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.
Fig. 80. Faulty gutter or eave trough.
Fig. 81. Well constructed gutter.
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.