The House: A Manual of Rural Architecture: Or, How to Build Country Houses and Out-buildings ...

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G.E. & F.W. Woodward, 1868 - Architecture, Domestic - 176 pages
 

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Page 67 - I would not have that useless expense in unnoticed fineries or formalities ; cornicings of ceilings and graining of doors, and fringing of curtains, and thousands such ; things which have become foolishly and apathetically habitual — things on whose common appliance hang whole trades, to which there never yet belonged the blessing of giving one ray of real pleasure, or becoming of the remotest or most contemptible use — things which cause half the expense of life, and destroy more than half its...
Page 171 - ... work with the chisel and adze, mnking holes and pins to fill them. To lay out and frame a building so that all its parts will come together, requires the skill of a master mechanic, and a host of men, and a deal of hard work to lift the great sticks of timber into position. To erect a balloon-building requires about as much mechanical skill as it does to build a board fence. Any farmer who is handy with the saw, iron square, and hammer, with one of his boys or a common laborer to assist him,...
Page 171 - Chicago and San Francisco could never have arisen, as they did, from little villages to great cities in a single year. It is not alone city buildings, which are supported by one another, that may be thus erected, but those upon the open prairie, where the wind has a sweep from Mackinaw to the Mississippi, for there they are built, and stand as firm as any of the old frames of 'New England, with posts and beams sixteen inches square.
Page 170 - Fill up with studs between, sixteen inches apart, supporting the top by a line or strip of board from corner to corner, or stayed studs between. Now cover that side with rough sheeting boards, unless you intend to side-up with clap-boards on the studs, which I never would do, except for a small, common building. Make no calculation about the top of your studs ; wait till you get up that high. You may use them of any length, with broken or stub-shot ends, no matter. When you have got this side boarded...
Page 162 - This will make a paint of a light gray stone color, nearly white. To make it fawn or drab, add yellow ochre and Indian red ; if drab is desired, add burnt umber, Indian red, and a little black ; if dark stone color, add lampblack ; or if brown stone, then add Spanish brown.
Page 67 - I am no advocate for meanness of private habitation. I would fain introduce into it all magnificence, care, and beauty, where they are possible; but I would not have that useless expense in unnoticed fineries or formalities ; cornicing of ceilings and graining of doors, and fringing of curtains, and thousands such ; things which have become foolishly and apathetically habitual — things on whose common appliance hang whole trades, to which there never yet belonged the blessing of giving one ray...
Page 170 - ... saw them off smooth by the sill. Now set up a corner-post, which is nothing but one of the two-by-four studs, fastening the bottom by four nails ; make it plumb, and stay it each way. Set another at the other corner, and then mark off your door and window places, and set up the side-studs and put in the frames. Fill up with studs between...
Page 163 - When quite slacked dissolve it in water, and add two pounds of sulphate of zinc, and one of common salt, which may be had at any of the druggists, and which in a few days will cause the whitewash to harden on the woodwork. Add sufficient water to bring it to the consistency of thick whitewash. To make the above wash of a pleasant cream color, add 8 Ibs.
Page 170 - Upon these set the floor-sleepers, on edge, 32 inches apart. Fasten one at each end, and perhaps one or two in the middle, if the building is large, with a wooden pin. These end-sleepers are the end-sills. Now lay the floor, unless you design to have one that would be likely to be injured by the weather before you get on the roof.
Page 164 - ... behind contains the core, which would spoil the stucco, and must be rejected. Having obtained the sharpest sand to be had, and having washed it so that not a particle of the mud and dirt (which destroy the tenacity of most stuccoes) remains, and screened it, to give some uniformity to the size, mix it with the lime in powder, in the proportion of two parts sand to one part lime. This is the best proportion for lime stucco. More lime would make a stronger stucco, but one by no means so hard—...

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