All partitions should match the other coloring and style of rooms and furniture, to produce a quiet and pleasing effect of harmony.
“Buildings costing less than $10,000 cannot afford space for partitions.”—Eastman.[179]
Floors and Floor Coverings
Floors should be substantial, durable, cleanly, dry, warm, noiseless, slow-burning, and not slippery.
Any uncovered floor will be noisy.
Stone, tile, mosaic, and concrete are noisy. Glass and marble are slippery.
Hardwood, or softwood covered with linoleum or corticene, will answer in most rooms and passages.
Variations of cork, or cork on a solid foundation, are now common, and have been found satisfactory. Invention is at work on this style of floor, and may evolve something near perfection, if fairly cheap. Linoleum wears badly, except in the best grades, and seems to be going out of favor.
The new Springfield (Mass.) library has sawdust concrete as a one-inch base for a cork carpet. The St. Louis building just dedicated has wooden strips over concrete to which a thick cork top is nailed.