Chapter XXI: Building Recommenced—the Timber Work

Towards the middle of March, the weather being fine, the works were resumed, and instructions for executing the floors and roofs had to be given to the carpenter, that no time might be lost. Paul was beginning to understand his cousin’s sketches more readily, and to be able to make himself useful. Besides, he had acquired the excellent habit of asking for explanations when he had reason to suppose on a first view that he could not faithfully interpret a rough sketch; and Eugène was not sparing of explanation and commentaries. His patience was inexhaustible. Nevertheless, every time Paul was embarrassed and was unable to solve a difficult question, before putting him in the way to do so, Eugène used to let him try for a reasonable time.

“Reflect,” he would say to him, “and you will be sure to find some solution. If it is not the right one, I will help you; but you must get some result for yourself. It is impossible to have a clear understanding of a solution given by a person who understands the matter, until we have thoroughly considered it, and made some efforts to solve the given problem ourselves. This is a necessary preliminary exercise, and one which puts the mind in a right state for comprehending. Draw a general section of the main building through the billiard-room and your brother-in-law’s study: I mean a transverse section which will indicate the walls, the floors, the fireplaces, and roofs. You have nearly all the necessary elements. Endeavour to arrange the whole in proper order, that you may make all the parts of the building clear to yourself. I do not wish to see this section till you have finished it. Not till then shall I correct it; and that correction will be of advantage to you.”

Making use, therefore, of the details already drawn, Paul drew the transverse section, not without difficulty; but the roof-timbers were singularly conceived,—their composition appeared to him difficult and complicated. He did not know how to close the wide opening between the billiard-room and the drawing-room. The dormer-windows of the roof embarrassed him considerably. Besides, he had much difficulty in realizing the junction of all these parts. In spite of all his efforts he could not succeed in representing clearly their relative positions. He was not satisfied, and frankly told his cousin so.

“I am very glad,” replied the latter, “that you are not satisfied. It would be a bad sign if you were, for it would prove that you had not made any great effort. Your walls are fairly in their right place according to the section we have taken. But the timbers, the dormer-windows!—this could not hold together, and is wanting in simplicity. Why so many pieces of wood?... Have you assured yourself of their utility? We have walls; let us make use of them. Why not make use of the wall which separates the billiard-room from the study to bear the roofing timbers in part?—especially as this wall receives chimney flues, which must surely be carried up through the roof. You did not remember the chimneys; that is thoughtlessness, for you see them marked in the plans of the ground floor and of the first and second floors.”

“I certainly thought of them,” replied Paul; “but I did not know how to carry them up through the roof.”

“And so you did not draw them; that is certainly a way of avoiding the difficulty; but yet you know they must go up through the roof. That I cannot approve of; putting aside a question is not solving it. Come, let us revise all this together.”

The section was soon corrected (Fig. 46), and Eugène did not fail to furnish it in detail, according to the uses of the apartments through which the section was drawn; which pleased Paul greatly, as he could thus realize the billiard-room completed, with its opening into the drawing-room, his brother-in-law’s study, with its doors; then above, his bedroom, dressing-room, and the two attic rooms. This drawing appeared to him charming; he could fancy himself already entering the apartments and enjoying his sister’s surprise on examining these interiors. He was wanting to show all these pretty things to Madame de Gandelau directly, but Eugène persuaded him to have a little patience.

“All this,” he said, “is a mere trifle indeed—nothing but fancy; we shall have to furnish the details of the woodwork and internal arrangements, and when we come to study them we shall find much to revise. Leave off looking at these interiors for a few minutes, and let us examine the timber-work of the roof. Let us draw it in plan.” (Fig. 47).

“The walls A B are the gables which are to support the purlins. We have at C D two cross-walls, which also form gables, and will also receive the purlins. But the spaces E C are too wide for purlins from E to C. They measure 22 feet between; now the purlins must not have a bearing of more than 13 feet if we would avoid their bending. Intermediate principals are therefore necessary at G H, against the sides of the middle dormers I. The purlins from A to G will not then exceed 13 feet in length, and we shall be able to strengthen them by means of struts from the end gables. From K to L there will be valley-rafters at the penetration of the roofs. Let us first consider the principals G H (Fig. 48).

“The height between the floors of the story in the roof should be 10 feet. We will put two main supports A, fixed into foot-pieces connected by a tie-rod, which will pass under the floor; upon these supports a tie-beam B; then to secure the tie-beam to these supports, clip-braces C. On the ends of this tie-beam will rest the purlins D. The blades E will fasten into this tie-beam and into the king-post F. Beneath the second purlins H, it will be necessary to put clips G, forming a collar-beam. The ridge-pole I will be carried by the king-post, with diagonal struts. The other ends of the purlins will rest in the gables. Thus we shall be enabled to fix the rafters which will receive the battens and the slates. These timbers (tie-beams, collar-beams, and blades) may pass through the longitudinal wall K, containing the chimney flues, and in turn the roof-timbers will stay the wall, while the wall supports and stiffens the roof. As to the middle of the building, having the two walls C D, it will suffice to rest the ridge-pole L across, and relieve its bearing with two struts M, tenoned into the ends of a beam N, which will prevent their spreading. At the level of the latter we will place the beams _a b_ (see Fig. 47), which will receive the ridge-poles O of the cross-roofs. These beams will also be relieved by struts R. On the ridge-poles O will come the meeting of the valley-rafters S (shown in elevation at S). Thus the raftering will be everywhere well supported; and, relatively to the surface of the building, we shall use but a small quantity of timber, since we take every possible advantage of the support afforded us by the interior walls. The gables will enable us to avoid the necessity of hip-roofs, which are difficult to contrive and require a good deal of timber. There remains the roof of the staircase. In order that you may understand how to construct it, I am going to draw it for you in perspective. This roof is supported by walls which rise above the cornice of the building, but it penetrates the main roof at X (see Fig. 47). If you examine the drawing (Fig. 39), you will observe that the walls of the staircase leave an angle without any vertical support over the entrance-hall. It will be necessary then to provide a bearing for the hip of the roof which comes over that space. To effect this, we will place on the two wall ends a small principal which shall receive the foot of the hip-rafter V, denoted in Fig. 47. This arrangement is apparent in the perspective drawing (Fig. 49), which gives the square tower of the principal stairs with its roof-framing. We will raise the oblong newel A of this stairs up to the level of the cornice. Upon the walls we will lay the wall-plates B; then from the three angles to the newel, the foot-pieces C. On the ends, halved together, of these foot-pieces we will erect the two king-posts P, and the three hip-rafters E. The feet of the two king-posts will be connected by the clips F. As to the back hip-rafter G, it will fix into the front of the king-post of the little principal, as I show you at G´; and in order to hinder the principal from being thrust out by this hip-rafter, clips H will connect the head of the king-post of the little principal with the king-post D of the roof. On the angles of the hip-rafters at I, it will be necessary to fix some blocks to carry the ends K of the purlins, which will support the bearing of the rafters.

“At L you see the gable which has to join the roof of the staircase; and do not forget that stone filletings M must be built into the walls against which roofs abut, forming a weather-moulding above these roofs, to hinder the rain-water from getting in between the slating and the wall. Filletings are most commonly made with mortar or cement, on the roofing itself; but as that is subject to movement, these filletings break away and have to be constantly renewed. Built into the masonry above the slope of the roofing, they cover the junction of the slate or tile with the walls, and, being independent of the roof, they cannot suffer from any giving in the timbers.

“You will draw the roofs to a scale of a quarter of an inch to a foot; I will correct your drawings, and we will give them to the carpenter, in order that he may prepare his timbers as soon as possible. We will figure the scantlings of these timbers. Thus, the blades on the principal rafters should be 8 inches × 7 inches, the collar-clips 3½ inches × 7 inches, the king-posts 7 inches × 7 inches, the tie-beam the same, the main supports 8 inches × 8 inches, the rafters 3 inches × 4 inches, the purlins 8 inches × 8 inches, without sap or flaws.”

“What do you mean by flaws?”

“Depressions; deficiencies of material apparent at the corners when timbers are squared which are rather crooked, and which thereby leave sap visible on these corners and even a hollow place, such as I mark here at A (Fig. 50). You will be careful not to allow flaws in timbers which the carpenter may employ for the roofs and joists.

“In considering our floors, I see that for the billiard-room, the dining-room, and the drawing-room, we shall do well to have in each of these apartments two beams to take the joists, on account of the width of bearing, and the partitions which come over these floors. You remember that we deferred this question, and that in the detail (Fig. 42), and in the section (Fig. 46), we have supposed the existence of these beams. The joists in these three rooms, instead of bearing from one side wall to the other, will bear from the gable walls on to the beams. But these beams, though cut from the best oak, invariably deflect sooner or later; which, to say the least, looks very bad. We will therefore make them each in two pieces, sawn through in the manner I showed you for lintels, and between the two pieces we will interpose a thin plate of iron. That will enable us to treat the beams like the wall bearers, and fit the joists into their sides, instead of laying them on the top, and consequently avoid a too great projection below the ceiling. Thus (Fig. 51), having two pieces of timber A, 12 inches × 6 inches, we will put between them a plate of iron ⅛th of an inch thick. We will bolt the whole together at regular intervals as marked at D, and, in the notches C, we will fix the ends of the joists E. A few iron straps will be nailed across to connect these ends one to another, and we shall obtain in this manner perfectly rigid floors. The beams will be supported in their bearings by corbels, and will not go more than six inches into the wall. This then is another detail to be got ready for the carpenter. Mind and see that the ends of the beams within the wall have a coat of red lead, and are enclosed in a box of sheet zinc, No. 14, to prevent the moisture of the wall from penetrating the grain of the wood. Well! that is something done: draw it all out neatly. To-morrow, when I have looked over your drawings, we will send for Jean Godard, and we will go and select the wood in your father’s timber-yard.”

Next day Paul presented his drawings. Many corrections were, indeed, necessary, still on the whole his cousin congratulated him on the result. Paul was taking pains, and was endeavouring to understand everything thoroughly; and though he could not always find the simplest and most natural solutions, he showed at least that he had reflected before putting anything on paper.

Jean Godard having been summoned, the drawings were presented to him. Some explanations were given him, after which Eugène asked him if he had any observations to make. Jean Godard was scratching his head, but said nothing.

“Is there anything in all this that you do not clearly understand, or that seems faulty?” said Eugène to him.

“No, sir; but yet these are floors that are out of the common way; it will be difficult—we are not accustomed—and you see—it isn’t what we generally do in carpentry.”

“Which means that you must be paid more than for floors made in your way.”

“Yes, to be sure—you understand—there is labour to be considered—all these timbers here must be sawn—planed, perhaps.”

“Consider well, Jean. The joists must be sawn on two faces only—the two faces that are seen; but all joists are sawn out. If we asked you to supply the wood, you might say that you would not find joists of this kind; but in this case you have to select from our wood. If you use small timber it will be enough to saw two faces thus (Fig. 52): you may, if you like, leave the faces A roughly squared and only cleared of sap. If you cut your joists out of large timber (Fig. 53) you will only have to run the saw-cuts as I have sketched here at B. But I prefer to use small timber, because it does not crook in drying, as timber which is quartered is sure to do; and I think we shall have enough of the former to prevent us from being obliged to employ this last method. We shall have, then, to pay you only for the sawing of the two faces, as for the joists you usually employ. As for the beams, they will be also sawn on two faces only, for if we cut them from a single trunk we shall put the two sawn faces outside (Fig. 54), and the plate of iron being interposed at D we shall put below a moulded board C, to cover the joining, and the flaws, should there be any. With regard to the triangular notchings to be made at E, they are less difficult to fashion than mortises, and as the joists bear in full they have no tenons. It is the same with the bearers which, along the walls, receive the ends of the joists, and take the place of cornices.—Well, what do you say about it?”

“Why—still it isn’t flooring such as we see everywhere.”

“What does that matter, if it gives you no more trouble to make? We shall take account of the time you spend, as we furnish the wood; consequently you are secured against loss. Make a careful estimate, and if you like we will make a bargain. We will pay you by the cubic foot as for ordinary flooring, or take account of the time employed in working and pay you for that time. Make your choice!”

Jean Godard twirled his cap about some time, looked at the drawings in every possible way, scratched his right ear again, then his left, and after a good half-hour declared that he consented to be paid for floors of this kind at the same rate as for ordinary floors according to measurement.

“And you are right,” said Eugène; “for if you manage your work well, if there is no bungling, you will gain more by this bargain than if we paid you according to time, because there is less work in flooring of this kind for the same quantity of material than in those you are accustomed to make, especially in this neighbourhood.”

Jean Godard, however, asked for an additional consideration for the bearers that were to be substituted for the rough fixing in the walls.

“Granted,” said Eugène; “we save plaster cornices, and it is right that we should make you an allowance on that account.”

It was therefore resolved that they should make a separate payment for the labour on the bearers, that is, for their notches and chamfers.

Next day four pit-saws were at work, cutting up the timber that had been stored. The scene of labour had resumed all its activity. In the masonry department a design for a dormer-window remained to be furnished, but which was soon supplied (Fig. 55), and besides this the direction of the chimney flues.

Eugène on giving Paul the particulars of the dormer-windows, section A and exterior elevation B, drew his attention to their construction. Raised on a gutter-wall 20 inches thick, they were to consist of two jambs of three courses each. On the first two courses would be left a string-course C, designed to cover the slate of the roofing and to form a filleting. These two jambs would carry the lintel and two stones forming corbels. Two pieces on this lintel would receive the gable knees, and would form the jambs of the higher opening designed to ventilate the attics. The gable would consist of two courses surmounted by a finial. The section indicated how the slopes of the coping would form a filleting on the small roofs of these dormer-windows behind, and a drip in front, to hinder the rain-water from running down the faces of the stone-work.