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.
Fig. 79. Re-siding an old wall.