The water, when calm, is
Always Level,
and if you measure three feet from its surface, and mark the point on each post, you can make the binders exactly level by nailing them with their top edge exactly even with the three-foot mark on the corner posts. The posts may now be sawed off even with the binders (Fig. 88) and the floor laid.
In a Large Building,
four extra binders nailed to the top of the crib (E, F, G, H, Fig. 88), will give finish to the structure, especially if they are floored over to the edge of the top floor, thus making a step at the surface or under the water. Stairs may be built, as shown in Fig. 88. On hard bottoms they are anchored at the lower end by a large stone placed upon a board, which joins the lower ends of the side-boards; but on soft bottoms the stairs may be first nailed to two stakes, which are afterward driven into the mud. Fig. 90 shows the platform finished, and skeleton house erected. To build this house place the two two-inch by four-inch strips, J, N and M, Q, on the platform at the required distance apart, and “toe-nail” them in place—driving the nails slantingly from the sides into the floor (Fig. 92).
Figs. 90-92—Frame of House.
Temporary Diagonal Braces
may be used until you have your skeleton house far enough advanced to fit in some horizontal cross-pieces between the uprights, and to “toe-nail” them in place. Put in two sets of braces on each side, one above and one below the window openings, and in the front frame, J, K, L, M, one over the proposed doorway, and two more in the rear frame, N, O, P, Q, the latter extending from the upright, N, O, to the upright P, Q, and parallel to N, Q, as explained by Fig. 91. When these braces are in place your frame will be stiff enough to nail on the sidings of slabs, boards or poles, and after they are in position the roof may be put on with no fear of the structure’s falling. The roof may be made of boards, as described in the underground club-house.