III. Venetian red, dry—
| Ferric oxide | 24.12% | ||
| Calcium carbonate | - | 66.36% | |
| Calcium sulfate | |||
| Undetermined | 9.52% | ||
Adulterated with calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate. Venetian red is ferric oxide, or a natural red oxide of iron. Calcium carbonate is chalk or limestone, and calcium sulfate is plaster.
IV. Venetian red in oil—
| Ferric oxide | 12.82% |
| Calcium sulfate | 3.54% |
| Barium sulfate | 63.98% |
| Oil and undetermined | 19.66% |
| 100.00% |
Adulterated with barium sulfate and calcium sulfate.
CHAPTER X
INSIDE FINISH, HEATING, AND VENTILATION
As a rule, houses are built too quickly. The frame timbers are only partly seasoned when placed; the rains which fall before the house is roofed-in and the dampness caused by plastering all conspire to swell and make damp all portions of the wooden parts of the structure. Formerly, the casings of doors and windows and the floors were placed before the rooms were plastered; the better practice of plastering on “grounds”[6] and placing the woodwork after the mortar is dry is now observed by the builders of all good houses. In most cases even these improved methods of construction do not result in securing what is wanted—tight floors and doors and casings which will not shrink and warp out of shape. Nearly all of this trouble may be traced to two principal causes: the lumber which constitutes the inside finish may not be thoroughly seasoned, or the house may be so damp that the finish swells after it is placed. In either case, when the house becomes thoroughly dried out by artificial heat or otherwise, unsightly and dirt-holding cracks will appear. When expensive hard wood polished floors are laid, pains is taken to provide against shrinkage by kiln-drying the floor boards and by laying them where the air and sun unite to take up extraneous moisture in the rooms and in the floor boards used.
[6] Narrow strips of sufficient thickness to receive the lath and plaster, placed on the frame and other places where needed.
Comparatively few persons can afford hard wood floors, but this fact does not preclude having floors without wide cracks, which serve to retain dangerous and filthy material. There is no reason why tight floors may not be made of hard pine or other suitable material, provided a little extra pains be taken in their construction.