After looking at this pipe we glance at the porch near by and notice that it is beginning to sag. So, crawling under the porch, we find that instead of masonry piers under the porch columns, there are wooden posts driven into the ground, and that not only have these begun to settle under the weight but also have rotted away considerably near the ground, where they are subject to dampness. While we are under here we notice that the floor-joists are small, 2 by 4 inch timbers, and have sagged a great deal because of their extreme scantiness for the span over which they are placed.
In fact, as we walk up on the porch it vibrates under our weight, and when we enter the house we notice the same weakness, only to a slightly less degree. The owner says that in the beginning the floors were stiff enough, but that this weakness had been getting worse each year. It is evident that there is faulty bridging and too small timbers. Probably in the beginning the nails of the upper flooring helped to stiffen the beams, but as these became worn in their sockets the joists lost this additional strength. This lack of proper-size framing timbers saved the builder money but would cost the buyer a pretty penny some day.
But we are astonished at the excellent appearance of the floors, for by this time the things that are good are more surprising than the things that are bad. Then it occurs to us that of course the floor would be good, for this is part of the house which is visible and helps to catch the buyer’s eye. But later, when we go up-stairs, we notice that the floors are not so fine, but are the common flat-grained boards which sliver off and catch in your shoe if you scuffle. The owner also points out the kitchen as one of the biggest fakes he has seen. It has an oak floor, and when he had bought the house he had been deeply impressed with the luxury of having an oak floor not only in the dining-room but also in the kitchen. But he is not so keen now, for with constant scrubbing the cheap varnish and filler had come off and the pores of the oak have been exposed, so that now the floor is the greatest catch-dirt ever invented, and to make matters still worse the oak had been poorly seasoned, the boards had shrunk, the cracks opened, and there is no underflooring below to prevent the dust and dirt from sifting through these cracks from the hollow space between the floor-joists. The owner says he is about to install a new floor. He also admits that the varnish which gave such a fine surface to the dining-room and living-room floors when he first saw the house was so poor, and scratched so badly, that he had to have the floors completely done over.
THE DEFECTIVE
PLASTER
Glancing around at the walls of the living-room and the dining-room we notice that the wall-paper has cracked in a number of places, pulled up, and curled away. It is extremely ugly and unkempt, and we remark about it to the owner. He says that he is completely discouraged about it, that he has tried everything to make the wall-paper stay down, but that as soon as the winter comes on, the steam-heated air on the inside and the cold air on the outside seem to draw the paper up and away, pulling the surface of the plaster with it. He has glued large pieces of paper which have curled up in this manner back into position again, but the plaster was so weak that as soon as the paper began to peel off, the top layer of plaster pulled away with the paper. In fact, examining one example of this, we observe that the paper which had sprung loose from the wall has underneath it a thin coat of plaster about a sixteenth of an inch thick, showing that the glue had fastened the paper to the plaster, but the plaster itself had given way. This type of plastered wall is the result of using cheap materials, and it is another evidence of the extremes to which contractors will go to save money and deceive the buyer.
As we pass by one of the pockets into which the sliding-doors roll we feel a draft coming out of it, and we question the owner whether the house is cold in winter, and he admits it is worse than we suspect. He informs us that it is especially cold on the second floor in those rooms where the floors project over the porch. We ask him whether he has noticed any drafts coming in through the cracks around the base-boards and trim, and he points to these cracks, showing us bits of cotton which he has plugged into them. We suspect that what is the trouble is the omission of sheathing-boards over the studs between the roof of the porch and the ceiling-joists where this roof intersects with the house wall, and also the failure to fill with cinders the space between the floor-joists of the projecting part of the room which extends over the porch. That this is true the owner admits, for he had noticed it while repairing a few shingles on the roof of the porch. The contractor had saved a little money by this trick, and no one could tell that he had done it by merely looking at the exterior.
Where The Cold Air Gets In
This same line of inquiry leads us to ask the owner about the heating-plant, and we find that the house cannot be properly heated. We therefore suspect that the radiation is too small, so we calculate the required size of a radiator for one room, and find that the one actually installed is too small. Yet, as the owner says: “When he bought the house, how was he to know that there was not a large enough heating-plant?”