Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1886 — Dampness in Houses. [ARTICLE]

Dampness in Houses.

The absorption of rains and melting snows by the foundation and underpining walls is a source of dampness not so readily discovered as a defective roof or a naturally wet cellar, though quite as dangerous as either, and it is greatly aggravated when the sills of the house or the first floor is near the ground. If it also happens that the ground around the house is nearly level, then the lower part of it, the part that is in the ground and near it, will surely be damp. It is not alone the water that falls upon the roof of a building that must be kept from the cellar. Even when this is caught in gutters, brought to the ground in conductors, and possibly carried off in drain pipes to some sewer or i emote outlet, there is still the water to be taken care of that strikes the sides of the building in driving storms, and which at times is scarcely less than that which falls upon the roof. This is sure to follow down the walls and find its way into the cavity in which the house stands; for it must be borne in mind that every house with a cellar under it occupies a hole, in the ground. If this is a wet hole the house is sure to be a damp one. Against this there is one simple precaution that should never be omitted except in latitudes where it never rains; this is, a concrete, or, better, an asphalt, pavement, two, three, or four feet wide, the inner edge resting against the underpinning, entirely surrounding the house, and of course pitching outward. This may not seem as picturesque a setting for the house as to have the rich green turf closely embracing it; it is immeasurably better from the common-sense and sanitary standpoint. If vines or green things of any sort are allowed on the outer walls, they ought to be trained by some means to the upper parts, where the wind <an sweep through them, and where they will not keep the ground next the foundation walls moist, spongy, and porous.