CHAPTER XXXII.

PLASTERING.—GRAY FINISH.—WHITE HARD FINISH.—BACK PLASTERING.—GAS-PIPING.—TIN WORK.—GUTTERS.—VALLEYS.—DOWN SPOUTS.—GALVANIZED IRON-WORK.—HOT-AIR PIPES.—THIMBLES.—PAINTING.—STAINING.—OIL FINISHING.—INTERIOR STAINING.—FLOOR FINISH.—GLAZING.—PLATE-GLASS.—BEVELLED GLASS.—CATHEDRAL GLASS.—HARDWARE.

It is only within the last ten or fifteen years that it has been at all common to do two-coat work in plastering. Before that time three-coat work was almost universal. Most of the plastering done at this time is what is called “laid-on” work. The first two coats are put on at the same time. The last coat is put on after these are dry. The laths are nearly always of pine. There should be one nail for each contact with the wood-work; that is, four nails to each lath. The mortar should be made of the best quality of lime and sharp sand.

A sufficient quantity of hair should be used. The mortar should be floated, or made smooth, and straightened to receive the wood-work. The last coat should be put on after the other is thoroughly dry. It should be trowelled to a smooth surface, and when completed should be free from chip cracks, stains, and improper mixing of sand. Three-coat work, where each coat is allowed to become thoroughly dry, is better than two-coat work. The last coat is usually a white plaster-of-Paris finish, put on with the skim.

A gray finish is used more generally at the present time than in the past. It is put on in place of the white skim coat.

The natural color is a pleasant gray tint. It may be made smooth enough for papering. The skim coat, white or gray, may be tinted with fresco color at less cost than it can be papered. Paper becomes necessary on a white skim finish after a short time.

The hard white finish, which is not commonly used at the present time, is very satisfactory excepting for its extreme whiteness. This finish is made by the use of white sand and skim rubbed and floated down until only a sufficient amount of the lime or skim proper remains to cement the sand to the wall. The same kind of a finish with gray sand is very satisfactory.

Proprietary finishes for plastered walls are now used to some extent in the better class of work. They are very hard, of waterproof texture and of any color desired. The coloring of finish for plastering is ordinarily not successful. However, some of the proprietary colored goods before the public are very satisfactory when well put on. The one difficulty in the way of their use is in getting the plasterer to handle properly a thing with which he is not familiar.

Back plastering is common in very cold climates, and is done by plastering on the back of the sheathing between the studding. It is independent of the inside plastering.

Cement pavements in floors are considered in the previous chapter.

GAS-PIPING.

Gas-pipes are placed in a house before lathing. The gas company which supplies the illuminating or fuel gas furnishes the inspection for each set of pipes. Below is given a form of specification in use by an architect in a natural-gas region.

GAS.

Illuminating Gas.—Provide and fix gas-pipe and fittings according to gas company’s regulations. All pipes shall be concealed, excepting where it is desired to attach a burner. Cap pipes. Lights to be placed as indicated by table below.

Fuel or Natural Gas.—Provide and fix pipe and fittings according to company’s regulations. Company’s certificate of approval will be required before payments are made. Cap pipes until mixers and burners are attached.

Valves and connections shall be provided preparatory to mixer and burner connections. Provide connection with street mains.

TABLE OF DISTRIBUTION.

FLOORS.ILLUMINATING GAS.NATURAL-GAS
FIRES.
CENTRE.BRACKET.
first floor.
Parlor or Reception Room---
Porch---
Sitting-Room---
Front Hall—newel---
Dining-Room---
Library---
Chambers—each---
Rear Hall---
Bedrooms—each---
Kitchengas stove--Range.
Pantry---
China-Room---
Cellar--

{

Furnace.
Laundry stove.
second floor
Chambers—each---
Bedrooms—each---
Alcove---
Front Hall---
Rear Hall---
Bath-Room---
Attic---

TIN WORK.

It is now entirely possible to get first-class tin plate for architectural uses. The process is very simple. Require and pay only for a tin plate stamped with a reputable maker’s name and brand. There is a general effort upon the part of tin-plate dealers to raise the standard of tin in this way; and there are now a number of manufacturers of integrity who are pursuing the course of branding a first-class tin plate. All tin work should be painted on the under side before it leaves the shop.

GUTTERS.

In the matter of general utility the hanging gutter is ideal. It is below the eaves, where its overflow can injure nothing. It is easy to reach all parts of it in case of repair. If it is necessary to remove any of the shingles or other roof covering, the gutter need not be disturbed. There are those, however, who object to the appearance of a hanging gutter. A galvanized iron gutter made of No. 26 iron, in form as per [Fig. 33], and which runs four inches above the overflow line at all times, may be placed on the first or second row of shingles or slate, and will give very good satisfaction. It is certainly much better than a wood tin-lined gutter.

VALLEYS AND OTHER TIN WORK.

All valleys should be lined with twenty-inch tin. The connection between all roof and vertical surfaces should be flashed and counter-flashed; that is, pieces of tin should be bent to conform to the vertical and horizontal surfaces, and slipped under the slate or shingles so as to lap both horizontally and vertically. This is the flashing. The counter-flashings are the lapped pieces of tin which extend into the vertical surfaces, and down over the flashings proper.

All wood-work which projects in excess of one and three-eighths inch from any vertical surface, should be covered with tin. Hip and ridge coping should be covered with tin in the manner described in chapter where roofs are considered.

Down spouts should be provided to carry the water from all roofs to the ground. The presence of more than one gable in the front part of the building frequently makes more than one down spout necessary. Where the house is not too large, one five-inch spout will usually take all of the water from the roof. For a small structure a four-inch spout will serve the same purpose. Three and four inches are in common use for carrying water from the main roof where the continuous course of the gutter is interrupted by gables or dormers. The cistern down-spout should be provided with cut-off or preferably a switch spout, which connects by a drain pipe with a dry well or street gutter. Such connections should never be made with the sewer where a down spout is intended to supply a cistern. In connecting a roof with a cistern it should be borne in mind that it is not always so much the size of the cistern which insures a constant supply of water, as it is the amount of roof surface connected with the cistern.

Porches are usually provided with two or three inch down spouts according to the amount of roof to be drained.

Flat roofs are best when made with a standing seam. It admits of the expansion and contraction of the tin without injury to the joint.

Copper has been extensively used on the better class of buildings during recent years. The improvement in the quality of tin has rendered its use unnecessary excepting for down spouts and ornamental purposes. New processes in the manufacture of sheet copper, and the electroplating of other sheet metals with copper, promise to reduce the cost of that material for architectural purposes, so that it will be better and cheaper than tin. When such claims are substantiated the public will be informed thereof, through the usual channels.

Galvanized iron does not have the general architectural uses that were common to it a few years ago. For down spouts in excess of four inches, No. 26 galvanized iron should be used.

Hot-air pipes which connect the furnace pipes in basement with the second floor are usually three and three-fourths by twelve inches in size. Before they are placed, all contiguous wood-work should be lined with tin. In frame houses the pipes should be covered with iron lath. They should continue above baseboard, with register opening on second floor and below joist with collar in basement. Where pipes run in an outside wood wall, which they should do only in case of extremest emergency, the back and sides of the pipe should be lined with several thicknesses of asbestos paper.

A zinc drain should be provided from the refrigerator to the outside of brick wall. This drain is one inch in diameter, and comes up through the floor with funnel-shaped opening at the top. An ordinary six-inch tin funnel let into the tube will answer every purpose. Thus the discharge pipe from the refrigerator may be readily placed over it.

Thimbles should be provided for the plasterer when he is putting on the last coat. Flue stops should be placed therein after plastering is finished. These are for stove connections with brick flues.

PAINTING.

Painting is not so serious a problem as it once was. We hear about people buying their own paint, the lead and everything that goes with it, and having it mixed under their personal supervision. But even this is not satisfactory. After a short time the paint begins to look chalky and dingy. When the mixing of the paint is not done under the supervision of the owner, and the result is as above stated, the painter is often accused of dishonesty.

A painter does not ordinarily have the facilities or knowledge for properly mixing colored paints. In order to get satisfactory results in painting, we may again fall back upon the integrity of an established manufacturer of proprietary goods,—that is, upon ready-mixed paints. Not all are good. Most of them are made as cheap and common as possible; but the best results can be secured from really good ready-mixed paints. Any large dealer of established reputation, who is not himself a manufacturer of a cheap paint, may ordinarily be relied upon for a correct opinion.

Preparatory to painting, all knots should be coated with shellac. All work should be painted with three coats,—one priming, and two following. One can always be sure of getting the color wanted in ready-mixed paints of the best quality. All outside frames should be primed before setting. The painter should follow the carpenter, and prime all dressed wood-work as put up. Putty work may be done after first coat, or before final color is applied. There is no advantage to be derived in painting shingles after they are put on. The paint gathers in a heavy ridge on the shingle next to the butt of the one above it in a way to let the moisture lie therein, so that it will rot at this point.

Brick-work may be painted as specified for wood-work, excepting that the first coat, or priming, should be put on very heavy.

Tin and iron work should be painted with one coat of metallic paint as soon as put up. Tin unexposed to view should receive a second coat of metallic paint before the building is completed. Tin work exposed to view should have two coats of paint on a metallic prime, same as house.

EXTERIOR STAINING.

Shingles should be dipped in stain and then stood in a trough, so that they will drain to a barrel. Other external wood-work should have two heavy coats of stain applied with a brush. Weather-boarding is sometimes dipped into a trough filled with stain, and then set so that it will drain therein. Shingle stain is a proprietary finish, and regularly advertised in leading periodicals.

INTERIOR STAINING.

The staining of interior finish is now rendered simple and satisfactory by the use of proprietary stains. Sometimes the stain is put on direct, without first applying filler. At other times a filler of cornstarch and oil, or a proprietary mixture, which is preferable, is used. One or two coats of prepared oil-finish follows the application of the stain. The various manufacturers of interior stains furnish wood samples which indicate the variety of this material manufactured.

OIL FINISHING.

All wood to be oil-finished should first be filled. The antique and acid stained effects are derived by the use of different kinds of fillers, which close the pores of the wood and stain it the color desired. Proprietary fillers and oil finish may be most successfully used, for the reason that they are generally prepared by men who have put their capital into the business for the purpose of getting a return. Such people cannot put a bad article permanently on the market without feeling the result themselves. Therefore, those who are permanently successful in the manufacture of proprietary goods can generally be relied upon.

In the finishing of wood-work all under coats should be rubbed with dry hair-cloth, burlap, or fine sand-paper. On top of the filler two coats of prepared oil finish should be applied; the first one rubbed as above, and, if desired, the last left bright. A dead finish may be secured by rubbing down the last coat with fine pumice stone and water or oil.

External exposed wood-work and bath-rooms may be finished with a water-proof varnish by treating as above, excepting that the last coat should be a water-proof oil finish made by some well-known manufacturer.

FLOOR FINISH.

All manufacturers of first-class interior finishes prepare a special floor finish. It is usually applied in two coats over a filler as described. In such cases the filler is not stained. Each coat is thoroughly rubbed. A satisfactory floor finish may be made by washing the clean wood floor with a solution of salt and water, and afterwards saturating with paraffine wax, and then rubbing.

GLAZING.

All glass should be embedded in putty and secured with glazier’s tacks and putty. American sheet glass is made in two thicknesses—single and double strength—and in four qualities. A or AA only should be used in a good house.

Plate glass costs about five or six times as much as double-strength A American sheet. A thumb rule for calculating the cost of plate glass, which is not strictly accurate but which gives a general idea, is to calculate on from fifty to seventy-five cents per square foot.

CATHEDRAL GLASS.

Of cathedral glass proper there is only one quality. In ornamental and colored glass work the different kinds of glass used will not be here enumerated. Bevelled plate is becoming quite common. Generally speaking, cathedral glass may be arranged in geometrical forms in sash with wood separations or muntins. Cathedral glass proper for such purposes costs from twenty-five to thirty-five cents a square foot. Cathedral glass leaded may cost almost any amount in excess of a dollar per square foot. In selecting cathedral glass for sash with wood separations, the best and most satisfactory results may be reached by choosing the lighter tints, and not having more than one or two colors to the window.

HARDWARE.

It is difficult if not impossible to write a general specification for the hardware which goes into a house. It cannot be done excepting by specifying particular goods, which cannot be done here. However, a few general statements in regard to hardware may not be amiss. The cheapest locks used should have brass fronts and bolts, and be of the mortise pattern. Night-locks should be provided as desired. Outside knobs of rear door and those inside the kitchen may be of bronzed iron. The price of bronzed-faced locks is not much greater than brass-faced locks. A good bronzed-iron knob has not been made up to this time. Therefore, the fixtures for the front door, if not all others, should be of real bronze.

Butts of bronzed iron have been made which are very satisfactory. Sash locks should be provided for all windows. Sliding-door hardware should be of real bronze. The locks should be what is known as “astragal” fronts, and the trimmings flush. Sliding doors should be suspended from above on hangers. Bolts of wrought-iron should be placed on all outside rear doors, and, if desired, on the inside of all chamber and bedroom doors; always on the bath-room door. Such bolts may be mortised or otherwise, as desired. Foot and top bolts may be provided for double doors and for sash. Pivots should be provided for all transoms; transom lifts as desired, also sash lifts. There should be wooden base knobs with rubber buffers at all doors. Double-spring hinges should be provided for doors leading to and from kitchen and china-closet or passage. Necessary drawer hardware should be provided, and butts, knobs, and fastenings for inside shutters.