaller. Radiators located below the boiler can
be supplied. Other characteristics of the system are the same as for a gravity
hot-water system. The cost is often very little more than the cost of a gravity
system. In fact, in many installations the savings made possible by the
smaller radiators and piping are enough to pay for the pump. A modern
forced hot-water system is shown in Fig. 24.3. The circulator is at the back
of the boiler on the right-hand side. The smaller tank above the boiler is
the expansion tank, and the larger is the storage tank for the hot-water
supply. An oil burner is attached to the front of the boiler.

Forced hot-water systems can be constructed with two lines of piping;
but by special construction of the supply main or by the use of special
fittings, one main line of piping can be used both to supply the heated
water to the radiators and to conduct the cooled water back to the boiler.
However, two connections must still be made from the boiler to each
radiator; consequently, the saving in pipe and fittings is not so great as it

400

New Houses from Old

is in a one-pipe steam system over a two-pipe steam system. The structural
difficulties that will be encountered in installing a forced hot-water system
in remodeling are essentially the same as for a two-pipe steam system.

Fig. 24.3. — Modern hot-water boiler with oil burner and circulating pump.

Registers, Radiators, and Convectors

The equipment that is used to transfer heat from the heating system to the
rooms of the house also affects the problem of installation of heating systems
in remodeling.

Registers. It is standard practice to place warm-air registers in the floor
or in inside walls. Sometimes in remodeling it is easier to place the risers
to registers on floors above the first in exterior walls, especially when the
inside of an exterior wall is furred out to provide space for insulation or
plumbing pipes. In such cases, the risers should be well insulated. In
gravity warm-air systems, the warm-air registers must be located in the
floor or at the baseboard level. In forced warm-air systems, they can be
located in the floor or anywhere on the wall up to a point 1 ft. below the
ceiling. Whatever level is selected, the location should be one that will not

Heating 401

interfere with the placement of furniture. The registers should also be placed
where the warm current of air will not blow directly on persons in the room.
Registers are now available in which the vanes are shaped to cause the air
to flow sideways and downward.

Although, as was mentioned before, it is now considered better practice
to design warm-air heating systems with a separate cold-air intake in each
room or at least in most of the rooms instead of with only one or two cold-
air returns on the first floor, this method is often impracticable in remodeling
because large areas of floor and walls must usually be opened to install the
return ducts. However, if individual intakes are installed, they should be
placed in the floor or baseboard at some distance from warm-air registers,
never directly across the room from them or directly under them. If the
old method of using one or two cold-air returns for the entire house is
adopted, the intakes should be located on the first floor. It is important to
place them where the flow of cool air toward them will be as uninterrupted
as possible and where the mild draft produced will not cause discomfort
to persons in the house. They are commonly placed in the floor, usually
the floor of the main downstairs hall; but dirt and small objects find their
way down a floor register and create a fire hazard. For this reason, a location
on the wall just above the baseboard is better.

Radiators should be placed whenever possible along outer walls. They
are usually located under windows, because in this position they warm the
current of cooled air that flows downward over the glass before it can reach
the room and cause a cold draft. However, this location is not essential if
the windows are to be equipped with double glass or even with good storm
windows.

Convectors. Instead of the rather large area of cast iron that in a radiator
transfers heat to the room both by radiation and convection, the typical
convector has a multitude of thin fins that are formed of a metal of high
heat conductivity, usually copper. The fins are attached to a pipe, or pipes,
called the core, through which the steam or hot water flows. Heat is con-
ducted from the core along the fins and is transferred from them to the
room air as it flows between them. Little or no heat is emitted to the room
by direct radiation. Convectors are also made with cast-iron sections some-
what like the sections of radiators.

The modern tendency is to make the heating system inconspicuous and to
give up as little room space as possible to the heating equipment. Radiators
and convectors are often covered with metal cabinets or installed in wall
recesses. When they are installed in wall recesses, the backs of the recesses
should be insulated. Both cabinets and recesses add to the cost of installing
a heating system, and unless they are expertly designed, they may reduce

402 New Houses from Old

the rate of heat transfer to the room. Whether they are worth while will
depend both on your taste in interior decoration and on the amount of
money you wish to spend on the heating installation. Good cabinets are
not inexpensive. The cost of recesses depends somewhat on the present con-
struction of the wall and also on the other changes that must be made in it,
but it will seldom be less and often it will be more than the cost of cabinets.
Neither recesses nor cabinets will improve the performance of the heating
system.

Baseboard convectors and radiators are rather new developments in the
line of making the heating system unobtrusive and of denying it space in
the living area. Although they are not less expensive than conventional
radiators that stand in the room, they are sometimes less expensive to install
in remodeling, because it is easier to make the piping connections. Also
they save some space in the room.

Radiant heating. Radiant or panel heating is a method that is just begin-
ning to attract attention as a method of transferring heat from the heating
plant to the rooms of the house. A coil of pipe or tubing is installed in
selected areas of the wall or ceiling. Steam or warmed water flows through
the tubing and heats the panel, which in turn radiates heat to the room.
The chief advantage of the system is that the heat is distributed uniformly
over a large area. There are no local "hot spots" such as exist around
registers, radiators, or convectors. Other advantages are that no room space
is taken up by heating equipment, and since convection currents are prac-
tically absent, dirt streaks are not formed on walls and ceilings. The suit-
ability of the system in remodeling will depend in most cases on the
amount of floor or wall reconstruction that is included in the program for
the house. Radiant heating must be designed and installed by experts if it
is to give satisfaction.

Fueling Systems

Stokers. Coal-burning central heating systems can be hand-fired, but the
addition of a mechanical stoker adds greatly to the convenience of the sys-
tem. Furthermore, there is usually a considerable saving in fuel costs, both
because a lower-priced size of coal can be used and because the fuel is
burned more efficiently. Most stokers for household heating systems feed
the coal to the fire by means of a screw that revolves inside a tube. The
coal can be fed to the screw from a hopper, or it can be fed directly
from the bin. If a hopper is used, it must be filled by hand periodically.
The frequency of filling depends on the demands for heat; but most house-
hold stokers are equipped with hoppers that hold at least a twenty-four-

Heating 403

hour supply of fuel for the coldest weather. If the coal is fed directly from
the bin — and this is by far the most convenient method — the bin must be
located not too far from the furnace, and it must have a sloping bottom.
Some makes of stokers are constructed so that they automatically remove
the ashes and deposit them in covered cans; others have no provision for
automatic ash removal, and this operation must be performed by hand.

Oil burners. Oil burners used in house-heating systems can be classified
as follows: the pressure atomizing or gun type, the centrifugal atomizing
or rotary type, and the vaporizing or pot type. Before fuel oil can be
burned, it must be either broken up into fine droplets or vaporized. The
pressure atomizing type of burner breaks up the oil by forcing it under
pressure through a nozzle with a small opening; the centrifugal type accom-
plishes essentially the same thing by throwing the oil from the edge of a
rapidly rotating cup or disk; and the vaporizing type turns the oil into a
vapor by heating it before combustion takes place. Relatively large quanti-
ties of air must be mixed with the oil to burn it completely. In most makes
of burners the air is supplied by a motor-driven fan, but some makes of
vaporizing burners depend on the natural draft of the chimney.

Most oil burners are designed for intermittent operation. When heat is
needed, they go into action; and as soon as the house is heated to the
desired temperature, they shut off and the fire goes out completely. For
this reason, some way must be provided for igniting the oil when the
burner starts. A gas pilot light that remains on constantly is used for this
purpose in some installations, but ignition by electric spark is the more
common method.

There are no reliable data that can be used as bases of comparison
among these basic types of burners. Most of the domestic oil burners sold
for house-heating systems are either of the pressure atomizing or the cen-
trifugal type. On the other hand, the vaporizing type of burner predominates
in small heating units such as floor furnaces. It is the only one of the
three types that can operate without electricity. Vaporizing burners usually
burn only No. 1 fuel oil, while the other two types are usually designed to
burn No. 2 oil. Not only is No. 1 a more costly grade of oil, but also its
heat content is slightly less than the heat content of No. 2 oil. The pressure
atomizing type of burner is usually installed in front of the boiler or fur-
nace and is therefore a little more accessible when maintenance and servicing
are necessary. The centrifugal type is usually installed under the furnace
or boiler and takes up no extra space in the basement.

A tank for the storage of oil must be included in the fuel system when
oil is burned, and its cost must be counted in estimating the cost of the
system. A tank with a capacity of 275 gal. is considered adequate for

404 New Houses from Old

houses of average size that are located where oil deliveries can be made on
short notice. Larger tanks should be used if the house is situated where
roads may be blocked with snow in cold weather. Oil burners and oil
storage tanks must be installed according to the provisions of any local
code that governs them. Although tanks installed outside the house and
underground are safer, most codes permit a tank up to a capacity of 275 gal.
— and sometimes two such tanks — to be installed in the basement. A base-
ment tank should be placed at least 7 ft. from the boiler or any other
source of flame, and a greater distance is better. An enclosure made of
concrete block or some other fireproof material is an inexpensive safety
measure.

Gas. When gas is used for house heating, it is usually delivered by pipe
under sufficient pressure to operate the burner; consequently, no provision
is necessary for fuel storage, and no auxiliary power is necessary to operate
the burner. The exception is liquefied petroleum gas, which is used in some
small heating units, such as floor furnaces, and is delivered in steel cylinders.
Even this type of gas is under pressure and requires no power to operate
the burner.

Heating-system Controls

For many decades hand-fired furnaces were controlled by hand. The only
concession to the householder's convenience was a manual "regulator,"
which was mounted somewhere on the first floor and connected by chains
to the check damper and draft door of the furnace. Draft regulators that
were attached directly to steam and hot-water boilers were developed rather
early and are still used in some installations. Although this type of device is
automatic in operation, it is controlled by the temperature of the boiler rather
than by the temperature of the living quarters in the house. The next stage in
development was a draft regulator that was controlled by a thermostat
placed in the living quarters. When installed on hand-fired systems, this
device employs a small electric motor to open and close the draft doors.
Controls of all these general types are still found on heating systems in
old houses.

Various controlling systems are used on modern house-heating plants.
They differ somewhat according to the make of the system and the method
by which it is fueled. The main controlling element is usually a thermostat
that is placed in a carefully selected position in the living quarters of the
house.

In systems that are fueled by oil and gas, the thermostat controls the
operation of the burner. In addition, these systems always have a safety
device that is variously called a primary control relay or stack switch,

Heating 405

whose purpose is to shut off the burner if the fuel fails to ignite when the
burner starts or if the flame goes out after it has started. It is usually
mounted on the breeching between the furnace or boiler and the chimney,
but it can be mounted on the fire door. Automatically fueled systems also
have some types of limit control to prevent excess pressures or tempera-
tures. On hot-water boilers this control is sometimes called a high-limit
aquastat; on steam boilers it is called a pressure control; and on hot-air
furnaces, a bonnet control. Unlike the primary control, the limit control is
constructed so that it automatically starts the burner again as soon as the
temperature or pressure has returned to safe limits.

A low-water control is also included on boilers. Its purpose is to pre-
vent the operation of the burner when there is not enough water in the
boiler. An "operating aquastat" is usually included. Its function is to start
the burner often enough to keep the water in the boiler at a selected mini-
mum temperature. This control operates mainly in the summertime when
the system is not being used for house heating; but it is usually connected
so that it operates in the wintertime, also, whenever the temperature of
the water in the boiler drops below a certain level, usually 160° F.

Forced warm-air heating systems have a control that starts the circulating
fan whenever the air temperature at the top of the furnace exceeds a certain
level, usually 120°F. A fire timer is usually included with stokers. This
control causes the stoker to operate frequently, enough to keep the fire from
going out when the calls from the room thermostat are not frequent enough
to accomplish the same purpose.

A controlling system known as zone control has long been used in com-
mercial buildings and is now being promoted for use in residences. Zone
controls permit the maintenance of different temperatures in different parts
of the house.

In most cases the manufacturer of an automatic heating system furnishes
specific instructions as to the controls that are to be used with it. Many
automatic fueling systems bear a label of Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.
These should be installed with the controls recommended by that organi-
zation. Automatic controls require electrical connections that in most com-
munities must be installed to conform with the local electrical code. In
regions where there is no such code, the wiring should be done in accordance
with the National Electrical Code.

Heating Calculations

If the house is to be heated adequately without waste of fuel, the heating
system must be designed accurately. The first step in its design is to make
what heating engineers call a heat-loss calculation. This calculation provides

406 New Houses from Old

information about the quantity of heat that will be lost from the house in
cold weather. The heating plant is then designed with the capacity to supply
this quantity of heat. Many heating systems have been installed without
such a preliminary calculation. Sometimes they work satisfactorily because
the installer has made a good guess, which may have been based on con-
siderable experience with similar houses. Too often, they prove to have
insufficient capacity in cold weather; or if the contractor has covered up
his inexpertness by installing an oversized system, they waste fuel. Design
by rule of thumb is seldom a safe procedure when a heating system is to
be installed in an old house.

Heat transmission is discussed in Chapter 25 in connection with insu-
lation. Here, it will be sufficient to point out that heat is lost from a house
in two ways: it passes through the walls and windows, and it is carried
out in warm air that escapes from the house through cracks around doors
and windows and through walls. Often in cold weather the latter process
seems to work the other way. Cold air blows into the house around the
windows and doors, but you can be sure that for all the cold air that enters,
an equal volume of warm air escapes somewhere.

Terminology. Heat-loss calculations are made in terms of the British
thermal unit (B.t.u.), which is a unit of heat measurement that stands for
the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of
water one degree Fahrenheit. The symbol k indicates the degree of heat
conductivity of a material, and its definition is the quantity of heat that
will flow through a panel of the material one square foot in area and one
inch thick when the temperature difference between the opposite surfaces of
the panel is one degree Fahrenheit. C denotes conductance, and its difference
from k is that it can be applied to walls (or roofs or ceilings) of various thick-
nesses and constructed of one or more materials. It indicates the number of
B.t.u. that will flow per hour through one square foot of wall (or roof or
ceiling) for each degree Fahrenheit of temperature difference between the
inner and outer surfaces.

JJ is the symbol for transmittance or transmission. It is the same as C
except that the temperatures of the air adjacent to the wall surfaces are
used instead of the surface temperatures. This is an important distinction,
because the transmission of heat from air to a solid material is not instan-
taneous but proceeds at a definite rate that depends on the conditions.
This factor is known as film resistance, and the symbol for it is /,* fo is often
used to indicate the outside film resistance and fi to indicate the inside film
resistance; / is defined as the number of B.t.u. transmitted to, or vice versa,
a square foot of surface per hour when the temperature difference between
the adjacent air and the surface is one degree Fahrenheit. The value of / for

Heating 407

still air, as inside a room, is 1.65. In determining fo, heating engineers
assume a wind velocity of 15 mph, under which condition the value is 6.0.
R stands for resistance or resistivity. It may be the reciprocal of conductivity,
conductance, or transmission, thus 1/k, 1/C, or 1/U. C, U, k, etc., are often
referred to as coefficients of heat transmission.

The letters EDR stand for Equivalent Direct Radiation. They are used
to express the heat-generating capacity or the heat-transfer capacity in terms
of the transfer capacity of a square foot of direct steam radiation, which is
accepted as 240 B.t.u. per hour. Mbh, which stands for 1,000 B.t.u. per
hour, is used in place of EDR in some recent catalogues and heating litera-
ture. Degree-day is used chiefly in estimating fuel consumption, and it refers
to the difference in degrees for twenty-four hours between the average out-
door temperature and an indoor temperature of 65° F. Thus, if the average
outdoor temperature for a consecutive day and night is 35 °F., the twenty-
four-hour period was equivalent to 30 degree-days. Most heat-loss calcula-
tions can be made with the use of only a few of these symbols and terms;
but since all of them are found in books and articles about heating, you
may need to know them.

Making the heat-loss calculation. The heat-loss calculation should be made
room by room and the results for each room distinctly marked and kept
separately so that they can be used to determine the correct size of the
register, radiator, or convector that will be installed in the room. The
separate results are finally added together to obtain the total heat loss from
the house, which in turn determines the correct size for the furnace or
boiler. In making the calculation, it is necessary to take into account only
interior surfaces whose opposite faces are exposed to the outdoor air or to
an unheated space. Thus an exterior wall is counted, but an interior wall
that will be heated on both sides is ignored. Floors over heated basements
are ignored, but floors over unheated spaces or over the outdoor air, as
when a second-floor room overhangs a porch, must be counted. The follow-
ing measurements should be made, and the first five set down in square
feet for each room:

1. Area of walls exposed to outdoor air or unheated space (subtract areas of
windows and exterior doors).

2. Area of ceiling (if any) exposed to outdoor air or unheated space.

3. Area of floor (if any) exposed to outdoor air or unheated space.

4. Area of roof (if any).

5. Area of windows and exterior doors.

6. The volume of the room in cubic feet (obtained by multiplying the number
of square feet in the floor by the height of the ceiling) ; or

6a. The length in feet of the crack around exterior doors and windows, includ-
ing the crack in the middle of double-hung wooden windows.

408 New Houses from Old

The measurements set down under Nos. 1 to 5 are multiplied by the
respective coefficients of transmission iU) for the wall, ceiling, roof, floor,
and doors and windows. The values of U for various types of construction
are given in the Appendix. The value of U for single-glazed windows is
1.13. This can be reduced by one-half if the windows are equipped with
storm windows in cold weather. The same value is commonly used for the
total area of exterior doors, including the glass, and this again can be
reduced by one-half if the door is equipped with a storm door. The result
of each of these separate calculations is then multiplied by the difference
between what is called the inside design temperature and the outside design
temperature.

The inside design temperature is nothing more or less than the tempera-
ture you wish to maintain in your house. Seventy degrees Fahrenheit is
usual, although some homeowners prefer 72 °F. The outside design tempera-
ture must be based on local weather records. Recommended outside design
temperatures for the region can be obtained from the nearest office of the
Federal Housing Administration. Temperature records can be obtained from
the nearest branch of the Weather Bureau or from publications issued by
the Weather Bureau, which are on file in most public libraries.

The measurements under 6 (or 6a) are used to estimate the quantity
of outdoor air that will enter the room. Two methods, known respectively
as the air-change method and the crack method, are used by designers in
this part of the heat-loss calculation. The first assumes that the amount of
air that enters around the doors and windows will produce a certain num-
ber of changes of the air in the room per hour. The second is based on an
actual measurement of the cracks around the doors and windows and as-
sumes that a certain number of cubic feet of air will enter each hour
through each foot of crack. Neither method is precise, but the second method
is obviously more accurate. However, the air-change method is sufficiently
accurate for rooms with an average amount of window area, say not more
than 25 per cent of the area of the exposed wall. It should not be used for
rooms such as sunrooms, where the window area is considerably above
average. Acceptable values for the air-change method are as follows: rooms
with windows on one side, one change; two adjacent sides, one and one-half
changes; two opposite sides, two changes; three sides, two and one-half
changes; rooms 'such as entrance halls with frequently used exterior doors,
three changes.

Sufficiently accurate values for use in estimating the flow in cubic feet
per foot of crack in estimating by the crack method are as follows: well-
fitted wooden windows, 40; poorly fitted wooden windows, 110; metal-
casement windows, 40; well-fitted doors, 80; poorly fitted doors, 150. The

Heating

409

eifects of weather stripping and storm windows and doors are less pro-
nounced when they are applied to well-fitted windows or doors than when
they are applied to poorly fitted ones, because the volume of air to be cut
down is so much greater in the latter case. The values given above can be
reduced by approximately one-third in the first case and two-thirds in the
second case when either weather stripping or well-fitted storm windows or
doors are to be used; but they should not be further reduced because both
weather stripping and storm windows or doors are to be installed.

If the air-change method is used in calculating the air infiltration, the
quantity of heat that will be required to warm the outdoor air that enters
the room is found by the following computation:

r cubic contents"]
L of the room J

"the difference between
inside design temper-
ature and outside
design temperature

the number of
changes per
hour

55.2

If the crack method is used, the quantity of heat is found by the following
computation :

the number of cubic feet
estimated to enter the
. room in one hour

rthe temperature!
L difference J

55.2

Following is an actual heat-loss calculation for a second-floor bedroom,
with windows in one wall, in a house located in a region where there was a
difference of 70°F. between the outside and inside design temperatures.

1. Net area of exposed wall = 100 sq. ft. Value of U for frame
wall with clapboard siding, wood sheathing, and plaster on wood lath
on interior surface (Appendix, Table 1) = 0.25.

100 X 0.25 X 70 == 1,750

2. Area of ceiHng exposed to unheated attic = 180 sq. ft. Value
of U for frame ceiling plastered on wood lath and floored attic
(Appendix, Table 5) = 0.28.

180 X 0.28 X 70 = 3,528

3. Area of exposed floor = 0.

4. Area of roof = 0.

5. Area of single glazed windows = 20 sq. ft.
Value of U for single glass = 1.13.

20 X 1.13 X 70 = 1,582

6. Volume of the room = 1,440 cu. ft.
Air changes per hour = 1.

1,440 X 1 X 70 ^ 55.2 = 1,826

Calculated hourly heat loss = 8,686 B.t.u

410

New Houses from Old

Fig. 24.4
Dimensions and Heat-transfer Capacities of Radiators

Height, inches

Three-tube (4% in. wide)

Radiation per section, square feet
Heat- transfer capacity :

Steam, per section

Hot water, per section

33i

840
560

720

480

560

480

373

320

420
280

Four- tube (6%6 ^^- wide)

Radiation per section, square feet
Heat-transfer capacity :

Steam, per section

Hot water, per section

4,k

1,020
680

840
560

23^2

660

600

440

400

540
360

Five-tube (8 in. wide)

Radiation per section, square feet
Heat- transfer capacity :

Steam, per section

Hot water, per section

1,200
800

43;

1,040
693

31.2

840

720

560

480

640

427

Six-tube (9 13^1 6 in. wide)

Radiation per section, square feet
Heat-transfer capacity :

Steam, per section

Hot water, per section

1,440
960

1,200
800

3>2

960

840

640

560

720
480

Radiator, convector, and register sizes. There are usually two problems
in selecting radiators: one to fit the dimensions of the radiator to the space
that is available, the other to obtain adequate heat-transfer capacity. Cast-
iron radiators are manufactured in sections, and the complete radiator is
made up by combining enough sections to give it the necessary heating
capacity. The assembling is done by the manufacturer or dealer. Radiator
sections are made in a variety of standard widths and heights, some of
which are shown in Fig. 24.4. In most makes of radiators, each section
contributes 2^2 in. to the length of the radiator; thus a radiator containing
ten sections will be 25 in. long, to which length a minimum of 6 in. should

Heating 411

be added to allow space for the valves. The heat-transfer capacity per hour
of a steam radiator is taken as 240 B.t.u. per sq. ft. and of a hot-water
radiator in an open gravity system as 160 B.t.u. per sq. ft. (In closed hot-
water systems, and particularly in systems with forced circulation, higher
water temperatures can be used, consequently the radiation has a higher
heating capacity, which may run from 200 to 240 B.t.u. per sq. ft., depending
on the design of the system.) The required number of sections for the
radiator is found by multiplying the square feet of radiation in each section
by 240 for steam or 160 for hot water and dividing the product into the
calculated heat loss for the room.

As an example, a steam radiator will be selected for the room whose heat
loss is calculated on page 409. The radiator is to be fitted under a window
where the maximum height is 26 in. The desirable length is about 34 in.
Allowing 6 in. for the valves on the two ends, there are only 29 in. available
for the sections. Twelve sections would require a space 30 in. long, but
eleven sections require only 27^ in. Running down the column for sections
26 in. high in Fig. 24.4, it is quickly seen that no size smaller than the five-
tube will furnish the heat-transfer capacity that is needed. The number of
tubes refers to the number of internal passages in the section. Thus the
radiator sketched in Fig. 24.5 is made up of four-tube sections.

The dimensions of convectors are not standardized to the same extent
as the dimensions of radiators, but they are made in a variety of sizes.
The heating capacities of convectors are usually described in EDR, but in
a few catalogues they are given in Mbh.

In warm-air heating systems the capacity of the leader pipe or riser that
supplies the register is calculated instead of the dimensions of the register.
The standard method of making these calculations for gravity warm-air sys-
tems is described in the National Warm Air Heating and Air Conditioning
Association's Gravity Code and Manual. If a copy of this publication is
not available to you, the following method quoted from a publication of
the Federal Housing Administration will give satisfactory results.

1. First-story baseboard or floor registers:

T, J 1 , . . . , B.t.u. hourly heat loss

nouna-leader pipe area m square mciies = — — —^ ——j

130 — 4£, — 1.5L

2. Second-story baseboard registers:

Tj , 1 11 1 • -1 B.t.u. hourly heat loss

Kectangular wall-stack area m square inches = — — -—=, — —

284 — 13£i — oL

in which:

L = total equivalent feet of run as follows:

Each foot of leader pipe from furnace to boot = IL

412 New Houses from Old

Each foot of horizontal duct at other than basement level:
Area not less than calculated stack area = 1.5L
Area not less than calculated leader pipe area = IL

E — number of equivalent elbows as follows:

Each direction change occurring in horizontal or vertical run between fur-
nace and register box shall be considered at its equivalent E value as follows:

Each direction change greater than 45 °F. and not greater than 90 °F. =
\E

Each direction change greater than 30°F. and not greater than 45°F. =
0.5£;

Each direction change greater than 15°F. and not greater than 30°F. =
Q.2SE

Direction changes less than 15 °F. shall be disregarded.

Fig. 24.5. — Ten-section radiator.

If the pipe or riser supplies registers in two adjacent rooms, its area is
determined by the sum of the heat loss from both rooms. The dimensions

Heating 413

of ducts and registers in forced warm-air systems depends on the bonnet
temperature of the furnace and also on the volume of air that is circulated
per minute by the fan, hence they must be calculated for the particular
system. Methods of making the calculations are described in the American
Society of Ventilating Engineers' Guide and in the National Warm Air
Heating and Air Conditioning Association's Code and Manual for the Design
of Warm Air Winter Air Conditioning Systems.

Capacities of boilers and furnaces. The first step in finding the required
capacity of the boiler or furnace is to add together the calculated heat losses
of all the separate heated areas in the house. The boiler or furnace must
also have an additional capacity to supply the heat that is lost from the
pipes or ducts. A rough way of estimating this loss is to increase the calcu-
lated heat loss from the house by 25 per cent. If the boiler or furnace is to
be used to heat hot water for household use, 6,000 B.t.u. per hr. should
be allowed for this. Designers sometimes include another factor called
"pickup." This is excess capacity that permits the heat generator to raise
the temperature of the structure quickly when the system is put into oper-
ation in cold weather. The 25 per cent increase that has been mentioned
to provide for piping losses will also provide sufficient pickup in most
houses that will be occupied during cold weather. However, if the house
you are remodeling will be used as a week-end home in cold weather, the
boiler or furnace should have enough excess capacity to provide a quick
pickup. Doubling the calculated heat loss from the house will not provide
too much capacity if you wish to warm up a cold house rapidly.

The capacities or "ratings" of boilers are indicated in various ways in
catalogues. Some manufacturers describe capacities in terms of net ratings.
In such cases the manufacturer has estimated the average heat loss in the
piping but usually has not included an allowance for the heating of domestic
hot water. Sometimes the ratings are given in such terms as "actual load."
Descriptions of this kind are somewhat ambiguous, but usually they do
not include any allowances for piping losses or water heating. Some manu-
facturers state clearly the number of square feet of steam radiation and
the number of square feet of water radiation that the boiler will supply.
The essential point in selecting a boiler from a catalogue is to understand
exactly what is meant by the stated rating.

Gravity warm-air furnaces are usually rated in catalogues in terms of the
maximum number of square inches of leader pipe area that they will supply.
However, some manufacturers state ratings in terms of the net output at
the registers. Occasionally, particularly in connection with floor furnaces
and pipeless furnaces, the heating capacity will be described in terms of
the number of cubic feet of space that the furnace will heat under average

414

New Houses from Old

conditions. Net output at the registers is the most satisfactory type of rating,
since the selection of a furnace that is correctly described in these terms
is a simple matter of choosing a size whose net output matches the calcu-
lated heat loss from the house.

At one time coal-burning warm-air furnaces were rated according to their
grate area, but it has been established that the amount of heating surface
in the furnace is also an important factor in determining the output. The
heating surfaces are classified as primary or secondary. The primary sur-
face is exposed to the fire or to its light, whereas the secondary surface is
the part that receives its heat from the hot gases that result from the burning
of the fuel rather than directly from the fire.

If the secondary heating surface in the furnace has an area five times or
more than the grate area and the ratio of total heating surface to the grate
area is 15:1 or higher, the maximum net register output rating per hour
can be calculated by multiplying the total heating surface in square feet
by 1,785. If the furnace has no secondary heating surface or if the secondary
heating surface is less than five times the grate area, the Federal Housing
Administration permits the net register output rating to be calculated as
follows.

Fig. 24.6

B.t.u. per square

Ratio

B.t.u. per square

inch of grate area

156

220

167

230

177

241

188

251

198

262

209

267

* Ratio of total heating surface to grate area.

Unfortunately, information about the ratio of heating surface to grate
area and the proportions of heating surface that are primary and secondary
are not always shown in manufacturers' catalogues, but the information
can be obtained in most instances by writing directly to the manufacturer.

The ratings of forced warm-air furnaces, especially furnaces with integral
automatic fueling systems, are usually stated clearly in catalogues in terms
of net output. The number of cubic feet of air that is circulated per minute
by fan is also usually stated.

Heating 415

Capacities of fueling systems. Fuel must be burned in the boiler or fur-
nace at a rate that will produce sufficient heat to offset heat losses both from
the heating system and from the house. Losses from the heating system
itself are considerable, since they include flue losses. The maximum burning
rates of coal stokers are always stated in catalogues. Since in determining
the ratings of boilers or furnaces it is usually assumed that IY2 lb. of fuel
will be burned per square foot of grate per hour, the stoker should have
a maximum feeding rate that is not less than seven and one-half times the
grate area. The burning rate of oil burners is stated in catalogues in gallons
per hour. The required size of the burner is easily calculated by assuming
that the burning of 1 gal. of oil will generate 139,000 B.t.u., about 65 per
cent of which will be delivered to the radiators or registers. Most makes
and types of gas burners have been tested by the American Gas Association,
and official ratings have been issued for them. These ratings are stated in
catalogues and also are indicated on labels that are attached to the equip-
ment.

Installation of Heating Systems

A good heating system requires a considerable investment, but it will
keep the house warm and will operate efficiently only if it is designed for
the house and the climate and if it is correctly installed. Mistakes in either
respect are usually expensive to correct, especially if changes in piping
that has been covered up in the walls are necessary. In many localities the
installation must be made so that it conforms to the provisions of the
building code. For these reasons, both the design and installation should
be done by experienced men whenever this is possible. It is well, however,
for you to know the chief characteristics and requirements of each type of
system so that you can decide for yourself what kind of system you want.
Dealers who have local agencies for particular makes cannot be expected
to give impartial advice about other makes and types or even about those
that they sell. It is also well to know in a general way how the system you
select should be installed even though the work itself is done by a con-
tractor. If, in your case, it is not possible to have the heating system de-
signed and installed by experts, the advice of the authors is that you select
one of the simpler types of systems.

The one-pipe steam system is the easiest to install in most remodeled
houses. A simple guide to its design and installation is the Institute of
Boiler and Radiator Manufacturers' I-B-R Installation Guide: One-pipe
Steam-heating Systems for Buildings Having a Heat Loss Not Exceeding
92,640 B.t.u. per Hour. Gravity warm-air heating systems are not difficult

416 New Houses from Old

to install in one-story houses that have basements or in multistory houses
if other remodeling operations require stripping of the interior partitions.
Manufacturers of warm-air heating systems, mail-order houses, and other
dealers in warm-air heating systems will often furnish installation instruc-
tions for gravity warm-air heating systems purchased from them. Design
principles for most types of systems are also explained in the American
Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers' Guide.

Repair and Modernization of Existing Systems

An old heating system that does not heat the house adequately may be
failing because of some mechanical defect. Although each type of system
is subject to special defects, there are some defects that may be found in
several types of systems. These will be discussed first.

If the fire in a boiler or furnace that uses solid fuel does not burn well,
the flue may be too small, or it may be obstructed, or the chimney may not
be tall enough. The breeching (smoke pipe) should be the same diameter
at the point where it enters the chimney as it is where it is attached to the
boiler or furnace. If its size has been reduced between the two points, this
may indicate the trouble. Unfortunately, it usually indicates also that the
flue in the chimney is too small. Boilers and furnaces are designed for a
specific flue area, and any reduction in area will reduce the rate at which
a solid fuel can be burned in them if the burning depends on a natural
draft. Bituminous coal produces a greater volume of flue gases than anthra-
cite coal or coke; consequently a heat generator that was performing satis-
factorily with one of the latter fuels may prove to be a poor heater with
bituminous coal because the flue in the chimney is not large enough.

Clogging of a flue with soot or fly ash or with any other kind of obstruc-
tion will also reduce the draft. Sometimes the clogging or restriction is not
in the flue but in the passages for flue gases within the boiler or furnace
itself. These can be reached through a cleanout door on all domestic boilers
and most furnaces. They are easily cleaned with a scraper and wire brush.
The breeching often becomes laden with soot and fly ash. It can be cleaned
by taking it apart and dumping out the contents. Holes in the breeching and
leaks around the chimney will also reduce the draft. In fact, defects of this
kind should always be repaired whether the draft is satisfactory or not, for
they are serious fire hazards. A perforated breeching should be replaced.
Leaks where the smoke pipe enters the chimney can usually be repaired
with asbestos, which is moistened with water and plastered around the pipe.
However, if the crack is wide, it may be necessary to put a new thimble
in the flue.

Heating 417

When a burner or furnace that was burning coal or coke under natural
draft is converted to automatic fueling, the actual heating capacity of the
unit is not increased because this depends on the amount of heating surface
through which the heat of the fire is transferred to the air, steam, or water
in the heating system. However, the amount of heat produced may be in-
creased, because the burning of fuel is no longer throttled down by the
flue. A gas burner does not require so large a flue to carry off the products
of combustion as a coal-burning furnace or boiler. Coal stokers and most
domestic oil burners include a fan that produces a forced draft. Therefore,
in some cases, one way of getting more heat from a boiler or furnace that
was performing poorly because the natural draft was inadequate is to con-
vert the fueling system to an automatic one.

If you buy a house for remodeling that already has an automatic fueling
system, the system may require repair or adjustment. The contact points on
the room thermostat sometimes become dirty. They can be cleaned easily;
the case is removed and a piece of stiff paper, such as a thin calling card, is
run back and forth between them. This should be done carefully in order
not to bend the strips to which the points are attached. If the primary con-
trol is installed on the smoke pipe, it can usually be removed by loosening
one screw that is placed in the collar mounted directly on the pipe. This
screw is loosened, then the part of the control that is inside the pipe can
be withdrawn. Removing the control from the mounting will reveal either
a flat spiral spring or a U-shaped piece of flat metal. The soot is brushed
off this element with a small brush or scraped off with the end of a screw
driver. The electrodes on the centrifugal type of oil burner are usually
plainly visible inside the boiler or furnace. Soot and grease accumulate on
this type of electrode sometimes, but they can be easily removed by cleaning
the electrodes with a brush or screw driver after first shutting off the burner.
The cleaning must be done carefully in order not to disturb the position of
the electrodes. The electrodes for pressure- or gun-type burners are usually
located in front of the nozzle and cannot be reached without removing the
burner assembly. Maintenance operations on automatic controls other than
these are best done by a serviceman. If you decide to attempt them yourself,
the best procedure is first to obtain a service manual from the manufac-
turer of the burner. A general manual on oil-burner maintenance and repairs
is included under Useful Books and Pamphlets.

In many old houses with steam or hot-water heating systems, the radiators
are painted with aluminum or bronze paint. Since the rate of heat emission
of an aluminum-painted radiator is reduced by more than 10 per cent in
comparison with a radiator painted with a flat, cream-tinted paint, the room
heated by the radiator may not receive enough heat in cold weather. To

418 New Houses from Old

correct the trouble, it is necessary only to repaint the radiators (Chapter
23).

Sometimes — in fact, rather often — the house may be poorly heated in cold
weather because the capacity of the boiler or furnace is less than the heat
loss from the system plus the heat loss from the house. The way to find
out whether this is the case is to make a heat-loss calculation for the house.
If the calculation shows that the furnace or boiler is undersized, two ways
of correcting the trouble are available. One is to reduce the heat loss from the
house by the application of storm windows, insulation, and weather strip-
ping; the other is to enlarge the capacity of the heating plant. Most fur-
naces cannot be increased in capacity, and the same is true of some makes
of round boilers. However, most rectangular boilers can be increased in
capacity by adding one or more sections. Before this is undertaken, how-
ever, it should be ascertained that the flue is adequate for a larger boiler.
Adding another section requires a larger base, a larger jacket if the boiler
has a sheet-metal jacket, additional grate bars if the boiler is to be hand-
fired, and usually some changes in the steam piping above the boiler. The
operation should be in charge of an experienced heating man.

A special problem sometimes arises when a hand-fired boiler or furnace
is converted to automatic fueling. The heating capacity of the boiler or
furnace and the heating requirements of the house are found to be con-
siderably mismatched. The solution when the boiler or furnace is undersized
is indicated in the discussion above, but a different solution is needed when
the boiler or furnace is oversized — for example, if the boiler is part of a
steam system and has a capacity to supply 600 sq. ft. of radiation although
only 300 sq. ft. are connected to it. If the burner is sized for the radiation,
steam will be produced slowly, because the flame will not be large enough
to heat rapidly the excessive amount of water in the boiler. On the other
hand, if the burner is fitted to the boiler, fuel will be wasted in mild weather
because the loss of heat from the boiler will be out of proportion to the
amount of heat needed in the house.

In a steam system, the best solution is to make the fueling system larger
than is needed for the radiation but not so large as is indicated by the size
of the boiler and to convert the system to a vapor system so that the water
in the boiler will turn to steam at a lower temperature. In a hot-water sys-
tem, the best method is to fit the burner to the radiation and to add a circulat-
ing pump so that the water can be circulated regardless of its temperature.
In a warm-air system, the excess capacity of the furnace does not involve
excessive heat losses in the basement because the air that is within the fur-
nace at any one moment does not hold a large amount of heat.

Warm-ail- systems. If any trace of smoke can be seen in the air that issues

Heating 419

from the warm-air registers of this type of system or if the odor of burning
fuel is present in it, this is positive evidence that there is a leak in the inner
shell of the furnace. If the furnace is steel, the defect will probably be a
burned-out spot, and the only repair that is worth its cost is replacement
of the furnace. However, the inner shell of an old furnace is more likely
to be made of cast-iron sections joined together with cemented joints. If
there are cracks in one or more of these sections, the best method of repair
is to replace the defective sections with new ones obtained from the manu-
facturer of the furnace. If there are no visible cracks, the defect is probably
in the cemented joints. These joints can be repaired after a fashion by
digging out the old cement that can be reached and by filling the outer ring
of the joint with fresh furnace cement; but it is much better to take the
furnace down completely. All of the old cement can then be cleaned out
and the joints made again with fresh cement. When the furnace is put to-
gether again, it is important to make the joints between the two shells of
the furnace and the basement floor airtight. Warped or broken grates should
be replaced. If the furnace is steel, the fire pot will have a lining of refractory
material. This, too, sometimes needs replacement. A new lining should be
obtained from the manufacturer and installed according to his directions.

Dust and refuse should be cleaned from both the cold- and warm-air
piping before the furnace is put together again. If the warm-air pipes that
run in the open in the basement are covered with a thin layer of asbestos
paper, heat loss from the pipes into the basement can be reduced— if the
surface of the piping is still bright — -by stripping the paper off. This seems
to be an illogical procedure, but it is a fact that the bright surface of tinned
sheet metal is more effective in cutting down the heat loss from the pipes if it
is left uncovered.

An excellent way of improving the performance of a gravity warm-air
heating system is to convert it to a forced-air system. Various manufacturers
produce units for this purpose. A unit should be selected that is the right
size for the system and installed according to the manufacturer's directions.
The simplest type of conversion unit includes only a fan and its controls,
but units that include a dust filter are not much more expensive and are
worth the extra cost.

Dampers are usually present in the warm-air pipes near the furnace; but
if they are absent, dampers must be installed so that the system can be
balanced. Dampers for a forced-air heating system should have some kind
of locking device on the outside of the pipe so that the flow of air will not
change the setting of the damper.

Steam systems. The advisability of having a heating system tested before
a house is purchased has been pointed out in Chapter 4. If it has not been

420 New Houses from Old

possible to make such a test, a steam system should nevertheless be tested
before it is placed in operation or before its modernization is planned. The
first thing to test is the rehability of the water-level gauge (water glass).
In practically all installations there are two small valves (pet cocks) near
the glass — one below it and one above it. Open the bottom pet cock, then
open the valve in the line of pipe from the water supply to the boiler.
Allow water to run into the boiler. When water begins to run out of the
lower pet cock, close it and open the upper one. If the water-level gauge is
in working order, water will then rise in the glass until it reaches the level
of the top pet cock and will then flow out of the top pet cock. As soon as this
occurs, close the valve in the water-supply line and close the pet cock. If
the water does not rise in the glass, the assembly of piping that encloses
the water glass should be dismantled and cleaned. Steam boilers can be
operated temporarily without the water-level gauge by testing the water
level with the pet cocks, but it is better to have the gauge in working order.

Before starting the fire, drain enough water out of the boiler to bring
the water level in the glass to the halfway mark or a little below it. The
next thing to test is the safety valve. Start the fire, and soon after the water
in the water glass begins to surge (oscillate), raise the handle on the safety
valve. The handle should move fairly easily, and there should be a good
flow of steam from the valve. You may not see the steam, but you will hear
and feel it. If the handle will not move or if no steam comes from the valve
when the handle is lifted, put out the fire and replace the valve with a new
one before operating the boiler.

Steam gauges on house-heating boilers are often somewhat inaccurate but
are seldom completely out of order unless they are obviously smashed or
broken. Soon after the water in the glass begins to surge, the steam gauge
should indicate pressure. Run the pressure up to about 2 lb. and inspect the
boiler for steam leaks. Steam will begin to escape from a bad leak when
only a few ounces of pressure have been generated, and it will escape from
a small leak with enough force to be heard clearly when the pressure reg-
isters in pounds. Don't mistake the sound of water boiling in the boiler for
a steam leak. Escaping steam produces a distinct hiss.

A leaky boiler should be repaired only by taking it down and replacing
the defective section. No attempt should be made to repair the leak by intro-
ducing into the boiler water some compound that is claimed to stop boiler
leaks. Special tools are required to dismantle a boiler, and the job is not
one that can be done by many amateurs. In most cases when the boiler is
found to be defective, it will be advisable to replace the entire boiler, par-
ticularly if an oil burner or other type of automatic fueling system is to
be installed.

Heating 421

Old steam systems often hammer when the heat is first turned on. If the
hammer originates in a radiator, the radiator may be sloped away from
the supply valve due to improper installation or settlement of the floor.
The remedy for this condition is to place small pieces of wood or metal
under the legs of the radiator at the opposite end to the supply valve. The
other possible defect is a worn disk or gasket in the valve, which permits
some steam to enter the radiator when the valve is closed and causes the
radiator to fill with water. The cure is to replace the disk or gasket with
a new one. Steam-supply valves often develop leaks around the stem be-
cause the stem packing has deteriorated. This condition is easily corrected
by unscrewing the small nut under the wheel, removing the old packing,
and replacing it with new. Suitable packing material can be obtained at
hardware stores and from plumbing-supply dealers.

Hammers sometimes originate in the steam piping. The usual cause is
sagging of the pipe so that it no longer slopes toward the boiler, and it can
be cured by realigning the pipe and supporting it so that it has a uniform
pitch toward the boiler. Sometimes hammers in the piping come from in-
adequately sized pipe or fittings, and this cause should be suspected if the
piping is properly sloped. The only remedy in such a case is to install new
pipe or fittings of proper size.

Old steam systems are often poorly balanced — that is, certain radiators
in the house will heat up long before steam enters the others. If the steam
main in the basement is divided into two or more branches, there should
be a vent valve on the end of each branch just beyond the point where the
branch is connected to a vertical riser. If the radiators that are supplied
from one branch remain cold while the radiators attached to the other branch
become warm, the trouble is probably with the vent valve on the branch.
However, if only some of the radiators attached to a branch are slow to
heat, the fault is either in the piping to these radiators or in the vent valves
attached to them. Usually it is in the vent valves, and adjustable vent valves
on the radiators should correct the condition. Sometimes adjustable valves
on the radiators that heat slowly are enough. In other cases adjustable
valves on all the radiators in the system are necessary. If the vent valve on
the radiator drips water or permits warm steam to escape, it must usually
be replaced. However, vent valves can sometimes be reconditioned by soak-
ing them for a day or two in clear (not leaded) gasoline.

Radiators that have developed leaks between the sections can only be
repaired by dealers and heating contractors who have the special tools that
are necessary for taking the sections apart. Leaks at the coupling between
the supply valve and the radiator usually occur because the radiator has been
shifted on the floor, and they can be corrected by loosening the connection.

422 New Houses from Old

lining up the radiator, then tightening the joint by turning the nut with a
large flat-nosed wrench.

The performance of a one-pipe steam system can often be improved by
converting it into a vacuum or vapor system. This is done by placing vent
valves of the vacuum type on the radiators and by replacing the conven-
tional packed supply valves with packless valves. All the vent valves and
all the supply valves in the system must be changed. A partial replacement
will be wasted money, because the system will not operate as a vapor system
unless it is airtight. One-pipe steam systems can be converted to two-pipe
systems, but usually the expense of such a change is not justified in re-
modeling. The second line of piping that is necessary to the radiators can-
not be installed without opening up the floors and sometimes also the walls.
The new radiator valves and thermostatic traps that are required in a two-
pipe system are an additional expense.

Hot-water systems. A leaky hot-water boiler will betray itself by a visible
water leak either inside or outside the boiler. A leak inside will produce a
wet, rusty streak that can easily be seen when there is no fire in the boiler.
A leak outside will cause water to appear at the base of the boiler at the
bottom of the sheet-metal jacket. Leaky hot-water boilers should be re-
paired by replacing the defective section or sections.

Since the water flows through a hot-water radiator, slight changes in the
level of the radiator usually cause no trouble. When a hot-water radiator
fails to heat up, the trouble is usually an accumulation of air at the top
of the radiator. The air is let out by opening the small air-vent valve on the
radiator and by keeping it open until water begins to run out. The radiator
supply valves may develop leaks, and leaks also sometimes occur between
the radiator sections and at the connections between the radiator and the
piping. The remedies for these leaks have been described under Steam
systems.

The usual change that is made in remodeling an old hot-water system is
to substitute a closed expansion tank for the old open tank. The closed tank
is installed near the boiler and above it. It is connected to the warm side
of the piping usually by means of a tee inserted in one of the hot-water
supply lines. It must also be connected to the water-supply system through
an automatic supply valve. The old tank is removed, and the line to it is
sealed off with a cap or a plug. Another change that is often made is to
place a motor-driven pump in the return line. This converts the system from
gravity circulation to forced circulation and gives the system all the ad-
vantages of the forced hot-water heating system.

Combination, or mixed, systems. Since it is difficult to properly humidify
the air when the house is heated by a hot-water system or by a steam system

Heating 423

and impossible to incorporate air infiltration in these heating systems, some
homeowners go to the expense of removing the old heating system entirely
and substituting a forced-air system for it. Although there is nothing to be
said against doing this if you want a forced warm-air system and can stand
the expense of installing it, it is quite feasible to convert partially either a
steam or hot-water system to forced air. A forced-air system that includes
filters, a humidifier, and a fan is designed for the first floor of the house.
The radiators are removed from the first floor, and their equivalent in radia-
tion is enclosed in a cabinet in the basement that is placed so that the filtered
air will pass through it. The heat is supplied to the unit by the original
boiler. Rooms on floors above the first still get their heat from radiators in
the rooms. Although such a system should be designed for the specific house,
neither its design nor its installation is difficult, and it has the great advan-
tage of providing the main living quarters in the house with filtered air.
Another advantage is that it removes radiators from the living space.

Ventilation

Inasmuch as it is almost impossible to build the average house so that
the air that infiltrates through the walls and around the doors and windows
in an hour is less than the volume of air in the house at any moment, the
ventilation of dwelling houses is not a problem, and usually no means of
ventilating with outside air in cold weather is provided. The chief exception
occurs in forced warm-air heating systems. Some designers incorporate in
these systems a duct that takes some air from the outside. The duct is fitted
with a damper so that the intake of outside air can be suspended in severe
weather or at any other time that the homeowner does not wish to buy the
fuel to heat outdoor air. Ventilation of the kitchen is a separate matter that
has been discussed in Chapter 8.

Ventilation of the house is needed more in the summertime and even then
is needed chiefly for cooling. An excellent and relatively inexpensive kind
of summer cooling and ventilation is an attic fan. In hot weather the win-
dows and doors of the house are kept closed during the day, but at night
the windows are opened and the fan is switched on. The fan draws the
heated air out of the house, and the air is replaced with cool night air drawn
in through the windows. Such an arrangement has one disadvantage. If the
house is located along a dusty road or busy street, much dust is drawn into
the house along with the air. A recently introduced air filter designed to be
placed in windows appears to offer an inexpensive solution to this problem.

Humidity. Humidity in houses is something that is discussed widely, but
there is very little accurate information on its relation to health. It is cer-

424 New Houses from Old

tain that the amount of moisture in the air of the average house with a
central heating system is extremely low in cold weather. The reason for this
is that the air in the house at a given instant is really outdoor air which
has been introduced only a short time before and which has been warmed
up by the heating system. When the temperature of air is raised, its relative
humidity goes down and its capacity to take up moisture increases. What-
ever its effect on human health, dry air undoubtedly causes joints in floor-
ing and other woodwork to open up. On the other hand, if much moisture
is added to the air, single-glazed windows will fog over in cold weather.

Probably a relative humidity of between 40 and 60 per cent is desirable
in houses, but this degree is difficult to obtain. It requires the continuous
evaporation of fairly large amounts of water. The most effective method of
humidification is considered to be the spraying of water into a moving
current of air. Spraying devices are used in many forced warm-air systems,
but none has been developed for house steam or hot-water systems. Humid-
ifiers of other types have been developed for use in connection with radiators
and convectors in steam and hot-water systems, but few of them evaporate
very much water. If they must be filled by hand, they are usually neglected
after a short time. On the other hand, if they are filled automatically from
the radiator, the cost of the individual controlling device is considerable
and there are other disadvantages. A number of humidifying devices that are
entirely separate from the heating system have been introduced, but none
has yet become widely established as standard household equipment. If your
house has a forced warm-air heating system with a well-designed humidifier,
make use of it. Otherwise, until there is more conclusive evidence that a
high relative humidity is essential to health, the obtaining of it in your
remodeled house should probably not concern you much unless you have
strong personal feelings on the subject.

Air conditioning. Air conditioning is undoubtedly desirable in excessively
hot weather, but the cost of the equipment and the expense of operating it
rule it out for most homeowners. Satisfactory air conditioning is expensive
in most regions because mere cooling of the air is not enough to produce
comfort. When warm air that contains an average amount of water vapor
is cooled, its relative humidity goes up and its capacity for more moisture
goes down. Perspiration will not evaporate at the usual rate from the skins
of persons moving about in it. In spite of the lower temperature, there is no
feeling of comfort, because the skin becomes clammy and clothes get damp.
In order to produce a comfortable humidity, some water vapor must be
removed from the air. This can be done by cooling the air to a temperature
at which some of the water vapor will condense, but this temperature is so
low under usual weather conditions that the cooled air must then be heated.

Heating 425

Water vapor can also be removed by passing the air through a chemical
compound, such as silica gel, that has a high affinity for water vapor; but
eventually the chemical becomes saturated with water and must be heated
to regenerate it. Either method requires elaborate equipment and considerable
operating cost.

However, in dry climates, satisfactory summer air conditioning can be
produced with inexpensive equipment. As has already been mentioned, one
method is to include cooling coils in a forced warm-air heating system and
to use the fan to circulate the cooled air through the house. If your house
is located in a dry region, it may not even be necessary to use refrigeration.
Sometimes sufficient cooling can be obtained by flowing cool water from a
well or spring through the cooling coils. Another cooling device popular in
one section of the country is a large box filled with excelsior or wood
shavings and arranged so that a trickle of water flows through the shavings.
Air is forced through the damp shavings by means of an electric fan. Since
the air is excessively dry, it takes up moisture as it passes through the
box. The heat required for the evaporation is taken from the air itself, and
the result of the process is a flow of cool air at a comfortable degree of
relative humidity.

In humid climates, one- or two-unit air conditioners in individual rooms
may be worth their cost. These units do not dehumidify the air, but they
do produce a degree of comfort, particularly on dry, hot days. Compared
with air-conditioning systems large enough for average houses in humid
regions, they are inexpensive.

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TWENTY-FIVE

Insulation

Insulation of the house is often included in the remodeling program.
The usual motive is to reduce the annual expenditure for fuel, and insula-
tion is very effective in this respect. Insulation also makes the house more
comfortable. The human body is a radiator of heat and, like other radiators,
loses heat to cooler objects in its vicinity. If the surroundings are not greatly
lower in temperature, the loss goes on at a moderate rate without discom-
fort; but if there is a considerable difference, the loss is more rapid and a
sensation of cold is felt. Insulation in the exterior walls prevents their in-
side surfaces from becoming much colder than the air in the room. In hot
weather insulation hinders the passage of heat through the walls into the
house; hence, if the air in the house is kept cool by air conditioning or by
ventilating the house only at night when the outdoor air is cool, an in-
sulated house is more comfortable in hot weather, also.

Heat Transmission

Some knowledge of how heat escapes from the house — or enters it — ■
will be helpful in understanding insulation. Heat is transferred in three
ways — by conduction, convection, and radiation. Conduction is best illus-
trated by the passage of heat along a metal rod. If one end of a copper rod is
held in a flame, the opposite end quickly becomes too hot to hold. Convec-
tion can be seen at work in the current of air that issues from a hot-air
register. In this type of heat transfer the heat is carried from one place
to another in gases that move bodily. Radiation can be illustrated by the
warmth that is felt in front of an electric heater. Here the heat passes from
an emitting body to a receiving body in the form of rays. Heat passes
through house walls in all three ways — by conduction through the building
materials of which they are composed, by convection in air currents, and
by radiation that passes through them in the form of heat rays.

Heat transmission by conduction can be reduced by incorporating in the
walls and in roofs or top-floor ceilings materials that are poor heat con-

426

Insulation 427

ductors. Loss by convection can be reduced by any method that reduces
the rate of air infiltration through the walls. The value of tight sheathing
and sheathing paper in this respect has been discussed in Chapter 19. A high
proportion of the air that passes through the walls does so through cracks
around doorframes and window frames and around doors and windows.
Calking of the cracks around the frames practically eliminates air leaks at
these points. Leaks around the doors and windows themselves can be held
down by proper fitting and by the use of weather stripping and by storm
windows and doors. Transmission by radiation can be minimized by the
use of bright-surfaced materials such as metal foils or sheets. Insulating
materials often operate to reduce heat transmission in more than one way. If
insulating material whose primary quality is that it is a poor conductor of
heat is properly installed in a wall, it will also make the wall tighter from
the standpoint of air infiltration. Filling the spaces in the wall or even
reducing them in size also reduces the tendency for convection currents to
form within the wall and to transfer heat from its warm side to its cold side.

Effectiveness of Insulating Methods

The relative effectiveness of the various insulating methods is of interest
in planning and selecting insulation. Unfortunately, every house is an in-
dividual case, and so many factors, such as the climate of the region, the
construction of the house, and its exposure to sun and wind, must be taken
into account that general statements as to possible fuel savings must neces-
sarily be somewhat inaccurate. Nevertheless, approximations are often used
in illustrating the fuel saving that can be achieved by insulation. In an
average house of frame construction, 25 per cent of the heat loss in cold
weather occurs through the roof or top-floor ceiling, 25 per cent through the
exterior walls, 25 per cent by conduction through the window glass, and
25 per cent by air infiltration through the roof or ceiling, through exterior
walls, and through cracks around doors and windows.

The heat loss through the roof or top-floor ceiling and through the ex-
terior walls can be reduced 50 per cent by a 1-in. thickness of fibrous insulat-
ing material, 64 per cent by a 2-in. thickness, and 70 per cent by a 3-in. thick-
ness. Storm windows or double-glazed windows will reduce the heat loss
through the windows by about 50 per cent. The amount that can be saved by
reduction of air infiltration is more difficult to estimate, because the rate of
air infiltration depends not only on the tightness of the walls but also on the
strength of the wind. However, in many old houses air infiltration can be
reduced to a small fraction of its former rate by the use of sheathing paper
or tight sheathing, by calking cracks, by good fitting of windows and doors,

428 New Houses from Old

and by the installation of weather stripping or well-fitted storm windows.
Often in remodeling, it is not feasible to insulate the house completely;
but even partial insulation is worth its cost. For example, the application
of 3 in. of fill insulation between the joists of an attic ceiling will reduce
the total heat loss from the house by about 17.5 per cent. If, in addition,
storm windows are installed, they will further reduce the total heat loss
by 12.5 per cent. Thus, the annual consumption of fuel can be reduced
approximately 30 per cent by two relatively inexpensive operations.

Insulating Materials

The forms and trade-marked varieties of insulating materials are very
numerous. Close's Building Insulation lists about 200, and new ones are
introduced frequently. However, they can be classified into two general
types — -materials that are poor conductors of heat and materials that are
good reflectors of heat.

Materials of the first type usually owe their low heat-conducting qualities
to the fact that they contain considerable quantities of air that is surrounded
or trapped so that it cannot flow and thereby transfer heat by convection.
Mineral materials, such as asbestos, expanded vermiculite, mineral wool,
gypsum, and spun glass; animal fibers, such as hog hair and cattle hair;
and plant fibers, such as bagasse, cornstalks, kapok, cotton, cork, and wood
are all used in one or more makes of house insulation. These materials are
marketed in a variety of forms — loose fibers, pellets, batts, "quilts," and
blankets, which do not become structural members of the house frame when
they are installed, and sheathing board, plaster lath, tile board, and wall-
board, which are installed as structural members.

Reflective insulation is made in the form of metal foil and as steel sheets
that are coated with a corrosion-resistant alloy of lead and tin. The foils
are supplied in crimped form and also as flat sheets. Also, they are some-
times applied to one or both surfaces of insulating material of another
type, as, for example, gypsum board surfaced with aluminum foil.

The effectiveness of insulating materials is indicated in technical litera-
ture in terms of their conductivity (symbol k) for heat or their resistance
(symbol R) to its passage. These and other terms in connection with heat
transmission are defined in Chapter 24.

The k values of most loose or pellet types of insulation run from 0.27 to
about 0.30. An exception is expanded vermiculite, for which various tests
have indicated k values of 0.38 to 0.48, depending on the size of the granules.
The k values of batt and blanket types of insulation also run from 0.27 to
0.30. When insulating materials are compressed, there is usually some loss

Insulation 429

in their insulating efficiencies, hence it is not surprising that the k values
for insulating board (including sheathing, fiberboard lath, and wallboard)
run about 0.33. K cannot be used in connection with the reflective types of
insulation, since they are metals with high heat conductivities; but the R
values for walls in which they are installed with correctly proportioned air
spaces indicate that their insulating efficiency is about two-thirds the effi-
ciency of batt or blanket insulation. However, the relative effectiveness of
these types depends on the method of installation and also on whether the
surfaces are vertical or horizontal. Exact k and R values for many of the
types and brands of insulating materials on the market are regularly sup-
plied in the latest annual edition of the Guide of the American Society of
Heating and Ventilating Engineers.

It is important to remember that the lower the k value, the higher the
efficiency of the material as an insulator, but also that k is determined for
a 1-in. thickness, whereas many of the insulating boards are less than 1 in.
thick, and many other types of insulation are several inches thick. K cannot
be added, but its reciprocal R can be. If a material has a k value of 0.25,
a 2-in. thickness will have an R value of 8.0, but a ^2 -in. thickness will
have an R value of only 2. Thus the same degree of insulation can be
obtained by installing a somewhat greater thickness of a material with a
relatively high k value as with a smaller thickness of a material with a
lower k.

Vapor Barriers

The air inside a house always contains a considerable amount of water
in the form of invisible vapor. The capacity of air for water vapor varies
with its temperature — the warmer the air, the more water vapor it can hold;
the colder it is, the less it can hold. The moisture that forms on the inside
of single-glazed windows in cold weather gets there because the warm air
of the house is cooled when it comes in contact with the glass, and some
of the vapor in it condenses as water. The same thing sometimes hap-
pens in exterior walls; that is, the warm air of the house with its load of
vapor passes outward through the wall, becomes cooled when it reaches the
inside face of the outer wall covering, and drops part of its moisture. If
the process goes on long enough, water may accumulate in the wall in
sufficient quantity to saturate the insulation and damage it, the wall finish,
and possibly even the house frame.

The only safeguard that is adequate is the installation of a vapor barrier
on the inner side of the wall. A vapor barrier is a film or layer of material
that has a high degree of resistance to the passage of water vapor. Among

430

New Houses from Old

the good vapor barriers are asphalt-saturated paper with a glazed surface,
duplex paper with a coating of asphalt between the sheets, kraft paper
with one side coated with glazed asphalt, linoleum, plywood made with
waterproof (but not water-resistant) adhesives, special paints manufactured
for vapor sealing, and aluminum paint. Further information about vapor
barriers, including the formulas of paints found to be good for vapor
sealing, is given in Rowley, and others. Methods of Moisture Control and
Their Application to Building Construction.

Installation of Insulation

Insulation of the roof. The roof is not usually insulated unless the space
directly underneath is to be used for living quarters. The reason for this is
that less material is required and that the operation is considerably simpler
if "cap" insulation is applied between the joists in the attic floor.

A sloping roof can be insulated from the underside with batt or blanket
insulation or with insulation board applied to the roof rafters. There should
be an air space between the insulation and the underside of the roof cover-
ing, and a vapor barrier should always be placed on the inward side of

ROOF — r
SHEATHING

ATTIC CEILING

^ NAILS THROUGH TABS HERE-^

Fig. 25.1. — Roof insulation details. A. Insulation board employed as sheathing. B.
Insulation board applied to underside of rafters. C, D. Insulating batts or blankets
applied between rafters.

Insulation

431

the insulation to guard against the development of a "weeping" roof (Chap-
ter 18) . Blanket types of insulation can be fastened to the underside of roof
rafters by either of the methods shown in Fig. 25.1. An insulating wall-
board with a metal foil back is a very good type of insulation for the
underside of sloping roofs. It is applied with the metal foil toward the
top of the roof. If the roof must be re-covered, insulating sheathing board
can be applied to the top side of the rafters as a base for the new roof cover.
Flat roofs and decks can be insulated either with pellet or loose fiber
insulation when they are built or by application of an insulation board
between the sheathing and the roof covering. Insulation of a flat roof already
built and on which the roof covering is in good condition is best done by
blowing the insulation in under the sheathing. This type of job must be
done by a contractor because special machinery is required.

CEILING

VAPOR BARRIER APPLIED HERE OR HERE

Fig. 25.2.— Two methods of installing cap insulation in unfloored attic.

Insulation of the attic. Pellet-type insulation is applied between unfloored
joists in the attic by pouring it directly from the bags in which it is shipped.
Loose insulation of the fibrous type (Fig. 25.2) is placed between the joists
by hand. If the attic has a good finish floor, pellets or loose fibers can be
blown in under the flooring by a contractor who has the equipment for
the job. Batt and blanket insulation are also good types for use between
the joists in an unfloored attic if the joists have standard spacing. Batts
or blankets can be laid between the joists without nailing. If they contain
an integral vapor barrier, the barrier is placed downward next to the ceiling
below.

Insulation of walls. Side walls of frame houses can be insulated by blow-
ing loose insulation into them. This method, however, introduces a hazard
of moisture condensation within the walls, unless a vapor barrier is installed
on the inner side of the wall. Many instances can be cited of houses in
which insulation was applied this way without a vapor barrier and no
trouble developed; nevertheless, the danger exists. Any remodeling oper-
ation that requires opening of the side walls, such as the application of

432

New Houses from Old

new sheathing or siding on the exterior or new plaster or other wall sur-
facing on the interior, makes it possible to install any form of insulating
materials that could be used if the house were being built new. The appli-
cation of insulating sheathing boards and wallboards has been described
in other parts of this book. Methods of installing other types of insulating
materials in frame walls are diagramed in Fig. 25.3. These are typical
methods. Some makes of insulating materials are designed for application

INTERIOR

FIBERS

WALL

COVER

PELLETS

STUD

CRINKLED
METAL
FOIL

BATT OR
BLANKET

CLEAT

INDICATES GOOD POSITIONS FOR VAPOR BARRIER.
THE CONSTRUCTION SHOWN IN B REQUIRES NO
VAPOR BARRIER.

Fig. 25.3. — Methods of applying insulation to frame walls.

in special ways. Information about their application should always be ob-
tained from the manufacturer.

Loose insulation is sometimes put in side walls by hand as the wall cov-
ering is applied; for example, if gypsum-board lath is used on the interior
of the wall, the insulating material is placed by hand behind each panel of
lath as the wall is covered. Careful packing is necessary in order to fill the
wall compactly enough to prevent excessive settling of the insulation. On
the other hand, if the insulation is packed too tightly, it will lose some of

Insulation

433

its insulating value. Because of the wide variation in packing characteristics
of different kinds of loose insulation, it is best to obtain specific directions
from the manufacturer when a wall is to be filled this way.

Insulation is applied only to the inside of solid-masonry house walls, and
the method and type of material will depend largely on the depth of the
furring. If the wall has deep furring so that the air space is 3 or 4 in., a
blanket type of insulation can be applied between the furring in the same
manner as it is applied to a frame wall. However, the blankets should not
touch the masonry. The best way to insulate a shallow furred masonry wall
is to apply a rigid type of insulation to the furring as shown in Fig. 25.4.
The rigid insulation can be a fiberboard plaster lath, a gypsum board with
metal-foil backing, or an insulating wallboard.

MASONRY WALL

* INDICATES POSITIONS
FOR VAPOR BARRIER

FURRING
INSULATION BOARD

Fig. 25.4. — Insulation applied to a solid masonry wall.

Fig. 25.5. — Floor insulation. If the subfloor can be removed, the insulation may be
applied as shown in Fig. 25.2.

Insulation of floors. It is not necessary to insulate floors over heated
spaces to prevent heat loss through them; but if the floor is over the heating
plant, insulation is sometimes necessary to protect the finish flooring (Chap-
ter 22). It is often desirable to insulate a floor the underside of which is

434

New Houses from Old

exposed to cold air, such as the floor of a bedroom that is built over a
porch or a garage. A satisfactory method of insulating such a floor is to
use insulating board between the subfloor and the finish floor (Fig. 25.5).
Floors can also be effectively insulated by applying insulating material to
their undersides — for example, between the joists or on the joists in a
basement.

Basement floors constructed by any of the methods shown in Fig. 22.16
usually require no insulation. However, concrete floors that are laid on the
earth often should be insulated at least at their edges if they are in a part
of the house that is used for regular living quarters. Such floors have been
studied by the National Bureau of Standards, and the results of the study
have been published in its Measurements of Heat Losses from Slab Floors.

BATT TYPE INSULATION-

FiG. 25.6. — Staggered studs or joists to reduce sound transmission through a wall
or ceiling. The layer of insulating material causes a further reduction but is not
effective alone.

Sound Insulation

The best kind of sound insulation comes from planning the house so that
noisy areas are isolated as much as possible from rooms in which quiet is
desired. It is not advisable, for example, to locate the children's playroom
directly over the living room or to locate the bathroom next to the dining
room. However, such undesirable locations are sometimes unavoidable, and
then it becomes necessary to construct walls and ceilings so that the trans-
mission of sound from one room to another is reduced as much as possible.
It can never be eliminated entirely, because sound passes not only in a
direct route from the point of origin to the point where it is heard but also
in indirect routes through the building frame.

The most effective method of reducing sound transmission that is appli-
cable to house ceilings and partitions is to use separate joists or studs for
the opposite surfaces of the ceiling or the wall (Fig. 25.6). Sound trans-
mission can be further reduced by placing in the wall a soft and spongy
material that will absorb some of the sound. Batt-type insulation applied
as shown is a suitable material, or a spongy insulation board can be used.
Filling the spaces between the joists or studs in a wall or ceiling that has
only a single system of them to which both surfaces are attached is not

Insulation 435

effective. Openings such as windows and doors in a wall will permit so
much sound to pass from one side of the wall to the other that sound insu-
lation is not worth while in such a wall unless the opening can be eliminated.
In general, heavy partitions do not transmit sound so readily as lightly
constructed ones. Sound transmission through a conventional type of wood
partition can be reduced by filling the spaces in the partition with dry sand;
but unfortunately more weight is introduced than can be safely tolerated
unless the partition is based on the earth or unless its support has been
designed by an architect or engineer.

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TWENTY-SIX

Plumbing

_L RACTICALLY ALL CITIES have plumbing codes. In some states there is a
state code that may apply throughout the state or only to installations in
houses located outside the jurisdiction of city codes. Plumbing that is in-
stalled in remodeling must comply with the provisions of any code that
applies to the region in which the house is located. Even in rural regions
where no code applies plumbing should be installed according to good
standards.

The typical plumbing system (Fig. 26.1) in a house has two principal
components — the water-supply piping and the drainage system. The water-
supply part can be further broken down into the cold-water pipes and the
hot-water pipes. The drainage system has five elements — the soil stack, which
runs vertically from below the first floor of the house upwards through the
roof; the drainage pipes, which run from the fixtures to the soil stack;
the traps; the venting system; and the sewer.

Water-supply Piping

Galvanized steel pipe, galvanized wrought-iron pipe, brass pipe, copper
pipe, and copper tubing are all used for water piping in house plumbing
systems; but only galvanized steel pipe and copper tubing will be discussed,
since they are the most commonly used materials. Galvanized steel pipe is
relatively inexpensive, but it is subject to rust and to eventual stoppage.
Copper tubing is not subject to rust. It is often the most suitable material
for the water-supply piping in remodeling not only because of its durability
but also because the flexible type of tubing is easier to place in existing
walls. Hard-drawn (inflexible) copper tubing can be used in conjunction
with soft copper tubing. In remodeling, the hard-drawn type is usually in-
stalled where the pipe lines run in the open, as in the basement.

Typical fittings for galvanized steel water pipe are shown in Fig. 26.2.
Fittings of this type are threaded, hence threads must be cut on the ends
of the pipe in order to make the joints. The necessary tools are a pipe vise,

436

Plumbing

437

Fig. 26.1. — Typical house-plumbing system.

438

New Houses from Old

a pipe cutter, a pipe threader, and a pipe reamer. Pipe wrenches are neces-
sary for putting the pipe and the fittings together. The joints between
threaded pipes and fittings are made tight by putting pipe-thread compound
on the male threads (the threads on the pipe), then running the pipe thread
tightly into the fitting.

Typical fittings for copper tubing are shown in Fig. 26.3. There are two
methods of making the joints in copper tubing. The first employs flared
fittings. The nut of the fitting is placed on the tube. The end of the tube is
then flared out with a special tool, after which the fitting is run together
and made tight with a wrench. The second method is to put the tubing
together with sweated fittings. To make a sweated joint, the end of the
tube is cut off square and cleaned. It is pushed into the fitting, and the
fitting is heated with the flame from an alcohol torch or gasoline blow-
torch. A wire of solder is then applied to the joint, and the heat causes the
solder to melt and to flow between the tubing and the walls of the fitting.
Sweated joints that are made with good workmanship are very strong.

CLOSE NIPPLE

SHORT NIPPLE

90° ELBOW

45° ELBOW

LONG NIPPLE

COUPLING

PLUG STREET ELBOW

UNION REDUCER BUSHING CAP TEE

Fig. 26.2. — Common steel-pipe fittings. Those shown are for supply piping. Drain-
age fittings have identical names.

Plumbing

439

k_^^®

440

New Houses from Old

Special fittings are available for the joining of copper tubing to threaded
pipe when such a connection is necessary.

The sizes of water pipe or tubing are indicated in inches and fractions
of an inch. These sizes are closely related to the internal diameter but are
not an exact expression of it; hence they are called nominal sizes.

Fig. 26.4

Sizes in Inches for Supply Pipes to Fixtures

Bathtubs
Lavatories
Water-closet tanks
Water-c'loset flush valves

72
3^

Sinks

Laundry tubs
Domestic water heaters
Sill cocks

Correct sizing of the water-supply pipes is important if there is to be a
good flow at the fixtures. The sizes recommended in Fig. 26.4 are for aver-
age city water pressures. Where water pressures are less than 25 lb. per
sq. in., as in some rural and village homes, it is advisable to increase them
by one pipe size. In most houses, a %-in. pipe or tube is large enough for
the main water-supply pipe that supplies the branches to the fixtures. How-
ever, if a flush valve is used instead of a tank on the water closet, it is
necessary to run a 1-in. pipe all the way to it.

Drainage-system Piping

Although galvanized steel pipe and hard-drawn copper tubing are some-
times used, cast-iron soil pipe is the usual material for the soil stack and
for branches to water closets. It is manufactured in three weights known
as standard, heavy, and extra heavy. The medium or heavy weight is
adequate for all parts of the drainage system that are above ground, but
the extra-heavy weight should be used in the portion that is buried in the
soil. The more common types of soil-pipe fittings are illustrated in Fig. 26.5.
The fittings with threaded branches are used for connections to galvanized
steel drains and vents. The size of pipe most commonly used for the soil
stacks in houses is 4 in. The National Bureau of Standards has determined
that pipe of 3-in. diameter is adequate for single-family houses; but in
many localities the 4-in. size is still specified by the plumbing code.

Joints in cast-iron soil piping (Fig. 26.6) are made with oakum and
lead. Oakum is wound around the spigot and carefully packed into the
joint until the joint is filled to about 1% in. of the top. There are two
ways of applying the lead. Professional plumbers usually melt pig lead

Plumbing

441

QUARTER BEND

Y BRANCH (SINGLE
OR DOUBLE)

QUARTER BEND WITH
HEEL INLET

■<

EIGHTH BEND

T Y, OR COMB. Y AND ^8
BEND (SINGLE OR DOUBLE)

SANITARY T

TAPPED
SANITARY T

T BRANCH

TAPPED T
BRANCH

THESE TWO FITTINGS
USED FOR VENTS OR
CLEANOUTS. NOT SUIT-
ABLE FOR WASTE IN-
LETS.

OFFSET

REDUCER

n FERRULE WITH
' BRASS CLEAN-
OUT PLUG.

Fig. 26.5. — Commonly used cast-iron soil-pipe fittings.

LONG
INCREASER,

and pour it into the joint while it is molten. An asbestos "runner" or a
clay dam is used to hold the lead in horizontal joints until it solidifies.
The lead shrinks upon cooling, hence it is necessary to tamp it with a
calking iron in order to make a tight joint. The tamping must be done
carefully to avoid splitting the cast-iron hub. The handling of hot lead is
a hazardous operation. Equally good joints can be made with lead wool
where they are permitted by the plumbing code. A rope of lead wool is
placed in the joint on top of the oakum and is compacted with an iron.
Additional strands are put in and compacted in the same way until the
joint is solidly filled. Threaded joints between cast-iron soil pipe and gal-
vanized pipe are made the same as joints in other threaded pipe.

442

New Houses from Old

Galvanized steel piping is used for the drains from fixture traps to the
soil stack. It is important to use only drainage fittings in these lines, because
ordinary water-pipe fittings don't have the proper recess for the pipe ends
nor the proper pitch.

OAKUM

MOLTEN LEAD

ASBESTOS
JOINT RUNNER

Fig. 26.6. — A. Lead and oakum joint in cast-iron soil pipe. B. Pouring molten lead
into horizontal joint (viewed from top side of pipe run).

WATER-, ^
LEVEL ^ t

DEPTH

OF SEAL

CLEAN OUT

ff\l

FLOOR LINE

"FLOOR-

)□

Fig. 26.7. — Traps. A. P-trap used with lavatories and sinks. Cross section shows
basic construction of traps. B. S-trap, now illegal in many communities. C. Drum
trap, formerly widely used for bathtubs but seldom installed now. D. Combination
floor drain and trap. E. Running trap required in house sewer by some plumbing
codes. Best omitted when not required by law. Dotted lines show optional vent
connections.

Plumbing 443

Traps. The purpose of a trap is to hold a small amount of water in a
drainage line so that gases from the sewer will not enter the house. The
depth of the seal (Fig. 26.7) should be not less than 2 in. and not greater
than 4 in. Most traps now manufactured meet this requirement, but some
that do not meet it are found in many old plumbing systems. Traps are
necessary in connection with sinks, lavatories, bathtubs, stall showers, and
floor drains. They are placed as close to the fixture as possible. Modern
lavatory and sink traps are usually made of chromium-plated brass tubing;
but if the trap will not be exposed to view, the plating may be omitted.

Vents. The venting system serves two purposes. The main vent, which is
formed by extending the top of the soil stack through the roof, carries off
gases and odors from the sewer and discharges them outside the house.
The back vent equalizes air pressures on both sides of the water in traps
so that this water will not be siphoned out. The method of venting plumbing
fixtures and the sizes of vents are usually specified by plumbing codes.
When plumbing is installed in houses where there is no plumbing code,
vents can safely be omitted if the length of the drainpipe from the fixture
trap is not greater than forty-eight diameters of the drainpipe and if the
fall (slope) of the drain from the point where it connects to the trap to the
point where it connects to the soil stack is not more than one diameter.
Fixture drains that do not meet these specifications can be vented as shown
in Fig. 26.8. A long drain is sometimes necessary for the kitchen sink. It
is not necessary to run the vent from the kitchen sink back to the main soil
stack if the distance is great. Instead, the vent can be independently ex-
tended upward through the house roof. Galvanized piping is usually em-
ployed for vents. The l/^o'in. size is adequate for most house plumbing
installations; but if a vent of this size is extended through the roof, it
should be increased to at least a 2-in. diameter to guard against stoppage
by frost.

Installation of Plumbing

The first step in the installation of a plumbing system is to obtain what
are called the rough-in dimensions of the fixtures. In most cases, these will
be furnished on request by the dealer from whom you plan to purchase the
fixtures. The rough-in dimensions should then be used to check the pre-
liminary plans for the fixture locations. After the fixture locations have
been definitely determined, the location of the soil stack should be planned
so that the drainpipes from the fixtures to the stack can be kept as short
as possible. Once the location of the soil stack has been established, the
sewer system (Chapter 28) is built.

444

New Houses from Old

tmir '^TAPPED T BRANCH M-*— ^

TY WITH TAPPED
SIDE INLET

< SOIL STACK

UNIONS

DRAINAGE T

SINK TRAP

DRAINAGE T
WITH CLEANOUT

Fig. 26.8. — Method of venting a hoiise-pltimbing installation. Drainage pipes are
shaded; vent pipes, unshaded.

After the sewer is constructed, the soil stack (Figs. 26.8-26.9) is built.
Branch fittings must be placed in the stack at the exact points where they will
be needed. The closet bend (Fig. 26.13) should be calked into its fitting
before the fitting is installed in the stack.

Plumbing

445

FOUNDATION

-SOIL STACK

CAST IRON
PIPE

A.B.C-TYPICAL FITTINGS AT BASE OF SOIL STACK.

D.E.F- PIPING SUPPORTS.

G -INSTALLATION OF NEW FITTING IN EXISTING LINE.

H,l -CALKED JOINTS FOR DRAIN CONNECTIONS.

J -EXAMPLE OF USE OF SOIL PIPE OFFSET IN REMODELING.

WIPED JOINT
CALKED JOINT

Fig. 26.9. — Soil-stack details.

Cast-iron soil pipe is easily cut. The line of the cut is first marked with
chalk around the outside of the pipe. The pipe is then placed on a piece
of 2-in. by 4-in. lumber and is lightly scored with a cold chisel along the
chalk line. The pipe is rolled along the 2-by-4, and the scoring is made
gradually deeper. After two or three circuits of the pipe with the chisel,
the pipe will break off evenly. A flashing (Chapter 18) should be installed
on the end of the stack that passes through the roof.

446

New Houses from Old

The next operation is the installation of the drains from the fixtures to
the stack and the vents if these are required. The fixtures themselves are
then placed and are connected to the drains. Typical drainage connections
for a lavatory or sink are shown in Fig. 26.10; for a bathtub, Fig. 26.11;
and for a water closet, Fig. 26.13. Fixtures that hang on the wall are sup-
ported on a metal bracket that should be solidly nailed to the wall studs.
The bracket should come with the fixture. Such brackets are not standard-

FAUCET BODY
FIXTURE TOP
JAM NUT —
SHANK

SUPPLY
UlNE

A SHAPED , PLATED
SUPPLY TUBE IS
SOMETIMES USED
INSTEAD.

GROUND
JOINT UNION

FAUCET BODY

SUPPLY
LINE

WOODEN WEDGE (DRIVEN
LIGHTLY BETWEEN FIXTURE
BACK AND SUPPLY PIPE)

OVERFLOW
CHANNEL

RUBBER
GASKET

SINK BOTTOM
PUTTY HERE

THREADED RING
(JAM NUT)

EXTERNALLY
THREADED RING

POP-UP DISC

INTERNALLY
THREADED RING

Fig. 26.10.— Details of supply and drainage connections for lavatories and sinfs.
A. For horizontally mounted faucets. B. For vertically mounted faucets (see Figs.
8.6 and 9.12 for views of faucets). C. Lavatory drainage connection before as-
sembling. D. Basket-strainer drainage fixture (assembled) for sink. E. Pop-up
waste assembly for lavatory. Often used in place of rubber-stopper type of fixture
shown in C. A to C are exploded views; D to E are assembled views.

Plumbing 447

ized; however, the method by which the fixture is attached to the bracket
is always obvious.

The water closet is connected to the soil stack by means of a fitting
called a closet bend. The stack end of the bend is calked into the soil-pipe
fitting in the same way as any other soil-pipe joint is made, but the metnod
of making the joint at the other end depends on the type of bend. The
details of various types of bends are shown in Fig. 26.13. Before the water-
closet bowl is installed, the recesses in the base of the bowl are filled with
putty. About 3 lb. of putty are required. If the floor is bare wood, the
area that will be covered by the bowl should be painted with linseed oil.
If the bend is of a type that requires a gasket, the gasket is then placed

Fig. 26.11. — Bathtub supply and drain connections. A. Installation with separate valves
for tub and shower and with plug waste. B. View at right angle to A. C, D. Typical old-
style installation with concealed standing waste. The shower was added some time after
the tub was installed. E. Economical and convenient arrangement of shower and tub
valves. F. Modern pop-up waste. G. Modern concealed waste. The latter two diagrams
show general principles rather than exact details of mechanisms now on the market.

448

New Houses from Old

around the closet horn. The closet horn is placed in the end of the bend
and the bolts or screws that extend through the base of the bowl are tight-
ened gradually and evenly so that the bowl is drawn down to an even
bearing on the floor. Water closets with integral tanks are rather awkward
to handle at this stage of the installation. In order to obtain an even bed-
ding of putty, the water closet should be rocked back and forth and from
side to side several times. Drawing down the screws or nuts will cause
putty to be squeezed out around the base of the bowl. This putty should
be cut off and cleaned up before it hardens.

If a test of the drainage system is required by your plumbing code, it
can be made at any time after the system is complete. This test is made

COT

SOFT RUBBER
WASHER

TANK BOTTOM
JAM NUT

GROUND JOINT
UNION

SOFT RUBBER
WASHER

TANK BOTTOM

I.,

rV-n '-'

ALTERNATIVE
CONNECTION
TO WALL. USE
ANGLE VALVE
SHOWN IN FIG.
26.I0A

SHUT- OFF
VALVE

►-»- FLOOR PLATE

A- SUPPLY CONNECTION FOR WATER CLOSET FLUSH TANK

B- DISCHARGE CONNECTION BETWEEN WALL -HUNG TANK AND BOWL

Fig. 26.12.

by sealing off the system and by introducing air into it under pressure.
The test requires special apparatus that is owned by plumbing inspectors
and plumbers.

The final operation is to build the cold- and hot-water supply lines and
to connect them to the fixtures. These lines should be laid out so that when
necessary they can be drained easily. Typical water-supply connections for

Plumbing • 449

various fixtures are shown in Figs. 26.10 to 26.12. Before the joints in the
water-supply piping are covered up, the water should be turned into them
and the lines inspected for leaks.

Concealment of Plumbing Pipes

The concealment of plumbing pipes is a problem when a house is re-
modeled, particularly when it is desirable to keep the cutting of walls and
floors to a minimum. The soil stack presents the most difficult problem
because of its width. A 4-in. soil stack cannot be installed in the conven-
tional frame wall built with 2-in. by 4-in. studs, but a 3-in. soil stack can
be placed in such a wall. However, the wall must be opened in order to
place it. Both the drainage system and the water-supply pipes are fre-
quently concealed in existing houses by furring out the walls and furring
down ceilings. Closets and corner cupboards are also convenient devices for
concealment. In some houses the piping can be run behind a corner cup-
board on the first floor and concealed in a closet on the second floor. In
masonry houses where the exterior walls are thicker than 12 in., chases can
sometimes be cut in the masonry for the piping. The method of concealment
must be worked out individually for each case, but there are practically no
houses in which plumbing pipes cannot be installed without disfiguring the
house.

Finding room for the closet bend is sometimes a troublesome problem
because the floor under the new bathroom is too shallow to accommodate
the bend. If the joists under the floor run so that the bend can be placed
between them, it is better to fur down the ceiling below to make room for
the bend. The entire ceiling can, of course, be lowered or only a portion
of it. If the joists run in the wrong direction, the best procedure is to raise
the bathroom floor by installing new joists crosswise of the old ones,
although this may require the building of a step down to the floor level of
the adjoining room. Deep cutting of existing joists should be avoided when
the bend is placed, but it is seldom that both the closet bend and the soil
stack can be installed in an old house without some cutting of joists and
studs. Reinforcement of cut joists and studs in order to avoid weakening
them is discussed in Chapter 17.

In some cases the soil pipe can be adequately installed and concealed
without cutting existing walls, but the supply pipes must for one reason
or another be run in the walls. Supply pipes can be installed in walls of
most houses without opening them. Flexible copper tubing can be fished

450

New Houses from Old

? c

S ct,

^ -B

t—<

U>H

Plumbing

451

A-C INSTALLATION OF FLEXIBLE COPPER TUBING IN PARTITION. HOLES ARE
BORED ALONG LINES X-X. WIRE, OR STEEL SNAKE, IS FISHED THROUGH HOLES
AND USED TO DRAW ROPE ROPE IS THEN USED TO DRAW TUBING. D.-EXTERIOR
WALL, PLATFORM FRAME. E.- EXTERIOR WALL, BRACED FRAME. F- TOP OF
PARTITION RUNNING PARALLEL TO CEILING JOISTS. G.-BASE OF BEARING
PARTITION, BRACED FRAME, D AND G MAY BE BORED ALONG UNES X-X
BORING OF E AND F NOT PRACTICAL. FURR OUT INSTEAD.

Fig. 26.14.

452

New Houses from Old

downward through a standard frame wall, as shown in Fig. 26.14. The
installation of threaded steel pipe inside a wall is a little more difficult,
but it can be done by the method illustrated in Fig. 26.15.

PLACING RIGID
PIPE INSIDE
PARTITION.
LENGTH a IS
DRAWN UPWARD.
LENGTH b IS
COUPLED TO IT
AND THE JOINT
MADE TIGHT THE
SAME STEPS ARE
REPEATED WITH
LENGTH c. THE
ELBOW AT TH E
TOP OF THE RUN
MAY BE SCREWED
ON BY TURNING
THE WHOLE RUN
OF PIPE FROM
THE BASEMENT.

Fk;. 26.15.

Modernization of Old Plumbing

The most common operation other than simple repairs in modernizing
old plumbing is the replacement of corroded water-supply piping. In many
cases, the old piping follows a rather tortuous route through the walls and
floors. Replacement is made simpler in such cases by not attempting to

Plumbing 453

'S3

follow the lines of the old pipe with the new piping. Instead, the old piping
is disconnected from the fixtures and is also disconnected from the water
supply in the basement. The basement end of the piping should be left
open, but the fixture ends should be sealed. New tubing, or pipes, is then
fished through the walls and connected to the fixtures and the water supply.

The flooring is sometimes decayed under water closets that have been in
place for some years. To remedy this condition, the screws that hold the
water closet to the floor are removed and the bowl is lifted from the floor.
The decayed flooring is then cut out. The joint between the closet bend and
the soil-stack branch should be inspected; but if there is no indication of
a leak at this point, it need not be disturbed. New flooring boards are then
installed in place of the decayed boards. The old putty is dug out of the
base of the closet bowl and is replaced with new. The closet bowl is then
installed in the same manner as a new bowl.

If you wish to replace the old fixtures with modern ones, some expense
can usually be avoided by installing the new fixtures in approximately the
same locations. On the other hand, if the original bathroom is inconve-
niently arranged, it may be better to spend the extra money in order to
obtain a satisfactory bathroom. Two sets of before-and-after pictures of
remodeled bathrooms are shown in Chapter 9. Note that in one case the
fixtures were relocated to advantage, while in the other case they were
installed in the same positions.

The lead bathtub and lavatory piping shown in Fig. 9.1 are typical of
the plumbing in many old houses. Obviously the only way to modernize
such equipment is to replace it with new. Many old bathtubs were equipped
with a drum type of trap. This kind of trap was usually closed with a
circular metal plate that was installed flush with the bathroom floor. Drum
traps are seldom used at the present time, but they function satisfactorily
if the water seal in them is between 2 and 4 in. in depth. Such a trap is
usually removed when a bathroom is completely modernized, but there is
no point in replacing it beforehand.

Cross Connections

Authorities on plumbing and on public health have established beyond
any doubt that pollution of the water in water-supply piping can occur
through faulty construction of plumbing fixtures. Among these fixtures are
lavatories in which the water is conveyed from the supply pipes to the bowl
via an internal channel in the bowl and bathtubs in which the water enters
the tub through a nozzle installed below the rim of the tub. Combination
faucets, which have cistern water on one side and drinking water on the

454

New Houses from Old

other, are another source of contamination. Plumbing fixtures such as these
are encountered frequently in existing houses. When they are found, they
should be removed and modern fixtures installed in place of them.

To avoid contamination of the water supply, water faucets and nozzles
should be placed so that their openings are above the highest possible water
level in the fixture that they supply. This level should be taken as the
point at which water will overflow the fixture edge if the drain is stopped.
The distance between the faucet or nozzle tip and the flood rim of the
fixture is called the air gap (Fig. 9.12). Fig. 26.16, reproduced from the
National Bureau of Standards' Plumbing Manual, gives recommended mini-
mum heights for air gaps.

Fig. 26. 1 6

Minimum air gap, inches

Fixture and fitting
(1) •

For ordi-
nary condi-
tions (see
notes 1
and 2)
(2)

For spout
near wall
(see notes
1 and 2)

(3)

Lavatory supplies with effective opening not greater than
H in.

Sink, laundry tray, and bath (gooseneck) faucets with ef-
fective opening not greater than ^ in.

Overrim bath fillers with effective opening not greater than
1 in.

1
2

Note 1 — Spout near wall — If any vertical wall extending to or above the horizontal
plane of the spout opening is closer to the nearest inside wall of the spout opening than
four times the diameter of the effective opening, the air gap shall be as specified above
for spout near wall (column 3).

Note 2 — Spout set at an angle — Should the plane of the end of the spout be at an
angle to the surface of the water, the mean gap is to be taken as the basis for measure-
ment, except for drinking-fountain nozzles, in which case the gap to the lowest point
of the nozzle opening shall be taken.

Hot-water Supply

In houses with modern, automatically fueled heating systems, the hot
water is usually heated by the heating plant. The heating coil can be in-
stalled in the boiler. Such a coil can be seen on the left-hand side of the
boiler illustrated in Fig. 24.2. Coils of this type may be large enough so

Plumbing • 455

that no water-storage tank is required. This kind of coil can also be used
in conjunction with a hot-water storage tank. Another type of system uses
a separate heat exchanger which is mounted outside the boiler but which
is connected to it so that the boiler water flows through it. This type is
often installed when a hand-fired heating plant is converted to automatic
fueling. Hot water can also be heated by a coil or water back inserted in
the fire pot of warm-air furnaces. In rural homes the hot water is often
heated by means of a hot-water back or heating coil installed adjacent to
the fire in the kitchen range.

On the other hand, the hot-water heating system is often quite inde-
pendent of the house-heating system. Separate hot-water heating systems
are currently available for the following types of fuels: electricity; natural,
manufactured, and bottled gas; oil; coal.

Electric water heaters of the storage type are undoubtedly the most satis-
factory from the viewpoint of convenience. Their only disadvantage is the
cost of current; but in many communities a special low rate for water
heating is offered by utility companies. Sometimes in remodeling, it is best
to install an electric hot-water heater near the plumbing fixtures. When
this system is employed, only one water-supply line is needed to the
kitchen and bathroom, but adequate electric wiring must be run to the
water heater. The idea is also applicable to houses where existing hot-water
supply pipes are corroded, but the cold-water lines are still in good condition.

Well-built electric water heaters of the storage type should not be con-
fused with the small, inexpensive type of electric heater that is installed at
the sink or bathroom fixture and designed to heat the water as it is drawn.
Heaters of this type are seldom satisfactory.

Gas water heaters are the next most convenient type. A gas water heater
usually employs a storage tank, but there are also instantaneous types of
heaters that heat the water as it is drawn. At one time the use of gas water
heaters was limited to houses located where natural or manufactured gas
was available from public-utility companies; but bottled gas, which is
delivered to the house in steel pressure tanks, has extended its usefulness
to rural homes. Water heaters that use kerosene or other petroleum oil are
used mainly in the country where electricity or gas is not available or
where electric rates are too high for water heating. Coal-burning water
heaters usually consist of a storage tank together with a small "pot" stove
that is designed to burn anthracite or other suitable coal.

The most common type of hot-water storage tank — the "range boiler" —
is shown in Fig. 26.17. It can be placed either vertically or horizontally.
The cold-water tube is a special pipe that comes with the tank. It has a
small hole drilled in its side. This hole is placed at the top side of the boiler.

456

New Houses from Old

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Plumbing 457

whether the tank stands vertically or horizontally. A relief valve, built so
that it will open in response to both excess pressure and excess tempera-
ture, should be installed in connection with every hot-water storage tank.
Omitting it may result in a serious explosion. Valves and union-type coup-
lings should be installed as shown so that the tank can easily be discon-
nected when repairs are necessary. Some types of hot-water tanks, especially
copper tanks, are supplied with the fittings already attached; for others they
must be purchased separately. Water heaters in which the heating element
and the tank are combined in one unit are usually arranged so that the only
connections necessary are those to the cold-water supply and those to the
hot-water pipe. However, even these connections should be made so that
the unit can easily be detached when the need arises.

As every homeowner knows, the life of a galvanized steel hot-water tank
is always limited; and under some conditions it is short indeed. Such tanks
are now available with vitreous enamel linings (also called glass linings)
that considerably prolong their life. However, the purchase of a tank made
entirely of a corrosion-resistant metal, such as copper or Monel metal
(an alloy of copper and nickel), is the best safeguard against the necessity
for early replacement of the tank.

Hot-water tanks are manufactured for various working pressures. These
pressures are stated in catalogues and usually on the tank. Some communities
require the use only of tanks that are guaranteed for a certain minimum
working pressure. Whether your installation must meet such a requirement
or not, it is better to purchase a tank that is guaranteed for a compara-
tively high pressure, because such tanks, being heavier, are not only safer
but may last longer. When an expensive unit heater such as an electric
water heater is selected, it is especially important to buy one that has a
heavy, durable tank, for the failure of the tank in such a heater often
requires replacement of the entire heater.

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TWENTY-SEVEN

Water Supply

Water supply is no problem if the house you are planning to remodel
is ''^cated where water can be obtained from a public water system, but it
is an important factor in successful remodeling if water from a municipal
system is not available. The fact that a farm or village house has been lived
in for many generations does not necessarily indicate that its water supply
is either adequate or pure. The adequacy of the water supply and its purity
should both be carefully investigated as one of the first steps in the remodel-
ing of any farm or village home dependent on an individual source of water.

Quantity and Quality

Tests for quantity. The amount of water needed per day varies from
family to family, but 50 gal. per day for each person is a safe figure to
use in estimating water needs. This amount will take care of bathing, cook-
ing, dish washing, and laundry. If livestock are to be kept, they, also, will
require water. The daily amounts for larger animals are as follows: milking
cows, 25 to 30 gal. each; other cattle, 12 gal. each; horses, 12 gal. each.
Figures for other kinds of livestock are available in publications issued by
the agricultural departments of the national and state governments.

Measuring the flow of a spring is a relatively simple matter. You simply
take a pail of known capacity, say 3 gal., and run the full flow of the
spring into it, while you keep track of the time required to fill the pail.
If the pail fills in six minutes, the spring is flowing at the rate of 30 gal.
per hr. and will produce 360 gal. of water in twenty-four hours. Testing
a well is somewhat more difficult. A fairly reliable method for a dug well
is to remove enough of the well cover to enable the water to be seen. A white
or light-colored pole marked off in feet is then inserted into the water, and
the well is pumped rapidly until the level of the water drops 1 ft. After
that, the pump is worked at just the right rate to keep the water level 1 ft.
below normal, and the water that is pumped out is measured, while the
time is recorded. Since lowering the water level will cause water to flow

458

Water Supply 459

into the well at an abnormal rate for a while, the test should be continued
for at least an hour. The water level cannot be seen in driven wells or
drilled wells, hence the only reliable way of testing these wells is to pump
them constantly for a long time, say five to ten hours. Tests of springs and
wells should always be carried out in relatively dry weather when surface
streams such as brooks or rivers in the neighborhood are at an average or
low level. Any test carried out in wet weather or when winter snow is
melting will give misleading results.

Tests for quality. Tests for pollution are best made in laboratories. The
health department in practically every state will make such tests for resi-
dents or property owners in the state free of charge or for a nominal charge.
If the water for your house flows through lead pipe, as it may if it c^ ^es
from a spring, a test for lead should also be made. Usually this test will
be made in the same laboratory if you request it.

Springs, wells, and cisterns are the common types of water supply for
farmhouses and houses in villages that lack public water systems. Although
ponds, lakes, and streams are frequently used to supply water for city water
systems, homeowners can seldom afford the treatment plants and attention
that are necessary to render such water safe for drinking. However, if water
from no other source is available, pond and stream water can be made
safe by proper filtering. The subject is well covered from the homeowner's
viewpoint in Winston's A Surface Water Treatment for the Rural Home.

Springs

Springs are formed when rain water in passing downward through soil
and porous rock encounters a layer of rock through which it cannot pass
readily. Crevasses and folds in the rock layer serve to concentrate the water
into small underground streams. The typical spring is a stream of water
flowing out of a hillside where the impervious layer of rock outcrops.
Equally good springs fail to come to the surface but ooze out under the
soil where the impervious rock comes close to the surface. Although the
water in some springs percolates through many hundreds of feet of soil
before coming to the surface, the water in many springs has filtered through
only a relatively thin layer of soil and rock; consequently, the water they
produce is essentially surface water. Because of this, it is important that
the area drained by the spring be free of possible sources of pollution.
There should be neither house nor barn on the land located uphill from
a spring if the spring water is to be used for drinking.

Probably you will no sooner start your search for a new spring than the

460

New Houses from Old

neighborhood waterfinder will offer his services. The methods of water-
finders vary somewhat from one community to another; but usually the
waterfinder, or dowser, walks over the land with a forked stick grasped in
his two hands. The stick is supposed to dip downward when the dowser
carries it over a hidden vein of water. The controversy over dowsing has
raged for centuries. The best advice on the matter that the authors of this
book can give you is to use more scientific methods to find your new spring.

CONCRETE COVER
REINFORCED WITH
N0.9 STEEL WIRES
SPACED 4" ON CE
TER BOTH WAYS

=^^5^

DITCH TO
DIVERT SUR-
FACE WATER

WALLS 4-IN. THICK ,
I/4-IN, REINFORCING
RODS SPACED 6-IN.
ON CENTER BOTH WAYS

ORIGINAL

GROUND

LEVEL

Fig. 27.1. — Good type of spring basin (also called spring curb).

Springs are found by looking for them with your eyes and by probing
for them with pick and shovel. Some springs flow out from hillsides as
streams of some size. Others are indicated by water trickles or by damp
spots that persist in dry weather. Small brooks often have their beginnings
in springs. Also, if the volume of a flowing brook increases perceptibly at
a certain spot, although no tributary brook flows into it there, that spot will
be a good place to look for a spring. A place where ferns and grasses grow
green and high in dry weather often covers the underground outlet of a
spring. In hilly regions, springs seeping underground sometimes create
small isolated swamps or marshy ravines. In such cases, the place to look
is not in the marsh, but uphill from it along the hillsides, for although

Water Supply

461

water can be obtained by constructing a spring basin in a swamp, it is
seldom fit to drink. A spring that flows out under the soil on a hillside will
sometimes flow underground for a considerable distance before it bubbles
out beside a surface stream or oozes out in a marsh; but some digging along
the hillside will, in most cases, discover the point where the water issues
from the rock, or a strata of gravelly soil so saturated with water that you
need look no farther.

POINT

OF SEEPAGE

TIGHT JOINTS

FROM HERE TO

spring; OPEN JOINTS ABOVE

Fig. 27.2. — Increasing the capacity of a spring by tile lines laid so as to intercept
small seepages. Note how lines are run in relation to contour of slope. B shows
good method of laying tile adjacent to seepage points.

Often all that needs to be done to an old farm spring is to replace the
wooden collecting basin with one (Fig. 27.1) that will keep out surface
water. In other cases, the water in the old spring will be free of pollution
but will be inadequate in quantity. In many cases, the flow of the old spring

462

New Houses from Old

cannot be increased; but in some cases, a little time and effort spent on
reconstruction will increase the flow considerably. Sometimes digging the
spring basin a few feet deeper will do the trick. If the basin is located in
gravelly soil, a line or two of tile (Fig. 27.2) laid a few feet underground
above the spring and graded to drain into it will often increase the flow.
Unglazed clay tile is a good material to use for such a line. The joints are
left open, but they should be wrapped with strips of canvas or felt to
keep out silt.

FILL WITH CLEAN
SOIL FREE OF

PIPE COLLAR
SET IN

STONE WALLS

NEW CONCRETE ^'
LINING

MIN. THICKNESS
ABOUT 6 IN.
POUR IN CON-
TINUOUS OPE-
RATION .

A I : 2l/4 : 3 MIX
IS RECOMMEN-
DED .

Fig. 27.3. — Two methods of improving old dug wells. The small platform shown in
B is suitable only when the pump is located away from the well.

Wells

Dug wells. The typical dug well is a hole or shaft, usually from 3 to 5 ft.
in diameter, extending from the ground surface down to a few feet below
the water table. Large stones laid up without mortar are commonly used for
the portion of the well lining that is below the water. Farm wells are often
lined with stones all the way up, but such construction has two serious faults.
It permits rain water that falls on the soil around the well to carry pollu-
tion into the well water; and the stone walls have a tendency to cave in.

Water Supply

463

especially in regions with cold winters where freezing soil and water press
them inward.

Pollution that reaches the water table will travel long distances under-
ground. A rule of thumb frequently used in well construction is that
sources of pollution such as barnyards and privies should be located at
least 100 ft. downgrade from the well. This rule is better than none at all,
but it is far from adequate protection, since the slope of the underground
rock layers is not always the same as the soil above them.

MAKE JOINTS ABOVE
WATER LINE WITH
PORTLAND CEMENT
MORTAR.

CONCRETE

CAST IRON
MANHOLE COVER

CLEAN GRAVEL-

CONCRETE TILE

A. METHOD OF DEEPENING AND LINING A DUG
WELL. THE LINING OF CONCRETE TILE WITH
SURROUNDING CONCRETE IS CONTINUED TO THE
TOP AND THE TOP IS FINISHED WITH A PLAT-
FORM AS SHOWN IN FIG. 27.3A.
B.ALTERNATIVE METHOD IN WHICH A SLAB OF CON-
CRETE IS POURED TO SEAL THE WELL ABOVE THE
HIGH WATER LEVEL. ABOVE THE SLAB, THE
EXCAVATION IS FILLED WITH CLEAN SOIL,
PREFERABLY CLAY.

Fig. 27.4.

If the old well is satisfactorily located from the standpoint of safety and
if a test shows its water to be free of pollution, often all that needs to be
done to it is to install a new lining above the water line and to protect the
well at the top with grading and a cover that will remain permanently
watertight (Fig. 27.3).

Sometimes the problem is not one of pollution but of inadequacy. Often
a well that goes dry periodically can be cured of the fault by digging it
deeper. This operation is best carried out when the water level in the well
is low. The method diagramed in Fig. 27.4 is one that can be applied to
most dug wells. A concrete tile is lowered to the bottom of the well, and
the soil is excavated inside it, using a shovel or posthole digger. When the
top of the first tile has sunk about two-thirds of the depth of tile, a second

464

New Houses from Old

tile is lowered on top of it. The process is repeated until the desired depth
is reached. Joints in the tile above the water level should be carefully filled
with a 1:2 or 1:3 Portland-cement mortar. A gasoline-powered pump of
the type used by contractors for draining excavations should be used to
pump the water out of the well while the excavating is going on.

•r?s?^^^>

A SIMPLY CONSTRUCTED
TYPE OF SHORING FOR USE
IN DIGGING OF SHALLOW
WELLS. IN MOST SOILS THE
PLANKS CAN BE DRIVEN A
FOOT OR TWO AHEAD OF
THE DIGGING. WHEN THIS IS
NOT POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF
BOULDERS OR OTHER DIFFI-
CULT SOIL CONDITIONS, THE
TIMBER FRAME MAY BE
PLACED IN THE EXCAVATION
AND LOWERED AS THE
DIGGING PROGRESSES.

Fig. 27.5.

Water Supply

465

Two precautions should be observed in working in an old well. First, test
the well for dangerous gases by lowering a small animal, such as a rabbit
or chicken, into the well just above the water level and observe whether it
continues to breath naturally. If it suffocates, don't enter the well until the
gases have been blown out with a strong current of air. Second, brace the
old walls with shoring before you start digging. It is quite unsafe to descend
into a well and start digging without first shoring the walls.

WHEN BUILDING FORMS
NAIL SHEATHING TO
SEPARATE BRACE
PIECES AS
INDICATED

BRACE

BLOCK ►

Fig. 27.6. — Bracing system for circular shoring and forms. B shows one method
of providing extra support for braces in shoring when planks cannot be nailed.

Digging new wells. Shallow wells are dug by hand. Obviously, the hole
must be large enough for a man to work in it. Three feet is a minimum
diameter, and 4 ft. is better. Shovels, picks, and posthole diggers are the
implements needed. In soils that hold their shape well it is reasonably safe
to dig down to where water is encountered without shoring the hole; but
it is much safer even in these soils, and it is absolutely essential in soils that
show any tendency to cave in, to shore up the walls as the digging progresses.
Round shoring lessens the amount of digging, but square shoring (Fig. 27.5)
is easier to construct. When the water level is reached, a power-driven pump

466 ■ New Houses from Old

should be used to keep the well empty until the hole has reached a depth
of 4 to 8 ft. below the water table.

After the excavation is completed, the well is lined. Large stones or bricks
laid up without mortar are suitable for the underwater part of the lining.
The best materials for the portion of the lining that is above water are
poured concrete or concrete tile. A poured lining can be either square or
round. A square lining will take more material, but the forms for it are
somewhat easier to build. The construction shown in Fig. 27.4B saves
concrete and is probably safer from the standpoint of purity of the water
supply than a well lined all the way to the top.

Driven ivells. Driven wells are made by driving a pipe equipped with a
well point (Fig. 27.7) into the water table. Steel or wrought-iron pipe with
a nominal internal diameter of 1 or 2 in. is usually used. The driving is
done with a heavy mallet or a simple pile driver. A length of pipe equipped
with the well point is driven first. A second length is then joined to it with
a special fitting that permits the pipe ends to butt together. A 4-ft. length
of pipe is a convenient size for hand driving. Longer lengths can be used if
the driving is done with a pile driver. The top of the pipe is protected with
a wooden block while it is being driven. Driven wells can be put down
only in certain types of soils such as alluvial deposits or clays. They cannot
be put down through rock or soils that are full of boulders.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Fig. 27.7. — Well point used in driven wells.

In many soils the yield of water from a driven well gradually diminishes
due to the clogging of the well point and also to the silting up of the soil
or gravel surrounding the well point. Sometimes this condition can be cor-
rected by setting off a small explosive charge in the well pipe. Well diggers
in regions where driven wells are common have special equipment for this
operation. It is no job for amateurs to attempt. If shooting does not improve
the flow from an old driven well, the only remedy is to put down a new
well at a point 10 to 25 ft. from the old one. In some cases, the yield of a
driven well is small because the gravel or sand about the point is so fine
in texture that it forms an obstruction to the flow of large quantities of
water. In such a case, several wells can be driven and connected to the
pump.

Drilled wells. A drilled well is made by boring a hole of relatively small
diameter, usually less than 10 in., down to the water table and lining the

Water Supply

467

hole with steel pipe called casing. Drilled wells can be put down through
any kind of soil or rock, but they can be constructed only with special well-
drilling machinery. Construction of a drilled well is an expensive operation;
therefore, a contract between yourself and the well driller should be drawn
up and signed before the drilling is commenced. An important point in
the construction of a drilled well is to seal the opening around the point
where the casing enters solid rock.

MANHOLE

Fig. 27.8. — Scheme of a good type of modern cistern. Since cisterns are rather
large structures, they should be designed by an expert or built from working draw-
ings available from such organizations as the Portland Cement Association.

The artesian well is a type that is possible in only a few regions where
there are special geological conditions. Artesian wells are usually very
deep in comparison to other types of wells. Because they must be drilled
through rock, they can be constructed only with well-drilling machinery.
The water in an artesian well is under a certain amount of head. The head
is often sufficient to cause the water to overflow the top of the casing, or it
may be only enough to cause the water to rise to some point inside the
casing.

Cisterns. The cistern does not produce water but merely holds it until it is
needed for use. In some sections of the country cisterns are used to store
drinking water. In others they hold a supplementary supply of water that is

468 New Houses from Old

used for washing and bathing, while water from another source is used for
drinking. Still another use for the cistern on farms and in villages is as a
reservoir to hold water for fire fighting.

Since the cistern is nothing more than a large container for water, it must
be watertight to be of any use. A cracked or leaky cistern can usually be
repaired and made watertight. The procedures are the same as for repairing
and waterproofing other masonry walls (Chapters 14 and 15) except that the
waterproofing material is applied to the inside of the cistern. However, water-
proofing compounds containing tar should not be used on the interior of a
cistern used for drinking water. Cisterns can be made of masonry units,
such as brick, but most cisterns are now built of poured concrete (Fig. 27.8).

Cisterns can be filled from springs, especially springs that flow only
during wet seasons of the year. Cisterns intended to hold water for fire
protection can also be filled from streams. However, the most common way
of filling a cistern is by discharging into it water that falls on the roof of
the house during rains.

The greatest problem in connection with cistern water that must be used
for drinking is to keep it clean. Dust, leaves, and other dirt will collect on
a roof during periods of dry weather. If the roof water is discharged di-
rectly into the cistern, this matter will be swept into it and will decompose
in the water with undesirable results. The usual method of solving this
problem is to provide the downspouts with a cut-off switch that is normally
turned to discharge the rain water onto the ground. After rain has fallen
long enough to wash the solid material off the roof, the switch is turned
manually so that the water discharges into the cistern. Obviously, this system
is neither perfect nor convenient. A better method is to pass the roof water
through a sand filter (Fig. 27.8).

Water Pressure and Flow

Getting water from its source to the plumbing system is the next problem
in providing a water supply. Here it will be useful to understand what is
meant by waterhead and water pressure. If a vertical pipe is filled with
water, the water at the bottom will be pressed downward by the weight of
all the water standing above it. This pressure on the water at the bottom
is described in terms of head. Thus the water at the bottom of a pipe 20 ft.
in height that is filled with water is under 20 ft. of head. The pressure on
the water can also be described in terms of pounds per square inch. Head
can be converted approximately into pounds per square inch by dividing it
by 2.3. Conversely, pounds per square inch can be converted into head by
multiplying by 2.3. Water pressure from springs and similar sources is usu-

Water Supply 469

ally expressed in terms of head, but water pressure in municipal and in
domestic water systems is usually expressed in pounds per square inch.
Automatic water systems designed for individual homes are usually set to
maintain pressures between 20 and 40 lb. per sq. in.

Most old-time builders in regions where the farmhouses are supplied with
spring water sought a location below the spring so that the water from it
would flow by gravity into the house. Unfortunately, they were usually in-
terested only in a flow that would reach the kitchen sink. Plumbing located
on the second floor was not one of their worries, nor were they usually
concerned about a rapid flow.

One way to find out whether there is enough head or pressure on the
spring water to serve your plumbing is to insert a gauge in the end of the
pipe at the house. A gauge designed to show the water pressure on a domes-
tic hot-water heating system will do very well. Another way is to measure
the height of the spring above the house. A surveyor can do this accurately
for you; but if you wish to do it yourself, the procedure is not difficult. A
level equipped for sighting and a pole or board 8 to 12 ft. high distinctly
marked in feet are the implements needed. Sighting levels can be pur-
chased for a few dollars, or a carpenter's level can be equipped with sights.
The advantage of the first-mentioned instrument is that it can be held in
the hand, whereas a carpenter's level must be supported on the top of a
post or on something else that will hold it level and steady while the sights
are being taken.

If the spring is within seeing distance of the house, stand at the spring
and sight through the level at the house. If the line of sight comes below
the ridge of the roof, you can be sure that the water from the spring will not
supply plumbing on the second floor. If the line of sight comes above the
ridge of the house, it will be worth while for you to measure it more ac-
curately. Begin at the spring and this time have an assistant to hold the
pole. Sight at the pole and jot down the figure that you see. Deduct from
this first figure the vertical distance from the water level in the spring to
the level. Then move downhill with the level to the spot where the pole is
standing and have your assistant move the pole to a lower spot. Again
sight at the pole, jot down the figure without a deduction this time, and
continue to repeat these steps until you reach the house. Add all of the
figures together and you will have the height of the spring water above the
ground level at the house. Now deduct from the total the approximate height
of the top faucet in the house above the ground level where your sighting
pole last stood. The result will be the number of feet of head that the water
will have at the topmost faucet when other faucets in the house are closed.
If the head is 60 ft. or better, it should be adequate to operate the plumbing

470 New Houses from Old

system in an average two-story house. The height of a spring out of sight
of the house can, of course, be found with the level in the same way.

There is still another problem to consider, however. This is the rate of
flow. If the spring pipe is already installed, the flow should be measured
at the house end of the pipe. If no storage tank is to be used, a flow of 10
to 12 gal. per min. is the minimum amount that is adequate for a one-
bathroom plumbing system used by a family of four to six persons; but
double these amounts may be required if there are two bathrooms in the
system. If the flow at the house proves to be inadequate, the flow should be
measured at the spring, since a weak flow at the house may be due either
to low productivity of the spring or to a small pipe from it to the house.

Piping to Springs

If both the head and the rate of flow are adequate, the water-supply piping
can be connected directly to the spring pipe. However, when such a connec-
tion is made, there are two possible hazards, both of which arise from chang-
ing the flow through the spring pipe from a steady flow to an intermittent
one. Lead pipe was often used to conduct the water from springs to farm
buildings and village homes. Water that flows through lead pipe will dis-
solve dangerous quantities of lead only under certain rather special condi-
tions, but these conditions may exist in farm springs. Water that flows con-
tinuously through the pipe may dissolve infinitesimal amounts of lead, but
water that stands in it may dissolve dangerous amounts. The other hazard
is freezing of the pipe in cold weather. Old-timers will tell you that running
water does not freeze. The truth of the matter is that the temperature of the
spring water is above the freezing point, hence if it runs through the pipe
all of the time, it keeps it and the surrounding soil warm enough to prevent
freezing. However, changing the steady flow to an intermittent one inter-
feres with this heating process. If the house is to be used only as a summer
home, this problem is easily solved by arranging the connection between
the spring pipe and the plumbing so that it can be disconnected and the
spring allowed to flow steadily through the pipe when the house is closed
in cold weather; but if you wish to use the system in freezing weather, it
will be necessary either to bury the pipe below the frost line or to use a
connecting system that permits a steady flow through the pipe.

Piping for underground installation is available in several materials. Lead
pipe is durable, but it is expensive and it carries the possible hazard of
lead poisoning. Heavyweight copper tubing is equally durable; but it, too,
is costly. Copper-bearing galvanized steel pipe is relatively inexpensive,
but it may corrode rather quickly when placed underground. Cast-iron .water

Water Supply

471

pipe (which is different from cast-iron soil pipe) is very durable and not
prohibitively expensive. It is available with various types of joints, but
joints that go together with a gasket and bolts are the easiest to make.

60
iij 50
2 40

L'^

n;'

^y^

■^

■^"i

sS'

..?^

-oS?^

S^^

^ .

' ^

i^o J \ 1 H 2 2| 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 20 25 30 40 50 60 80 100 150 200

VALUES OF 100 TIMES THE HEAD DIVIDED BY THE LENGTH
{Reprinted from U. S. Department of Agricnlture, Farmers' Bulletin 1426.)

Fig. 27.9 — Diagram giving the discharge of long straight water pipes.

Directions. Muhiply the head by 100 and divide the product by the actual length
of the pipe in feet; find this value on the lower horizontal line of the diagram and
follow vertically upward to the inclined line showing pipe size; from the intersec-
tion follow horizontally to the left to find the discharge in gallons per minute.

Example. How much water will be discharged by 128 ft. of 1-in. pipe under a
head of 32 ft.?

Solution. Thirty-two multiplied by 100 equals 3,200; 3,200 divided by 128 equals
25; enter the diagram at 25, follow upward to the line marked 1-in. pipe, and
then follow to the left where the discharge is shown to be 15 gal. per min.

When new pipe is laid to a spring that has sufficient head and capacity,
the best arrangement is to use durable pipe of adequate size and to bury
it at least 1 ft. below the frost line. Such a water-supply system will operate
many years without repairs, and furthermore, it will function when the
electricity is off. However, large pipe costs considerable money; and in
some cases when the spring is a long distance from the house, it cannot be
afforded. Fig. 27.9, reproduced from the United States Department of Agri-
culture's publication. Farm Plumbing, provides a convenient method for
finding the rate of flow through pipe under various conditions.

472

New Houses from Old

If a pipe of adequate diameter cannot be installed, there are several ways
of utilizing a spring of sufficient head that do not require a motor-driven
pump. One method, shown in Fig. 27.10, uses a pressure tank and operates
as follows. The head of the spring forces water into the bottom of the tank.
As the water rises in the tank, it compresses the air at the top. If all the
faucets in the plumbing system are closed, the water will flow into the tank
until the head is exactly balanced by the air pressure at the top of the tank,
at which point the flow will stop. When a faucet is opened, the compressed
air forces water out of the tank and through the pipes of the plumbing
system. This results in a drop in the air pressure in the tank, but the pres-
sure is restored again by the flow of more water from the spring.

TO
PLUMBING
SYSTEM

AIR INTAKE

\globe

VALVE

Fig. 27.10. — Valve arrangement for pneumatic storage tank, gravity-fed from spring.
To charge tank with air, valves 1 and 2 are closed and valves 3 and 4 are opened.
When tank is nearly empty of water, valves 3 and 4 are closed, then 1 and 2 are
reopened.

This system has two disadvantages. Only a few gallons of water can be
drawn until the air pressure in the tank drops to a point where it will no
longer cause a strong flow. The other disadvantage is that the water in the
tank slowly absorbs the air and will eventually absorb all of it unless more
air is pumped in. The usual way of overcoming the latter defect is to in-
stall an automobile-tire pump valve in the base of the tank or in one of the
pipes leading into the base. When the tank becomes waterlogged, the air can
then be replenished by pumping air into the tank with the tire pump. The

Water Supply

473

air can also be replenished by temporarily cutting off the tank from the
spring and from the plumbing systems and by emptying it. A system of
valves for doing this is shown in Fig. 27.10. This operation is a manual one,
also; but it is less tedious.

Another method of utilizing a spring with a strong head but small flow
is to construct a gravity storage tank in the house attic. It has several dis-
advantages. The house frame must be strengthened to hold the weight of the
tank and the water it will contain. There is always the danger of leaks. Also,
water stored in the tank in hot weather may become too warm for drinking.
If there is a high hill near the house, a gravity storage tank can sometimes
be built underground in the hill; but few houses are located close enough
to hills with sufficient height. In warm climates, a gravity storage tank can
be placed on a tower outside the house; but in cold climates, it will freeze
in the wintertime.

{Courtesy F. E. Myers & Biuthcis Company.)
Fig. 27.11. — Automatic shallow-well water system with piston pump.

If electricity is available, the most satisfactory and economical way of
utilizing a spring that has sufficient head to force water to the house but
not enough to produce a strong flow is to run the spring water into a tank
in the basement, then to pump it from there to the plumbing system. A
small automatic water system is adequate in such an installation because
the load on the pump is light.

474

New Houses from Old

Pumps and Hydraulic Rams

Pumps. The action of a pump is often referred to as suction, but this is
an unfortunate misnomer. Pumps work by taking advantage of atmospheric

> k .t;Ui».\

:^N V

^■^E'jJW

-«UGE

■^UTC

ni 1

C)J

5fc

Fig. 27.12. — A. Automatic shallow-well water system with jet pump.

pressure. At sea level the atmosphere presses on everything, including the
water in wells, with an average pressure of 14.7 lb. per sq. in. This pressure
decreases about 1 lb. per sq. in. for every rise of 1,320 ft. in altitude. If
one end of a pipe is inserted in a body of water and the air is removed from

Water Supply

475

the other end of the pipe, the pressure of the atmosphere will force water
upward into the pipe. All that a pump does is remove the air, or the water
after the pumping action is under way, from the upper end of the pipe;

{Courtesy F. E. Myers & Brothers Company.)
Fig. 27.12. — B. Automatic deep-well system with jet pump.

the atmosphere does the rest. Theoretically, at sea level the water should
rise 34 ft. in the pipe; but since pumps are not perfect, this height is never
achieved. The practical "suction lift" of pumps is usually taken to be 22 ft.
at sea level, 21 ft. at an altitude of 1,320 ft., 17 ft. at an altitude of 1 mile,

476 New Houses from Old

and 14 ft. at an altitude of 2 miles. Some manufacturers will guarantee their
pumps to have somewhat greater suction lifts. If the pump is made by a
reputable manufacturer and installed according to his directions, the guar-
antee is usually fulfilled.

The distance, measured vertically, from the water level in the well in
dry weather to the pump determines whether a shallow well pump or a deep
well pump is required. If this distance is greater than the suction lift of a
shallow well pump, a deep well pump will be needed. A deep well pump
operates on the same suction principle as a shallow well pump; but the
piston and cylinder, or jet body, are placed down in the well, usually above
the water level but near enough to it so that atmospheric pressure will push
the water up to the cylinder, or jet, when the pump is operating.

The piston pump (Fig. 27.11) is a reliable type, which, until the de-
velopment of the jet pump, was practically standard in small automatic
water systems. It is still made and sold in large numbers. The jet pump
(Fig. 27.12) is a development of recent times. Its mechanism is extremely
simple. It can be used with either shallow or deep wells, and it has the
further advantage of not having to be installed directly over the well, even
though the well is a deep one. Instead, the pump can be located in the base-
ment or elsewhere in the house, and the pair of pipes that carry water to the
jet and carry water up from the well can be run laterally from the pump to
the well.

Domestic water systems are rated by manufacturers according to the
number of gallons they will pump per hour under average conditions. A
system with a rated capacity of 250 gal. per hr. is usually large enough for
a one-bathroom plumbing system, but a larger system is usually required
if the system includes two bathrooms or if the pump must also supply water
to the barn.

Water systems are furnished with pressure tanks ranging from as few as
6 gal. to 100 gal., or even larger. With a large tank the pump will start
less frequently but will run longer when it starts. Large pressure tanks have
the disadvantage of storing the water long enough to allow it to reach a
temperature that is not pleasant for drinking. This difficulty is circumvented
in some installations by connecting the cold-water faucet at the kitchen sink
to a line attached between the pump and the pressure tank; but even with
this connection, cool water can be drawn in warm weather only when the
pump operates. On the other hand, a system with a small pressure tank
may be a nuisance if it is installed where it can be heard in the bedrooms,
because it will start in the night whenever a small quantity of water is drawn
or even when a slowly dripping faucet reduces the pressure in the tank.

Water Supply

477

Some water systems have no tanks, or relatively small ones, but prove quite
satisfactory under the right conditions. They start whenever a faucet is
opened.

(Courtesy Goulds Pumps, Inc.)
Fig. 27.13. — "Tankless" automatic shallow-well water system.

Hydraulic rams. The hydraulic ram is a simple mechanism that utilizes
the energy of a volume of water that is moving under a certain head to
force a smaller amount of water against a greater head. It requires no other
power, and maintenance costs are very low. Nevertheless, its use in water-
supply systems is liinited. An adequate supply of water is not always avail-
able; and, if it is available, a fairly large tank must be used to store the water
pumped by the ram. Rams are used most commonly in connection with
springs; but artesian wells and even surface streams are sometimes used to
power them. Double-acting rams use one source of water for power and
deliver water from another source, but they must be used with caution, for

478 New Houses from Old

pollution of the water that is pumped to the house is possible in a ram
of this type if the ram gets out of adjustment.

A hydraulic ram will force water to a gravity storage tank considerably
higher than the level of the water that operates the ram, or it will force it
into a pneumatic storage tank. Only a portion of the water is forced into
the storage tank. The rest is used to operate the ram. The amount of water
"wasted" by the ram depends on several factors, the most important of
which is the height of the gravity storage tank or the pressure in the pneu-
matic tank.

To find approximately how many gallons of water per hour a ram will
deliver to a gravity storage tank, multiply the number of gallons available
per minute for driving the ram by the head that will be on this water at
the point where the ram is to be installed. Multiply this product by 40 and
divide the result by the height in feet of the storage tank above the ram.
If the water is to be delivered to a pneumatic storage tank, go through the
same steps of multiplication, but divide the product by the height of this
tank above the ram plus the pressure in the tank converted to head. Thus,
if the pneumatic storage tank is located 20 ft. above the ram and if the
average pressure in the tank will be 30 lb. per sq. in., the divisor is 89
[20 + (30 X 2.3)]. Any manufacturer or retailer of rams will check your
calculations for you if you will send him the data on which you have based
them.

TJTJTJTRJTJTJTJ-TJTJTJTXUTJTJTJTJXnJXrU^^

TWENTY-EIGHT

Sewage Disposal

L F THE HOUSE you are remodeling is located in a community where there
is a public sewer system, the plumbing drainage system will, of course, be
connected to the public sewer. In such a community, a permit to connect to
the public sewer must be obtained, and the manner of making the connec-
tion and also of constructing the house sewer will be prescribed by law.
If the house already has plumbing, the house sewer may or may not be
constructed according to good standards; but if there is no odor of sewage
in the basement and no evidence of stoppage, it may, in most cases, be
assumed to be in good working order. If and when it becomes necessary to
rebuild it, the directions that will be given later in this chapter for the con-
struction of house drains and sewers may be followed unless a local code
prescribes some other method of construction.

In some communities with public sewers the discharge into the sewer of
rain water as well as sewage is permitted. Combination systems of this type
will not be described in this book because, where they exist, the sewer must
be constructed according to the local code. However, certain recommenda-
tions pertaining to such systems are included in the National Bureau of
Standards' Recommended Minimum Requirements for Plumbing. Rain water
should never be discharged into a private sewage-disposal system.

If the house is situated where there is no public sewer, a private sewage-
disposal system must be constructed. In most organized villages and cities,
the building of private sewage-disposal systems is regulated by a plumbing
or sanitary code. In some states there are state-wide regulations that apply
even to systems constructed in rural regions. Although the provisions of
any such laws or codes should be ascertained and complied with, there are
few, if any, communities in which the septic-tank disposal system that is
described below will fail to meet the requirements.

Septic-tank Disposal Systems

Fig. 28.1 is a diagram of a good type of sewage-disposal system. Note
that it consists of five main parts — the house sewer, the septic tank, the

479

480

New Houses from Old

outlet sewer, the disposal field, and the sludge drain. The locations of the
principal parts should be staked out at least tentatively before any of them
are constructed and, preferably, before the plumbing is installed in the
house. Spacing and dimensions will be given as each part is discussed.

HOUSE
DRAIN

FOUNDATION
WALL

HOUSE
SEWER

SLUDGE — *-
PIT

/ /

SEPTIC J^ ^

TANK J^ ^

DISPOSAL ^ li?

OUTLET <;? FIELD /,<:^

SEWER J/ X^

I I I.I II — ^1 "~

\ \

Fig. 28.1. — Diagram of sewage-disposal system.

Septic tanks. Unlike the cesspool, the septic tank is designed to hold the
sewage for a time after it has been discharged into it. While the sewage is in
the tank, it is partly decomposed by bacteria — called anaerobic bacteria —
that thrive in the absence of air. A layer of lightweight material called
scum accumulates on top of the tank contents, and a layer of heavier ma-
terial called sludge gradually accumulates on the bottom of a septic tank
in operation. These are products of the normal operation of the tank. The
discharge from a good septic tank is much less offensive and dangerous than
raw sewage, but it is still material that must be disposed of with care. No
septic tank will turn sewage into clear water fit to drink, as you may some-
times be told.

Any septic tank, whether it is factory made or built on the job, should
be large enough to hold the average amount of sewage that will be produced
by the household during a period of twenty-four hours. Fifty gallons of
sewage per person per day can be used as the basis for determining the
minimum size for a prefabricated tank that is to be purchased. However, a
tank of larger capacity should be provided if possible, since the action in

Sewage Disposal

481

the tank will be more complete if the sewage remains in it for a longer
average period, even as long as sixty hours. If the tank is constructed in
place, there is no point whatever in building one of bare minimum capacity.
Good sizes for family-size tanks are given below. The smallest tank listed
is the size usually built, as it has adequate capacity for a household of up
to five persons, and it will still operate satisfactorily if the house is occupied
for short periods by twice as many persons.

Fig . 28.2
Typical Dimensions for Small Rectangular Septic Tanks

Inside dimensions, feet

Liquid

ilepth,

feet

Capacity,

Width

Length

Depth

gallons

3
3

3>2

8>2

5
5
5
5

4
4
4
4

500
600
750
900

The septic tank should be placed downgrade from the house. If possible,
it should be at least 100 ft. from the house, but tanks placed as close as 50
ft. are not offensive if they are of adequate size and correctly built. It should
be not less than 100 ft. from the well or from some other water supply.

The septic tank is usually the first unit placed or constructed in the dis-
posal system. If a prefabricated tank is used, the excavation is made and
the tank is lowered into it; if the tank is to be homemade, the excavation
is made and the tank is built in it. Prefabricated septic tanks are usually
made of heavy sheet steel, which is painted on both sides with a bituminous
paint or other anticorrosion compound. Excellent tanks can also be built
of poured concrete. Directions for making the latter type can be obtained
from the Portland Cement Association, from the United States Department
of Agriculture, and from the public health departments of most states.

The house sewer. The house sewer extends from the septic tank to a point
5 ft. from the house measured from the inside face of the basement wall.
The sewer should be constructed without turns if possible. If turns are un-
avoidable, they should be gradual. Curved pieces of pipe known as bends
are used for turns. One-sixteenth bends are better, but one-eighth bends can
be used if necessary.

482

New Houses from Old

The easiest way to establish the grade is to set stakes on each side of the
line of the sewer at the house and to connect these with a board leveled
horizontally (Fig. 28.3). Additional pairs of stakes are then set astride the
line about 10 ft. apart along its length. The last pair is set at the septic tank
and is also connected with a board leveled horizontally. This board (2)
should be the same height above the septic tank inlet as board (1) is above

LEVEL

SECOND POSITION

j^j55^^/A7m««//Av!'/iV///5J^

FIRST POSITION

'^mmmy^'^''^^'''''^"^^'''-^"'^

UN— J

10 FT 6 IN.

DOWNHILL END

UPHILL END

A,B. GRADING THE SEWER BY THE TWO METHODS DE-
SCRIBED IN THE TEXT. C,D. A THIRD METHOD, USEFUL
WHEN THE COURSE OF THE SEWER IS NOT STRAIGHT.
THE TOPS OF THE STAKES ARE GRADED BY USE OF A
STRAIGHT-EDGED PIECE OF LUMBER AND A LEVEL. THE

thickness of the small block at the end of the
straight edge is selected to produce the desired
grade. thus the block shown in d will establish
a grade line with a slope of i in. in 10 feet.

Fig. 28.3.

the sewer at the house. The intermediate stakes are then connected with
boards, and the tops of these boards are lined up by sighting from board
(2) to board (1). A line is next stretched from the board at (1) to the
board at (2). It should be nailed firmly to these boards, but it is held in
position on the intermediate boards with half-driven nails so that it can
be pushed out of the way as the trench is being dug.

This method is applicable whenever there is no doubt about adequate
slope from the house to the septic tank. The minimum slope that is recom-

Sewage Disposal

483

mended for a 6-in. sewer line is 1 in. in 8 ft.; whereas 4-in. sewer lines
should be laid on slopes of at least 1 in, in 4 or 5 ft. If there is very little
natural slope, the grade must be established carefully. This can be done
by first making the tops of the stakes level both across the line of the sewer
and lengthwise of it. The lengthwise leveling can be done easily by using
a carpenter's level supported on a stiff straight-edged piece of lumber that
is long enough to reach from one pair of stakes to the next. After the tops
of the stakes are all level, boards are nailed temporarily across the pairs at
(1) and (2) and the vertical distance from each board to the proposed line
of the sewer is measured. If the difference is not great enough to give ade-
quate slope to the sewer, the starting point of the sewer at the house wall
should be raised, even though this requires cutting a hole through a rather
thick masonry wall. The board at (2) is then moved downward so that its
top is the same height above the septic-tank inlet of the sewer as the board
at (1) is above the house end of the sewer. The intermediate stakes are then
connected with boards that are positioned by sighting as described above.

Fig. 28.4. — Using grade stick to establish correct depth of trench for the sewer.

As the trench for the sewer is dug, its depth is found by measuring with
a grade stick (Fig. 28.4). The sewer should be laid, if possible, on undis-
turbed soil; therefore, care is taken to excavate the trench only to the exact
depth required. If the house sewer must be placed on new fill, the soil at
the bottom of the trench should be solidly tamped and extra-heavy cast-iron
soil pipe should be used to construct the sewer. If soil conditions are ex-
ceptionally poor, it may be necessary to line the bottom of the sewer. A
concrete lining or grillage may be required by the local plumbing code.
However, if concrete is not required, planks that have been impregnated

484

New Houses from Old

with creosote can be placed in the bottom of the trench to make a carriage
for the sewer. These treated planks should be purchased. Untreated lumber
or lumber merely painted at home with creosote should never be used, be-
cause its eventual decay would cause the sewer line to settle and to crack.

The house sewer can be built of either cast-iron soil pipe, vitrified clay
sewer pipe, or impregnated fiber pipe. Cast-iron soil pipe and fittings have
been described in Chapter 26. Vitrified clay sewer pipe is manufactured
in 2- and 2/2 -ft- lengths. Impregnated fiber pipe is made in 4-ft. lengths.
Cast-iron soil pipe and impregnated fiber pipe offer the advantage of fewer
joints, but clay sewer pipe is commonly used. Good sewers have been made
of cast-iron soil pipe as small as 3-in. nominal diameter, but the 4-in.
diameter is more commonly employed. The 4-in. diameter is the recom-
mended size in impregnated fiber pipe. If vitrified clay pipe is used, the 6-in.
diameter is recommended, because this pipe has rougher interior surfaces
and the increased number of joints also offers some resistance to the flow of
sewage.

The joints in the house sewer should be made tight for obvious reasons.
The making of oakum and lead joints is described in Chapter 26. The
standard method of making joints in vitrified clay sewer pipe is as follows.
The hub end of a length of pipe is inserted in the bell end of another length.
A piece of oakum or hemp rope that is long enough to go around the pipe

HUBS POINTED
UPHILL-

SWAB (A CHAMOIS SKIN STUFFED
.WITH EXCELSIOR MAKES A GOOD ONE)

^^^^^^^^^^^

EARTH DUG AWAY HERE TO ALLOW WORK ON JOINTS AND PERMIT-
PIPE TO REST EVENLY ON TRENCH BOTTOM

CLAY ROLL DAM.

BCD

Fig. 28.5. — A. Sewer joint details. B. Section of Portland cement joint. C. Sec-
tion of joint made with bituminous compound. D. Method of holding hot joint
compounds in hub. (See also Fig. 26.6.)

Sewage Disposal 485

one and one-half or two times is thoroughly wet with Portland-cement mortar.
It is then wrapped around the hub end of the pipe and shoved into the joint
with a calking iron in such a way as to center the hub in the bell. Portland-
cement mortar composed of 1 part cement and 2 parts sand is then packed
into the joint and is rounded over the bell (Fig. 28.5). The best tool for
shaping the mortar is your hand with a cotton or leather glove on it to
protect the skin. Impregnated fiber pipe is made with beveled ends. The
joint is made simply by driving the beveled end of the pipe into a special
collar. If there are trees in the neighborhood of the house sewer, it is im-
portant to make the joints rootproof.

There are various brands of bituminous joint compounds on the market
that may be used to make good rootproof joints in either cast iron or clay
pipe. Compounds of this type have a certain amount of flexibility that will
help to maintain a tight joint if the sewer settles slightly. Most but not all
of the bituminous compounds require some heat to make them fluid before
they are poured into the joint. The manufacturers' instructions should be
followed in using such compounds; but the usual method is to pack the
joint to the depth of about 1 in. with oakum or hemp rope, then to pour the
heated material into the joint. The liquid material is held in the joint by
use of an asbestos runner or clay dam (Fig. 28.5). Rootproof joints can be
made also with commercial brands of sulphur joint compounds or with a
mixture of equal volumes of powdered sulphur and fine sand. Sulphur
compounds must be heated and poured into the joint. Sulphur-sand joints
resist the penetration of tree roots very effectively, but they are extremely
hard and have little flexibility.

Since some of the joint compound will be squeezed into the interior of
the pipe in spite of the packing, it is necessary to swab out the pipe as the
sewer and the drain are laid. The swab is placed in the first length of pipe
and is drawn through it as the line is laid. If the sewer and drain are being
made of long lengths of rigid pipe, such as soil pipe, several lengths of
pipe can be jointed together on top of the ground, then lowered carefully
into the trench. The soil in the bottom of the trench should be scooped out
under the bells or hubs of the pipe so that the entire length of the pipe will
rest on the bottom of the trench.

The joints should be tested before the sewer is put into use. The lower end
of the line is plugged, then the line is filled with water. Any joints that leak
should be made tight before the line is covered up.

Filling of the trench (backfilling) should be carefully done. Soil that is
free of vegetable matter and stones is placed on both sides of the line to
about the height of the pipe and is carefully tamped. Next, more soil that
also is free of stones is placed over the pipe but is not tamped. Finally, the

486

New Houses from Old

remainder of the trench is filled with soil that may contain some stones but
should not contain large ones.

The disposal field. The disposal field is an essential part of a septic-tank
sewage-disposal system, for it is here that soil bacteria act on the liquid
from the septic tank and complete the purification process. The disposal
field should be located 200 ft. or more from the house and at least 200 ft.
from the well. The minimum length of tile for disposal fields placed in
loose soils is 30 ft. for each person normally in the household. Considerably
greater lengths may be necessary in clay or other tight soils. The field should
be laid out so that the lines can be extended if, after the field has been in
use for a while, the soil above the lines becomes soggy or odorous, as these
conditions indicate that the area of the field is inadequate. The lines are
spaced about 10 ft. apart. They should be graded so that they will have a
fall of 1 in. in 25 ft. in loose soils and 1 in. in 50 ft. in tight soils.

'^,

'^3,

'^^

'=^C=ic

BASIN -^-r^)

'^,

■^

c::^

^^c

DETAIL OF BASIN

Fig. 28.6. — A. Disposal lines laid on the contours of a slope. B. Small concrete
basin used to connect lines without introducing a steep pitch into the outlet sewer.

Sewage Disposal

487

The lines of tile in the disposal field can be made of perforated fiber
pipe or of clay draintile. The joints between lengths of perforated fiber
pipe are made with snap couplings that are purchased with the pipe. Unlike
clay sewer pipe, clay draintile has plain ends. The lengths of tile are simply
butted together and the joints are covered by wrapping them with strips of
tarred paper or lightweight asphalt roofing. The sole purpose of the paper
is to keep soil out of t^e lines. If the field is located on a slope, the lines
should be run on the contour as diagramed in Fig. 28.6. In loose soils the
lines should be laid to a depth of 15 to 18 in. A greater depth is not per-
missible, because it will place them below the region inhabited by the soil
bacteria that act on the effluent from the lines. In loose soils they can be
placed directly on the bottom of the trench. In tight soils the trench should
be dug deeper and then partly filled with gravel (Fig. 28.7).

^mm^mm^^^.

GRAVEL OR
BROKEN STONES

SEVERAL
THICKNESSES
OF NEWSPAPER

TAR PAPER OVER
OPEN JOINTS, IF
DRAIN TILE IS USED

Fig. 28.7. — Trench construction for disposal lines in tight soils.

The house drain. The house drain is that portion of the sewer line that
begins 5 ft. outside the house wall and includes also all the horizontal por-
tion of the sewer that is inside the house walls. This part of the sewer
system is usually made of cast-iron soil pipe. The medium weight is satis-
factory for the parts of the drain that are above ground, but the extra-heavy
weight should be used for the parts that are buried in the soil. Joints in a
house drain made of cast-iron soil pipe should be made with oakum and

488 New Houses from Old

lead. One precaution to observe in connection with the house drain, if it is
buried in the soil of the basement, is to keep it at least 3 ft. from the founda-
tion Vail wherever it runs parallel to tlie wall.

The outlet sewer. The outlet sewer runs between the septic-tank outlet
and the disposal field. It should be built in the same way as the house sewer.

The sludge drain. The sludge drain empties into a sludge pit, which need
be only a simple excavation covered with boards and soil. The pit should
be located at some point where there is no danger of polluting the water
supply or surface streams. It can be used indefinitely if the soil and boards
are removed and if the solid matter in it is shoveled out and burned before
new sludge is drained into it. A sludge pit is necessary even though no
sludge drain is included in the septic tank. In this case, the contents of the
septic tank are bailed or pumped into the sludge pit, which is then covered
with boards and soil and left covered until it is necessary to use it again.

Care of a septic-tank sewage-disposal system. Sewers, septic tanks, and
disposal lines in constant use seldom freeze even in severe climates when they
are covered with 15 to 18 in. of soil. The heat carried into them in the
sewage together with the heat generated by the bacterial action is sufficient
to prevent freezing. They may freeze, however, if the system is not in use
during cold weather. The house sewer should need no wintertime protection,
because if it has been properly constructed, it will be empty when the house
plumbing is not in use. The septic tank, the outlet sewer, and the lines of
tile in the disposal field can be protected by covering them with about 3 ft.
of hay or straw. This material is, of course, raked off with the return of
warm weather. If you are remodeling the house for a summer home, it will,
therefore, be advisable to mark the location of the disposal lines carefully
so that they can be covered in the fall.

The disposal field should be kept free of trees and shrubs, since their
roots would clog the disposal lines. Grass can be grown on the disposal
field, but it should not be used for a vegetable garden.

After the septic tank has been in use for about a year, the slab at the inlet
end should be removed and the depth of the sludge and scum tested with a
stick. If their combined depths are 20 in. or more, the tank should be
emptied. Avoid the use of matches or flame of any kind while making this
test, as explosive gases may be present in the tank.

Cesspools

Years ago, cesspools were widely used for the disposal of sewage, but
their use is forbidden now in many localities. Even where they are not
barred by law, they should not be used except under very special condi-

Sewage Disposal 489

tions. Essentially, a cesspool is only an open-bottomed, stone-walled excava-
tion that holds the sewage until it leaches away through the soil. If a cess-
pool is built in a thick deposit of gravelly or sandy soil, some purifying
action may take place in the soil under the cesspool; but the average cess-
pool exerts little or no such action on sewage. Since a cesspool discharges
raw sewage into the soil, it should be used for sewage disposal only under
the following conditions. The water supply for the house should come from
a distant point located uphill from the cesspool. The cesspool should be
placed 300 ft. or more downgrade from the house. Its location should be
such that there will be no danger of its polluting a surface stream or the
water supply of another house. The walls of a cesspool should be con-
structed so that they will not cave in, but watertight construction is not
attempted.

Occasionally a cesspool is used in place of a disposal field to receive the
discharge from a septic tank. This arrangement is satisfactory only if the
cesspool is built in loose soil and if it is located at least 300 ft. from the
house and the water supply.

ijTjTrx/iJTJTJTriruxriJTXuTJTJTJinjTJTJTnj^^

TWENTY-NINE

Wiring and Lighting

-L HE INSTALLATION of electrical wiring requires skill, a knowledge of code
requirements, and experience with wiring materials and methods. The actual
work should be done by a licensed electrician, if possible. Whether the
wiring is installed by a licensed electrician or not, the installation should
be carried out according to the provisions of the National Electrical Code
or a local electrical code that is at least its equal.

As in plumbing and heating, the planning of the wiring of existing houses
requires careful attention. An existing house can be wired just as satisfac-
torily for electricity as a new house, provided that the preliminary planning

CONTROL CENTER
( FUSES OR CIRCUIT
BREAKER)

Fig. 29.1. — The main elements of the house "service" from the power line to

is well done. Planning includes both a judicious location of fixtures and out-
lets and an economical location for the wiring. To plan the latter, it is
necessary to take the structure of the house into account in order to avoid
costly cutting of walls and ceilings.

490

Wiring and Lighting

491

Design of Wiring Systems

Volts, amperes, and watts. The simplest way to understand the terminology
of electric current as it is used in connection with house wiring and house-
hold appliances is to make an analogy between electric current flowing in
a wire and water flowing in a pipe. Volts will then correspond to the water
pressure, and amperes will correspond to the quantity of water. Watts are
the number of volts multiplied by the number of amperes. Thus, a current
of 8 amperes under a pressure of 110 volts represents 880 watts. A kilowatt
is 1,000 watts. Watt-hours and kilowatt-hours are simply watts or kilowatts
multiplied by time. Thus, if you switch on an electric heater that is rated
1,000 watts and leave it turned on for an hour, the heater will use 1,000 watt-
hours, or 1 kilowatt-hour.

In many modern installations, electricity is supplied to houses at two
voltages. How this is done is diagramed in Fig. 29.1, which shows what is
called a three-wire service. The voltage across the two outside wires of a
three-wire service is the maximum voltage. In the United States, this varies
from 220 to 240 volts. The voltage across the middle wire of the three and
either of the outside wires is one-half the maximum voltage, hence it ranges

METER

SERVICE SWITCH OR MAIN DISCONNECT
(NOT NOW REQUIRED IN MOST HOME
INSTALLATIONS)

MAIN CONTROL CENTER.
MAY BE EQUIPPED WITH
FUSES OR CIRCUIT
BREAKERS

POWER LINE

II5-V0LT CIRCUITS
OR FEEDERS

the control center in the house. A shows the parts. B is a wiring diagram.

from 110 to 120. Electric light bulbs, such as are used in houses, and small
electrical appliances are designed to operate on 110 to 120 volts. On the
other hand, household appliances, such as electric water heaters and electric
ranges, which use relatively large quantities of current, are designed for

492

New Houses from Old

220 to 240 volts. In selecting household electrical equipment, a small varia-
tion in voltage is not important. For example, it is permissible to connect
an appliance that has 115 volts on the name plate to a 120-volt circuit, but
such an appliance should not be connected to a 220-volt circuit.

Most old houses have two-wire rather than three-wire service, but prac-
tically all house installations now being made are three-wire. If the house
you are remodeling is already wired, you can tell whether it has two-wire
or three-wire service by seeing whether two or three wires run from the
power line to the house. If there are only two wires and if you plan to
modernize the wiring in order to use some equipment that operates on the
higher voltage (Fig. 29.2), you should find out from the utility company
before planning the wiring whether a three-wire service will be supplied.

Fig. 29.2

Voltage Requirements and Approximate Wattage of Typical Appliances

110 to 120 volts *

Appliance

Watts t

Appliance

Watts t

Clock

Oil-burner motor

400

Razor

Sun lamp

400

Curling iron

Vacuum cleaner

400

Heating pad

Coffee maker

500

Sewing machine

Dishwasher

500

Fan

75 to 120

Garbage-disposal unit

500

Food mixer

100

Television receiver

500

Radio receiver

100

Iron

800 to 1,000

Electric blanket

200

Heater

800 to 1,200

Heating-system blower

300

Grill

1,000

Refrigerator

300

Toaster

550 to 1,000

Food freezer

350 to 450

Waffle iron

1,000

Washing machine with wringer

375 to 400

Ironer

1,650

Washing machine with spinner

375 to 1,200

Electric roaster

1,650

220 to 240 volts *

Appliance

Range
Water heater

Watts t

7,000 to 14,000
1,000 to 4,500

* These groups are not absolutely fixed; for example, some built-in electric heaters are designed for
220 to 240 volts.

t To find number of amperes, divide watts by volts.

Wiring and Lighting

493

Types of circuits. The main elements of a modern house-wiring system
are diagramed in Fig. 29.3. Circuit protective centers would be a better
name for the "control centers," because the main elements of these centers
are the fuses or circuit breakers that protect the circuits from overloading;
but "control center" is used in the recent literature. The branch control

A B

BRANCH CONTROL
CENTER ( IN SECOND
FLOOR HALL)

BRANCH-^
CONTROL \
CENTERdN
KITCHEN )

FEEDERS-

MAIN CONTROL
CENTER

A, DIAGRAM OF THE LOCATION OF
THE CHIEF PARTS OF AN ADEQUATE
HOUSE WIRING SYSTEM.

B. SCHEME OF THE CIRCUITS
SUPPLIED FROM THE BRANCH
CENTER IN THE KITCHEN.

Fig. 29.3. — 1. Special circuit for clock only. 2. General-purpose circuit; supplies
three lights in kitchen, two lights in lower hall, two entrance lights, and two duplex
convenience outlets in lower hall. 3. Individual equipment circuit; supplies re-
frigerator. 4. Individual equipment circuit; supplies electric sink (dishwasher and
garbage-disposal unit). 5, 6. Appliance circuits. Together they supply eight duplex
outlets for small appliances in the kitchen and dining room.

center, which is supplied with current through a "feeder" from the main
control center, is a modern idea that is seldom found in old wiring installa-
tions. In new houses, the main argument for branch centers is convenience,
since they avoid the necessity of going to the basement to replace fuses. In
remodeling, one or more branch control centers correctly located may solve
a number of wiring problems.

A general-purpose circuit is a light-duty circuit with a maximum capacity
of 15 amperes. It contains a 15-ampere fuse or circuit breaker, and no fixed

494

New Houses from Old

J, CIRCUITS

SERVICE
ENTRANCE

■MAIN CONTROL CENTER
(SERVICE EQUIPMENT)

mm. (2% DROP

BRANCH CIRCUITS FROM

MAIN CONTROL CENTER ,

DIRECT TO EQUIPMENT- 2 'a % DROP

EXCEPT

CIRCUIT SUPPLYING

COOKING RANGE 17. DROP

^ Tbranch

'^^^^ -(circuits

— [2% DROP

BRANCH CONTROL
CENTER

2500

2300

2000

1500

1000

500

75 100 125

DISTANCE IN FEET

200

5000

4500-

c/j 4000 ■

z 3500

£ 3000

2500

2000

#10

«#12i

#12

#10

■#12.

#14

,#12

#14

#10

#12

#10

#12

#10

25 50

75 100 125

DISTANCE IN FEET

150 175 200

Wiring and Lighting

495

9000

^^v

^, #6

^\#4

7500"

1= _
< 6000

—

■^

■ #8 ■

'^^'^^^

^*^

^^"^

§ 4500~

#10

£ -

— #12 ■
#12

. #12

#10

3000

#14

1500"

#14

#12

#10
~#T2

25 50 75 100 125

DISTANCE IN FEET

150

175

200

12000 -

11000-

10000

tn 9000-

z 8000-

7000-

6000-

5000-

4000-

#10

"A #4

.#1

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200

DISTANCE IN FEET

{Courtesy Westinghouse Electric Corporation.")

Fig. 29.4. — A. Allowable voltage drops in the house wiring system. B to E. Recom-
mended wire sizes for (B) 115 volts, 2 per cent maximum drop; (C) 230 volts,
2 per cent maximum drop; {D) 230 volts, 2% per cent maximum drop; {E) 230
volts, 1 per cent maximum drop. Sizes are indicated thus: "#12," meaning No. 12
copper conductor wire.

496 New Houses from Old

appliance that draws more than 6 amperes or portable appliance that draws
more than 10 amperes should be connected to it. Appliance circuits are used
for the receptacle outlets in such rooms as the kitchen, laundry, dining
room, and garage, where several appliances may be in use at one time. The
maximum capacity of an appliance circuit is 20 amperes, and no single
appliance that draws more than 15 amperes should be attached to it. In-
dividual equipment circuits are used to supply such appliances as electric
ranges, oil burners, clothes driers, built-in room heaters, and water heaters.
Only one appliance is connected to a single circuit of this type, and the cir-
cuit is sized to fit the requirements of the particular appliance.

The laying out of circuits is one of the very important steps in planning
satisfactory house wiring. As a general rule, when wiring is installed in a
house already finished, it is best to plan the layout of the general-purpose
and appliance circuits on the first floor so that they can be installed from the
basement. The control center for these circuits can be placed either in the
basement or the kitchen. The general-purpose and the appliance circuits, if
any, for the second floor and attic can then be laid out so that they can be
supplied from a branch control center on the second floor. The ceiling light-
ing outlets on the first floor are included in general-purpose circuits for the
second floor. Individual equipment circuits for the first floor are usually
run from the main control center. If equipment such as a built-in electric
heater is installed in the second floor or attic, individual equipment circuits
can be run from the branch control center on the second floor. The location
of outlets on a general-purpose or appliance circuit should be planned so
that the chances of overloading the circuit by using all of the outlets at
one time will be small. For example, six outlets on a single general-purpose
circuit might be divided as follows: one lighting outlet and one baseboard
outlet in the upstairs hall, one outlet in the living-room ceiling, and three
outlets in a bedroom. In rooms such as the living room, where portable
lamps are attached to most of the outlets, it is a good idea to provide two
circuits so that if a fuse blows on one circuit, all of the lights in the room
will not go out.

Excessively long circuits should be avoided if possible. When long circuits
cannot be avoided in remodeling, larger wire (Fig. 29.4) must be used.
The term "voltage drop" used in this figure needs a few words of explana-
tion. Referring back to our analogy between water flowing through a pipe
and electric current flowing in a wire, it is easy to see that a small pipe will
offer considerable resistance to the flow of a large quantity of water. Sim-
ilarly, a small wire offers resistance to the flow of a large current of elec-
tricity. The effect of the resistance is to cause some of the power to be used
up in the wire rather than in the lights or appliances. This waste is called

Wiring and Lighting

497

"voltage drop" for technical reasons. Voltage drop cannot be entirely
avoided, but it can be kept within economical limits by using wire of ade-
quate size. A 2 per cent voltage drop is considered acceptable in all of
the house circuits except those that carry large amounts of current. Circuits
to water heaters and to ranges should be made of large enough wire to keep
the voltage drop to 1 per cent.

Wiring symbols. Standard wiring symbols are shown in Fig. 29.5. These
symbols, of course, bear no resemblance to the equipment that they repre-
sent. Fig. 29.6 shows how the locations of outlets and switches are indicated
on house plans. Wires from the switches to the lights are not actually run
along the path indicated in such plans. The line drawn from a light location
to a switch location merely indicates to the electrician that the light is to be
switch controlled from a switch placed in the position shown on the plan.

GENERAL OUTLETS

CEILING WALL
O -O OUTLET

(f) -<f) fan outlet.
0 -q) junction box.
0 -© lamp holder.

®ps ~®Ps'-'^'^^ HOLDER WITH PULL SWITCH.
(S) -© PULL SWITCH.

® -<V) OUTLET FOR VAPOR DISCHARGE LAMP.
© -(c) CLOCK OUTLET (Specify Voltage)

CONVENIENCE OUTLETS
=0 DUPLEX CONVENIENCE OUTLET

=@ CONVENIENCE OUTLET OTHER THAN DUPLEX.

'■^ 1=SINGLE, 3= TRIPLEX, ETC.

=^wp WEATHERPROOF CONVENIENCE OUTLET

=^^ RANGE OUTLET.

=0g SWITCH AND CONVENIENCE OUTLET

=0-[r] radio and convenience OUTLET

S2
S3
S4

SPECIAL PURPOSE OUTLET. (Des. in Spec.)
FLOOR. OUTLET

SWITCH OUTLETS
SINGLE POLE SWITCH.
DOUBLE POLE SWITCH.
THREE WAY SWITCH.
FOUR WAY SWITCH.

AUTOMATIC DOOR SWITCH.
ELECTROLIER SWITCH.
SWITCH AND PILOT LAMP.
CIRCUIT BREAKER.

SPECIAL OUTLETS

ANY STANDARD SYMBOL AS GIVEN ABOVE
WITH THE ADDITION OF A LOWER CASE
SUBSCRIPT LETTER MAY BE USED TO DES-
IGNATE SOME SPECIAL VARIATION OF
STANDARD EQUIPMENT OF PARTICULAR
INTEREST IN A SPECIFIC SET OF ARCHITEC-
TURAL PLANS.

WHEN USED THEY MUST BE LISTED IN
THE KEY OF SYMBOLS ON EACH DRAWING
AND IF NECESSARY FURTHER DESCRIBED
IN THE SPECIFICATION.

AUXILIARY SYSTEMS

H
Q
13
-O

W
m

PUSH BUTTON

BUZZER

BELL

ANNUNCIATOR

OUTSIDE TELEPHONE

INTERCONNECTING TELEPHONE

BELL RINGING TRANSFORMER

ELECTRIC DOOR OPENER

BAHERY

Fig, 29.5, — Electrical symbols used in house
Standards Association Standard ASA Z32.9-

plans (in
1943) ,

accordance with American

498

New Houses from Old

Fig, 29.6. — Outlets and switches indicated by standard symbols on plan of kitchen.

^TUBE
KNOB a TUBE WIRING

RIGID CONDUIT

METAL-ARMORED CABLE
Fig. 29.7.— Wiring types.

Wiring and Lighting 499

Wiring Materials

Protection of the wires. Although insulated wire is always used in house
wiring, the insulation alone is not enough protection. Three types of addi-
tional protection are used in house wiring. These are known as knob and
tube, conduit, and armored cable. In knob and tube wiring (Fig. 29.7), the
wires are protected only at points where, without protection, they would
rest on parts of the house structure. Knob and tube wiring is found often in
old houses; but it is not much used at the present time.

Metal pipe or rectangular metal channels are used to protect the wires in
conduit wiring. Metal conduits give maximum protection to the wires, but
they, also, are difficult to install in a finished house; hence, even when a
house is already wired in conduits, extensions to the system are usually
made with armored cable. However, metal conduits are sometimes useful
for part of the wiring system in remodeling. A typical use is to protect the
wires that are run from the main control center in the basement to a branch
control center on the second floor. In such a case, the conduit is concealed
behind furring or is run at the back of a closet or behind a cupboard. If
the run is entirely vertical, the conduit can sometimes be installed inside a
wall without opening it, in the same way that a water pipe is installed
(Chapter 26). The wires are not usually in the conduit when it is pur-
chased. Instead, the conduit is installed in the house, then the wires are
fished through it.

In armored cable wiring, the insulated wires are protected by a tough
fiber or metal sheath. Nonmetallic armored cable is flexible and can be
fished easily through walls, but its use is not yet permitted by all electrical
codes, possibly because it does not offer the same degree of protection as
metal-armored cable against gnawing by rats and mice, perforation by nails,
and other mechanical injury. Metal-armored cable (Fig. 29.7) is the most
widely used type of wiring material in remodeling. It offers good protection
to the wires, it is flexible, and it can be fished easily with little cutting into
finished walls and ceilings. This type of cable is popularly known as B-X.

Fittings. Accessories and fittings that are appropriate to the wire pro-
tective material are necessary elements of the wiring system. These acces-
sories and fittings include hangers, junction boxes, boxes for switches and
convenience outlets, and outlets for lighting fixtures. They are usually made
of steel, but fittings made of incombustible fiber are also available. Metal
boxes are made with "knockouts" which are preformed so that openings
can be made in the box at desired places by striking a knockout with a
hammer. Fittings are equipped with screw holes and ears so that their at-

500

New Houses from Old

tachment to the house structure is simple. They include also clamps or set
screws for securing the cable where it enters the box, and outlets for light-
ing fixtures have screws for attachment of the fixture.

Switches. The old style of wall switch with two push buttons has now been
almost superseded by toggle switches. Two general types of toggle switches
are available. The commoner type has metallic contacts and therefore makes
a click when the switch is turned on or off. In mercury switches, a small
globule of mercury, which is sealed in a glass tube, is used to make the
contact. Mercury switches are noiseless and are therefore a desirable type
for bedrooms and nurseries.

The ordinary house switch is designed to be operated from one point.
It is called a two-way switch because it has only two positions, on or off.
Three-way and four-way switches are constructed so that it is possible to
open or close the circuit from two or three different locations. Switches of
these kinds are used chiefly in connection with hall lights. The switch with
a small pilot light is a useful type at some points in the house where the
lights are remotely located in relation to the switch, as basement lights or
lights in an attic used for storage.

TOGGLE
SWITCH

(^1

THREE GANG
SWITCH PLATE

'€•

PUSH
SWITCH

DOUBLE CONV.
OUTLET

COVER WITH
CORD HOLE

SOLID COVER

Fig. 29.8.

Receptacles. Double receptacles are usually installed in present-day wir-
ing because they provide two outlets at practically no additional expense.

Wiring and Lighting 501

Preferred locations for receptacles (convenience, outlets) are 12 to 18 in.
above the floor in such rooms as living rooms and 48 in. above it in such
areas as kitchens. Sometimes in remodeling, it is preferable to place some
of the outlets in the floor, since, on the first floor, floor receptacles can be
installed easily from the basement without disturbing the walls and base-
boards. The ordinary type of receptacle is unsuitable for floor installation
because dirt soon gets into it. The special receptacle shown in Fig. 29.8 is
protected to some extent from this trouble. Floor receptacles should not be
installed in a room such as a kitchen where the floor will be cleaned with
water. Appliances that use current in the 220- to 240-volt range require
special receptacles and plugs with three prongs, since such appliances are
supplied with three-wire service.

Control-center equipment. Control-center equipment is contained in fac-
tory-made metal boxes. The shapes and arrangements of these boxes vary
according to the special requirements of the system, such as the number of
circuits and types of circuits to be supplied from each box. Conventional
control-center equipment includes fuse blocks that are arranged so that there
is at least one fuse in each circuit. Fuses are inconvenient because they must
be replaced whenever overloading or short-circuiting of a circuit causes
them to blow out. They are also somewhat hazardous because when a new
fuse is not at hand, careless persons will sometimes short-circuit a blown
fuse by placing a coin under it. The circuit breaker is a new type of protec-
tive device that is free of the inconvenience of changing fuses and also of
the coin hazard. Circuit breakers that are designed for house-wiring systems
are more attractive in appearance than fuse blocks and hence are often in-
stalled in plain view in the kitchen and at branch control centers. Circuit
breakers are somewhat more expensive than conventional fuse blocks and
fuses, but there is no expense for maintenance.

If the lighting system is to be installed by a contractor, you will need to
be concerned only about the choice of equipment, such as switches, that
will be exposed when the system is complete. However, if you plan to make
the installation yourself, it will be necessary for you to obtain a dealer's or
manufacturer's catalogue that contains illustrations and descriptions of the
various accessories and fittin2;s.

Installation of Wiring

The discussion under this heading will relate particularly to the installa-
tion of metal-armored cable; but if you wish to install another type of wire
protection in your remodeled house, you will find instructions in Richter's

502

New Houses from Old

Practical Electric Wiring and other books listed in Useful Books and
Pamphlets.

Structural problems. Typical methods for gaining access to the interiors
of walls and partitions are shown in Fig. 29.9. When cable is run vertically
in a wall, the topmost hole is usually made first. One workman then lets
down into the wall a small chain that has a metal weight at its end. If the
second hole is needed at the bottom of the wall, the first workman raises
the chain and drops it enough to cause the weight to knock on the bottom

STUD

UNFINISHED

ATTIC

PARTITION

SUBFLOOR

REMOVE STRIP
OF SUBFLOOR-
ING AND BORE
HOLE AS SHOWN
BETWEEN JOISTS

SUBFLOOR

STUD
FLOOR

BORE HOLE
BETWEEN
STUDS ALONG
LINE x-X .
A PEEP HOLE
AT y-y WILL
HELP IN THE
FISHING

^ CLOSET

ceiling\^

STUD

ACCESS TO THE SPACE BETWEEN FLOOR AND CEILING CAN
USUALLY BE GAINED THROUGH THE CEILING OF A CLOSET
LOCATED ON AN INTERIOR WALL AS SHOWN IN 0-E ,

Fig. 29.9. — Methods of gaining access to the interiors of finished partitions and
ceilings. Figs. 26.14 and 26.15 also have application to the problem.

of the wall. The second workman listens to ascertain the point of contact,
then drills the second hole as closely as possible to this point. If the second
hole is needed at a mid-point on the wall, as in installing a switch, the chain
is moved in order to cause the weight to swing inside the wall and strike
the inner sides. An electrician's snake (Fig. 29.10) can be used instead of a
chain and scratched against the interior of the wall. It, however, may go off
at an angle inside the wall. Interior partitions often contain bridging. The
position of the bridging can be determined by sounding the wall with a

Wiring and Lighting

503

Fig. 29.10. — A. Fishing cable through a wall. A snake is lowered from above and
fished for with another snake inserted from below. When the two snakes are
hooked together, the cable is attached to the upper one and pulled downward.
B. Fishing cable through a ceiling. C. Method of attaching cable to the snake.

WOOD-

CABLE

MASONRY
WALL

JOIST

■'•'/>:..

BOARD AT-
TACHED WITH.
CUT NAILS OR
SPECIAL MASON-
RY FASTENERS

ABC

Fig. 29.11. — A. Supporting cable in unfloored attic when it runs in same direction
as joist. B. When it runs across joists. C. Method of support on masonry walls.

504

New Houses from Old

hammer or with the handle of a screw driver. A small section of the wall
covering adjacent to the bridging is then cut out, and a notch large enough
for the cable is cut in the bridging.

Cable is run through walls and ceilings by "fishing" it (Fig. 29.10). The
standard tool for fishing is an electrician's snake, which is a long, flat piece
of flexible steel with a hook on the end. If the snake lacks the hook when it
is purchased, the hook can be formed with pliers after the end of the strip
has been heated to a red heat. The snake is first passed through the wall,
then the cable is attached to the hook and pulled into the wall.

U'\\\\W/((^^^t

Fig. 29.12. — A. Armored cable installed between plaster grounds behind baseboard.
B. Factory-made metal channel used for baseboard wiring.

When it is necessary to run a cable under a finished floor, the run should
parallel the floor joists if possible. If the floor is made of a single layer of
boards, two sections of board are cut out, one at the start of the run and one
at its end. The cuts should be made over joists so that the boards can be
replaced easily. If the floor is made of two layers of boards, the top layer
will usually run parallel to the floor joists and the lower layer Avill run
across them. In most such floors, the top layer is constructed of tongued-and-
grooved flooring. Removal and replacement of a strip of tongued-and-grooved
flooring is illustrated in Fig. 22.6. Occasionally it happens that the strip of
finish flooring that is removed was placed squarely over a joist. If this proves
to be the case, it will be necessary to remove one or two additional strips.
Often floor boards can be removed without damaging them much; but if the
floor is a fine one, and particularly if it is made of flooring material that
cannot be matched, it may be better to forego the fixture that requires
cutting of the floor.

Wiring and Lighting

505

Cable is often run behind baseboards (Fig. 29.12) and cornices, and, of
course, it can be concealed behind furring and behind built-in furniture such
as corner cupboards and bookcases. If a suspended ceiling is built, cable can
be installed behind it before the ceiling is covered. Metal baseboards which
resemble wooden ones in shape but which are actually metal conduits (Fig.
29.13) are also useful in remodeling. Still another method of installing
wires in connection with baseboards is to use a special molding that is de-
signed to be placed on the face of the baseboard or along its top.

{Courtesy Charles E. Barnes & Son.)
Fig. 29.13. — Metal conduit that serves also as a baseboard.

Support for the cable and fixtures often involves structural problems.
When the cable is run in the open, as along joists in the basement or wher-
ever it will not be protected by a finished wall or ceiling, it should be sup-
ported about every 2 ft. Cut steel staples specially manufactured for sup-
porting this kind of cable are the most convenient type of support. The
staples should be driven far enough to grip the cable but not so tightly that
the cable is crushed. When the cable must be supported on a masonry base-
ment wall, a board should first be firmly secured to the wall with cut nails
or special fasteners for masonry. The cable is then stapled to the board.

When flexible cable is installed in an unfloored attic, it should be placed
between the joists wherever possible and supported as shown in Fig. 29.11.

506

New Houses from Old

Occasionally it is necessary to run the cable across the joists in the attic.
When this is done, it should be protected as shown in the same figure. Some-
times the running of cable across joists under flooring is unavoidable.
When this must be done, the notches or holes should be placed as shown
in Fiff. 17.19.

METHOD OF CUTTING LATH
WHEN A SWITCH BOX MUST
BE ATTACHED TO THE LATH.
AFTER THE WIRING IS
COMPLETE, THE OPENING
AROUND THE BOX IS RE-
PAIRED WITH PATCHING
PLASTER OR PLASTER OF
PARIS. CARE IS TAKEN TO
MAKE A TIGHT SEAL AROUND
THE BOX

Fig. 29.14.

Lighting-fixture outlets must be solidly supported. A metal-bar hanger
nailed to two ceiling joists is the best type of support, even though placing
the hanger requires the cutting of a hole in the ceiling. Switch boxes are
best supported on a metal hanger that is nailed to studs or other solid
wood. These hangers are standard articles that can be purchased from dealers
in electrical supplies. Unfortunately, placing them requires cutting out a
larger section of the wall covering than will be covered by the switch
plate, hence switch boxes are often placed on wobd lath in remodeling. The
lath should be cut as shown in Fig. 29.14. Boxes for receptacles placed in the
baseboard can be placed directly in the baseboard. A hole is cut to fit, then
the ears on the box are attached to the baseboard with wooden screws.
When receptacles are placed higher on the wall, it is usually possible to
place them so that the box can be supported by a stud. Another scheme
when several are to be installed in a line is to nail a piece of trim across
the wall studs and to mount the boxes in it.

Wiring and Lighting 507

Basic operations in wiring. Bends and curves in metal-armored cable
should not be made too sharp. The smallest bend that is considered safe is
one with a radius five times the external diameter of the cable.

To cut armored cable, the metal is first nicked with a hack saw as shown
in Fig. 29.15. This nick should not be made so deep that the insulation on
the wires is also cut. The cable is then grasped in both hands and bent back
and forth until the strip breaks. A fiber bushing, called an "antishort" is
slipped over the wires just inside the end of the armor before the cable end
is inserted into the fixture box.

Standard splices are shown in Fig. 29.16. To make a splice of any kind,
the insulation is stripped off the wire with a knife or wire-stripping tool.
The wire is then scraped with a dull knife until its surface is clean and

CUT ACROSS
ARMOR STRAND

Fig. 29.15. — Cutting of metal-armored cable.

bright all around before the wires are twisted together. If the connection
is to be soldered, the joint is then heated. This is best done with a small
alcohol torch, which has a tube that is held in the mouth and through which
air is blown to produce a hot, pointed flame. Flux-cored solder wire is then
applied to the wires. If they are hot enough, the solder will melt and flow
around and between them. If the splice is to be held with pressure (solder-
less) connectors, the ends of the two wires are inserted into the connector,
which is then screwed down on them until it can be turned no farther.
Joints made with pressure connectors have no exposed bare wire if they
have been made properly, but soldered splices must be taped. Rubber tape
is first wrapped around the splice, each turn being lapped about half the
width of the tape. Friction tape is then wrapped over the rubber tape.
Splices should not be covered with friction tape alone, as the insulating value
of this material is relatively low.

In a house-wiring system, splices are always placed inside boxes. Splices
should never be used to piece out short lengths of cable without putting the
splice in a junction box. After the armor has been cut off to provide the
necessary length of exposed wire for the splice and the wire ends have been
scraped, the end of the cable is placed into a special fitting that grips the
ends of the armor securely. In some boxes, these fittings are integral; but if

508

New Houses from Old

the box was entered through a knockout, special fittings known in the trade
as B-X connectors are used. These connectors have a screw clamp that en-
gages the end of the cable, and they in turn are held to the box by means
of a lock nut. Once the cable has been fastened to the box, the splice is made
inside the box and "laid away" (Fig. 29.17).

Fig. 29.16. — A. Twist splice. B. Pigtail splice. C. Branch splice. D. Splice made
with pressure (solderless) connector.

Although new armored cable is seldom defective, it is nevertheless ad-
visable to test it before placing it in a finished wall or ceiling. The test is
simple. If there are two wires in the cable, connect both of them at one end
of the cable to an ordinary doorbell, then touch the wires at the other end
to the terminal posts of a standard dry-cell battery. The bell will ring if
the cable is not defective. If there are three wires in the cable, make two
tests, the first one of the white wire and one black wire, the second of the
white wire and the other black wire.

Electrical cable, whether it is two or three wire will be found to have a
white wire and one or two wires of another color, usually black. The white
wire is sometimes referred to as the "identified conductor" and in three-
wire systems is often called also the "neutral conductor" or simply the
"neutral." It is the wire that is grounded (Fig. 29.1) in both two- and three-
wire systems. The ground connection is usually made to a cold-water pipe
at some point where there will be little risk of the connection to the ground
being interrupted by the temporary removal of a piece of equipment. For
example, if there is a water meter in the cold-water line, the connection to

Wiring and Lighting

509

the pipe should be made on the supply side rather than the house side of
the meter. The ground should not be made to a water pipe that terminates
in a well because of the risk that lowering of the water in the well will
render the ground ineffective. When no suitable water pipe is available, the
ground is made through a special corrosion-resistant grounding rod that
is driven into the soil. The connection between the ground wire and the
pipe is made by means of a clamp, to which the wire is fastened with a
screwed connection. A soldered connection should not be used at this point.

^ — ^>S^ CABLE

CONNECTOR

Fig. 29.17. — Taped splices laid away in a fixture box.

Modernization of Existing Systems

The modernization of a wiring system that is already installed in the
house should be carried out in order to utilize as much of the existing
wiring as possible. To plan the modernization, it is first necessary to de-
termine how the circuits are laid out. The number of circuits can be deter-
mined at the control center. If the house has two-wire knob and tube wiring
— which is the most common type in old houses — there will be a pair of
wires for each circuit. If the wiring is in cable, there will be one cable for
each circuit. A feeder cable will also run into the box that contains the
circuit fuses, but this should not be counted in determining the number
of circuits. The particular outlets — lights or baseboard receptacles — attached

510 New Houses from Old

to each circuit can be found by disconnecting the circuits one at a time.
This can be done by unscrewing a fuse through which the circuit passes in
the control center.

Once the existing circuits have been mapped, extensions and revisions
of the wiring can be planned. Usually, it will be found that too many out-
lets are already connected to the circuits. This condition can be alleviated
by installing new appliance circuits to the kitchen and dining room or to
any other room where the use of electricity will be relatively heavy. If
additional receptacles are needed in some of the rooms, it is usually better
to run new circuits for them. Individual equipment circuits should be run
from a control center for any new appliances that require relatively large
amounts of current. If the attic of the house is unfinished, the chances are
that the wires or cables that supply the outlets on the second floor will be
accessible in the attic. If they are, it is usually feasible to establish a branch
control center on the second floor and to run a feeder of adequate capacity
to it from the main control center. The original circuits can then be divided
into two or more circuits supplied from the branch control center. The one
thing that should not be done is to further overload the original circuits and
to "increase their capacity" by using fuses of larger amperage.

Each new circuit will require protective equipment in the form of fuses
or a circuit breaker, hence the addition of circuits will require new fittings
at the control center. When only a single circuit is added, as for a range
or an oil burner, the purchase of equipment for it alone is usually enough;
but if several circuits are added, it is often more economical to discard the
old boxes and fuse blocks and to buy completely new equipment for the
control center. In such a case, the installation of circuit breakers rather
than fuses should be considered.

If the house had a 32-volt farm lighting system and you wish to convert
it to standard voltage, the main thing to look out for is adequate protection
of the wires. The wires in a 32-volt system are usually large. If they are in
cable or conduit or even installed by the knob and tube system, the circuits
are usually more than adequate for 110- to 120-volt systems. On the other
hand, if the wires are simply tacked up with staples — as was sometimes
done when the farmer installed his own wiring — the house should be re-
wired. Another point to look out for is grounding of the wiring system, as
32-volt systems were seldom grounded.

Ceiling lights that were not controlled with wall switches are often trouble-
some problems in remodeling, particularly when the original lighting fix-
tures were simple droplights. Replacing such lights with a modern lighting
fixture is simple, but installing a wall switch usually involves cutting into
the wall and usually the floor overhead. If you can forego the convenience

Wiring and Lighting

511

of a wall switch, almost any modern lighting fixture can be rigged with a
sturdy pull switch that is installed in the base of the fixture. A switch of this
type is inconvenient when it must be found in the dark, but it has no other
disadvantage.

Tarnished switch plates can readily be replaced with new ones that have
a permanent finish. The newer toggle switches can usually be substituted
for push-button switches without changing the box that holds the switch.
Double baseboard outlets are often installed in place of single ones where
more outlets are needed, but this should be done only if it is certain that
the circuit has a capacity for additional outlets.

TRANSFORMER BUZZER

mM=i

R-i BELL -7

±1 i/

V-

PUSH^

buttons-

Fig. 29.18. — Wiring diagram for doorbell and buzzer.

Doorbell Wiring

The wiring scheme for a doorbell system that employs a bell for one
exterior door and a buzzer for the other one is diagramed in Fig. 29.18.
Chimes can be substituted for the bell or buzzer without any change in
the wiring. Doorbells used to be operated by dry batteries, and you may
encounter such a system in the house you are remodeling. A small trans-
former is more commonly used to supply electricity for doorbells. The
transformer steps down the regular voltage of the house electricity supply
to a much lower voltage.

Some electrical codes require that the bell transformer be fused. Fused
transformers are usually sold as a unit that contains the fuse blocks and
transformer in a small metal box. Fused transformers are undoubtedly
safer, but unfused transformers are commonly installed where they are
permitted by the code. These are available in two types — one that can be
mounted on the cover of a standard junction box and one that can be
screwed to a joist or other wood. The first type has the advantage that the
wires attached to the house-wiring system are not exposed. An armored cable
or some other kind of protected wiring must be used to connect the other
type to the house-wiring system. The high-voltage or primary side of a
bell transformer can be easily identified by the pair of thick wires, one of

512

New Houses from Old

which has black insulation, the other white. The secondary side of the trans-
former is attached to the doorbell system. It is usually equipped with a pair
of brass terminals to which the bell wires are fastened.

Since the bell side of the system is supplied with low-voltage current,
ordinary cotton-insulated bell wire can be used, and the wires can be stapled
directly to wood. Cotton-insulated wire should not, however, be exposed

GROOVE v^
FOR BELL
WIRES

-INTERIOR
CASING

EXTERIOR -
CASING

i'^----'

-VhOLE BORED ^

Vfor wires

GROOVE FOR WIRES
IN BACK FACE OF
CASING- *•

PORCH

»P-6

INTERIOR _
CASING C

Fig. 29.19. — Methods of installing bell wires in finished doorframes. A and B are
described in the text. C shows how wires installed as in B may be brought to the
side of the interior casing without removing it. The small hole h is filled after the
wires are in place.

to constant dampness. In the better installations, bell wiring is usually
further protected by wrapping the wires with tape after they have been cut
to length; but taped wire is difficult to pull through floors or walls in a
finished house. Rubber- or plastic-insulated wire of the quality commonly
used for lamp cords is considerably more expensive than bell wire, but
using it often simplifies the installation of doorbells in remodeling.

Installing a doorbell push button in remodeling is a more difficult opera-
tion than it appears to be. The first step is to bore a hole in the outer door
casing for the button. The strip of casing is then removed carefully in order
not to damage it. The next step is to bore a hole inward at the base of the
casing. The sill construction should first be studied from inside the base-
ment so that the hole can be placed where it will open into the basement.

Wiring and Lighting 513

Two shallow grooves about 2 in. apart are then made in the back of the
casing strip. The wires are placed in the grooves. Ends 2 or 3 in. long are
pushed through the hole where the button is to be placed. The wires are
next fastened to the casing strip with staples driven flush into the wood. The
other ends of the wires are then pushed through the hole into the basement,
and the casing strip is replaced. Inasmuch as there is some risk of damag-
ing the casing, some homeowners prefer to bore the hole for the button
straight through the doorframe and to run the wires to the basement inside
the house (Fig. 19.19). When this method is used, a strip of the inside
casing can be removed and the wires concealed behind it in the same way;
or where appearance is not too important, as at the back door, the groove
for the wires can be made in the face of the casing, in which case removal
of the casing is not necessary.

Telephone Wiring

There is much to be said for installing conduits for telephone wires when
a house is remodeled. Doing so avoids boring holes and otherwise dis-
figuring the house when the telephone is installed. The requirements and
methods will not be covered in this book since literature and advice on the
matter are available on request from telephone companies.

Lighting and Lighting Fixtures

There are two considerations in selecting lighting fixtures— one, to obtain
adequate light and the other, to obtain fixtures that are attractive and
harmonious with the style and decoration of the house. The lighting of a
room has two components — the general or background lighting and the
lighting of tables, desks, and printed matter that is being read. Home light-
ing can be measured from the standpoint of its adequacy only by the use
of a foot-candle meter, designed for measuring light of low intensity. This
is not an instrument that the average homeowner is likely to purchase, but
some contractors who specialize in the installation of lighting and a number
of utility companies have such instruments and will make lighting measure-
ments in the home.

The following recommendations for adequate light for various tasks and
conditions are based on data published in the Illuminating Engineering
Society's Recommended Practice of Home Lighting: for prolonged reading
of small type, studying at a table, prolonged sewing on goods of average
colors, working in the kitchen or at a workbench, and doing laundry or

514

New Houses from Old

iConrtcsy Illuminating Engineering Society.')

Fig. 29.20. — Recommended fixture types for entrances, halls, and closets. A. Lantern
bracket, 40 watts. B. Ceiling lantern, 40 watts. C. Recessed house number, 3 watts.
D. Attached house number, special voltage lamp supplied from doorbell trans-
former. E. General diffuse lantern, 60 watts. F. Semi-indirect ceiling fixture, 80
watts. G. Semidirect ceiling fixture, 80 watts. H. Projector lamp fixture, 100 watts.
Fixtures shown are for filament (incandescent) lamps. Wattages are minimum.

Wiring and Lighting

515

n n

x^^^'

/TTTTmT\

(.Courtesy Illuminating Engineering Society.)

Fig. 29.21. — Recommended fixture types for the living room. A. Semi-indirect close
ceiling fixture, 150 watts. B. Semi-indirect close ceiling fixture, 80 watts. C. Semi-
indirect suspended fixture, 150 watts. D. Close or suspended semi-indirect fixture,
40 watts per bowl. E. Semi-indirect or totally indirect wall urn, 60 watts. F. Wall
bracket, 15 watts. G. Recessed directional side-wall lighting. H. Lighted cornice. /.
Dropped valances for side-wall lighting. Wattage recommendations for G, H, and /
are 20 to 40 watts per running foot (incandescent) ; 10 watts per running foot
(fluorescent). A, C, D, E, and F for incandescent lamps. B for fluorescent lamps
only. G, H, and / for either incandescent or fluorescent.

516

New Houses from Old

(.Courtesy Illuminating Engineering Society.)

Fig. 29.22. — Recommended fixture types for the dining room. A. Semi-indirect fix-
ture, 150 watts. B. Semi-indirect fixture with inner diffusing bowl; 150 watts for
a dinette, 300 watts for dining room. C. Semi-indirect fixture, 40 watts per bowl.
D. Shaded candle fixture, 25 watts per candle. E, Semi-indirect fixture, fluorescent
lamp; 60 watts for a dinette, 80 watts for dining room. F. Semi-indirect close
ceiling fixture, 150 watts. G. Special-purpose spotlighting fixture. H. Over cabinet
lighting. /. Cove lighting. Wattage recommendations for H and / are 20 to 40
watts per running foot (incandescent); 10 watts per running foot (fluorescent).
Wattage recommendations are minimum.

Wiring and Lighting

517

{Courtesy Illuminating Engineering Society.)

Fig. 29.23. — Recommended fixture types for the kitchen, laundry, and garage. A.
General diffuse enclosing globe, 150 watts. B. Totally indirect ( silvered-bowl bulb),
200 watts. C. Semidirect, 80 watts. D. Direct (silvered-bowl bulb), 150 watts. E.
Direct, 40 watts. F. Recessed direct; 100 watts if equipped with incandescent lamp.
60 watts if equipped with fluorescent lamp. G. Wall bracket, 10 watts per rtinning
foot. H. Wall bracket, 60 watts. C, E, and G are for fluorescent lamps only. Wattage
recommendations are minimum.

518

New Houses from Old

H <3. . . . .

{Courtesy Illuminating Engineering Society.)

Fig. 29.24. — Recommended fixture types for the bedroom. A. Semi-indirect, 120
watts. B. Semi-indirect, 40 watts per bowl. C. Indirect (silvered-bowl bulb), 150
watts. D. Semi-indirect, 40 watts. E. Bracket, 20 to 40 watts, depending on mirror
length. F. Recessed direct lighting; 100 watts if equipped with incandescent lamp,
40 watts if equipped with fluorescent lamp. G. Recessed box, 10 watts per running
foot. H. Bracket for door mirrors, 100 watts. D, E, and G are for fluorescent lamps
only. Wattage recommendations are minimum.

Wiring and Lighting

519

{.Courtesy Illuminating Engineering Society.)

Fig. 29.25. — Recommended fixture types for the bathroom. A. General diffuse en-
closing globe, 100 watts. B. Semidirect close-ceiling fixture, 100 watts. C. Semi-
direct close-ceiling fixture, 30 watts. D. Vaporproof shower light, 60 watts. E.
Semi-indirect bracket, 60 watts. F. Semi-indirect bracket with lens light, 100 watts.
G. Wall bracket, 15 watts. C and G are for fluorescent lamps only. Wattage recom-
mendations are minimum.

520 New Houses from Old

ironing, 40 foot-candles; for casual reading of large type, short periods of
sewing, and writing, 20 foot-candles. Forty foot-candles are also recom-
mended at the bathroom mirror and 20 at the dressing-table mirror. An
intensity of 5 foot-candles is needed for background lighting for all rooms
in the house but the kitchen, where 10 foot-candles are considered necessary.
Lighting fixtures are not standardized and their choice is as personal as
the choosing of furniture. The fixtures shown in Figs. 29.20 to 29.25 are
intended only to show good types for various places in the house.

OJTJTJlJTJTJTJTriJTJTJlJTJTJTJXriJXnXUTJXnXlJ

Useful Books and Pamphlets

CHAPTERS 1-13

Dunham, C. W., and M. D. Thalberg: Planning Your Home for Better Living,
Whittlesey House (McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.), 1945.

Eberlein, H. D.: Remodeling and Adapting the Small House, J. B. Lippincott
Company, 1933.

Field, W. B.: House Planning, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1940.

Home Owners^ Catalogs, 1945 (see p. 147).

Johnstone, B. K., and Others: Building or Buying a House, Whittlesey House
(McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.), 1945.

Moral, H. R.: Buying Country Property, The Macmillan Company, 1941.

President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership, Washington,
D. C, 1931, House Design, Construction, and Equipment, 1932.

President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership, Washington,
D. C, 1931, Housing and the Community — Home Repair and Remodeling, 1932.

Rawson, M. N. : Sing, Old House; Hallmarks of True Restoration, E. P. Button &
Company, Inc., 1934.

Rogers, T. S. : Plan Your House to Suit Yourself, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938.

Sleeper, Catherine, and H. R. Sleeper: The House for You to Build, Buy or
Rent, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1948.

United States Gypsum Company, House of Ideas, 1942.*

United States Gypsum Company, How to Modernize Your Home, 1942.*

United States National Housing Agency, Federal Housing Administration, Tech-
nical Bulletin No. 4, Principles of Planning Small Houses, rev. 1946, Govern-
ment Printing Office.*

University of Illinois, Small Homes Council, Circular Series*

Williams, H. L., and 0. K. Williams: Old American Houses and How to Restore
Them (1700-1850), Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1946.

Wills, R. B.: Houses for Good Living, Architectural Book Publishing Company,
Inc., 1940.

* See footnote on p. 530.

521

522 New Houses from Old

CHAPTERS 14^29

BuRBANK, N. L. : Carpentry and Joinery Work, 4th ed., Simmons-Boardman Pub-
lishing Corporation, 1942.f

BuRBANK, N. L. : House Construction Details, 2nd ed., Simmons-Boardman Pub-
lishing Corporation, 1942. f

Dalzell, J. R., and G. Townsend: How to Remodel a House, American Tech-
nical Society, 1942.t

DiETZ, A. G. H.: Divelling House Construction, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc.,
1946.t

DuRBAHN, W. E.: Practical Construction, American Technical Society, 1948.t

Home Mechanics Handbook, The, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1945. f

Home Owners' Loan Corporation, Master Specifications for Reconditioning, 3rd
ed.. Government Printing Office, 1939.t

Lair, E. A.: Carpentry for the Building Trades, McGraw-Hill Book Company,
Inc., 1947.

Ramsey, C. G., and H. R. Sleeper: Architectural Graphic Standards, 3rd ed.,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1940.

Sweet's Architectural Catalogs, published annually (see p. 147).

Townsend, G. : Carpentry, 2nd ed., American Technical Society, 1936.f

United States Federal Housing Administration, Minimum Construction Require-
ments.* f (The requirements for different parts of the country vary. Apply to
the local Federal Housing Administration office for those applicable to your
community.)

United States National Bureau of Standards, List of Published Material Relating
to Home Building and Maintenance (Letter Circular 856), 1947.*

United States National Bureau of Standards, Building Materials and Structures
Report BMS 88, Recommended Building Code Requirements for New Divelling
Construction, Government Printing Office, 1942.* f

United States National Bureau of Standards, Building and Housing Publication
No. 18, Recommended Minimum Requirements for Small Divelling Construc-
tion, Government Printing Office, 1932.f

United States National Housing Agency, Federal Housing Administration, Tech-
nical Bulletin No. 6, Mechanical Equipment for the Home, rev. 1940, Govern-
ment Printing Office.*

Whitman, R. B. : First Aid for the Ailing House, 4th ed., Whittlesey House
(McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.), 1946.
t See footnote on p. 530.

Useful Books and Pamphlets 523

CHAPTER 14

Graham, F. D. : Audels Masons and Builders Guide, Theodore Audel & Com-
pany, 1945.t

McGarvey, G. a.: Bricklaying (United States Office of Education, Vocational
Division, Bulletin No. 208), Government Printing Office, 1940.t

Miller, T. A. H.: Use of Concrete on the Farm (United States Department of
Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 1772 ) , Government Printing Office, 1937.

Mulligan, J. A.: Handbook of Brick Masonry Construction, McGraw-Hill Book
Company, Inc., 1942.f

National Concrete Masonry Association, Facts about Concrete Masonry with Con-
struction Details, 1946.* f

National Sand and Gravel Association, Tables of Quantities of Materials for Con-
crete (Bulletin No. 4), 1928.*

Portland Cement Association, Concrete Facts for Concrete Contractors, 1942.*

Stoddard, R. P.: Brick Structures: How to Build Them, 11th ed., McGraw^-Hill
Book Company, Inc., 1946.t

CHAPTER 15

Copper and Brass Research Association, Protection against Termites ivith Copper
Shields, 1941.*

Miller, T. A. H., and E. G. Molander: Foundations for Farm. Buildings (United
States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 1869 ) , Government Print-
ing Office, 1941.*

Portland Cement Association, Foundation Walls and Basements of Concrete,
1945.*

United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 1911, Preventing
Damage to Buildings by Subterranean Termites and Their Control, Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1946.*

United States Federal Housing Administration, Protection against Termites (Tech-
nical Circular No. 2), 1939.*

Warren: G. M.: Making Cellars Dry (United States Department of Agriculture,
Farmers' Bulletin 1572), Government Printing Office, 1929.*

CHAPTER 16

National Board of Fire Underwriters, A Standard Ordinance for Chimney Con-
struction, 3rd ed., rev., 1927.* f

524 New Houses from Old

Senner, a. H., and T. A. H. Miller: Fireplaces and Chimneys (United States
Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 1889), Government Printing
Office, 1941.*

CHAPTER 17

HoLSENDORF, B. E. : The Rat and Rat proof Construction of Buildings (United
States Public Health Service, Supplement No. 131), Government Printing Of-
fice, 1937.*

Johnson, R. P. A., and E. M. Davis: Use and Abuse of Wood in House Con-
struction (United States Department of Agriculture, Miscellaneous Publica-
tion No. 358), Government Printing Office, 1939.*

National Lumber Manufacturers Association, House Framing Details, 1929.*

National Lumber Manufacturers Association, Maximum Spans for Joists and
Rafters, 1938.* f

National Lumber Manufacturers Association, Plank-and-beam Floor and Roof
System for Residential Construction, 1940.* f

Perth, L. : The Steel Square, Stanley Tools, 1943.*

SiEGELE, H. H.: Roof Framing, Frederick J. Drake & Company, 1947. f

Tov^^NSEND, G. : The Steel Square, American Technical Society, 1939. f

United States Federal Board for Vocational Education, Bulletin No. 145, Light
Frame House Construction, rev. 1931, Government Printing Office. f

United States Federal Housing Administration, Tables of Maximum Alloivable
Spans for Wood Floor Joists, Ceiling Joists, Rafters in Residential Construc-
tion, 1946.* t

United States National Bureau of Standards, Building and Housing No. 14,
Recommended Minimum Requirements for Fire Resistance in Buildings, Gov-
ernment Printing Office, 1931.* f

CHAPTER 18
American Zinc Institute, How to Make Galvanized Roofing Last Longer, 1945.*

Copper and Brass Research Association, Copper Valleys and Flashings for Resi-
dences, 1941.*

GiLMORE, W. J., and Others: Roofs and Exterior Walls of Red Cedar Shingles
(Oregon State College, Extension Bulletin 540), Oregon State College, 1940.*

Grondal, B. L., and W. W. Woodbridge: Certigrade Handbook of Red Cedar
Shingles, 5th ed., rev.. Red Cedar Shingle Bureau, 1942.*

Snoke, H. R.: Asphalt-prepared Roll Roofings and Shingles (United States Na-
tional Bureau of Standards, Building Materials and Structures Report BMS
70), Government Printing Office, 1941.* f

Useful Books and Pamphlets 525

Snoke, H. R., and L. J. Waldron: Survey of Roofing Materials in the North-
eastern States (United States National Bureau of Standards, Building Ma-
terials and Structures Report BMS 29), Government Printing Office, 1939.*
(Similar publications of the Bureau discuss materials used in the Southeastern
states and in the North Central states.)

United States National Bureau of Standards, Building Materials and Structures
Report BMS 57, Roofing in the United States, Government Printing Office,
1940.*

United States National Bureau of Standards, Commercial Standard 31, Wood
Shingles, 4th ed., Government Printing Office, 1938.* f

CHAPTER 19
Douglas Fir Plywood Association, Dri-bilt with Plywood, 1945.*

GiLMORE, W. J., and Others: Roofs and Exterior Walls of Red Cedar Shingles
(Oregon State College, Extension Bulletin 540), Oregon State College, 1940.*

Grondal, B. L., and W. W. Woodbridge: Certigrade Handbook of Red Cedar
Shingles, 5th ed., rev.. Red Cedar Shingle Bureau, 1942.*

Insulation Board Institute, Application Instructions for Structural Insulating
Board, 1941.*

Metal Lath Manufacturers Association, Metal Lath for Homesf'

National Concrete Masonry Association, Facts about Concrete Masonry ivith
Construction Details, 1946.* f

National Lumber Manufacturers Association, Wood Walls, 1937.*

Portland Cement Association, Plasterer's Manual for Applying Portland Cement
Stucco and Plaster, 1941.* f

United States National Bureau of Standards, Dampness in Masonry Walls Above-
grade (Letter Circular 721), 1943.*

United States National Bureau of Standards, Finishes and Maintenance of Port-
land Cement Stucco Construction (Technical Information on Building Ma-
terials TIBM 21), 1936.*

United States National Bureau of Standards, Recommendations for Portland
Cement Stucco Construction (Technical Information on Building Materials
TIBM 20), 1936.*

CHAPTER 20

National Door Manufacturers Association, Neiv Modular Standard Ponder osa
Pine Stock Windows and Sash, 1947.*

National Door Manufacturers Association, Stock Ponderosa Pine and Hardwood
Veneered Doors, 1947.*

526 New Houses from Old

CHAPTER 21

Douglas Fir Plywood Association, various publications on the use of plywood
on interior walls.

Gypsum Association, The ABC's of Plastering.*

Gypsum Association, various publications on gypsum plaster and gypsum board.

Insulation Board Institute, Application Instructions for Structural Insulating
Board, 1941.*

Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company, pamphlets on its double window glass
"Thermopane" and other literature on glass in houses.

National Lumber Manufacturers Association, Modern Home Interiors.*

Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, various pamphlets on the use of glass in houses.

Southern Cypress Manufacturers Association, An Inside Story of Tidewater Red
Cypress, 1936.*

Southern Hardwood Producers, Southern Hardivood Interiors.*

United States National Bureau of Standards, several publications on plaster.

United States Plywood Corporation, Weldwood Plywood for Interiors: Installa-
tion Booklet, 1946.*

Western Pine Association, Paneling Old or Neiv Interiors with Real Pine.*

CHAPTER 22

Dill, R. S., and Others: Measurement of Heat Losses from Slab Floors (United
States National Bureau of Standards, Building Materials and Structures Report
BMS 103), Government Printing Office, 1945.* f

Helphenstine, R. K.: Selection, Installation, Finish, and Maintenance of Wood
Floors for Dwellings (United States Department of Agriculture, Circular No.
489), Government Printing Office, 1938.*

Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association, Grading Rules and Standard Speci-
fications.* f

Miracle Adhesive Corporation, Construction by Adhesion, 1947.* (Deals with tile
walls and floors.)

National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association, Hoiv to Lay, Finish, and
Care for NOFMA Oak Floors, 1943.*

National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association, Specification Manual for
NOFMA Certified Oak Floors, 1943.*

Southern Pine Association, Southern Pine Floors, 1942.*

Tile Manufacturers Association, Inc., Facts about Tile, 1941.*

Useful Books and Pamphlets 527

United States National Bureau of Standards, several publications on characteris-
tics of flooring materials and maintenance of floors.

CHAPTER 23

EwiNG, C. H.: Practical Instruction for Paper Hanging, Frederick J. Drake and
Company, 1946.t

Gardner, H. A.: Suggestions on Overcoming Construction Defects and Other
Factors Which Cause Paint Failures on Wood Surfaces, National Paint, Var-
nish, and Lacquer Association, 1939.*

HiCKSON, E. F., and P. T. Howard: Painting Interior Walls and Trim (Letter
Circular 837), United States National Bureau of Standards, 1946.*

Lead Industries Association, Property Protection with White Lead Paint *

National Lime Association, Whitewash and Cold Water Paints (Bulletin No.
304-E), 1943.*

Newell, A. C. : Coloring, Finishing, and Painting Jfood, Manual Arts Press,
1940.t

Painting and Decorating Methods, 2nd ed., Theodore Audel & Company, 1938.+

United States Federal Housing Administration, Two-coat Paint Systems for Ex-
terior Use (Technical Circular No. 6), 1942.*

United States Forest Products Laboratory, several publications on painting of
wood.

United States National Bureau of Standards, many publications on household
painting problems.

Vanderwalker, F. N.: Wood Finishing, Plain and Decorative, rev. ed., Frederick
J. Drake & Company, 1944.+

Walker, P. H., and E. F. Hickson : Paint Manual ivith Particular Reference to
Federal Specifications (United States National Bureau of Standards, Building
Materials and Structures Report BMS 105), Government Printing Office, 1945. f

West Coast Lumbermen's Association, Painting and Finishing West Coast Woods,
1946.*

CHAPTER 24

American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, Heating, Ventilating,
and Air Conditioning Guide, published annually.f

Copper and Brass Research Association, Radiant Heating."^

Hoffman, J. D., Ed.: Gravity Warm-air Heating. Digest of Research, Engineer-
ing Experiment Station, University of Illinois, National Warm Air Heating
and Air Conditioning Association, 1935. f

528 New Houses from Old

Illinois University, Engineering Experiment Station, Urbana, 111., various publi-
cations on heating and cooling dwelling houses.

Institute of Boiler and Radiator Manufacturers, I-B-R Installation Guide, Num-
ber 1 : One Pipe Forced Circulation Hot Water Heating Systems for Buildings
Having a Heat Loss Not Exceeding 60,000 B.T.U. per Hour, 1945." f

Institute of Boiler and Radiator Manufacturers, I-B-R Installation Guide, Num-
ber 2: One Pipe Steam Heating Systems for Buildings Having a Heat Loss
Not Exceeding 92,640 B.T.U. per Hour (Equal to 386 Sq. Ft. of Steam Radi-
ation), 1946.* +

National Warm Air Heating and Air Conditioning Association, Code and Manual
for the Design and Installation of IF arm-air If inter Air-conditioning Systems,
1945.* +

National Warm Air Heating and Air Conditioning Association, Code and Manual
for Gravity Warm-air Heating Systems, 2nd ed., 1945. f

National Warm Air Heating and Air Conditioning Association, Hoiv to Figure
Heat Losses.* f

Phillips, T. D.: A Survey of Humidities in Residences (United States National
Bureau of Standards, Building Materials and Structures Report BMS 56),
Government Printing Office, 1940.* f

Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, Inc., A Simple Home Course in Burner Care, 1944.*

United States National Bureau of Standards, Home Heating Problems: List of
Publications and Articles (Letter Circular 855}.*

CHAPTER 25

Chrisler, v. L. : Sound Insulation of Wall and Floor Constructions (United
States National Bureau of Standards, Building Materials and Structures Re-
port BMS 17 ) , Government Printing Office, 1939.* +

Close, P. D.: Building Insulation, 3rd ed., American Technical Society, 1946.+

Rowley, F. B., and Others: Conservation of Fuel (University of Minnesota, En-
gineering Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 20 ) , University of Minnesota,
1943.*

Rowley, F. B., and R. C. Jordan: Economics of Insulation (University of Min-
nesota, Engineering Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 23), University of Min-
nesota, 1945.*

Rowley, F. B., and Others: Methods of Moisture Control and Their Application
to Building Construction (University of Minnesota, Engineering Experiment
Station, Bulletin No. 17), University of Minnesota, 1940.* +

Rowley, F. B., and C. E. Lund: Vapor Transmission Analysis of Structural In-

Useful Books and Pamphlets 529

sulating Board (University of Minnesota, Engineering Experiment Station,
Bulletin No. 22), University of Minnesota, 1944.* f

United States National Bureau of Standards, Aluminum Foil Insulation (Letter
Circular 535), 1938.*

United States National Bureau of Standards, Thermal Insulation of Dwelling
Houses (Letter Circular 774), 1945.*

Weber, C. G., and R. C. Reichel: Accumulation of Moisture in Walls of Frame
Construction during Winter Exposure (United States National Bureau of
Standards, Building Materials and Structures Report BMS 93 ) , Government
Printing Office.* f

WooLLEY, H. W. : Moisture Condensation in Building Walls (United States Na-
tional Bureau of Standards, Building Materials and Structures Report BMS
63), Government Printing Office, 1940.* f

CHAPTER 26

Institute of Boiler and Radiator Manufacturers, I-B-R Installation Guide, Num-
ber 3: Indirect Water Heaters; Selection and Installation of Heaters Sub-
merged in Water for Use in Small Homes, 1946.* f

Manly, H. P.: Plumbing Installation and Repair, Frederick J. Drake & Com-
pany, 1945.t

Matthias, A. J.: How to Design and Install Plumbing, American Technical So-
ciety, 1940.t

United States National Bureau of Standards, Building Materials and Structures
Report BMS 66, Plumbing Manual, Government Printing Office, 1940.* f

United States National Bureau of Standards, Recommended Minimum Require-
ments for Plumbing, Government Printing Office, 1932.t

Warren, G. M. : Farm Plumbing (United States Department of Agriculture,
Farmers' Bulletin 1426), Government Printing Office, 1944.*

CHAPTERS 27-28
American Water Well Drillers' Association, standard well specifications.

Bowman, L: Well-drilling Methods (United States Geological Survey, Water
Supply Paper 257), Government Printing Office, 1911.* f

Garver, H. L. : Safe Water for the Farm (United States Department of Agri-
culture, Farmers' Bulletin 1978), Government Printing Office, 1946.*

RocKEY, J. W., and J. W. Simons: Sewage and Garbage Disposal on the Farm
(United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 1950), Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1944.*

530 New Houses from Old

United States Federal Housing Administration, Requirements for Individual
Water-supply and Seivage-disposal Systems.'^ f (The requirements for differ-
ent parts of the country vary. Apply to the local Federal Housing Administra-
tion office for the requirements applicable to your community.)

United States Public Health Service, Supplement No. 58 to the Public Health
Reports, Seivage Disposal for Suburban and Country Homes, Government
Printing Office, 1926.*

United States Public Health Service, Supplement No. 185 to the Public Health
Reports, Rural Water-supply Sanitation, Government Printing Office, 1945.* ]

Winston, J. B.: ^4 Surface Water Treatment System for the Rural Home (Bul-
letin No. 89), Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1945.*

Wright, F. B. : Rural Water Supply and Sanitation, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
1939.

CHAPTER 29

Bredahl, a. C. : Westinghouse Home JFiring Handbook, Westinghouse Electric
Corporation, 1947.t

Fahsbender, M. : Residential Lighting, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1947.

Illuminating Engineering Society, Recommended Practice of Home Lighting,
1945.*

Industry Committee on Interior Wiring Design, Handbook of Residential Wiring
Design, 1946.*

National Board of Fire Underwriters, National Electrical Code; Standard of the
National Board of Fire Underwriters for Electric Wiring and Apparatus as
Recommended by the National Fire Protection Association, 1947.f

RiCHTER, H. P.: Practical Electric Wiring, McGravsr-Hill Book Company, Inc.,

1947.t

United States Rural Electrification Administration, various nontechnical publica-
tions on electric wiring.

United States Tennessee Valley Authority, a number of nontechnical publications
on electric wiring and appliances.

* Denotes a pamplilet or leaflet.

t Indicates that the work is technical — that is, it is written chiefly in the language of
the trade.

iixnjxnxLTLTLJiJTjTJxrLnjTJxrTjxrLriJTXUTJ^

Addresses of Organizations and
Publishers

American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers,

51 Madison Ave., New York 10, N. Y.

American Technical Society, Drexel Ave. at 58th St., Chicago 37, 111.

American Water Well Drillers' Association,

1912 South Main St., South Bend, Ind.

American Zinc Institute, 60 East 42nd St., New York 17, N. Y.

Architectural Book Publishing Company, Inc.,

112 West 46th St., New York 19, N. Y.

Audel, Theodore, & Company, 49 West 23rd St., New York 10, N. Y.

Copper and Brass Research Association,

420 Lexington Ave., New York 17, N. Y.

Dodge, F. W., Corporation, 119 West 40th St., New York 18, N. Y.

Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, N. Y.

Douglas Fir Plywood Association, Tacoma 2, Wash.

Drake, Frederick J., & Company, 600 West Van Buren St., Chicago 7, 111.

Dutton, E. p., & Company, Inc., 300 4th Ave., New York 10, N. Y.

Government Printing Office.

Publications so marked in the above list are sold by the Superintendent
of Documents, Washington, D. C. Government publications not marked
in this way are usually obtainable from the agency that sponsored them.

Gypsum Association, 330 South Wells St., Chicago 6, 111.

Illuminating Engineering Society, 51 Madison Ave., New York 10, N. Y.

Industry Committee on Interior Wiring Design,

Room 2650, 420 Lexington Ave., New York 17, N. Y.

Institute of Boiler and Radiator Manufacturers,

60 East 42nd St., New York 17, N. Y.

Insulation Board Institute, 111 West Washington St., Chicago, 111.

Lead Industries Association, 420 Lexington Ave., New York 17, N. Y.

531

532 New Houses from Old

LiBBEY-OwENS-FoRD Glass Company, Toledo 3, 0.

LiPPiNCOTT, J. B., Company, East Washington Square, Philadelphia 5, Pa.

McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 330 West 42nd St., New York 18, N. Y.
Macmillan Company, 60 5th Ave., New York 11, N. Y.

Manual Arts Press, 273 North Monroe St., Peoria 3, 111.

Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association,

332 South Michigan Ave., Chicago 4, 111.

Metal Lath Manufacturers Association, 208 South La Salle St., Chicago, 111.

Miracle Adhesives Corporation, 801 2nd Ave., New York, N. Y.

National Board of Fire Underwriters, 85 John St., New York 7, N, Y.

National Concrete Masonry Association,

33 West Grand Ave., Chicago 10, 111.

National Door Manufacturers Association,

332 South Michigan Ave., Chicago 4, 111.

National Lime Association, 927 15th St., N.W., Washington 5, D. C.

National Lumber Manufacturers Association,

1319 18th St., N.W., Washington, D. C.

National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association,

Dermon Building, Nashville, Tenn.

National Paint, Varnish, and Lacquer Association,

1500 Rhode Island Ave., N.W., Washington, D. C.

National Sand and Gravel Association,

Munsey Building, Washington 4, D. C.

National Warm Air Heating and Air Conditioning Association,

145 Public Square, Cleveland 14, O.

Oregon State College, Corvallis, Ore.

Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, Pittsburgh 22, Pa.

Portland Cement Association, 33 West Grand Ave., Chicago 10, 111.

President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership

Publications out of print but are obtainable in many libraries.

Red Cedar Shingle Bureau, 5508 White Bldg., Seattle, Wash.

Scribner's, Charles, Sons, 597 5th Ave., New York, N. Y.

SiMMONS-BoARDMAN PUBLISHING CORPORATION,

30 Church St., New York 7, N. Y.
Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, Inc., 26 Broadway, New York, N. Y.

Addresses of Organizations and Publishers 533

Southern Cypress Manufacturers Association,

721-724 Barnett National Bank Bldg., Jacksonville, Fla.

Southern Hardwood Producers, 805 Sterick Bldg., Memphis, Tenn.

Southern Pine Association, Canal Bldg., New Orleans, La.

Stanley Tools, New Britain, Conn.

Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, College Station, Tex.

Tile Manufacturers Association, 50 East 42nd St., New York 17, N. Y.

United States Federal Housing Administration, Washington 25, D. C.

United States Forest Products Laboratory, Madison 5, Wis.

United States Gypsum Company, 300 West Adams St., Chicago, 111.

United States National Bureau of Standards, Washington 25, D. C.

United States Plywood Corporation, 55 West 44th St., New York 18, N. Y.

United States Rural Electrification Administration, Washington 25, D. C.

United States Tennessee Valley Authority,

New Sprankle Bldg., Knoxville, Tenn.

University of Illinois, Small Homes Council, Urbana, 111.

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.

Van Nostrand, D., Company, Inc., 250 4th Ave., New York, N. Y.

West Coast Lumbermen's Association, 364 Stuart Bldg., Seattle, Wash.

Western Pine Association, Yeon Bldg., Portland 4, Ore.

Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Box 1017, Pittsburgh 30, Pa.

Whittlesey House (McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.),

330 West 42nd St., New York 18, N. Y.

Wiley, John, & Sons, Inc., 440 4th Ave., New York, N. Y.

irUTJTJTJTJTJTJTJXnJTJTXLTlJXnjTJXnJTJ^^

Appendix

Coefficients of Heat Transmission (U) of Standard Types of House Walls, Roofs,
Ceilings, Floors, and Partitions

The tables in this section are reprinted from the Guide, 1946 edition, of the
American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, by permission of the
Society.

535

536

New Houses from Old

Table 1
Coefficients of Transmission ( U) of Frame Walls

Coefficients are expressed in Btu per (hour) (square foot) (Fahrenheit degree difference in temperature
between the air on the two sides), and are based on an outside wind velocity of 15 mph.

No Insulation between Studs" (see Table 2)

Type of

sheathing

Gyp-

Ply-

Wood/

Insul-

Exterior finish

Interior finish

sum
(H in.

wood

(Me in.

(^^'32 in.
thick)

ating
board

3
a

thick)

bids,
paper

(25152 in.
thick)

"S
^

Wood siding (clap-

Metal lath and plaster ^

0.33

0.32

0.26

0.20

board)

Gypsum board (H in.) decorated

0.32

0.26

0.20

Wood lath and plaster

0.31

0.25

0.19

WOOD SIDING -,

Gypsum lath i'-^i in.) plastered*^

0.31

0.30

0.25

0.19

STUDS -.^^^^^^-^

Plywood CH in.) plain or decorated

0.30

0.24

0.19

..■<=J-^?Stl1

Insulating board (H in.) plain or

*~**^:sS? )I

decorated

0.23

0.19

0.16

PLASTER L ■',

{

Insulating board lath (H in.)

/tplaster ill

plastered "^

0.22

0.19

0.15

Insulating board lath (1 in.) plas-

ujx.wsm-

tered "^

0.17

0.15

0.12

SHEATHING^

Wood "^ shingles

Metal lath and plaster ''

0.25

0.26

0.17

Gypsum board (H in.) decorated

0.25

0.26

0.17

WOOD SHINGLES — v

Wood lath and plaster

0.24

0.25

0.16

s^^ps-.^^^

■==;f , Gypsum lath (H in.) plastered "^

0.24

0.25

0.16

Fid

Plywood (H in.) plain or decorated

0.24

0.16

PLASTER ^1^ /

/ V

Insulating board (J-2 in.) plain or

-., - J> V

decorated

0.19

0.14

/^ -y

Insulating board lath (H in.) plas-

(f^™ y

tered "

0.19

0.18

0.19

0.13

.jjLbase -^

Insulating board lath (1 in.) plas-

~-J^

tered "

0.14

0.15

0.11

SHEATHING-^

Stucco

Metal lath and plaster ''

0.43

0.42

0.32

0.23

Gypsum board (H in.) decorated

0.42

0.41

0.31

0.23

^Tnnc STUCCO-7

Wood lath and plaster

0.40

0.39

0.30

0.22

STUDS x,<;^^^=

■rff

Gypsum lath (H in.) plastered '

0.39

0.30

0.22

Plywood (H in.) plain or decorated

0.39

0.38

0.29

0.22

PLASTER T '

Insulating board V/2 in.) plain or

decorated

0.27

0.22

0.18

//PLASTER '

Insulating board lath {],2 in.) plas-

(/ BASF /

tered '^

0.26

0.22

0.17

^--~J--'~^^___^^ IT

Insulating board lath (1 in.) plas-

SHEATHING^

tered "

0.19

0.16

0.14

Brick veneer *

Metal lath and plaster ''

0.37

0.36

0.28

0.21

BRICK -7

Gypsum board IVs in.) decorated

0.36

0.28

0.21

^Ttin<i ^^ecC!!!! ' — ^~-^

Wood lath and plaster

0.35

0.34

0.27

0.20

^^^^^-^^

^sr

Gypsum lath (H in.) plastered ■■

0.34

0.27

0.20

"^^^^^Ssji

Plywood Cj-i in.) plain or decorated

0.34

0.33

0.27

0.20

PLASTER*^ '

Insulating board (H in.) plain or
decorated

0.25

0.21

0.17

// 1

Insulating board lath (H in.) plas-

//PLASTER /

tered "

0.24

0.20

0.16

\\ BASE '^

Insulating board lath (1 in.) plas-

~~-—U'

tered "

0.18

0.15

0.13

SHEATHING-'

" Coefficients not weighted; eiTect of studding neglected.

'' Plaster assumed ?4 in. thick.

" Plaster assumed }i in. thick. , , . , ,„,.,. ^ j

<* Furring strips (1 in. nominal thickness) between wood shingles and all sheathmgs except wood.

* Small air space and mortar between building paper and brick veneer neglected.

/ Nominal thickness, 1 in.

Appendix

537

Table 2

Coefficients of Transmission (U) of Frame Walls with Insulation between Framing"-''

Coefficients are expressed in Btu per (hour) (square foot) (Fahrenheit degree difference in temperature
between the air on the two sides), and are based on an outside wind velocity of 15 mph.

Coefficient with insulation between

framing

Coefficient

Mineral wool or vegetable fibers in

39i in.

with no

blanket or bat form "^

mineral

Num-

insulation

(thickness below)

wool

ber

between

between
framing **

framing

1 in.

2 in.

3 in.

0.11

0.078

0.063

0.054

0.051

0.12

0.083

0.067

0.056

0.0.53

0.13

0.088

0.070

0,0.58

0.0.55

0.14

0.092

0.072

0.061

0.0.57

0.15

0.097

0.075

0.062

0.059

0.16

0.10

0.078

0.064

0.060

0.17

0.10

0.080

0.066

0.062

0.18

0.11

0.082

0.067

0.063

0.19

0.11

0.084

0.069

0.065

0.20

0.12

0.086

0.070

0.066

0.21

0.12

0.088

0.072

0.067

0.22

0.12

0.089

0.073

0.068

0.23

0.12

0.091

0.074

0.069

0.24

0.12

0.093

0.075

0.070

0.25

0.13

0.094

0.076

0.071

0.26

0.13

0.096

0.077

0.072

0.27

0.14

0.097

0.078

0.073

0.28

0.14

0.098

0.079

0.073

0.29

0.14

0.10

0.080

0.075

0.30

0.14

0.10

0.080

0.075

0.31

0.14

0.10

0.081

0.076

0.32

0.15

0.10

0.082

0.077

0.33

0.15

0.10

0.083

0.077

0.34

0.15

0.10

0.083

0.078

0.35

0.15

0.11

0.084

0.078

0.36

0.15

0.11

0.085

0.079

0.37

0.16

0.11

0.085

0.080

0.38

0.16

0.11

0.086

0.080

0.39

0.16

0.11

0.086

0.081

0.40

0.16

0.11

0.087

0.082

0.41

0.16

0.11

0.087

0.082

0.42

0.16

0.11

0.088

0.082

0.43

0.17

0.11

0.088

0.082

0.44

0.17

0.11

0.089

0.083

° This table may be used for determining the coefficients of transmission of frame constructions with
the types and thicknesses of insulation indicated in Columns A to D inclusive between framing. Columns
A, B and C may be used for walls, ceilings or roofs with only one air space between framing but are not
appUcable to ceilings with no flooring above. (See Table 5.) Column D is applicable to walls only. Exa?n-
ple: Find the coefficient of transmission of a frame wall consisting of wood siding, 2)32 in. insulating board
sheathing, studs, gypsum lath and plaster, with 2 in. blanket insulation between studs. According to
Table 1, a wall of this construction with no insulation between studs has a coefficient of 0.19 (Wall No. 4D).
Referring to Column B above, it will be found that a wall of this value with 2 in. blanket insulation between
the studs has a coefficient of 0.084.

Coefficients corrected for 2x4 framing, 16 in. on centers — 15 per cent of surface area.

" Based on one air space between framing.

"^ No air space.

538

New Houses from Old

Table 3

Coefficients of Transmission (U) of Masonry Walls

Coefficients are expressed in Btu per (hour) (square foot) (Fahrenheit degree difference in temperature
between the air on the two sides), and are based on an outside wind velocity of 15 mph.

Interior finish (plus insulation where indicated)

■3 1

1 '

-d a

Type of masonry

c
0

J
a

ex)

^ OJ

o3 0
0 OJ

-a
° »

■d

0 -^

to 0)

13
H

"3
is

5-e

3 C3

Ot3

£a^

CO '„

3 0
Oag

?
^

0.50

0.46

0.32

0.31

0.30

0.22

0.16

0.14

0.36

0..34

0.25

0.24

0.19

0.14

0.13

•a
1

Ea:

^^£

0.28

0.27

0.21

0.20

0.17

0.16

0.13

0.12

0.40

0.37

0.27

0.26

0.20

0.15

0.13

^^ STUCCO-,

0.39

0.37

0.27

0.26

0.20

0.19

0.15

0.13

--Y

r^^i=l

^^Srifir

0.30

0.28

0.22

0.21

0.17

0.13

0.12

^^2

""[

■^1

0.24

0.19

0.18

0.15

0.12

0.11

fsS

^'2

Jl/

:=* — ^

8
12

0.70
0.57

0.64
0.53

0.39
0.35

0.38
0.34

0.36
0.33

0.26
0.24

0.25
0.23

0.18
0.17

0.16
0.15

ii.Tl' ^ , ^"i^*^ 1

0.49

0.45

0.31

0.29

0.22

0.16

0.14

o t

0.37

0.35

0.26

0.25

0.19

0.15

0.13

■c

0.79

0.71

0.42

0.41

0.39

0.27

0.26

0.19

0.16

■g

,-=:::r?^'^?^^^r5^

0.70

0.64

0.39

0.38

0.36

0.26

0.25

0.18

0.16

i~,

• ■ a • — ?

"T^ ►' ■ .°

0.63

0.58

0.37

0.36

0.34

0.25

0.24

0.18

0.15

a
8
■a

^0 ■•,■.. -f ■

.« ^ ■

n: : ■

0.57

0.53

0.35

0.34

0.33

0.24

0.23

0.17

0.15

•,.>.■ ->.•.;•

3
o

.'€

■ ' "' X

Gravel aggregate

,<=r5^i5^^5^^^^

0.56 10.52 10.34 0.34 10.32

0.24 0.23

0.17

0.15

i~,

■■ — -vi

0.49 1 0.46 1 0.32 0.31 | 0.30

0.22 0.22

0.16

0.14

a
°

Cinder

aggregate

1 0.411 0.39 1 0.281 0.281 0.27

0.21 1 0.20

0.15

0.13

rr-

1 0.38| 0.36 1 0.26| 0.26| 0.25

0.20 1 0.19

0.15

0.13

Light weig

It aggregate ^

ffiS

1 0.36 1 0.34 1 0.26 1 0.25 1 0.24

1 0.19 1 0.19

0.15

0.13

I0.34 1 0.33 1 0.25 1 0.24 1 0.24

1 0 19 1 0.18

1 0.14

0.13

" Based on 4 in. hard brick and remainder common brick.

'' The 8 in. and 10 in. tile figures are based on two cells in the direction of heat flow. The 12 in. tile is
based on three cells in the direction of heat flow. The 16 in. tile consists of one 10 in. and one 6 in. tile each
having two cells in the direction of heat flow.

^Limestone or sandstone.
These figures may be used with sufficient accuracy for concrete walls with stucco exterior finish.

* Expanded slag, burned clay or pumice. / Thickness of plaster assumed ^4 in.

* Thickness of plaster assumed J-2 in. " Based on 2 in. furring strips; one air space.

Appendix

539

Table 4

Coefficients of Transmission (U) of Brick and Stone Veneer Masonry Walls

Coefficients are expressed in Btu per (hour) (square foot) (Fahrenheit degree difference in temperature
between the air on the two sides), and are based on an outside wind velocity of 15 mph.

Interior finish (plus insulat

ion where indicated)

.-(«

■~

3 o

'":■

--r

'~'

■>,i;

t-i

Typical
construction

Facing

Backing

.S
o

a
c

"3,
-a

la t;

21 "°

"-a

-a 1
"S 3

B
c

ST
3 1

be -2
C £

c-o

-s?^

^'^

air?

"g-o

3 "S

"3 "S

0-1

C^g

►as

2 c«

►S'S

^-^^^^S^n

4 in.

6 in. hollow tile ^

0.35

0.34

0.25

0.24

0.19

0.18

0.14

0 13

brick

8 in. hollow tile ^

0.34

0.32

0.25

0.24

0.23

0.19

0.18

0.14

0.13

venejr"

^„-:-;<-7^:s-r--^5,^

6 in. concrete

0.59

0.54

0.35

0.33

0.24

0.23

0.17

0.15

8 in. concrete

0.54

0.50

0.33

0.31

0.23

0.17

0.15

8 in. concrete blocks "

__;— --■^^Ss=5''Tr^

(gravel aggregate)

0.44

0.41

0.29

0.28

0.21

0.16

0.14

f^^^^^^^'^^'"^^

8 in. concrete blocks '^

h=i=r~II

(cinder aggregate)

0.34

0.33

0.25

0.24

0.19

0.18

0.14

0.13

" ^

8 in. concrete blocks '^

-" ]

(light _,weight aggre-

gate) <^

0.31

0.29

0.23

0.22

0.18

O.IV

0.14

0.12

4 in.

6 in. hollow tile ^

0.37

0.35

0.26

0.25

0.19

0.15

0.13

cut

8 in. hollow tile ^

0.36

0.34

0.25

0.24

0.19

0.14

0.13

stone

veneer "

^^■^^■~i-.'.- 'j:^

6 in. concrete

0.63

0.58

0.37

0.36

0.34

0.25

0.24

0.18

0.15

■f-i- 0

8 in. concrete

0.57

0.53

0.35

0.34

0.33

0.24

0.23

0.17

0.15

^-^ — ,

8 in. concrete blocks "

-=5=^^;:^^^^^^^^^^^

(gravel aggregate)
8 in. concrete blocks "^

0.47

0.44

0.30

0.29

0.22

0.21

0.16

0.14

1 i 1 I

(cinder aggregate)

0.36

0.34

0.25

0.24

0.19

0.15

0.13

100

1 \ \ y^

8 in. concrete blocks "^

psfcrr~— idil J' '

(light weight aggre-

\\::^^y

gate) -^

0.32

0.30

0.23

0.22

0.18

O.IV

0.14

0.12

101

" Calculations based on I/2 in. cement mortar between backing and facing except in the case of the concrete backing which
is assumed to be poured in place.

*" The hollow tile figures are based on two air cells in the direction of heat flow.

"^ Hollow concrete blocks.

^ Expanded slag, burned clay or pumice.

* Thickness of plaster assumed ^i in.

^ Thickness of plaster assumed \-i in.

^ Based on 2 in. furring strips; one air space.

540

New Houses from Old

fc. ;:

'ii

I*.

"— -

^j3
CO

9 C

0; o

b ^

o fto

.St)
M o
c o

2 S

^ *-
o
j;.^ = _

C3 c3

.2 o-s

3 c3 O

Oi (M C-1 (M

odod

dooo

oooo

i^t^t^r-

-lOOO

dddd

dodd

oooo
dddo

(M C-) CI C-)

oodd

Ci 05 Oi o^

oddo

C-. 00 00 00

dood

^ o o o
dxDod

^^^ ft

o3^» c§-S

<s z: 03 c
■S ftS ft

00 m in C-)
dddd

odoo

o w-tS

O '" lU

"^ ft'" S

£3 .S ""'■-"

-^TSTi-d

rj t-. t- t^

.3 c3 e3 cS

O 03 03 C3

^ §

oil

<o . s
.S "'^ o

(DOC
O"" 03

£ 00
o P.C

t.Q o
5'-' o

11^

-3 ^

fe_2 O
<u ^ V

• 0 ® o

^.SO ^

'in

L- >- O

-a o-^ a c.c
aj o (B

o 5: o »

"^« 2

-fj aj.3 tn

.3'^'S "^-O

^•S-^ a;
.^ftrS " "

*J ILtti t< -

S X o-d -g
3 0) o c -2
o- a; 3.0

03 m^^
CS O"^ ?^

c = II2

• w O 3

.S-S s-^ gss

^.a M c « o

|T3 g .„

ij So'=^. oZ;
fi^cqfuo&H

Appendix

541

Table 6

Coefficients of Transmission ( U) of Pitched Roofs

Coefficients are expressed in Btu per (hour) (square foot) (Fahrenheit degree difference in temperature
between the air on the two sides), and are based on an outside wind velocity of 15 mph.

Type of ceiling

(applied directly to roof
rafters)

Wood shingles (on 1X4

Asphalt shingles or roll

wood strips '^ spaced

2 in.

roo

fing (on solid wood

ROOF SHEATHING^

apart)

sheathing) "^

ROOFING>^ ^i^!^

Insulation between rafters

Blanket or

bat

Blanket or bat

Blanket or

bat

XXX^^^~~ CEILING

(thickness below)

None

1 in.

2 in.

3 in.

1 in.

2 in.

3 in.

1 in.

2 in.

3 in.

j^a

No ceiling applied to rafters

0.48-''

0.15

0.10

0.081

0.52 ■'■

0.15

0.11

0.084

0.55-''

0.16

0.11

0.085

Metal lath and plaster "^

0.31

0.14

0.10

0.081

0.33

0.15

0.10

0.083

0.34

0.15

0.10

0.083

Gypsum board i'% in.)

decorated

0.30

0.14

0.10

0.080

0.32

0.15

0.10

0.082

0.33

0.15

0.10

0.083

Wood lath and plaster

0.29

0.14

0.10

0.080

0.31

0.14

0.10

0.081

0.32

0.15

0.10

0.082

Gypsum lath {'ji in.) plas-

tered ®

0.29

0.14

0.10

0.079

0.31

0.14

0.10

0.081

0.32

0.15

0.10

0.082

Plywood {% in.) plain or

decorated

0.29

0.14

0.099

0.079

0.30

0.14

0.10

0.081

0.31

0.15

0.10

0.081

Insulating board (J-i in.)

plain or decorated

0.22

0.12

0.090

0.072

0.23

0.12

0.091

0.074

0.24

0.13

0.092

0.074

Insulating board lath {],i

in.) plastered ^

0.22

0.12

0.088

0.072

0.22

0.12

0.090

0.073

0.23

0.12

0.091

0.074

Insulating board lath (1 in.)

plastered *

0.16

0.10

0.078

0.064

0.17

0.10

0.079

0.065

0.17

0.10

0.080

0.066

"• Coefficients corrected for framing on basis of 15 per cent area, 2 in. X 4 in. (nominal), 16 in. on centers.
^ Figures in Columns I, J, K and L may be used with sufficient accuracy for rigid asbestos shingles on wood sheathing.
Layer of slater's felt neglected.
"^ Sheathing and wood strips assumed 25/32 in. thick.
^ Plaster assumed ?.i in. thick.
* Plaster assumed k> in. thick.
' No air space included in 1-A, 1-E or l-I; all other coefficients based on one air space.

542

New Houses from Old

Table 7

Combined Coefficients of Transmission (U) of Pitched Roofs " and Horizontal Ceilings —

Based on Ceiling Area ^

Coefficients are expressed in Btu per (hour) (square foot of ceiling area) (Fahrenheit degree difference in
temperature between the air on the two sides), and are based on an outside wind velocity of 15 mph.

Type of roofing and roof sheathing

Ceiling
coeffi-
cient •'
(from
Table 5)

Wood s

lingles on wood strips '^

Asphalt shingles '^ or roll
wood sheathing

roofing on

No roof

1-2 in. insu-

1 in. insu-

_ No roof

}■> in. insu-

1 in. insu-

insulation

lating board

insulation

lating board

(rafters

on under side

(rafters

on under side

exposed)

of rafters

exposed)

of rafters

{Ur = 0.48)

(Ur = 0.22)

(Ur = 0.16)

(Ur = 0.53)

(Ur = 0.23)

(Ur = 0.17)

0.10

0.085

0.073

0.066

0.087

0.074

0.067

0.11

0.092

0.078

0.07

0.094

0.079

0.071

0.12

0.099

0.082

0.074

0.10

0.083

0.075

0.13

0.11

0.087

0.078

0.11

0.088

0.079

0.14

0.11

0.091

0.081

0.11

0.093

0.083

0.15

0.12

0.096

0.084

0.12

0.097

0.086

0.16

0.13

0.10

0.087

0.13

0.10

0.089

0.17

0.13

0.10

0.090

0.13

0.10

0.092

0.18

0.14

0.11

0 093

0.14

0.11

0.095

0.19

0.14

0.11

C.095

0.15

0.11

0.098

0.20

0.15

0.11

0.098

0.15

0.12

0.10

0.21

0.15

0.12

0.10

0.16

0.12

0.10

0.22

0.16

0.12

0.10

0.17

0.12

0.11

0.23

0.16

0.12

0.10

0.17

0.12

0.11

0.24

0.17

0.13

0.11

0.18

0.12

0.11

0.25

0.17

0.13

0.11

0.18

0.13

0.11

0.26

0.18

0.13

0.11

0.19

0.13

0.11

0.27

0.18

0.13

0.11

0.19

0.13

0.12

0.28

0.19

0.14

0.12

0.19

0.14

0.12

0.29

0.19

0.14

0.12

0.20

0.14

0.12

0.30

0.20

0.14

0.12

0.20

0.14

0.12

0.34

0.21

0.15

0.12

0.22

0.15

0.13

0.35

0.22

0.15

0.13

0.22

0.15

0.13

0.36

0.22

0.15

0.13

0.23

0.15

0.13

0.37

0.23

0.15

0.13

0.23

0.16

0.13

0.45

0.25

0.17

0.13

0.26

0.17

0.14

0.59

0.29

0.18

0.14

0.30

0.19

0.15

0.61

0.29

0.18

0.15

0.31

0.19

0.15

0.62

0.30

0.19

0.15

0.31

0.19

0.15

0.67

0.31

0.19

0.15

0.33

0.20

0.16

0.69

0.31

0.19

0.15

0.33

0.20

0.16

^ Calculations based on
Ur+ Uce

-3 pitch roof (n = 1.2) using the following formula:

U = combined coefficient to be used with ceiling area.
Ur = coefficient of transmission of the roof.
Uce = coefficient of transmission of the ceiling.

the ratio of the area of the roof to the area of the ceiling

^ Use ceiling area (not roof area) with these coefficients.
"^ Coefficients in Columns D, E and F may be used with sufficient accuracy for tile, slate and rigid asbestos
shingles on wood sheathing.

** Based on 1 X 4 in. strips spaced 2 in. apart.

* Sheathing assumed ^^^2 in. thick.

^ Values of Uce to be used in this column may be selected from Table 5.

Appendix

543

Table 8

Coefficients of Transmission ( U) of Frame Partitions or Interior Walls "■

Coefficients are expressed in Btu per (hour) (square foot) (Fahrenheit degree difference in temperature
between the air on tlie two sides), and are based on still air (no wind) conditions on both sides.

Double partition

,;:-.=^:^s^S"^^^DS

Single

(finish on both sides of studs)

partition
(finish on

Interior

finish X ■

one side only

1 in. blanket ''

of studs)

No insulation

between

^--n^

studs. One

-*j

^-- INTERIOR FINISH

air space

Metal lath and plaster ''

0.69

0.39

0.16

Gypsum board {% in.) decorated

0.67

0.37

0.16

Wood lath and plaster

0.62

0.34

0.15

Gypsum lath {% in.) plastered "

0.61

0.34

0.15

Plywood {% in.) plain or decorated

0.59

0.33

0.15

Insulating board (3^2 in.) plain or

decorated

0.36

0.19

0.11

Insulating board lath (Ig in.)

plastered "

0.35

0.18

0.11

Insulating board lath (1 in.)

plastered «

0.23

0.12

0.082

" Coefficients not weighted; effect of studding neglected.

'' Plaster assumed ?4 in. thick.

"^ Plaster assumed }^2 in. thick.

'^ For partitions with other insulations between studs refer to Table 2, using values in Column B of above
table in left hand column of Table 2. Example: What is the coefficient of transmission (U) of a partition
consisting of gypsum lath and plaster on both sides of studs with 2 in. blanket between studs? Solution:
According to above table, this partition with no insulation between studs (No. 4B) has a coefficient of 0.34.
Referring to Table 2 it will be found that a wall having a coefficient of 0.34 with no insulation between studs,
will have a coefficient of 0.10 with 2 in. of blanket insulation between studs (No. 56B).

lJTnJTJTJTJTJTJlJTJTJXnJTJTJTJ"lJXriJTJXnJT^

Index

Abandoned farms, 5

Adhesives, for ceramic tile, 351-352

for linoleum, 341-342
Advantages of remodeling, 2-3
Advice, amateur, 7, 42

expert, 42^3
Aggregates for concrete, 164-165
Air conditioning, 424-425

of bedrooms, 112-113

systems for winter, 396
Air gap for faucets, 104-105, 454
Air infiltration, 426-427

and fireplaces, 210

and ventilation, 423

and weather stripping, 299

effects of sheathing paper on, 272

values for calculating of, 408-409
AUigatoring of paint, 366-367
Aluminum roofing, 253, 262
American Institute of Architects, building

contract form of, 162
Amperes, 491
Antique houses, 7-8
Architects, 42-43, 144-145
Architectural Catalogs, Sweet's, 147
Architectural magazines, 147
Architectural photographs, 153-154
Architectural Record, 9, 12
Art Index, 147
Artesian wells, 467

Asbestos-cement shingles, 260, 279, 283-
285

paint for, 374
Ashlar masonry (see Stone masonry)
Asphalt, as crack-filler, 183

as waterproofins; material, 187
Asphalt roll roofing, in built-up roofs, 262

as flashing material, 252

leaks in, 267-268
Asphalt shingles, 257-258

bulges and wrinkles in, 257-258

leaks in, 265-268

545

Asphalt tile, 345

on basement floors, 352

on hall floors, 52
Attic fans, 423
Attics, 119-122

insulation of, 430^31
Automatic water systems, 473-477

B.t.u. (British thermal unit), definition of,

406
Balloon frame houses, 212-213

fire stopping in, 240

remodeling of, 40, 223
Barns, remodeling of, 21-22
Baseboard radiators. 402
Baseboards, 320, 328-329
Basements, ceilings in, 326

dampproofing of, 186-188

floors of, 44, 185, 345, 353-354, 434

heating of, 142-143

storage in, 134-135

walls of, 324-326

water in, 44

(See also Foundations; Masonry)
Bases, for ceramic tile walls, 346

linoleum, 342
Bathrooms, 92-108

accessories for, 106

and dressing rooms, 98

design of, 95-98

fixtures for, 98-106

floors of, 106-107, 234, 345-352, 449

location of, in relation to bedrooms, 110,
112, 115
in relation to other plumbing, 95

partitioned, 98

plans for, 99

walls of, 106-107

windows in, 97-98
Bathtubs, 98-101

dimensions of, 151

fittings for, 101-103, 447, 454

546

New Houses from Old

Batten doors, 305
Beams, 38, 224

(See also Girders; Joists)
Bearing partitions, 224^225
Bedroom-living room combinations, 111-

114
Bedrooms, 109-122

adults', 109-114

attic, 119-122

children's, 114-116

closets in (see Closets)

floors of. 111, 114-115, 344

"knock-head," 118-119, 121

walls of. 111, 114-115
Bell-wiring system, 511-513
Belt courses, 289-290
Better Homes & Gardens, reprints from,

22-27
Bleaching of wood, 380
Blind-nailing, 239
Blistering of paint, 365-366
Blond finishes for wood, 380-381
Board siding, 272-275

over-walling with, 281, 283

repair of, 285
Boilers, 396-400

capacities of, 413

controls of, 404-405

increasing capacity of, 418

ratings of, 413

repair and testing of, 419-420, 422
(See also Range boilers)
Bonding, of masonry, brick, 176-177

stone, 181-182
Books about remodeling and building,

521-530
Bookshelves, 66, 134
Borrowing for remodeling, 163
"Boston" hip, 256
Boxed stairs, 59
Braced-frame houses, 37-38, 212, 214

fire stopping in, 240

remodeling of, 223-224
Brass pipe, 436
Breakfast bars and nooks, 91
Breeching, repairing of, 416
Brick, 35, 175-179

bonds in, 176-177

in chimneys, 201

in fireplaces, 208

matching old, 40
Brick houses, 39
Brick veneer (see Masonry veneer)

Brick walls, 176-179

over-walling of, 284

painting of, 39, 288, 370-374

repairing of, 287-288
Bridging of joists, 45, 221-222

in partitions, 225, 451
British thermal unit (B.t.u.), definition of,

406
Brushes, for painting, 360-362
Building codes, 163
Building paper, 272
Building permits, 163
Buih-in electric fans, 87, 423
Built-in electric heaters, 108
Built-in furniture, for bedrooms, 114-115,
119

for dining rooms, 131-133

for living rooms, 66, 133-134
(See also Closets)
Built-up roofs, 262, 268
Bulges, in asphalt roofs, 257-258

in wood floors, 339
Bunk beds, 115, 322
Butts, 307, 310

B-X cable (see Wiring, metal-armored
cable)

Cabinet bases, 342
Cabinet hardware, 315
Cabinet tops, linoleum, 342-343
Cabinets, bathroom, 106

cove bases under, 342

kitchen, 86, 131
(See also Closets)
Calcimine, 378

removal of, 387
Calking of windows and doors, 302-303,

427
Camera, placing of, for architectural photo-
graphs, 154
Canvas roofs, 262-263
Carriage, stair, 59, 226
Casein paints, 378
Casement windows, 291, 295-296

altering of, 302
Cast-iron soil pipe, 440-441

fittings for, 441, 445

joints in, 442
Cast-iron water pipe, 470-471
Cedar shingles (see Wood shingles)
Ceilings, 316-330

basement, 240-241

high, 64

Index

547

Ceilings, low, 64

lowering of, 325-326

sloping, 118, 121
(5ee also Walls)
Cellars {see Basements)
Cement (see Adhesives; Concrete; Mor-
tar; Portland cement)
Cement-asbestos shingles {see Asbestos-
cement shingles)
Cement-water paints, 373, 375
Ceramic tile, 345-352

advantages of, 106-107

cleaning of, 348, 351

cutting of, 348-349

floors, 349-352

setting of, in adhesive, 351-352

substitutes for, 106-107, 323

in walls, 323-324, 346-349
Cesspools, 488-489
"Chalking off" of paint, 367
Check list for record, 5-6
Checking of paint, 366
Children's bedrooms, 114-116
Chimneys, 199-206

creosote in, 204-205

debris in, 204

flashings around, 247-249, 252, 255, 268-
269

flue linings of, 44, 202, 205-206

flues of, 200-202, 205-206, 209-210, 416-
417

fo)»idations for, 44, 199-200

framing around, 228, 230-231

judging value of, 44

repairing and modernizing of, 204-206

smoke tests of, 203

stone, 268-269
{See also Vents)
China closets, 131-133
Cinders for concrete, 165-166
Circuit breakers, 491, 501
Cisterns, 467-468
Clapboards, 272-273

matching old, 40

over -walling of, 281
Clay, load-bearing capacity of, 189
Clay draintile, 185-186, 487
Clay sewer pipe, 484-485
Cleaning of masonry, 179, 183, 287
Cleanout doors, chimney, 200, 203
Closet bends, 447-448, 450
Closets, 123-136

basement, 134—135

bathroom, 129-130

Closets, bedroom, 110, 114-115, 118, 126-
127

for children, 115, 127-128

dressing room, 116

garage, 135-136

hall, 53, 124-126

linen, 118, 127-129

living room, 133-134
Coal bin, space requirements for, 137-139
Common bond in brick, 176
Common brick, 39, 175
Concealment, of electrical cables, 502-505

of pipes, 449-452
Concrete, 164-172

coloring of, 166

curing of, 171

estimating quantities of, 167

finishing of, 171-172

forms for, 168-170, 465

gravel for, 164-165

mixing of, 166-168

placing of, 170

sand for, 164-165
{See also Mortar)
Concrete block, 172-175

in chimneys, 201

in walls, 190
Concrete floors, 171, 353-354

painting of, 386

treatment for dusty. 386-387
Concrete formulas, 166-167

lor basement floors, 353

for footings, 193

for terraces, 352

for well linings, 462
Concrete houses, 39-40
Condensation of moisture, on basement
walls, 324

within exterior walls, 428-429

under roofs, 269

above unexcavated areas, 194

on windows, 424, 429
Conduit wiring, 498-499
Contracts, 161-163

Controls of heating systems, 404-405
Convectors, 401^02

for basement heating, 142-143
Convenience outlets (see Electrical out

lets)
Conversion of heating systems, 417^23
Cookstoves {see Ranges)
Coordinate paper, 148, 153
Copper, painting of, 375

548

New Houses from Old

Copper-bearing steel pipe, 470

Copper flashings, 243-251

Copper roofing, 260-261

Copper tubing, 436, 438-440, 449, 451

for underground use, 470
Cork tile, 344-345

Corner windows, framing of, 228-229
Corners, of exterior walls, 274, 277-278

of interior walls, 320
Cornices, exterior, 289

interior, 328-329
Corroded water-supply pipes, 47, 452^53,

455
Counter tops, heiaht of, 82

linoleum on. 342-343
Cove bases, 342
Cracks, in chimneys, 44

in concrete floors, 345

in masonry walls, 43-44, 183, 287

in plaster, 46, 326-328

in stucco, 288

in wood floors, 338-340
Craftsmanship, superior, in old houses, 48-

49
Crawl spaces, 193-194
Creosote in chimneys, 204-205
Cross connections in plumbing systems,

453^54
Cupboards, 131-133

(5ee also Closets; Kitchen cabinets)

Damp-curing, of cement-water paints, 373

of concrete, 171
Dampproofing of basements, 186-188
Degree-day, definition of, 407
Design temperature, 408
Dining room-living room combinations,

71-72
Dining rooms, 71-74

Diverting valves for showers, 102-103, 447
Divided bathrooms, 93
Door sills, 197
Doorbell wiring, 511-513
Doors, 303-309

openings for, 40-41, 169-170, 175, 181-
182, 227-228, 232

terminology of, 307

types of, 303

weather stripping of, 299
Dormer windows, 118-121. 236-238
Double-glazed windows, 298

Double-hung windows, 291-293, 295, 301-

302
Downspouts, 263-264

painting of, 375-376
Dowsing, 460
Draft regulators, 404-405
Drainage of the basement, 44-45, 185-186
Drainage piping, 437, 440-444, 446-447
Draintile, 185-186, 487
Drawings (see Plans and sketches)
Dressing rooms, 98, 111, 116-118
Driers, laundry, 140-141

paint, 356

towel, 87
Drilled wells, 466-467
Driven wells, 466

Dry-wall methods (interior walls), 316-323
Dry walls, as foundation walls, 44, 184,
188

as well linings. 462-463
Dry wells, 264-265
Dug wells, 462-466
Dutch roof, 43

Eaves troughs isee Gutters)
EDR, definition of, 407
Electric current, 89, 490^91
Electric heaters, built-in, 108
Electric lighting [see Lighting)
Electric water heaters, 455 •

Electric water systems, 473-477
Electric wiring (see Wiring)
Electrical appliances, list of, 89

wattages of, 492
Electrical outlets, 500-501

baseboard types of, 504-505

in basements, 143

in bathrooms, 108

in bedrooms. 111, 114^116

in dining rooms, 74

floor type of, 500

in kitchens, 89, 91

in living rooms, 70

in recreation rooms, 143
Electrical switches, 500. 506. 510-511
Elevations of house, 153, 160
Enamels, 357, 359, 382-383
Enclosures, radiator, 401-402
English bond, in brick. 176
Expansion tanks, 398-399, 422
Extenders (paint), 355
Exterior walls (see Walls)

Index

549

F.H.A. insured loans, 163
Face brick, 39, 175
Fans, attic, 423

kitchen, 87
Farmhouse, remodeled, 18-19
Farmland, 5
Farms, abandoned, 5
Faucets, air gap for, 104-105, 454

connections for, 446^48

lavatory, 104-105

sink, 83-84
Federal Housing Administration (F.H.A.)

insured loans, 163
Fiber pipe, 484, 487
Fiberboards, finishes for, 379-380

in floors, 338, 433

on interior walls, 317-319, 323, 325-326

in sheathing of walls, 271-272
(See also Insulation)
Fieldstone, 38-39, 179-183
Filtering of water, 459, 467-468
Financing of remodeling, 163
Finish flooring, 333-338
Fire stopping, 240-241
Firebrick, 175
Fireclay, 208

Fireplace units, 142, 210-211
Fireplaces, 207-211

framing around, 228, 230-232

location of, 65-66
"Fishing," of copper tubing, 451

of electrical cables, 502-504

of rigid pipe, 452
Fittings, bathtub, 101-102, 447

cast-iron soil-pipe, 441

copper tubing, 439

lavatory, 104-105, 446

shower bath, 102-103

sink, 83-84, 446

threaded pipe, 438

for wiring systems, 499-500
Fixed windows, 291, 297
Flashings, 243-253

in exterior walls, 272, 286

leaks in, 265, 268

renovation of, 255

vent, 250, 252, 437
Flemish bond in brick, 176
Floor furnaces, 394, 395
Floor seals, 384, 385
Floors, 331-354

asphalt tile, 345

Floors, basement, construction of, 185, 353-
354
coverings of, 345, 353-354
insulation of, 434
bathroom, concealing pipes in, 449
coverings of, 106-107, 345-352
strengthening of, 234
bedroom, coverings of. 111, 114-115, 344
ceramic tile, 345-352
concrete, construction of, 171, 353-354
insulation of, 434
repairing of, 183
waterproofing of, 187
cork tile, 344
finishing of, 383-387
hall, 51-52
kitchen, 88, 341-342
linoleum, 341-343
porch, 352-353

wood, construction of, 331-338
insulation of, 433-434
repair and modernization of, 338-340
Flue lining, cutting of, 205-206
Flues (see Chimneys)
Fluorescent lighting (see Lighting)
Flush doors, 303-304
Flush valves, 106
Food freezers, 86
Food storage, shelves for, 135
Footings, chimney, 199-200
foundation, 185, 189-190
post, 192-193
Forced hot-water heating systems, 399-400
Forced warm-air heating systems (see

Warm-air heating systems)
Forms for concrete, 168-170, 464-466
Foundations, 184-198
judging of, 44
pier, 192-193
repairing of, 184-188
widths of, 192
Frame houses, types of, 37-38, 212-216

(See also House frames; names of
frame types, as: Balloon frame
houses)
Framing (see House frames; Roof fram-
ing; names of frame types)
Freehand sketches, 147, 153, 161
Freezers, food, 86
Fuel storage, 137-139
Furnaces, 393-395
capacities of, 413-414
controls for, 404-^5

550

New Houses from Old

Furnaces, conversion of, 418
repair of, 416-419

Furniture, dimensions of, 150-151

Furring, of basement walls, 324

of ceilings (see Suspended ceilings)
to conceal piping, 445, 449^50
under insulation on masonry wall, 433
under wall paneling, 320

Fuses, 491, 501

G.I. bill of rights, 163

Gable roof elements, 233

Gables, 255-256, 289

Galvanized metal, as flashing material, 252

painting of, 375-376

roofing, 262, 265, 267
Gambrel roof elements. 235
Garages, dimensions of, 140

storage in, 135-136
Garden tools, storage of, 134-136
Gas fuel, 404, 415, 417
Girder pockets, 182, 197, 218
Girder posts, 218-219
Girders, 45, 218-219

dimensions of, 218-219, 222

inspection of, 45-46

post supports for, 192, 197
Glass, as wall-covering material, 107. 323-
324

blocks, 294

window, 294-297
Glazing of windows, 294-298
Glue size, 388
Grading, of sewers, 482-483

of springs, 469^70
Graph paper, 148, 153
Gravel, for concrete, 165

load-bearing capacity of, 189
Gravity hot-water heating systems, 398-

399, 405, 422
Gravity warm-air heating systems (see

Warm-air heating systems)
Gravity water systems, 469-473, 478
Grounding, of converted 32-volt systems,
510

of wiring systems, 491, 508-509
Gutters, roof, 263-264

painting of, 375-376
Gypsum board, on interior walls, 317-319,
323, 325

as sheathing, 271-272

Half bathrooms, 92
Hall closets, 53, 124-126
Halls, 50-53

dimensions of, 50-51

floors of, 51-52

lighting of, 53
"Hammer" in steam pipes, 421
"Hand," of bathtubs, 100

of doors and locks, 314
Hardware, antique, 48

door and window, 309-315

refinishing of, 377
Head, of water, 468-^69
Hearths, 206, 208
Heat loss, calculating of, 407^09
Heat transmission, 426-427

tables of values for, 535-543
Heating, 393^25

of basements, 142-143

terminology of, 406-407
Heating calculations, 405-415, 418
Heating systems, controls of, 404-405, 417

installation of, 415

judging of, 47^8

modernization of, 416-423

space requirements of, 137-140

tests of, 47

types of, 393^00
High-water marks on basement walls, 45
Hinges, 307, 310

Hips, roof, 249-250, 254, 256-258
Hollow tile, 38-39
Home Oiuners' Catalogs, 147
Home-making magazines, 147
Hot water, heating of, 413
Hot-air heating systems (see Warm-air

heating systems)
Hot-water heating systems, 398-400, 422
Hot-water supply, 437, 454-457
House drain, 487-488
House frames, 212-242
House plan, judging of, 48
House plans (see Plans and sketches)
Houses, judging for remodeling. 42^9

types of, 37^1
Humidity, 423-425
Hung ceilings, 325-326
Hydraulic rams, 477^78

Iceboxes, 85-86

(See also Refrigerators)

Index

551

Illumination (see Lighting)
Information, sources of, 521-530
Insulating materials, 428-429
Insulating methods, comparison of, 427-

428
Insulation, 426-435

of attics, 430-431

of floors, 433^34

of roofs, 430-431

sound, 434^35

of walls, 431-433
Interior trim, 320, 328-329

inexpensive remodeling of, 145-146

in old houses, 48, 328

painting and varnishing of, 380-383
Interior walls, 316-328, 330
Intersections, roof and wall, flashing at,
251, 255

Joint compounds for sewers, 485
Joints, masonry, in brick walls, 178

in chimneys, 204

in concrete block walls, 173-174, 190

repairing of, 183

in stone walls, 182-183
pipe, in cast-iron soil pipe, 440-442, 445

in cast-iron water pipe, 471

in copper tubing 438-440

in draintile, 186-487

in sewer pipe, 484^85

in steel pipe, 436, 438
in wall paneling, 317-319, 322
Joists, 45, 219-222
anchors, 242
bridging, 221-222
cutting, 228-229, 232-233
decayed, 45, 221
dimensions of, 222
repiacement, 221-222

k, definition of, 406

values of, for insulating materials, 428-
429
Keene's cement, 324
Kilowatts, 491

Kitchen cabinets, 86, 129-131
Kitchen equipment, 81-87

dimensions of, 131, 151
Kitchens, 75-91

accessories for, 87
' dimensions of, 79-80

Kitchens, doors of, 81

floors of, 88

plans for, 79

shapes of, 77

sound insulation for, 88

ventilation of, 87

vents for ranges, 203-204

walls and ceilings of, 88

windows in, 80-81

work areas in, 75-77, 80
Knob and tube wiring, 498
"Knock-head" rooms, 118-119, 121
Knotty pine, 319-322

finishes for, 381
Knuckles in rafters, 43

Lacquers, 357, 380-383

Lakes, as water supply, 459

Lakes (paint), 355

Land, as location for house, 4-5

Landing, stair, 58

Landscaping, value of, 5

Latches, 311-313

Lath, metal, 241, 325, 346

wood, cutting for switch boxes, 506
loose, renailing of, 327
Laundry rooms, 140-142
Lavatories, 103-105

dimensions of, 151

fittings for, 104-105, 446, 454
Lead and oil paints, 368, 374, 382-383
Lead flashings, 252
Lead pipe, 459, 470
Lead wool, 441
Leaders, 263-264

painting of, 375-376
Leaks, in heating boilers, 420, 422

in radiators, 421-422

in roofs, 48, 265-268
Light requirements, 513, 520
Lighting, of basements, 143

of bathrooms, 107-108, 519

of bedrooms. 111, 114-115, 518

of closets, 125, 143, 514

of dining rooms, 73, 516

of dressing rooms, 116-117, 518

of exterior doors, 514

of halls, 53, 514

of kitchens, 88, 517, 520

of laundries, 143, 517

of living rooms, 70, 515

of recreation rooms, 143

552

New Houses from Old

Lighting, of stairs, 54
Lighting fixtures, 514-519

supporting of, 506
Lime, in cement-water paints, 373
Lime paste, formula for, 371
Limed finishes, 381
Linen closets, 118, 127-129
Linoleum, on floors, 340-343

tile, 345

on walls, 322-324
Linseed oil, 355
Lintels, fireplace, 208-209

window and door, 174^175, 182
Lithopone in exterior paints, 369
Living room-bedroom combinations, 111-

114
Living room-dining room combinations,

71-72
Living rooms, 61-70

dimensions of, 64

fireplaces in (see Fireplaces)

lighting of, 70

mantels in, 65-66, 70

planning of, 63

purpose of, 61

windows in, 64-65
Loads, on house floors, 192-193
Loans for remodeling, 163
Location, importance of, 4
Locks, 307, 311-314
Loss of heat, 405^09

{See also Insulation)
Louvered doors, 303, 306
Lumber, standard sizes, 216

treated, 217
Lye solution, 363-364

Magazines about remodeling and rebuild-
ing, 147
Mail-order companies, 147, 416
Mantels, 66-69
Masonry, 164-183

brick, 175-179

cleaning of, 179, 183, 287

concrete, 164^172

concrete block, 172-175

cracks in, 43, 183

repairing of, 183, 287-288

stone, 179-183
Masonry houses, 38-41

framing in, 242

insulation of, 41, 433

Masonry veneer, 38, 279-281, 285

cleaning of, 287

repairing of, 285-287
Mastic cement, 303, 353
Mbh, definition of, 407
Medicine cabinets, 128-129
Metal-armored cable (see Wiring, metal-
armored cable)
Metal tile, 107, 323
Mildewed paint, 366
Millwork (see Interior trim)
Mineral wool (see Fire stopping; Insulat-
ing materials)
Mirrors, lighting of, 520
Mixed heating systems, 422-423
Moisture, on basement walls, 324

within exterior walls, 428-429

under roofs, 269

over unexcavated areas, 194

on windows, 424, 429
Moldings, metal, for linoleum, 343
Monel metal sinks, 83
Mortar, for brick, 175. 177

for ceramic tile, 349-352

in chimney joints, 201, 204

for concrete blocks, 172

damp-curing of, 171

in dampproofing coatings, 186

estimating quantities of, 167, 181

in fireplace work, 201

in repairing cracks, 183, 288

in sewer joints, 485

in stone masonry, 181

in topping, 171

in waterproofing coatings, 186

in well lining joints, 464
Mortise joints in house frames, 45, 217, 220

•

Nailing, 239-240

National Bureau of Standards, publica-
tions of, on repairing and remodeling,
147

National Electrical Code, 405, 490

Neighborhood, importance of, 4

Neutral conductor, 508

Nogging, 41, 224

Nonbearing partitions, 224^225

Obsolescence, 1-2

Oil, removal of, from floors, 385-386

Index

553

Oil burners, 403-404, 415, 417
Oil tanks, dimensions of, 139
Oiled finishes, 381, 384-385
Oils in paints, 355-356

Openings in walls, making of, 41, 227-232
Outlines of furniture, 150-151
Overhang of roof, 239
Overhanging second story, 222-223
Over-walling (see Re-siding and over-
walling)

Paint, 355-386

application of, 369, 382

coloring of, 359

estimating quantities of, 359-360

formulas for, 368

mixing of, 357-359

removal of, 362-364

spraying of, 362, 372

terminology of, 355-357
Paint removers, 363-364
Paintbrushes, 360-362
Painting, 355-386

of asbestos-cement shingles, 374

of asphalt roofs, 267-268

of brick walls, 288, 370-374

of concrete floors, 386-387

of exterior wood, 365-370

of floors, 383-387

of interior trim, 380-382

of masonry, 371-374

of metals, 375-377

of plaster, 377-378

of plywood, 378-379

of plywood siding, 278

of roofs, 375-376

of sheathing, 272

of stucco, 375

of wallboards, 379-380

of wood shingles, 274-275
Pamphlets, list of, 521-530
Panel doors, 303-304, 307
Panel heating, 402
Paneling, wood, 319-322, 324-326
Pantries, 81
Papering, 387-392
Partitioned bathrooms, 98
Partitions, 224-225

removal of, 224
Paste, for wallpaper, 389-390
Patching of plaster, 327
Peeling of paint, 365-366
Photographs, 153-154, 161

Pickled pine, 381
Picture windows, 65, 291, 297
Pier foundations, 184, 193-194
Pigments, for coloring, of concrete, 166
of oil paints, 359
of whitewash, 372

definition of, 355

inert, 355
Ping-pong, space requirements for, 142
Pipe, drainage, 440^42

sewer, 484

water supply, 436^40, 470-471
Pipe-thread compound, 438
Pipeless furnaces, 394-395
Pipes, concealing of, 29, 41, 449-452
Piston pumps, 476
Pitch of roofs, 234
Plank-and-beam system of construction,

212, 216
Plank houses, 38, 40-41, 216, 224
Planning of remodeling, 141-163
Plans, reading of, 161

and sketches, 147-148, 153-161
Plantings, value of, 4^5
Plaster, on basement walls and ceilings.
324-325

cracks in, 46

painting of, 377-378

papering on, 388

repairing of, 326-328
Plaster board (see Gypsum board)
Plastic wall coverings, 107
Plates, decayed, 235
Platform frames, 37, 212, 215, 240
Playrooms (see Recreation rooms)
Plumbing, 436-457

(See also Sewage disposal; Water
supply)
Plumbing codes, 163

Plumbing fixtures, dimensions of, 151, 443
Plumbing systems, judging of, 47-48
Plywood on interior walls, 317-320, 325-
326

finishes for, 378-379

papering of, 388
Plywood sheathing, 271-272
Plywood siding, 277-278, 284-285
Plywood subflooring, 333, 338, 340
Pneumatic water systems, 473-477
"Pointing up" of masonry joints, 183
Pollution of water supply, 453-454, 459,

463, 481
Ponds as source of water supply, 459
Porches, floors of, 352-353

554

New Houses from Old

Porches, remodeling of, 9-11, 20, 24-25
roofs of, 239, 260
supports for, 47, 184
termite shielding of, 197
Portland cement, 164

(See also Concrete; Mortar)
Portland cement paints (see Cement-
water paints)
Posts, girder, 45^6
adjustable, 219
spacing of, 218-219
termite shielding for, 197
weight supported by, 192
Powder rooms, 92
Primers (paints) for metals, 376
Pumps, 473-477

Puttying, of water closet bowl, 447-488,
450
of windows, 297

R, definition of, 407

values of, for insulating materials, 428-
429
Radiant heating, 402
Radiator valves (see Valves)
Radiators, baseboard, 402

cabinets for, 401^02

capacities and sizes of, 410-412

location of, in rooms, 401

painting of, 376-377, 417
Rafters, 222, 233-239
Rain water, disposal of. 479
Rams, hydraulic, 477-478
Range boilers, 455-457
Ranges, 84-85
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature,

147
Reading, light requirements for, 513, 520
Receptacles, electrical (see Electrical out-
lets)
Recreation rooms, 138-139, 142
Red cedar shingles (see Wood shingles)
Refrigerators, 85-86
Registers, 400-401, 411^13
Remodeling, advantages of, 2-3

contracts for, 161-163

costs of, 6-8

financing of, 163

on a piecemeal basis, 8

planning for, 144-161

reasons for, 1, 3^

Remodeling, sources of information about,
147, 521-533

specifications for, 162-163
Re-siding and over-walling, 281-285
Resin emulsion paints, 374, 378
Restoration of antique houses, 7
Ridges and hips, 244

asphalt shingles on, 257

"Boston" hip, 256

flashing of, 249-250
Risers, stair, 54, 58
Roofs, 243-269

covering materials for, 253-263

drainage of, 263-265

frames for, 43, 233-239

insulation of, 269

leaks in, 48, 265-268

painting of, 376

sagging of, 43

sheathing of, 243

"weeping" of, 269
Rootproof joints, 485
Rough flooring, 331-333
Rough-in dimensions of plumbing fixtures,

443
Rubble masonry (see Stone masonry)
Rumpus rooms (see Recreation rooms)

Safety, in painting, 364-365

on roofs, 269
Safety grips, bathroom, 106
Sagging roof, 43
Sand, for concrete, 164-165

load-bearing capacity of, 189
Sand blasting. 287
Sanitary codes, 163
Sash fasteners, 309
Sash pulleys, 309-310
Scaffolds, roof, 269
Scale of drawings, 147-148, 153
Scaling of paint, 366
Screen cloth, 300
Screens, fitting of, 302-303

painting of, 375
Septic tanks, 479-481

care of, 488

discharge from. 480. 486-487, 489
Settling of center of house, 46
Sewage disposal. 479-489
Sewer pipe, 484
Sewers, 479-486

freezing of, 488

Index

555

Sewers, grading of, 482-483

trenches for, 482-483, 485-486
Sewing, light requirements for, 513, 520
Sheathing, exterior wall, 270-272

roof, 243
Sheathing paper, 272
Shellac, 357, 384
removal of, 386
Shelves (see Closets; Kitchen cabinets)
Shingles {see Asbestos-cement shingles;
Asphalt shingles; Slate shingles;
Wood shingles)
"Shooting," of wells, 466
Shoring, for wells, 464-466
Shower baths, 102-103
dimensions of, 151
fittings for, 102-103, 447
Shrubs and trees, value of, 4^5
Siding, 272-287

decay-proof, 194
Sills, door, 305, 307

as part of frame, 45, 216-217
anchor bolts of, 185, 191
decayed, 45

joints of, with foundation, 188, 199
restoring level of, 185
termite shielding for, 196
window, for frame walls, 282, 292, 295-
296
for masonry walls, 174-175, 182, 282,
295
Sinks, 82-84

cabinets in, 76-78, 82, 342-343
dimensions of, 151
fittings for, 84, 446, 454
height of, from floor, 82
Site, importance of, 4-5, 33
Size, glue, 388

varnish, 377, 379-380
Sketches (see Plans and sketches)
Slab floors, insulation of, 434
Slate shingles, 258-260

repair of, 265-267
Sleepers, in basement floors, 353
Sleeping porches, 117
Smoke pipes, 416^17
Smoke tests, of chimney, 203
Smoky fireplaces, 208-209
"Snake," electrician's, 503-504
Soil piping, 437, 440^42
cutting of, 445
fittings for; 441, 445
joints in, 440^42, 484-485

Soil stack, 437

concealing of, 449
details of, 445
economy of single, 95
Soils, load-bearing capacities of, 189
Solar house, 64^-65
Solderless connectors, 508
Spalls (stone masonry), 182
Specifications, 162-163
Splices in electric wiring, 507-509
Spray guns, 362
Spring balances, 300-301
Springs, 458-462

finding height of, 469-470
flow of, 458, 469-473

means of increasing, 461-462
piping to, 470-471
Square (roofing), definition of, 253
Squeaks in wood floors, 339-340
Staining, of fiber wallboards, 380
of wood, 380-385
floors, 384-385
interior trim. 382
old stains, removal of, 380
shingles, 274-275, 369-370
types of stains, 357
Stainless steel sinks, 83
Stains, on exterior paint, 366
on plaster, 48

wood, removal of old stains on, 380
types of, 357
Stairs, 53-60

basement, 56-57
dimensions of, 54, 59-60
framing of, 226-227
locations for, 55-56
terminology of, 58-59
Steam heating systems, 396-398
controls for, 404-405
installation of, 415
repair and modernization of, 418^22
Steel pipe, 436-438
for drains, 442
fittings for, 438

installation of, inside walls, 452
for vents, 443
Stokers, 402-403, 415, 417
Stone chimneys, 201
Stone houses, 38-39

remodeling of, 28-29, 38-40
Stone masonry, 179-183
cleaning of, 183
matching old, 40
Stone veneer (see Masonry veneer)

556

New Houses from Old

Stoppers (plumbing) (see Wastes)
Storage space, 123-136
(See also Closets)
Storm windows, 298-299

effects of, on heat loss, 409, 427-428

fitting of, to old windows, 302-303
Strainers, sink, 84, 446
Streams as water supply, 459
Stringer, stair, 59, 226
Stucco, 279

cracks in, 288

matching of old, 40

over-walling of, 283-284

painting of, 375

repair of, 288-289
Studs, 222-223

cutting of, for new openings, 228-229,
232

notching and boring of, 233
Subflooring, 331-333
Subsistence farms, 5
Suction lift of pumps. 474-476
Suspended ceilings, 325-326
Sweet's Architectural Catalogs, 147
Swinging doors, 81
Switches, electric, 500
for closet lights, 125
mounting of, on wall, 506
pull, 510-511
Symbols, for building materials, 162

electrical, 497-498

in house plans, 161

"Tankless" water system, 477

Tanks, oil storage, 403-404

Tar, as crack-filling material, 183

as waterproofing material, 353
Taxes, 4, 6
Telephone wiring, 513
Templates, 149
Termite shields, 195-198
Termites, 46-47, 194-198
Terneplate, as flashing material, 252

painting of, 376

as roofing material, 260, 267
Terraces, 352

Thermostatic valves for showers, 103
Thermostats, 404-405, 417
Thimbles, chimney, 203
Thinners (paint), 356
Three-wire electric service, 491-492

Tile, ceramic (see Ceramic tile)

cork, 344-345

setting of, 345-352

structural, 38-39

substitutes for, 107, 323
Tile roofs, 265-267
Timetable, railroad, 6
Toenailing, 239
Toilets (see Water closets)
Towel driers, 87
Towers, 236

Town house, remodeled, 13-17
Traps, 437, 442^43, 446-447
Treads, stair, 54, 58, 227
Trees and shrubs, value of, 4—5
Trim, interior (see Interior trim)
Trisodium phosphate, 364, 366
Tubes, termite, 46-47
Tubing, copper, 436, 438-440

"fishing" of, through walls, 449, 451-452

fittings for, 439

joints in, 438-439
Turpentine, in paints, 356
Turpentine substitutes, 356
Two-wire electric service, 491-492

U, definition of, 406
values of, for ceilings, 540, 542
for floors, 540
for frame walls, 536—537
for masonry walls, 538-539
for partitions, 543
for roofs, 541-542
for windows, double-glazed, 298
single-glazed, 408
Underlay, in flooring, 332, 336, 338, 341-
342
in roofing, 244, 257, 259

Vacuum heating systems (see Steam heat-
ing systems)
Valleys, roof, 243-246, 252-253

leaks in, 268

treatment of, when re-roofing, 255
Valves, radiator, 396-397, 421^22
Vapor barriers, 269, 429-431
Vapor heating systems (see Steam heating

systems)
Varnish size, 377, 379-380

Index

557

Varnishes, 356-357, 384
Varnishing, of floors, 383-386

of interior trim, 382

of plaster, 377

of plywood, 378-379
Vegetable storage, 135
Vehicles (paint), 355-356, 369
Veneer masonry (see Masonry veneer)
Ventilation, 423

of attics, 269

of basements, 142

of crawl spaces, 193-194

of kitchens, 87

by means of attic fan, 423
Vents, for heaters and stoves, 87, 203-204

in plumbing, 437, 443-444
flashing around, 250-252
(See also Chimneys)
Vermiculite (see Fire stopping; Insulating

materials)
Voltage drop, 494-497
Voltages of appliances, 491^92
Volts, 491

Walks, concrete, 171

form for, 168
Wallboards, 316-319

finishes for, 379-380

papering of, 388
Wallpaper, 387-392

removal of, 387
Walls, basement, 186, 324-325

bathroom, 106-107, 323-324

bedroom. 111, 114-115

brick, 175-179

concrete block, 172-175, 190

foundation (see Foundations)

frame, exterior, 270-290

interior, 316-330

kitchen, 88, 323-324

masonry (see Masonry)

stone, 179-182
Warm-air heating systems, controls for,
404-405

forced, 395-396, 423-424

gravity, 393-395, 415-416

registers in, 400-401, 411-413

repair and modernization of, 418-419
Wastes, bathtub, 101-102, 447

lavatory, 104-105, 446
Water, in basements, 44, 186-188

for use in concrete, 165-166

Water closets, 105-106

dimensions of, 151
Water heaters, 454-457
Water paints, 357
Water supply, 458^68

filtering of, 467-468

finding of water, 460

importance of, 5

piping of, 47, 436-440, 446-447, 452^55
underground, 470-471

pressures in, 468-469

purity of, 458-459, 463

quantity needed, 458, 470

(See also Hot-water supply)
Water systems, 469-477

capacities of, 476

electric, 473^77

gravity, 469-473

pressures of, 469
Water tables, exterior wall, 290
Waterproofing, of basement walls, 186-188

of concrete, 172
Wattages of electric appliances, 492
Watts, 491
Waxing, of floors, 384-385

of knotty pine, 381
Weather stripping, 299, 409, 427^28
"Weeping" roofs, 269
Weight of houses, 192-193
Weight system, window, 293
Weightless windows, 300-301
Wells, 462-467

deepening of, 463-465

flow of, 458, 463

lining of, 463^66
Western frames, 37, 212, 215
White wire in wiring systems, 508
Whitewash, 371-373
Winders, 54

Window sills (see Sills, window)
Windows, 291-303

alteration in over-walling of, 281-282

in attics, 120-121

in bathrooms, 95, 97-98

in bedrooms, 110-112, 115, 121

corner, 228-229

dormer, 236-238

in kitchens, 80

in living rooms, 64—65

openings for, in walls, 40^1, 169-170,
181-182, 227-228, 232

picture, 65, 291, 297

558

New Houses from Old

Windows, terminology of, 169-170, 175

weight system for, 293

weightless, 300-301
Wing, kitchen, 16, 51
Winter air conditioners, 396
Wiring, 490-513

branch circuits, 493^97, 509-510

"fishing" of cable, 502-504

grounding of, 491, 508-509

installation of, 501-509

metal-armored cable, 498-499, 501-509

modernization of, 509-511

symbols for, 497^98

terminology of, 490^91

types of, 498-500

wire sizes, 494-495
Wiring system, parts of, 490^91

Wood, exterior, painting of, 365-370

interior (see Floors; Interior trim)

treated, 198
Wood fillers, 381-382
Wood sealing compounds, 381, 384-385
Wood shingles, painting of, 369-370

as roofing, 253-257, 265, 267

as siding, 274-277, 283, 285

staining of, 369-370
Woodwork (see Interior trim)
Working drawings, 153, 156-161
Workmen's compensation insurance, 163
Wrinkling of paint, 366-367

Zinc oxide in exterior paints, 368

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