Spons' Household Manual / A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management

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Site.—Of modern scientists who have studied the great health question, none has more ably treated the essentials of the dwelling than Dr. Simpson in his lecture for the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association. This Association has done wonders in improving sanitation in the Midlands, and we cannot do better than follow Dr. Simpson’s teaching.

Soil.—He insists, first of all, on the great importance of the soil being dry—either dry before artificial means are used to make it so, or dry from drainage. To this end some elevation above the surrounding land conduces. A hollow below the general level should, as a matter of course, be avoided; for to this hollow the water from all the adjacent higher land will drain, and if the soil be impervious the water will lodge there. It will thus be damp, and, as is well known, it will be a colder situation than neighbouring ones which are a little raised above the general level. Those who live where they can have gardens will find the advantage of the higher situation in its being much less subject to spring and early autumn frosts than the hollow just below. This is due not only to the former being damper, but to the fact that the heat of the ground on still nights passes off into space (is “radiated”) more rapidly than from the higher situation, where there is more movement in the air. The soil should not be retentive of moisture, as clay is when undrained; nor should it be damp and moist from the ground water (concerning which a few words will be said farther on), as is much alluvial soil, i.e. soil which has been at some former time carried down and deposited by rivers or floods. On the whole, sand or gravel, if the site be sufficiently elevated, is probably the best, as it allows all water to get away rapidly. Then come various rocks, as granite, limestone, sandstone, and chalk.

Towns often present one specially dangerous, and therefore specially objectionable soil—that where hollows have been filled up with refuse of all kinds. This refuse is made up of all kinds of vegetable, and, more or less, animal matter, often of the most noxious character, together with cinders, old mortar, and no one knows what besides. This becomes a foul fermenting mass, which is often built upon and the houses inhabited before the process of decomposition is completed, and the noxious gases cease to be given off. Many outbreaks of disease have been traced most unmistakably to this criminal act of putting up jerry buildings on pestilential sites. It is easy for any one to understand how this may be when he thinks of the way the house acts on the soil it is built upon, or rather on the moisture and gases contained in the soil. The house is warmed by the fires and by the people living in it, and the heated air has a tendency to rise. The pressure on the gases in the soil is lessened, and they are drawn up into the house, which acts as a suction pump. This could not happen if the foundation were air-tight; but this is rarely the case, and too often indeed “cottage property” is built without any foundation at all. Drs. Parkes and Sanderson recommended that such soil should not be built upon “for at least two years,” but it would be well to give it another year. Attention must also be paid to the “ground water”—the great underground sea of which we find evidences almost anywhere that we seek for them. Sometimes it is found even a foot or two only from the surface, in other places at 15, 20, or 40 ft. This water rises and falls in some places rapidly, rising after heavy rains, and falling in dry weather. If it is always near the surface, the place must be damp and unhealthy; and we should try to find out something about the ground water before fixing on the site of our house. If possible, do not live where it is less than 5 or 6 ft. from the surface.

Trees.—Vegetation assists in rendering the soil healthy. Trees absorb large quantities of moisture from the soil, and sometimes, as in the case of the blue gum-tree of Australia, they seem even to do something more than this. It is said that the common sunflower of our gardens has a considerable influence in this way. Trees should not be crowded close to a house, as they keep off much sun, and so neutralise some of their good effects, but at a reasonable distance they are beneficial.

Aspect.—The aspect of a dwelling will necessarily be made to vary with the climatic conditions of the locality in which it is situated. In northern latitudes, such as Great Britain occupies, we are rarely oppressed by sunshine, and need not seek special protection from it. We should rather be anxious not to be deprived too much of its genial and life-giving rays. On the other hand, we are often visited by bleak and bitter winds, and though a free circulation of air is desirable round a dwelling, there should be some shelter to break the violence of a cold prevailing wind. In the country, where in all probability there is no system of drainage for the district, we should be careful not to place the house so as to receive our neighbour’s drainage, nor that from our own outbuildings. In a town the situation should be as open as can be obtained. The wider the street and the greater the open space at the back the better, and the back-to-back houses should be avoided altogether. (Simpson.)

As Eassie remarks, in one of the Health Exhibition Handbooks, aspect and prospect have very much to do with comfort in housebuilding, since a dwelling may be designed so as to fully command the scenery while its plan might be very ill-adapted to the prevalent weather, and the sun’s daily course. A house having a pleasant prospect may be a decidedly unpleasant dwelling if the rooms have been arranged without regard to the points of the compass. This will become quite evident from a careful study of the annexed representation of Prof. Kerr’s “aspect compass” (Fig. 1), which illustrates most clearly the direction and character of the prevailing winds of this country, and the sunny and shady quarters, the imaginary window of the dwelling occupying the centre of the circle.

Obviously, as Eassie points out, the effects of aspect will not be the same on the inside and outside of the room. Looking from a window in the north, the prospect or landscape will be lighted from behind; to the spectator looking from the south, it will never be go lighted; looking from the east, the landscape will be so lighted at sunset; and looking from the west, it will be well lighted throughout the day. The great thing is to reconcile aspect and prospect in the choice of a house; but this can seldom be done, and where it cannot, the question of aspect must be first attended to, as being of importance to the rooms, and the question of prospect made secondary. The north is not suitable for a drawing-room, because the aspect is cold; it is more suitable for a dining-room, as during the winter the prospect is not seen so much. When the room used for morning meals looks to the north, a bay window erected to the east will catch the early sunbeams, and render it pleasant. The northern aspect is too cold as a rule for bedrooms; but it is quite suitable for the servants’ day apartments, and admirably adapted to the larder and dairy. It is especially suited for staircases, as no blinds are requisite, and the passages can be maintained in a cool state.

1. Aspect Compass for Great Britain.

The north-east aspect—next to the north—is best for a dining-room; it is better for the servants’ offices than even the north; and when an end window is wanted for a drawing-room, this forms no unpleasant aspect. Bedrooms which face north-east enjoy the morning sun, and during the summer range are agreeably cool at night. With regard to the east, this is also a good aspect for the dining-room, especially when no distinction is made between the dining-room and the breakfast-room; and with regard to a sitting-room the more eastward tendency it has the better. It is not adapted for a drawing-room, because in the afternoon there is an entire want of sunshine, and on account of the unhealthy east winds. This point of the compass is suitable, however, for a library or business-room, because by the time breakfast is over the sun will fairly have warmed the interior of the room. It is also a good aspect for the porch, and one side of a conservatory should always face the east.

The south-east aspect is most suitable for the best rooms of a house, because it escapes some of the east wind, and part of the scorching heat and beating rain of the south. It is admirably adapted, therefore, for a drawing-room or day-room, is the most pleasant aspect for bedrooms, and is best suited for the nursery or for the rooms of an invalid. The south-west aspect is the least congenial of all, because it is so open to a sultry sun and blustering winds. This aspect should never be chosen for a dining-room; in summer it is unpleasantly hot for bedrooms; and it is not suitable for a porch or entrance, on account of the driving rains which prevail during a portion of the year. The south aspect is not very desirable for the windows of a dining-room, and is unpleasant for a morning-room, unless a verandah has been provided. The larder and dairy should never face the south. The west aspect is not quite agreeable for a dining-room, on account of the excessive heat prevailing in the summer afternoons; neither is it desirable for the drawing-room; and it should never preferably be chosen for bedrooms, although it is very agreeable for a smoking-room. One side of a conservatory should always face to the west. The north-west aspect is very good for a billiard-room, also for a dining-room, if the windows are fitted up with blinds to shade the sun.