The dwellings of mankind, at first rude and simple in the extreme, increase in complexity as their inhabitants advance in civilization. Primitive dwellings are scarcely distinguished by signs of superior skill or sagacity above the holes and nests of the lower animals. The hut of the Hottentot may be considered as an inverted nest, and it is certainly not more ingenious than the nests of many birds; but where man constructs such a habitation for himself, he is invariably in a low state of civilization. The wants of the bird are few and simple, and the nest is a temporary abode annually constructed and annually deserted: the wants of man, in a state of nature, are almost as limited, and thus the Hottentot’s hut affords him as good a nest as he desires. But when he steps forth into the rank which the Creator has destined him to fill; when he feels that he is a responsible being, the creation of an Almighty Power to whom worship is due; when he finds that the productions of the earth are capable of being rendered useful to him by the exercise of his ingenuity, and that his own mental powers are capable of being developed by communion with, and by the assistance of his fellow-men;—then the hut—the inverted nest—is no longer equal to his necessities. He makes implements, and he must have a place to shelter them; he cultivates grain, and he requires a store-house for it; he collects and records the thoughts and the wisdom of his predecessors, and he must have a roof to cover these precious mementos: unlike other animals, he requires fire for the preparation of the greater portion of his food; and his fire, as well as his utensils, must be well defended from without:—in short, his wants are so multiplied by the cultivation of his reason, that a house has become necessary to him. The beasts of the field and the birds of the air have certain natural instincts given to them which guide them through life, and are perpetuated in their offspring; the same routine goes on race after race without the operation of what we term improvement. Not so with man: he is a progressive being: he steps forth beyond the limits of mere animal life, and has a mental existence, with wants created by it, and depending on it; wants which are not known to him when considered as a mere animal.
The building of houses has in all ages formed part of the employment of man as he advanced from a state of mere barbarism to one of comparative civilization. In devoting this little volume, therefore, to the subject of the Application of the Useful Arts to the construction of Dwellings, it is necessary to set a limit to so large a subject. A wigwam is a house,—so is a palace, and examples of every possible gradation between the two might be given. In order, then, to avoid the seeming ambition of grasping the whole of this extensive subject we shall not travel out of our own country; nor shall we ascend to the very highest, or descend to the very lowest class of dwellings; but shall describe the principal arts concerned in building a modern English house of moderate rank. In so doing, we shall treat the subject under a few simple heads, classified mainly according to the materials employed.
CONTENTS.
| [Preface] | p. [iii] |
| [Chapter I. The Walls—Stone and Stone-Work.] | |
| Introduction, [9]—Principal varieties of building stone, [10]—On quarrying stone, [13]—The application of electricity to the blasting of rocks, [17]—Sawing the stones for the mason, [22]—The processes of stone-masonry, [22]. | |
| [Chapter II. On the Durability of Stone Buildings.] | |
| On the choice of a stone for building purposes, [27]—Examination of avariety of buildings as to the durability of the stone employed therein, [28]—Thestone for the new Houses of Parliament—how chosen, [32]—An easymethod of determining whether a stone will resist the action of frost, [33]—Directionsfor practising this method, [38]. | |
| [Chapter III. The Walls—Bricks and Brick-Work.] | |
| Early use of bricks, [40]—Floating bricks, [41]—Making bricks by hand, [42]—Varietiesof bricks, [44]—Tiles, [45]—Making bricks and tiles by machinery,[46]—The Marquis of Tweeddale’s method, [46]—Another method, [47]—Theprocesses of bricklaying, [48]—Mortar, [48]—Defects of modern brickhouses, [52]. | |
| [Chapter IV. The Roof—Slates and other Roof Coverings.] | |
| Slate quarries, [54]—The process of slating, [57]—Paper roofs, [58]—Theiradvantages, [60]—Terrace roofs, [61]—Asphalte roofs, [61]—Scotch fir roofs,[61]—Iron roofs, [62]—Zinc and other metallic roofs, [63]—Thatch roofs, [63]. | |
| [Chapter V. The Wood-Work—Growth and Transport of Timber.] | |
| The oak as a timber tree, [66]—The two chief varieties of oak, [67]—Teak,[69]—The fir and pine as timber trees, [69]—The Norway spruce fir, [70]—TheScotch fir, [73]—Transport of timber from the forests, [77]—Historicalnotices, [78]—Rafts on the Rhine, [80]—The slide of Alpnach, [81]—Cuttingthe Norway deals, [83]—The cutting and transport of Canadian timber, [83]—Lumberers,[83]—Saw-mills, [84]—Rafts on the American rivers, [85]—Miscellaneouskinds of timber, [86]—Fancy woods, [87]. | |
| [Chapter VI. The Wood-Work—Carpentry.] | |
| Sawing timber, [89]—Scarfing or joining timber, [89]—Trussing or strengthening,[90]—Details of roof, [92]—The mortise and other joints, [93]—Distinctionbetween carpentry and joinery, [95]—The tools employed, [96]—Glue, [98]—Awindow sash, as an example of joiner’s work, [99]—A second example ofjoiner’s work, [100]. | |
| [Chapter VII. The Fire-Place.] | |
| Open fire-places, [102]—Philosophy of a chimney, [103]—Defects of openfires, [103]—Remedies for some of these defects, [106]—The register stove, [108]—Smokychimneys, [108]—Causes of, and cure, [108]—Close stoves, [111]—TheGerman stove, [112]—Dr. Arnott’s stove, [113]—Objections thereto, [115]—Warmingbuildings by heated air, [116]—The Russian stove, [116]—Othermethods, [117]—Sir Stewart Monteith’s stove, [118]—Warming buildings bysteam, [118]—Warming buildings by hot-water, [119]—The high-pressuresystem, [120]. | |
| [Chapter VIII. The Windows and Lead-Work.] | |
| Introduction of glass windows, [122]—The manufacture of crown glass, [122]—Themanufacture of plate glass, [129]—Cutting glass, [133]—The processof glazing, [134]—Sheet lead for roofs and cisterns, [135]—Lead pipes, [136]—Theprocess of plumbing, [136]—Solder or cement for metals, [139]—Autogenoussoldering, [140]—Its advantages, [144]. | |
| [Chapter IX. The Interior—Plastering and Paper-Hanging.] | |
| Plastering walls and ceilings, [148]—Plaster and papier-maché ornamentsfor rooms, [149]—Whitewashing and stuccoing, [150]—Origin of paper-hangings,[150]—The manufacture of paper-hangings, [151]—Stencil, washable,and flock paper-hangings, [153]—The process of paper-hanging, [155]. | |
| [Chapter X. The Interior—Painting and Gilding.] | |
| Reasons for painting a house, [158]—Materials used in house painting, [158]—Preparingthe paint, [160]—The process of painting, [160]—Graining andmarbling, [162]—Gilding as an interior decoration, [164]—The process ofburnish-gilding, [165]—The process of oil-gilding, [167]—Gilding enrichedornaments, [168]. | |
| [Chapter XI. A Model Dwelling-House.] | |
| The late Sir John Robison’s house at Edinburgh, [170]—The Interior, [170]—Warming,[170]—Ventilating, [171]—Lighting, [172]—Gas cooking apparatus,[172]—Flues, [173]—Interior decorations by Mr. Hay, [173]—A beau-idealEnglish villa, [174]—Situation, [175]—Style, [175]—Arrangement of theinterior, [176]—The principal apartments, bed-rooms, &c., [177]—The kitchen, [179]. | |
| [Chapter XII. Fire-proof Houses.] | |
| Hartley’s method of making houses fire-proof, [181]—Earl Stanhope’smethods, [181]—Pambœuf’s method, [183]—Fire-proof paint, [184]—Experimentaltrials, [184]—Leconte’s method, [185]—Varden’s method, [186]—Frost’smethod, [186]—Loudon’s methods, [187]—General remarks, [188]. | |
| [Chapter XIII. Miscellaneous Processes.] | |
| Manufacture of nails, [188]—Locks and keys, [188]—Stoves and grates, [190]—Bells,[190]—Brass handles, ornaments, &c., [191]—Preservation of timber,[191]—Various methods, [193]—Kyanizing, [194]—Soluble glass, [194]—Itsuses in preserving timber, &c., [197]—Veneering, [198]—Brunel’s method ofcutting veneers, [198]—Russian method, [199]—The process of veneering, [199]—Manufactureof glue, [201]—The house decorator of Italy, [201]—Frescopainting as applied to the decoration of houses, [206]—Nature and difficultiesof the art, [207]—Notices of the ancient custom of decorating walls, [208]—Thepractice of fresco painting, [208]—The Cartoon, [209]—The preparationof the wall, [210]—The process of painting, [210]—The colours andimplements, [211]—A fresco painter at work described, [212]—Generalremarks on fresco painting, [214]. | |
| [Conclusion] | [215] |
The Useful Arts Employed in the Construction of Dwelling-Houses.
Chapter I.
THE WALLS. STONE AND STONE-WORK.
The material mainly employed in the construction of buildings depends partly on the purpose for which the buildings are intended, and still more, perhaps, on the prevailing geological character of the surrounding country. In such a place as London, where there is an immense mass of tenacious clay beneath the vegetable soil, and where solid stone is not to be had, except by bringing it, at a great expense, from a distance of many miles, clay seems to be the natural material for dwellings; and thus we find that almost all the London houses are built of brick formed of clay. In other parts of Great Britain, such as Glasgow or Edinburgh, the case is very different; for, in those places, clay is scarce, and stone is plentiful. There are quarries not far from Edinburgh, and others within the very precincts of Glasgow, where an abundant supply of good building-stone is obtained at a very low rate. Hence it follows as a natural consequence, that the houses in those two cities exhibit a large proportion of stone structures; so much so, indeed, that an inhabitant of London, who is accustomed to see stone appropriated only to large important public buildings, is apt to imagine that the houses in the two northern cities must necessarily be very costly. This is by no means certain, however, for the builders in each city make use of those materials which may be most available.
Whether stone form the main portion of the walls of a house, as in the cases just named, or whether it is only used in smaller degree, as in London houses, the operations by which it is worked and fitted are pretty much the same; and we will therefore devote this chapter to a brief description of the principal kinds of building-stone, followed by an outline of the Mason’s operations.