Fig. 104. Lining the basement wall.
A broad, steep water-table is placed just above the upper end of the studding to receive the boarding above the basement and to improve the outside appearance of the building. After the outside boarding of the basement and the window frames are placed, the inside of the wall is boarded horizontally with unmatched seasoned lumber, and as the boards are being put on, the hollow wall space is filled with short straw or straw and chaff. This construction has proved to be the most satisfactory of any tried. The wall is cheap, durable, dry, excludes the cold, and still allows a little fresh air to enter the stables gradually. Objection has been made to this construction on the ground that it harbors mice and rats. After having used buildings with walls of this character for a quarter of a century, I must say that the objection is not well taken.
FLOORS
The floor of the first story should be partly of wood and partly of cement or of brick.
All voidings of the animals should be removed from the stable at least once a day. Allowing the manure to drop through gratings, with the view of letting it remain there more than one day, is decidedly wrong, and any arrangement which does not admit of the thorough cleaning and airing of the stable daily is objectionable. Nor is the practice of washing out the stables economical, since it necessitates great waste of manure or too great expense in caring for and removing the diluted excreta. If the floors and stable be well cleaned with shovel and broom, and dusted with gypsum, dry earth, sawdust, or chaffy material, good sanitary conditions will be secured easily and cheaply. While the stables are being cleaned and treated they should also be aired. The animals meantime should be allowed to stretch their limbs, by which it is not meant that they should be hooking one another around a muddy barnyard, or running foot races up and down the lane. On the one hand, it may be all well enough for those who sell animals at fabulous prices and have long bank accounts, to procure water-proof blankets for them, and to accompany them on their regular daily “constitutional.” The other extreme is where the animals are fastened by the head or neck by contrivances not always comfortable, and left standing for six months without being removed from their stall. Is there not a happy medium between these two extremes?
Top left rooms: 4′ × 10′ and 10′ × 11′.
Midway width: 10′.
Over-all width: 32′.
Bottom left room: 10′ × 11′.
Width of stalls: 3′ 6″.
Over-all length: 80′.
Room central bottom: 3′ × 6′.
Fig. 105. Basement cattle stable.
At the right is a cross-section of the stable, showing the convex cement midway.
Animals are more comfortable on a wooden floor than on one built of either brick, cement, or asphalt. Notwithstanding this, most of the floor of the basement should be constructed of more durable material than wood. If the animals are kept fully bedded, as they usually are not, then it would be best to discard wooden floors entirely. [Fig. 105] shows a basement floor designed for cattle. The part where the animals stand is of wood, the balance of hard or pavement brick set edgewise on a bed of sand. The cement or grout floor may be substituted for the brick if desired. If the cracks between the bricks in the floor are filled with thin cement mortar, the floor becomes water-tight, though this is not necessary except in the gutters. The ground underneath the wooden floor should be leveled and pounded, and covered with a thin layer of salt to preserve the wood. The plank which forms the side of the drip should be of oak or some other durable wood. The 2 × 4 pieces to which the floor is nailed when first built, need not be replaced when they rot, since the dirt underneath will be smooth and hard. The large nails which fasten the floor to the oak piece at the rear and the mangers combined will suffice to keep the floor plank in place; the only object in placing the nailing pieces at first is to facilitate construction. The plank of the floor should be of some uniform standard width, as 8, 10, or 12 inches wide, that repairs may be made quickly when the floor gives way.