The kitchen sink may be of white porcelain, enameled iron, painted iron, or granite ware, any of which materials are serviceable and desirable; or of wood, lined with lead, zinc, copper or slate, all of which are more or less undesirable, because after some use, the water and filth is apt to get in between the wood and its covering, or because they are not durable. The sink should have as little woodwork about it as possible, since wood is porous and, therefore, collects filth. It should be set open on brackets, and not over a dark, moist, dirt-collecting, back-breaking closet. Flushing is especially important in the case of the kitchen sink because of the grease. The best plumbing provides a grease-trap outside the house, which may be easily cleaned; but whether outside or immediately beneath the sink, the trap should have a screw-plug, so that it may be frequently cleaned. It follows that the kitchen waste pipe should not be too large, should have a good incline, and if possible no abrupt curves, so that cooling grease in the water may not harden on the sides of the pipe and finally fill it up. The use of a cheap wire screen garbage basket in the sink will prevent the small particles of waste from passing down the pipe.
Bath-tubs of white earthenware or “porcelain” are the most expensive, the most durable and very heavy; of white enameled iron, are less expensive and heavy, durable if carefully used, impervious and cleanly; those of copper, tinned and planished, dent easily and the tinning wears off, but are fairly durable and still less expensive; those of wood-fiber are not very common, but are impervious, light and cleanly.
The stationary washstand bowl and top are usually of marble; the outlet of the bowl should not be smaller than the wastepipe; the trap should be near the bowl, and have a screw plug, so that obstructions may be easily removed.
There is an immense variety of water-closets; those should be especially avoided which have moveable machinery in connection with the bowl, such as the pan, valve, and plunger closets. Some of these are very inexpensive, but they are objectionable, either because they rust and accumulate filth, or because they get out of order easily. The forms of closets without movable machinery in connection with the bowl, that is, in which the machinery is connected with the flushing cistern, such as the hopper, the siphon-jet, and the washout closets, are to be preferred. Any washout or hopper closet bought from a responsible firm is likely to give satisfaction, if thoroughly flushed and kept in order.
Stationary laundry tubs are of less importance than these other plumbing fixtures, since there are several excellent washing machines the use of which does away with the necessity for them. If one must choose between the two, the washing machine will be most useful; but if one wishes to have laundry tubs also, they come in porcelain, soapstone, granite, and wood, the latter being the least desirable.
If the water supply be limited, as when a tank is supplied by pumping from a cistern, the hot water boiler, the bath-tub, and the stationary washstand may be arranged almost as easily as when there is an abundance of water; but it may be necessary to substitute the dry-closet for the water-closet.
When no tank supply is available, and all water must be carried from a cistern or from the well in the yard, the cost of plumbing is very small and the discomfort very great. Warm water must be supplied chiefly from a reservoir at the back of the range, thus making frequent bathing very inconvenient, even if a regular bath-tub be provided. If, however, a cesspool be built in the yard, the kitchen sink, the slop-hopper, the bath-tub, and the laundry tub may have waste pipes to it. Such waste pipes save just half the work, for the water has to be carried only to the fixture, not away from it again. It thus seems worth while to have the fixtures, even though they serve only half their purpose. A slop-hopper with pipe to the cesspool, on the same level and near the kitchen, for waste wash water, etc., from the chambers, saves many steps, and is far more sanitary than throwing slops on the ground outside the house or carrying them to the outhouse.
The chief problem is the outhouse, or privy vault. There is no more disgusting or unsanitary feature of rural life than this ill-smelling, dirty hole in the ground, from which the filth permeates the surrounding soil, and may contaminate the water supply. Much discomfort and some digestive ills arise from the necessity—especially for women—of going a considerable distance in cold weather and at night, to such places. The closet should, therefore, be as near the house as is compatible with decency, and should be reached by a covered walkway. If properly built and regularly disinfected and cleaned, it need be neither disgusting nor unsanitary. The wooden house should never be papered nor carpeted, but should be painted or whitewashed yearly and kept scrupulously clean. The habitual use of ashes or dry earth in the receptacle and an occasional application of some disinfectant, such as copperas or chloride of lime, is necessary. If drawers are used in the privy, they may be hauled out frequently by horse; and with the liberal use of road dust, no offense arises. The writer knows a country house in which dry-earth closets are under the house-roof, and yet there is no unpleasantness. Since the well is so easily contaminated by the seeping through the soil of manure and human waste matter, it is of the utmost importance that the privy vault should be below the source of water supply and as far as possible from it. In the following pages the details of construction of the privy vault are given, the relative location of it, and the water supply.
Plumbing fixtures, like all other mechanical contrivances, to be efficient, require to be kept in perfect order. Frequent, thorough flushing with hot water whenever possible, and disinfection of the closet and the sink, are especially desirable. If all fixtures be set “open” and all pipes in sight, any leakage may be easily detected and remedied. If the pipes be painted with white lead, the defect will be discovered by the discoloration of the paint.