Spons' Household Manual / A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management

by Unknown

One of the most instructive lectures on house sanitation was that delivered by Prof. Corfield at the Parkes Museum in 1883. He considers that the best plan in the examination of a house is to begin at the top of it, proceeding downwards, and noting the different mistakes that are likely to be made in the sanitary arrangements in various parts of the house. Following out this idea, we will deal with each item in descending order.

Rain-water.—The first thing which we must consider is that we have to get rid of the water that falls on the roof. The water from the gutter in front of the house may be disposed of in one of several ways. It may be conducted by a pipe outside of the house down the front into the area; or it may be conducted by a gutter through the roof, or, perhaps, through one of the rooms in the upper story into a gutter, over the middle of the house, between two parts of the roof, and down the middle of the house by a pipe into the drain; or it may be conducted direct from the gutter by a pipe, not outside the house, but inside the house, passing down through one or two stories, inside the rooms, perhaps through the best bedroom in front of the house, through the drawing-room, carefully hidden by some casing made to look like an ornament, through the dining-room and kitchen into the drain in the basement. Smells having been perceived in different parts of the rooms, especially in the bedrooms, various sanitary arrangements may be improved, and even made as perfect as they can be, by a kind of amateur tinkering prevalent nowadays in sanitary matters; and yet this defect which is so exceedingly serious, which is known to give rise to serious disease, is entirely overlooked—perhaps for years. The same is the case when the rain-water is carried in a gutter through the roof into a gutter between the two roofs in the middle of the house, and down by a rain-water pipe inside the house. In such cases similar disasters may occur.

But there is an additional danger from the fact that these inside gutters are in themselves most pernicious things. Soot and rotten leaves collect in them, and air blows through them into the house; and especially when these gutters are under the floors of bedrooms, this foul air is often the cause of illnesses which occur in these rooms. Even gutters which are not themselves directly connected with the drains, and which are open at both ends, but in which decayed leaves and soot accumulate and give off foul air into the rooms, may be the cause of sore throats.

Another plan to dispose of the rain-water is to carry it in a gutter right through the house to the back (the gutter may pass through the roof or the garrets), and the same remark applies to this method of construction as to those just described, except that it does not imply necessarily a defective pipe running down to the drain.

Well, then, the rain-water from the roof should be conducted by pipes placed outside the house; and there is no reason why this should not be always the case. If these pipes are not disconnected from the drains below, but are connected with them either directly, or even indirectly (with a bend in the pipe to hold water), in either instance cases of disease will arise in the rooms, the windows of which are near the rain-water pipes.

It is exceedingly difficult to persuade people upon this point; but such is the case. When the rain-water pipes starting from the top of the house below the bedroom windows, and frequently behind parapets, so that any air that comes out at the top comes out exactly close to the bedroom windows, and when these pipes come down straight into the drains and so ventilate the drains, foul air from the drains gets into the house, and disease is the result. But it is more difficult to make people understand that even when these rain-water pipes are trapped at the foot they are almost as dangerous as the untrapped ones, because foul air from the drains will pass gradually through the water in the traps into the pipes, so that these pipes are always filled with foul air and contain gases that have come from the drains.

As soon as it rains, water passes down, and the air of these pipes is displaced, comes out at the top, and so if these tops are near the windows of rooms, cases of disease will happen in those rooms.

The rain-water pipes ought to discharge on to the surface of the areas, where there ought to be siphon gullies connected with the drains.

Ventilating Pipes.—While on the roof we can look around and observe the ventilating pipes: 1st, whether there are any or not; 2nd, of what size; 3rd, whether they have cowls or not; and 4th, in what positions they are. If we observe that they end at the top, near to chimneys, we shall see that there is liability, on account of the down draught, of the foul air from these ventilating pipes passing down the chimneys.

Chimneys often have down draughts, and if ventilating pipes are placed near them, the foul air may pass down into the rooms. If, on the other hand, although not ending near the tops of the chimneys, they are placed close to the chimneys or to walls so that their tops are sheltered, they will not act properly, and they ought to be carried above the ridge of the roof, and end away from walls or chimneys. The same rule applies to chimney tops, they should not be sheltered by higher buildings.