CHAPTER XXIX.

STONE MASONRY.—CUT STONE.—TERRA COTTA.—PRIVY VAULTS.—CISTERNS.—FILTERS FOR CISTERNS.—BRICK PAVEMENTS.—CEMENT PAVEMENTS.

Stone foundations for dwelling-houses are usually made of native stone, and anything that may be said here must necessarily conform to general rather than special conditions. The best stone that can be used for this purpose is hard, non-absorbent limestone. There are many varieties of stone conglomerates throughout the country which are valuable for foundation uses. Stone should be laid up in lime mortar in the direction of its natural bed in the quarry, with a sufficiency of bond stone. For ordinary dwelling-house work there should be at least one footing eight inches in depth, and six inches projection on each side of the wall. Stone walls for foundations are usually made not less than eighteen inches in thickness. It is not easy to lay a good stone wall less than eighteen inches in thickness. While the same number of cubic feet of stone work may cost less than brick work, a stone foundation ordinarily would cost more than one of brick for the reason that a brick wall does not have to be so thick. It usually takes about half the number of cubic feet of brick work that it does of stone work to answer the same purpose. Where stone is available at low cost it is best to use it. Interior brick walls may rest on stone footings. The inside of stone walls should be neatly pointed after other work has been finished. Stone work above grade may be finished in many ways—random range work, rubble work, regular course range work, etc. After the other work has been finished, the mortar should be raked out a short distance and a finish joint added.

CUT STONE.

Cut-stone work is too large a subject to consider in detail. There are several points which cannot be overlooked. There should be drips cut under all projections, so that the water will not run down the other stone or brick work and stain it. A drip is merely a little V-shaped channel cut on the under side of the stone work. They are found on the under side of most window-sills. In door, window, or other openings, the stone work should underlie or overlie all wood work at least two inches. This may be explained by stating that the stone window-sill should underlie the wood sill two inches, and the window cap should overlie the wood cap at least two inches. Generally speaking, coping should project on each side of the wall about two inches. Sills should extend at least one inch beyond the face of the wall. Window-sills should be no less than five inches in thickness. Door-sills should generally be about seven or eight inches, and extend at least one inch beyond the face of the wall, and through its full thickness. The water table of the stone foundation usually forms the window cap of the cellar windows, and the cap course, which comes at the grade line, the cellar window-sills. In this case it is necessary that the stone should run farther into the wall where the openings occur.

Stone steps are not over six and one-half to seven and one-half inches in thickness, with from nine to twelve inch treads. They underlie and lap about one inch, and have walls, the same material as the foundation, for lower supports. These walls should go to the full depth of the house walls with which they come in contact. Thus there is no danger of settling. Stone steps are frequently used in the front of the yard from the side-walk to the grade level where there is considerable elevation. In such cases it is necessary to use stone side pieces for the steps, to prevent caving and to make a neat finish. Where flagging is cheap, it is well to use it for walks and porch floors.

TERRA-COTTA WORK.

Terra cotta is the perfection of brick-making. It is the only building material which is not affected by changes of temperature, or other natural or artificial conditions to which the building may be subject. It may be described as being a very plastic material; that is, anything can be done with it. It can be worked into any form that is desired, excepting long lintels, and even in that case there are means of arriving at the desired result and giving a lintel form in a very proper manner. Ornamental terra cotta is modelled by artists before being burned, and the best results may naturally be expected.

PRIVY VAULT.

The size of the privy vault is usually three and one-half by four and one-half feet, elliptical, and from ten to twenty feet deep, according to the character of the soil. Usually it is walled up with four-inch dry brick wall. Piers should be provided at corners for privy building. In some instances it is required that the privy vault should be made water-tight. In that case it should be built the same as a cistern, with round bottom and cemented interior surface. When it is desired to connect the privy vault with the sewer, it should be cemented in the manner just described, with a siphon vitrified pipe connection with the drain to the sewer. The siphon prevents solid rubbish, which may be thrown into the vault, from getting into the drain and clogging it.

CISTERN.

The cistern is generally located near the rear kitchen wall, say ten or twelve feet therefrom. The walls, arch, and neck are usually four inches in thickness when capacity of cistern does not exceed one hundred and twenty-five barrels. Otherwise the brick work mentioned should be eight inches in thickness. The brick should be laid in domestic cement, and smoothly coated with Portland cement. It should be connected with the down spouts of the house by means of vitrified drain-pipe, the same as described in connection with plumbing work, though it has no connection therewith.

The following table gives capacity of cisterns of various sizes.

CAPACITY OF CISTERN IN GALLONS FOR EACH TEN INCHES IN DEPTH.

DIAM.
IN FEET 		GALLONS.DIAM.
IN FEET		GALLONS.DIAM.
IN FEET		GALLONS.
219·506½206·8512705·0
2½30·507239·8813827·4
344·607½275·4014959·6
3½59·978313·33151,101·6
478·338½353·72201,958·4
4½99·149396·56253,059·9
5122·409½461·40304,406·4
5½148·1010489·60355,990·0
6176·2511592·40407,831·0

FILTERS.

There are various ways of forming a filter. One is to have a small cistern of eight or ten barrel capacity, located between the main cistern and house. It should be divided by a brick wall laid in mortar, but not cemented on either side. The water enters on one side, passes through the brick wall in the middle, and from thence to the cistern beyond. Another plan is to cement the wall, leave an opening at the bottom, and pack the side on which the water enters with charcoal, sand, and gravel. The water passes through this packing and the opening below to the other side of the filter, and then to the cistern. Still another plan is to build the partition as first described on the inside of the cistern proper. All of the water passes to one side of the divided cistern, and through the partition before being drawn out. Thus it has to pass through the brick before it is to be drawn out. Still another filter is made by building what is called a beehive in the bottom of the cistern. It is a beehive form of brick work, with the pump pipe leading to the inside, so that all water has to be drawn through the brick beehive before it is pumped out. According to this plan, as well as the others mentioned, the water is strained through the brick.

It is best that the cistern and independent filter, when used, should be provided with iron rims and cast-iron covers. It is good practice to connect the cistern with a dry well, which is constructed the same as an open vault excepting that the top is arched. This dry-well connection is by means of five-inch vitrified pipe laid in the same manner as sewer pipe.

There is a practice, altogether too common among builders, of connecting the cistern overflow with the vault or sewer. Nothing could be worse than this. The water is certain to be polluted.

BRICK PAVEMENT.

Brick pavements are used for walks around the house, and sometimes for cellar floors. Cement floors, however, are better for cellars. Brick pavement of all kinds should be made of hard-burned bricks, laid on a six or eight inch bed of sand. The brick walk should not be laid until after all the grading and filling of the lot has been done. It is best to leave the brick walks out of the general contract, so that this work can be delayed until after the house is finished. It is a good thing to have the sodding and the paving in the same contract. The contractor who attends to the sodding can work the two together to a better advantage than if the walks were placed and the sodding done afterwards.

CEMENT PAVEMENT.

Cement pavements are used for walks around the house, and for cellar floors. Cement is more expensive than brick. The surface to be covered should, first, be levelled, then saturated with water; after which is laid a three-inch bed of cement concrete, made of gravel, sand, and cement in proper proportions. Upon this is placed a three-fourth-inch layer of cement mortar. Ordinary American, hydraulic cement may be used for concrete, but for the three-fourth-inch layer nothing but best Portland cement should be considered. Sometimes the cement work in the cellar is done by the plasterer. Outside cement work for walks requires special skill. In most large cities there are those who make a business of doing this work. They have different formulas and methods of reaching the proper results.