If the reader desires to study construction, or intends to superintend the building of his own house, he cannot do better than consult Mr. T. M. Clark’s book on “Building Superintendence.” The standard of workmanship that it gives may be a little too high for cheap work, otherwise it is an extremely useful volume.
VI.
Planning has been called a series of compromises, and in fact we will nearly always find it impossible to secure all we desire. Something must be sacrificed, and the best plan is the one that fulfills the most important requirements at the expense of the minor ones. After securing the proper relative arrangement of rooms, their exposure may be wrong, or the chimneys will not combine. We secure an economical combination of chimneys and find that the doors come “all wrong,” and the staircase is crowded to one side. Then the shape of the rooms is ugly, the veranda seems only possible in front of the kitchen, the entrance porch faces the north, and there is no way of getting to the cellar.
These little difficulties overcome, we find that we cannot get up-stairs, and even if we could, the rooms in the upper floors come just as we do not want them, and the hall will be dark. Then we will begin all over again. The amateur must not be disheartened if this is the result of his first attempt to plan a house. The best and seemingly most simple arrangement of rooms is generally the result of the most study.
In planning, as in many other things, the simplest is often the best, and what appears so satisfactory and looks as if it were quite the most obvious thing to do, was probably arrived at only after much consideration and thought.
Irregularities in our plan may be turned to account and picturesque and useful features result, but they must come naturally and not be forced, or they will give the appearance of striving to be eccentric.
It is a comparatively easy matter to plan a house which is intended exclusively for summer or for winter occupancy. But in those sections of the country where we have successively samples of every conceivable kind of weather, and we wish to build a permanent residence, the difficulties are numerous.
During part of the year we need broad verandas, large windows and doors so arranged that we can get a current of air through the rooms. The heat from the kitchen distresses us, and the refrigerator is regarded with more affection than the fireplace. In a few months the veranda only serves to shut out the precious sunlight, and double sashes for the windows may be desirable to keep out the cold too easily admitted by the doors. We draw close to the hearth, piled high with blazing logs, and rejoice that the slight heat from the kitchen chimney is not wasted on the outer air.
Fortunately, what keeps out the heat keeps out the cold—or rather keeps in the heat—and walls constructed so as to keep the house warm in winter will keep it cool in summer.