Practical hints to builders and those contemplating building / Facts worth considering relating to foundation, cellar, kitchen, chimney, cistern, brick-work, mortar, heating, ventilation, the roof, and many items of interest to builders.

by National Sheet Metal Roofing Co.

Estimated Cost, with Bath and Furnace, $3,500 to $4,000.

Roof covered with 10 × 14 No. 1 Standard Tin Shingles; gables with Queen Anne; second story, sides, with 7 × 10 Standard Tin Shingles; and porches with Broad Rib Tin Roofing; use No. 2 Five-foot Finial on tower.

First Floor. Second Floor.

Design H.—(Elevation, [page 18].)

A retired plumber thus gives a point for the gratuitous relief of householders: “Just before retiring at night pour into the clogged pipe enough liquid soda lye to fill the ‘trap’ or bent part of the pipe. Be sure that no water runs in it until the next morning. During the night the lye will convert all the offal into soft soap, and the first current of water in the morning will wash it away and clear the pipe clean as new.”

THE WALTER’S PATENT, AND WHAT IT IS.

Previous to the granting of a patent to John Walter, in 1882, there were no tin shingles manufactured for the trade in the United States, with the exception of those which covered more than two-thirds of their surface to get one-third exposed to the weather; the same is commonly done with wood shingles. This made them too expensive for general use. The Walter’s patent made it practical to expose five-sixths of the surface and only conceal one-sixth of the shingle. This great saving at once reduced the cost of metal shingles over one-half, and enabled the National Sheet Metal Roofing Co., which controls this patent, to put on the market the best metal roofing in the world, at prices that compete with ordinary wood shingles. (See “Comparative Cost,” [pages 26 and 27].)