Chapter IX: Building the House, Concluded.--Outside Covering, Painting

That part of the house which of necessity must be exposed to the buffetings of snow and rain, wind and sun, should be considered more carefully than any other part except the foundation. If economy demands, the doors, floors, bath rooms, and wardrobes may be of plain and inexpensive material, for later they may be replaced when means justify additional expenditure; but if the outside covering be faulty, the house is a partial failure from the beginning.

The first principle to be observed is to place all projections intended to serve as water-tables at somewhat acute angles, for if placed at nearly right angles with the sides of the house, rains accompanied by heavy winds will certainly reach the framework. The water-tables which crown the top of the base-board are more exposed than those which are higher up, and therefore should be steep and rabbeted to prevent the water from reaching the sills. The too usual method is shown in Fig. 71. An enlarged view of a better style of water-table is shown in Fig. 72.

Outside window frame sills which have insufficient pitch tend to become water-soaked, and not infrequently the lower member of the window itself rots by reason of the water which drives in and remains under the sill of the window for considerable periods of time. Figs. 73 and 74 show perfect and faulty methods of construction.

Faulty construction.]

The siding of a house for various reasons would better be put on horizontally, although material put on this way, unless it is kept well painted, is not so durable as when placed vertically. The horizontal covering is more beautiful, lends itself better to the numerous openings, and gives better protection from cold and wind than does the vertical covering. If the building is not to be painted, then the covering would better be placed vertically. Nearly all wooden houses are covered with either thin lap-siding or inch siding, prepared in various ways and known by various names. The inch or novelty siding was first introduced in the West, and costs but little more than the lap-siding, because, being thicker, it can be made of somewhat inferior lumber. The novelty or rabbeted covering gives greater strength to the building and is much more quickly and cheaply put on. It may be said that this style of covering is extremely faulty if placed on the building in the usual way, namely, before the doors and windows and corner boards are in position. If the same method of placing the material be practiced as in placing the lap-siding, then the objections to this class of siding disappear to a certain extent. The diagram, Fig. 75, shows the novelty, or drop, or O G siding (A), the rabbeted (B) and lap-siding (C). It will readily be seen that if a drop (A) or rabbeted (B) siding be put on before the window frames are placed, as is the usual custom, an opening (x) is left under the facing of the window frame which extends through to the studding. This permits the rain, in a driving storm, to pass horizontally along this opening to the studding and then downward along the framework of the building. Many instances could be cited in which these openings have had to be filled by triangular blocks of wood or putty, and even then the water was not entirely excluded.

Forms of siding.]

This method of covering houses or even barns with this new kind of siding is usually disappointing and wasteful of material. All that is gained is a little more facility and cheapness in placing the covering. If it is put on, as it should be, after the window and door frames are set, it is more difficult and more expensive to place than lap-siding.

No way of covering a wooden house has been found superior to the one-half inch lap-siding with joints tight enough at the frames and corners, in conjunction with the paint, to make water-tight joints. The lap should not be less than one inch, and the nails should be so placed that in case of considerable shrinkage in the siding the inside will give or even check, instead of the outside (z). If made as at y, the outside will check. This implies that the nails are to be driven rather more than one-half inch above the edge of the siding. The nails which hold the outer covering should either be set and puttied, or the heads should be left even with or slightly above the surface of the wood, that the paint may cover all parts of the nail head. If the nails are driven too far in the heads are not fully covered and protected by the paint, in which case they will rust and present an unsightly appearance.

Some one has said that if a woman’s feet, hands, and head are well and appropriately clothed, the balance of the dress may be plain and simple, and yet she will have an elegant appearance. So, if a house has a good foundation and a suitable and well-placed roof, the balance of the outside may be extremely plain and yet it will be beautiful. Some of our modern houses rest on unpointed, poorly constructed, and narrow foundations, are bedecked with peaks, pigeon lofts, and dog-eared cornices, and remind one of the suspenderless, barefooted darky crowned with a cast-off silk hat.

If the foundation is too small and shabbily built, no amount of paint and cornice can relieve the house from a look of shabby gentility. A few brown or cream-colored stones or bricks, when placed on the outside of the foundation where it shows above ground, will give dignity, beauty and a substantial look to the whole house. It may do for it what a nickel does for one’s shoes.

The roof of the farm house, and for that matter of all other houses, should, in the trying climate of America, have an ample projection. An abbreviated cornice may be admissible if the building is constructed of stone which is of sufficient density to resist the American tooth of time. Fig. 76 shows a section of an abbreviated and a well extended cornice. The house which has this short-cut cornice stands within a few hundred feet of the one with the wide projecting eaves. During the past twenty years it has been necessary to paint the former twice as often as the latter.

Deep and narrow cornices.]

The roof covering would better be of slate or tiles, for the time has passed for building temporary, make-shift houses, though they might have served their purpose well in a new and rapidly developing country. With rare exceptions, the houses to be built in the future should be permanently located, well built, and of durable material. The slates which compose a roof should be not more than 8 inches wide and should not be put on roofs of less than one-third pitch, since they are only double-lapped and do not lie as closely, one upon the other, as do shingles, which are laid triple-lapped. Slate and tile roofs are comparatively heavy, and hence require stronger roof structures than shingles.

The roof boarding for slate roofs should be matched--tongued and grooved--and covered with paper to prevent cold and draughts of air from passing into the attic. Since slates, on account of their somewhat rough surfaces, do not lie closely together, the wind is likely to pass through the cracks in the roof, if there are any, and carry snow and rain into the upper part of the house; therefore the roof covering immediately under the slates should be virtually air-tight. The roof boards for a shingle roof should be narrow and laid with openings of from 1¹⁄₂ to 2 inches between the boards. Rain and snow seldom drive up and through the shingle roof, and since wooden roofs are more likely to rot out than to wear out, the more perfectly the shingles are dried out after a storm the better. The narrow roof boards and the spaces between them allow the shingles to dry quickly, and therefore are better than matched boards.

The short, or common, shingle of commerce is 16 inches long, ³⁄₈- to ¹⁄₂-inch thick at one end, and ¹⁄₈ of an inch at the other, and is computed at 4 inches wide. A bunch of shingles contains one fourth of a thousand. It should have 25 double courses and the band should be 20 inches long. Not infrequently there is a course or two wanting, or the bands are an inch or so short. Having this data, one can easily determine if the bunch is of legal size. A little cheating is not uncommonly done by placing the shingles in the bunch loosely. This can be detected by examining the bunches at the thick ends of the shingles.

Theoretically, 1,000 shingles should cover 10 feet square, or 100 square feet, known in carpentry as “a square,” if the shingles are laid 4 inches to the weather. Since shingles are usually laid 4¹⁄₂ to 5 inches to the weather, 1,000 shingles should cover about 120 square feet. Two-thirds of the lower part of the roof may be laid 4¹⁄₂ inches, and the upper third 4³⁄₄ or 5 inches to the weather, if the roof is not flat.

If shingles are treated with lime water or diluted gas tar, or be painted as they are laid, the life of the roof may be prolonged. The painting of roofs with tar or common earth or mineral paints, after they are laid, does little or no good in preserving them. Sometimes painting is resorted to to make the roof harmonize with the color of the sides of the building.

Neither extremely narrow nor extremely wide shingles are desirable. Those from 3 to 6 inches wide, when carefully laid, are satisfactory. Each shingle should receive but two nails; one is usually enough, and these should be placed about ³⁄₄ of an inch from the edges, and about 1 inch above the point where the butts of the next course will come. When the courses above are laid upon the shingle having but one nail, two or three other nails, which are driven in the courses above, will serve to help hold it in position. The joints of shingle roofs should be double broken: that is, the joints in the shingles of one course should not coincide with the joints of the first or second course below. Consult Fig. 77.

If two nails be driven in the sides of an unseasoned shingle, when it shrinks it is likely to split in the middle; and in laying a roof the joint immediately above the course under consideration is likely to come at or near the middle of the shingle, which splits by reason of the shrinking. The case is still worse when three nails are put in a shingle, for then it is almost certain to split in the middle and immediately in line with the joint in the course above.

Unscientific placing of shingles and insufficient mixing of mortar results in an unsatisfactory house, both inside and outside, however good the materials may be.

VENEERED HOUSES

A most excellent way to secure a warm, durable house, and one that will require the minimum of care-taking, is to first construct a 4-inch wall after the balloon pattern, as has been previously described. To this frame, sheathing surfaced on one side is attached. The 4-inch brick wall is securely fastened to the wooden structure by means of 30-penny spikes, one at each studding, which are driven in at the top of every seven courses of brick. (See Fig. 78.) A wooden house may also be veneered with stone, the veneering being held in place by means of metal anchors attached to the boarding.

The foundation needs to be a little stronger than for the wooden house, and must be provided with a stone water-table for receiving the veneering.

In a veneered house, all the lightness and dryness of a wooden house are secured on the inside and on the outside all the durability and solidity of a brick or stone house. When the veneering is of hard-burned, cream-colored or neutrally tinted brick or brown stone, the effect is extremely pleasing. The first cost of such a house is somewhat more than an all-wood house, but its greater durability and freedom from constant repairs makes it no more expensive in the end. When one builds such a house and covers it with a steep slate roof, he feels that he has builded for many coming generations.

It is not necessary to speak in detail of stone and brick houses, since such structures are quite expensive, and their construction should always be placed in the hands of experts. It may be well, however, to discuss them generally. The cost of building brick houses is nearly twice as great as those of wood; stone houses cost more than brick houses. The foundations of brick or stone structures must be broad and placed deep in the ground, to sustain the great weight placed upon them. However much pains has been taken, the walls of the superstructure often crack by reason of the unequal settling of the foundation or by unequal strain on the walls, due to the window and door openings. Once the walls are cracked they become unsightly, and cannot well be restored without being rebuilt. Unless the windows are extra large the house will not be well lighted because of the thick walls. (See Fig. 24, p. 108.) The walls do not heat and cool as quickly as do wooden walls, hence brick and especially stone houses are likely to be damp, since the warm air of the rooms tends to part with its moisture when it comes in contact with the relatively cool walls. This tendency of the walls to condense moisture may be obviated by studding and plastering them on the inside, but all this adds to the expense. Until building material becomes much less expensive than it now is, the farmer would better build either a wooden or veneered house.

OLD HOUSES

Houses which were built some time ago and before building paper and better methods of construction were in vogue, are usually too cold and often extremely unsatisfactory. The outside covering may be warped and cracked and too often paintless. Where these conditions prevail the house may be re-sided without removing the old covering. The window frames, corner boards, and like members which receive the siding are built out by placing bands around the frames and on the corner boards of sufficient thickness to receive the new second siding. Strong building paper is then placed over the old siding, and strips one inch thick and two inches broad are nailed immediately upon it and over the several studs of the old frame. (Fig. 79.) The house is now ready to receive new siding. If paper be laid on the floors and a well seasoned second floor be laid upon it, they will be greatly improved at slight cost.

Eave troughs should be placed outside the perpendicular line of the walls to prevent water from entering the house should the troughs leak or overflow from being filled with ice. Eave troughs are frequently made of tin which is too narrow, in which case, especially on flat roofs, the water will back up under the shingles and run over that part of the gutter which lies hidden in the roof. The elevation of the front edge of the gutter should be at least 2 inches below the extreme upper edge of the tin of which the gutter is made. (Compare Figs. 80 and 81.) Gutters placed at the end of the rafters are usually not as durable as those placed on the roof, but if carefully put up so that they will keep their position they serve their purpose well and may be made to give additional beauty to the eaves of the roof. The conductors which lead the water from the gutters to the ground should be made large and of corrugated material, that expansion may be provided for should they become filled with ice.

What has been said about using too narrow tin for gutters is doubly applicable to the valleys. Open valleys are better than closed. All tin used for gutters or valleys should be painted on both sides before it is placed upon the roof, and all used about the outside of the building should be kept well painted, as it is more economical to paint often than to mend leaks.

PAINTING THE HOUSE

After much solicitude and money have been expended on the construction of the house, it is poor economy to let it suffer for want of paint. Not infrequently the house is planned so large, or so much is spent on its erection that means are not at hand for fully protecting the outside with suitable paints.

As to the colors of paints or their combinations, little can be said, since tastes and conditions are extremely variable. A farm house should have its own distinctive features, and its own personality, and while it may be similar to many other houses it should not be a duplicate of any other one.

In manufacturing towns long rows of houses are built, each one the exact duplicate of all the others in shape, dimensions, and color. The effect is abominable. This illustration of exact imitation only goes to show how necessary it is to have diversity of style in the houses themselves and variation in the colors of the paints if the maximum beauty of the home and adaptation to landscape and site are secured. In painting the farm house beauty should not be ignored, but beauty may not be compatible with durability and necessary economy. The farm home may and should be placed in such beautiful environment that the paint which covers it sinks into comparative insignificance as compared to the painting of the city house; therefore the elements of economy and durability play as important parts in the painting of farm houses as does beauty. Even a great, plain, two-story white farm house with green window-blinds can be made to look beautiful and home-like if it has a suitable setting of noble trees.

If the outside covering of the house is placed some time before it receives its first coat of paint, the wood tends to check and usually becomes too dry for applying it. If exposed for some days to the direct rays of the sun before painting, so much of the oil of the paint will be taken up by the wood that there will not be enough left to bind the mineral matter of the paint to the wood. This is especially the case where an attempt is made to complete the painting by the application of but two coats, in which case, the first or prime coat must contain relatively much mineral material and little oil, and must be spread thickly if the surfaces are to be well covered by the two coats. Not infrequently, the outside woodwork is swollen and somewhat displaced by rains before the roof is in place. Even after it has dried out the ideal conditions are not secured. The roof should be placed as soon as the siding is completed, or if possible before. The carpenter should put on the first, or prime, coat as fast as the house is sided; that is, the woodwork which has been placed from one scaffold or stage should be painted from the scaffold before the one above is constructed. The corner boards, window sash, and frame should receive one coat of paint before they leave the shop. The prime coat may be of yellow ochre mixed with some white lead, since the after painting with the desired color will cover the yellow if two coats be applied. Good yellow ochre is a most durable paint when properly mixed and spread, although it may be said that the more white lead used in the prime coat the better. Yellow ochre should contain a large per cent of iron; when ochres are composed largely of colored clay they are inferior. The paint for the first coat should, in any case, be thin, since the oil which it contains plays an important part. This first coat tends, or should tend, to fill the wood with oil so that the oil in the after coat will mostly remain with the paint, and not leave it and pass into the wood, thereby destroying its binding force. Too much stress can hardly be laid on the necessity of rubbing the first coat into the wood by vigorous use of the brush. To realize the value of this principle one has but to visit a first-class carriage manufactory and observe the methods which are in use to prepare a carriage body for its final coat of dark paint and varnish. In too many cases the first coat of paint is mixed too thickly and is not pressed into the pores of the wood as it should be, in which case the paint may either peel or rub off in a few years. The country boy dressed in his best black suit often has a reminder of this if he chances to lean against the outside of the old country church while “waiting for meeting to take up.”

All outside painting, with the exception of the first coat, should be done, as far as possible, in cool weather. Early spring and late fall, when flies and dust are not present, are the best. If the house is built in the summer, the second coat may be put on in the fall and the third coat the following spring. The paint of the second coat may be a little thicker than that of the first, and that of the third a little thicker than the second. If the best job is desired the paint for all three coats should be mixed thinner than is customary, in which case a fourth coat will be required the following fall. The house will now have a polish similar to the well painted carriage body, and, like it, will resist moisture and remain good for a long time. If a building is to be painted at all it would better be painted at the beginning and be kept well painted, as it is the more economical in the end. Better curtail the size of the house than to build it so large that the outside covering must be neglected.

The oil used in paints is usually derived from the vegetable oil found in flax or linseed. Although many other kinds of oils have been tried, nothing has been discovered which can take the place, in paints, of linseed oil. This is most remarkable, for there are many vegetable oils which are very similar to this one. Linseed oil is expensive as compared with several other kinds, hence many attempts have been made to find an oil equally as good for painting; so far as I am able to learn, none have been discovered. Linseed oil in paints, when dried, forms a hard, tough, gluey coating which serves to bind firmly the particles of paint together, and to the wood, and to exclude water as no other oil does; hence if any other oil is mixed with the linseed oil, it is said to be adulterated. At the present time linseed oil is adulterated in some cases, and it is believed that this adulteration is the chief cause of the lack of durability in many of the ready-mixed paints. If linseed oil be mixed with other oils which are wanting in its valuable characteristic, it is certain that such oils will not bind the particles of paint together as they should be bound.

At present the only protection is to purchase guaranteed pure oil of dealers who are reliable beyond peradventure. Outside painting should be done with unboiled oil unless, on account of the weather, boiled oil must be used to hasten drying. In extreme cases a drier (litharge) is used. The drying process should not be rapid in outside painting, as slow drying promotes durability.

The substances mixed with the oil to form paints are extremely variable in composition and color. Some are good, and are usually relatively high priced. Others are inferior and relatively low priced. Now that so many brands of ready-mixed paints of many tints are in common use, it is impracticable to analyze all of them and determine their quality so that the inferior may be distinguished from the superior. There appears to be but two ways out of this serious dilemma: use the best brands of the ready-mixed paints and await results, or purchase pure white lead and zinc paints and pure oil, and tint to suit tastes and conditions. Heretofore, to do this successfully has required much skill and patience, especially if the house was to be painted in many colors.

Paints are now so universally adulterated that I deem it my duty to call attention to a company which virtually guarantees the material sold. The National Lead Company makes white paints of pure white lead and pure linseed oil. It also manufactures pure tinting colors, at least the company so advertise, and without doubt would be liable for damages should the paints prove to be adulterated. Sample tint cards are furnished and directions given as to the quantity and kind of tinting material to be mixed with the white paint to give the desired color. All this greatly simplifies painting, and if these paints are pure, as represented, the farmer will have no difficulty in securing pure paint of any tint desired.

The farmer who desires a beautifully painted house, and simplicity, may well restrict the colors of the paints he uses to two, being careful that they are in harmony, one with the other, and with the character of the house and its surroundings.

The following figures show the composition of some common paints (No. 1 was analyzed at the Cornell Exp. Sta., the others at the Iowa Station):

I. The paint known as white lead, when pure, is a basic carbonate of lead mixed in oil. A sample showed--

White lead 93.62%
Oil and undetermined 6.38%

There was no evidence of adulteration.

II. White lead--

White lead 41.12%
Barium sulfate 30.29%
Zinc oxide 28.59%

Adulterated with barium sulfate and zinc oxide. Barium sulfate is very
heavy; in fact, in nature it is known as heavy spar.

III. Venetian red, dry--

Ferric oxide 24.12%
Calcium carbonate } 66.36%
Calcium sulfate }
Undetermined 9.52%

Adulterated with calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate. Venetian red
is ferric oxide, or a natural red oxide of iron. Calcium carbonate is
chalk or limestone, and calcium sulfate is plaster.

IV. Venetian red in oil--

Ferric oxide 12.82%
Calcium sulfate 3.54%
Barium sulfate 63.98%
Oil and undetermined 19.66%
--------
100.00%

Adulterated with barium sulfate and calcium sulfate.