Theory. These preliminary remarks upon the duties and responsibilities of the superintendent, will serve to bring before the student of Architecture the importance of a familiar knowledge of ordinary practice. The young architect or student will rarely have an opportunity of gaining this knowledge by practical experience, and it will be necessary for him to depend in a great measure upon tech nical books for the knowledge which he must possess. It will be the object of this paper to point out to the student some of the ordinary operations of building construction, rather than the theoretically perfect methods, in a manner that can be easily understood, and to show as well some of the ways in which defective work and materials are to be discovered and avoided.
It will be assumed that the student has become familiar with the usual methods of drawing and construction from his previous work and that he would be able, if called upon, to superintend the construc tion of the suburban house which has been used as a type. By this it is not to be undei,stood that the construction of a dwelling is the easiest matter, for this is not the case, but it is chosen because there is greater opportunity for the comparison of results with practice, in the buildings which we live in, and it is also this class of building which contains a variety of structural problems.
Selection of Site. First in importance to the owner as well as to the architect is the selection of the spot where the house is to stand. To the owner the main essential will be the outlook and con venience of approach, and at the same time the appearance which the house will present from the various approaches, with tile maximum of the light and warmth of sunshine in the principal rooms, that the situation will allow. In almost all portions of our country a southern or eastern exposure is the pleasantest, and should be the choice for the principal rooms which will thus receive the morning sunshine and warmth in winter, and will avoid the intense heat of the afternoon sun in summer.
To the architect, less apparent, but no less important considera tions present themselves in the practical aspects of the ground. In rocky or hilly country, besides the importance of outlook, is the im portance of placing the house so that natural advantages of slope and ledge may be taken advantage of for driveways or yards; and in every location is the consideration of the character of the soil.
Soil. The soil may be rocky, or clayey, or sandy; it may be springy or well drained. The surest way to find out the actual con dition, is by digging test pits to the proposed depth of the cellar, but in many cases the appearance of the surface will give sufficient indi cation of the nature of the soil, while the presence of ledge may be detected by driving a rod into the ground to the depth of excavation.
If rocky or clavev, we may anticipate trouble from water, which in rock or clay finds a way into the excavations made (Fig. 1)and, having no way of escape, gradually rises until the pressure is sufficient to force a way through the cellar wall or concrete in spite of almost any precaution which may be taken to exclude it. The only remedy is to give the water an easier way to escape than through the wall or cellar concreting; and in towns where there are sewers, this is an easy matter, as it is only necessary to secure a good connection with the sewer by means of suitable pipes, which must be started at a level lower than the cellar bottom. (Fig. 2). This will require that the house be set high enough to bring the bottom of the cellar well above the top of the sewer. If the house is in a locality where there is no sewer, a siiuilar result can be obtained by laying drains running with a proper grade from the cellar of the house to wherever an outlet can be found at a lower level. This can usually be done in a rolling country, but a cellar in clay or rock in a level country is likely to be a continual source of trouble and should be avoided if possible. Most house-lots in the suburban towns will afford some choice in location, so that often serious trouble may be avoided by a careful examination of the soil and of surrounding conditions. In sandy or gravelly soil hardly any extra precautions will be needed as the water is free to drain away through the sand and will have no tendency to run through the wall of the cellar. Even in sandy soil, however, it will be well to give the outside of the wall a coating of cement or asphaltum, taking care to see that the whole surface is covered.
Description of House. The house which we will assume to construct is already familiar to the student in detail, and we may sup pose it to be erected upon a suburban lot not wholly level but with the usual variations of ground and aspect. The house is designed in the Colonial style (Fig. 3), and comprises a large living-room, hall, parlor, dining-room, back-hall, china closet, kitchen, pantry and entry, on the first floor (Fig. 4); and five chambers and bath room with stair halls on the second floor (Fig. 5). The attic is unfinished, and the basement will contain a laundry with wash trays, a store room and. servant's water closet. The living room is finished in quartered oak, the dining-room in mahogany, the parlor, hall and sleeping rooms in white painted finish. The kitchen and service portions of the house are finished in North Carolina hard pine.