Typical Example of Specifications

"The plastering must be delivered clean and perfect in every respect, upon completion of the building. All parts not clean will be cleaned and calcimined at the Contractor's expense." This is a hard specification to fulfil, be cause of the carelessness in sub-contractors gouging holes and tearing out sections in walls. The result is about the same as that obtained when the specification requires work to be left neat and clean. The lack of consideration shown by various contractors for their fellow-contractors is not more plainly marked than in such a case as this.

"All plastering must be properly protected.

"All defects must be made good; and all necessary repairs and patching are to be done to finish up after other mechanics." The same thing may be said of this specification as of the second preceding clause.

"Marble Work—The main entrance, the ves tibule, and the entrance hall, the elevator en closure, including walls, the staircase in back of the elevator, as shown on drawing No. , are to have wainscotings of white Italian Carrara heavy English veined marble. The borders forming the paneling and the capping are to be of imported fancy marble as selected by the Architect.

"All the work is to be as shown on drawings Nos. and . Samples of marble are to be submitted to the Architect for approval, within days after the award of the contract.

"The trims of the main outside entrance, vestibule, store, and rear doors, are to be of wood; but base-blocks are to be supplied for same, of marble.

"All the marble is to be of the very best selected stock, all to be highly polished, properly jointed and fitted, of proper thickness, and in no case less than inch thick, backed where necessary.

"The treads, risers, and platform of the stairs back of the elevators, on the first story to the door on the platform, are to be made of marble. The treads and platforms are to be two inches thick, with polished half-round nosings. The risers are to be inch thick, polished.

"All the toilet-rooms and lavatories on all stories are to have 16 inches high bases of pol ished marble, with the top edges polished; all the water-closets are to have rubbed platforms inches thick, countersunk the full width of the compartments.

"All urinal stalls are to have inches thick countersunk rubbed platforms, with stalls of 7/8 inch thick backs, inches thick partitions, inch thick sides, and inches thick caps. All to be polished and to have exposed edges rounded.

"All the toilet-room marble is to be Carrara, English vein.

"The treads and platforms of all staircases will be of slate, as hereinafter specified under `Iron and Steel Work,' except the treads and platforms at the start of the stairs on the first story, which are to be as before specified.

"Terrazzo Floor Tilin.

All the terrazzo flooring is to be of the very best quality, inches thick, laid in the very best manner in panels, rubbed down, finished smooth and uni form, and to be finished with pure raw linseed oil, well rubbed down. The marble must be evenly distributed, so as to present a uniform finish and a true and even surface. White and colored marble chips, half and half, are to be used, in proper quantities so that there will be a minimum of cement exposed.

"Border strips and stiles of 3 rows of black marble mosaic, cubes, are to be laid, forming panels of no more than 35 square feet for the terrazzo flooring; and the terrazzo is to be cut through at the panels to allow for shrinkage.

"The following parts of the building are to have terrazzo flooring: In all the toilet-rooms throughout the building, except engineer's toilet-room, and in the first-story entrance, the vestibule, and the hall. The terrazzo is to be laid on top of the under-flooring, on tar paper supplied by the Contractor, and on top of metal lath also supplied by the Contractor.

"Miscellaneous—The Contractor must repair the street pavement in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Office of the Commissioner of Public Works.

"All the brickwork and masonry, etc., of the sub-basement and basement, where not plas tered, is to receive two good coats of . . . . or other equally good cold water paint, applied with brush by hand in the very best manner, warranted not to rub off, and must be delivered clean.

"All the staircase walls and halls, and all other parts of the building where directed by the Architect, are to have the plastering calcimined one or two coats as directed; all must be deliv ered clean upon completion of the building.

"Do all cutting of work that may be required by and for other mechanics, and finish up after them." This is one of the universal specifications, and is nearly always slighted.

"All rubbish and refuse materials of all kinds are to be removed as fast as they accumulate, and the premises must be left clean.

"In order to avoid the usual controversy as to the removal of rubbish, it shall be the duty of the Contractor to remove all debris, rubbish, refuse materials of all kinds whatsoever, when ever directed by the Architect.

"All the work must be delivered clean and perfect in every respect." The last four clauses are intended to say the same thing in different ways.

"Guarantees and Surveys—The following guarantees and surveys are to be delivered to the Architect: "1. Guarantee for all the asphalt work for one year after completion of the building." More careful specification should be made of the guarantee required, as there are so many ways in which asphalt may become defective.

"2. Guarantee for the slag roof and all the metal work to remain tight for two years after the completion of the building.

"3. Guarantee for the artificial stone sidewalk for two years after the completion of the building." By this guarantee, the architect prob ably intends to protect himself from the re sult of the careless specification made for this work.

"4. Guarantee for the plastering, to repair all blis ters, cracks, and other defects, six months after comple tion of the building.

"5. The City Surveyor's certificate for the vault is to be delivered to the Architect.

"6. A survey of the property, after completion of the work, showing the location of all outside walls both at the sidewalk level and at the top of the building." Brickwork guarantee, that the brickwork shall not change color, was made earlier in this document. It is well to place the guar antees together in one place, under their proper heading.