On the Limitation of Extras. 75 quality of materials as well as increase the amount of the bill. The quantity being stipulated, and every inexperienced will fall readily into exeffort should be made to throw the pensive changes from ignorance, and responsibility of imperfect or erroneous because contractors are always willing work upon the contractor. To read to make any alteration not included in the specifications over with concen- the contract, knowing it is all extra trated attention sometimes affords a work. It may happen that if the means of discovering omissions; but owner speaks in time, that is, before perhaps the better way is to discuss any materials are prepared ("before those ordered in writing by the owner If the stones are omitted, the brick and signed by the architect. Although one of the most vivid mindpictures of the future home may be a should be laid on asphalt, and in any case an outside coating of cement should be applied to prevent dampness. hooded fireplace in the library, A dry cellar is necessary for the Cellars. the first reality that presents preservation of health. Too much itself is the excavation for the cellar stress cannot be laid on the importance and the foundations, prosaic enough of this point. It is almost impossible in itself, but more important than to keep a family in health without it. is often realized. City laws demand City laws demand Dampness lowers the vitality and that foundations shall be laid ten feet renders the system susceptible to all below the curb at the least. The depth sorts of disease. Scientific experi Fig. 6. Suburban House, Designed for Narrow Lot, Costing $7,500. John J. Petit, Architect. in country houses is optional with the builder. The best foundations are begun by laying in the trenches immense flat stones much wider than the wall they are to support. On these are placed other rough stones as evenly as possible, all laid up with common cement. As these form the cellar walls they should be as neat as possible, with no projecting stones. A coat of cement is applied to the outside, and afterward a coat of mortar and whitewash will finish the interior. Frame houses, and, indeed, some city houses, are built with brick foundations, since they afford a better finish for the cellar wall. In order to make them stronger, they are laid on a primary layer of large flat stones, which are levelled with cement. ments show that many germs of disease will die in a dry atmosphere, while a damp one favors them. It is not on the lower floors alone that dampness is felt from the cellar; the dampness of the cellar will permeate the entire house. Since damp cellars are the rule and not the exception, we have come to think of dampness as appertaining to this underground chamber, but in reality it is as out of place and may be as easily avoided there as in the library. Drainage and ventilation are the two preventives. To secure proper ventilation, windows should be so placed that a strong draught will draw from one to the other-not mere light apertures, but practical windows, with arrangements for easy opening and closing. Drainage and Ventilation of the Cellar. Windows hung from the top on hinges are, perhaps, the most easily manipulated. Much dampness may reach the cellar through too little attention to roof drains. Every roof should have gutters of tin or other material all around the eaves to gather the rain. At angles there should be leader pipes to convey the rain to the ground. If the water discharges close to the house it is easy to see that some of the moisture will saturate the foundations and dampen the cellar. The cheapest leaders are of tin, but for effect as well as durability copper has the first choice. One of the simplest and cheapest ways of draining the cellar is to put down a bottom layer of broken stone, through which the dampness will filter, but the most satisfactory result is gained by the use of perforated vitrified drain-pipes. On the side of the cellar nearest the sewer-drain sink a small basin of cement, having the top a foot or two lower than any part of the cellar. Lay the vitrified pipe in converging lines from the limit of all the foundation walls to this basin, like the spokes of a wheel. The pipes are rounded and impervious on the lower side, and flat, with finger-large perforations, on top. It will be seen readily that water gathering from any source whatever will trickle through the perforations into the pipe, conveying it to the sunken basin, out of which runs a connection with the sewer, protected by a trap. In country houses the drain to this basin must never connect with the cesspool, but be led off to a lower level by an extension of ordinary pipes. Of course all these vitrified pipes are out of sight, being covered with the cellar flooring, which, to be satisfactory, is made of eight inches of concrete with a top-dressing of Portland cement. For surface drainage of the cellar-to meet the needs of leaking plumb 77 ing or floor-washing-the cellar should be made with a gradual slope downward toward a drain with perforated top. PASTRY DANTRY KITCHEN HALL SORCH Duffet. DINING ROOM T PARLOR YERANDA. VC LIPPARY First-floor plan for house shown in Fig. 6. The second floor contains four bedrooms, dressing-room and bath. While planning the cellar it would be well to arrange for a wine or preserve closet as far from the furnace as convenient, and, if possible, under some small extension, like a butler's pantry, that it may have the benefit not only of isolation but of cool stone walls on three sides. Who has not shrunk with dread from cellar stairs that offer every opportunity for a fall down their steep and narrow way? It is quite practicable to make the stairs light and wide, and is the more sensible way, for barrels and much heavy stuff must of necessity be carried up and down. one would naturally think of last are There are three approved ways of heating and these apply equally to Following the rule that the things town and country houses which I mention in the order of superiority. They are, heating by hot water (the so-called indirect radiation), hot air, and steam. The first of these is the most expensive, and is most highly recommended by sanitary scientists. The furnace heats large coils of pipes filled with water, over which passes the air introduced from outdoors by means of a cold-air box. After being thus heated the air rises through Hearth. GOGET HALL BILLIARD ROOM KITCHEN Dresser YERANDA flues to the various apartments, CARRIAGE PORCH and makes its escape through PLAN OF FIRST STORY. ordinary registers. The simpler and more economical method so long in vogue provides that the air be heated Three Approved Ways of Heating. 79 by contact with the furnace fire itself, will fail to emit any heat, to the infinite and then fed to the rooms. The argu- annoyance of some member of the ment against it is, that by this process family. Sometimes this defect may be the air is devitalized, and passes into remedied temporarily by closing all rooms in an unfit con But valves stain every carpet unfortunate enough to lie below them, and after a few years an indescribable smell permeates every house where steam heat has been used. Control of temperature seems to be an impossibility also. the real objection is that the overheated pipes devitalize the air of the entire room just as the hot-air furnace does the extra air it introduces. Coughs, bronchial troubles, and incessant colds are the result, even where headaches are kept at bay. Electric heating is still in its infancy, so its pros and cons cannot be discussed through the clearing test of experience. No matter how good an architect a man may be, it is quite possible that he may make a mistake on the angles and lines of furnace flues, and the result may be that the most important register Brunner & Tryon, Architects. other registers in the house and forcing the hot air to seek the avoided outlet, but this mitigation is withdrawn with the re-opening of the other registers. The simplest and best way is to place upon the furnace builder the responsibility of setting the flues. Then, for the honor of his name and for the hope of remuneration, he will see that the flues are made to disseminate satisfactorily the heat his furnace is radiating. The architect will, of course, arrange the outlets so that they will not come in unsightly places. The owner should have an eye to this too, as much inconvenience may arise afterward in the placing of furniture, if the most desirable space of every room is occupied by a register, whose warm breath blows devastation on wood that warps and glue that cracks. Registers placed in the floor supply the heat with less waste than those in the side walls, especially on the first floor, where the hot-air pipes rise from the furnace to the opening without abrupt turnings. They are objectionable where carpets are used, and because of the dust accumulating from |