Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 252, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1911 — The American Home [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The American Home

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Mr. William A. Radford will answer j questton* and give advice FREE OF COST on all subject* pertaining to the subject of building, for the reader* of thta paper. On account of hi* wide experience a* Editor, Author and Manufacturer, he Is, without doubt, the highest authority on all these subjects. Address all inquiries to William A. Radford, No. 178 West Jackson boulevard, Chicago, 111., and only enclose two-cent stamp for reply. What we need tn houses is more pleasing exteriors and more corA-eni-•nt interiors. I like to notice the houses as I pass along a country road. Some look very comfortable and homelike; but there are too many of the other kind —bare, neglected-looking places, and uninviting, not because of cheapness, but because they lack care and the inspiration born of refinement. In town as well as tn the country, I see both old and new houses that I would not care to enter, just because' the outside appearance is not attractive. An architect can draw a good design, and a builder can put the house up In thorough workmanlike manner; but, after it is finished and the family moves in, unless real good common sense moves with the family, the neighbors will be inclined to admire the fine house from a distance. There is only one right way for a man who is unfamiliar with building operations, and that is to employ a man to draw his plans who has spent years in studying architecture and making house plans, a man who knows how to take advantage of materials and how to lay out the space to the best advantage. It requires a great deal of experience just to read a plan correctly after it is drawn. Plans are drawn to a scale. That is easy to understand; but there is not one novice in a thousand who can look at a plan and get a correct idea of tiie real size, dimensions, and accessibility of the different rooms. He may know in a crude sort of way that a quarter of an inch on the plan represents a foot on the finished work; but, unless he is accustomed to a uniform exaggeration of that kind, he is

sure to feel disappointed in some particular when the house is built The matter of specifications is just as important as the drawings. There are a great many little things to specify, in making a contract that a person unaccustomed to such work will never think of. A person might possibly find a contractor liberal enough to

do all the thinking, supply all the brains, take a crude plan, and turn out a satisfactory job. But It wouldn’t happen that way more than one time in a million. Contractors are In business to make money. That is all right enough; nobody objects to a con tractor making a fair profit, but what ton want to guard against is an unfair

profit. The only way of letting a contractor know exactly what you want is to tave it- specified both in the drawings and in the contract A man may study a plan a long time and think he knows all about it; but while the house is going up he can always find room for improvement. This leads to alterations, which are generally expensive. The specifications should state that no alterations will be paid for unless

the consent of the owner is given in writing. I knew of an old-fashioned contractor, familiarly known as “Henry,” who did a great deal of building; and he had a motto which read, “Always charge for extras, and never de-

duct for omissions.” Interpreted, it really means: .‘‘Heads, I win; tails, you lose," in the game of alterations. Plans and specifications cost the owner nothing; in fact, they are likely to save him a good deal of money, besides putting him in the way of getting a house that he wants and will be satisfied with, instead of one that he don’t want and w never like. The house de-ign shown in this plan is 26 feet wide and 44 feet long, exclusive of the porch. The chimneys are so arranged that it may be heated comfortably with stoves, which is helped by the rooms upstairs coming directly over the rooms below, thus giving an opportunity to carry the stovepipes through to the rooms above and to warm them with drums. Houses may be made very comfortable in this way. Stoves burn less coal than a furnace, and a great many prefer them, -t is easy to warm any part of the house, and it is not necercary to keep fire in the rooms that are not used. l

The house is modern and sensible in appearance, and so far as the architect and builder are concerned it is all right as shown on the plans and perspective; but it wfil never be complete as an artistic home until the grounds are laid out and planted with suitable shrubs and flowers. No plain, bare house looks right; 'it shows at once tfet there is something lacking. The only real comfortable homes are surrounded with something more pleasing than brick, mortar and paint A house like this may be built where conditions are favorable, for about $2,000, complete with gas fixtures and plumbing. It may be that the gas fixture* are hot wanted at first; but ft is better to put in the pipes. Recent improvement in small gas plants makes it possible and often desirable to install a little machine jUst for home use. If the pipes are in. the fixtures and burners can be put on at any time. Another thing that should be remembered in building Is the hot-air pipes in the walls in case you ever want They may be easily put in while the building is going up, but ft is as awful job ie tsar out and put them in afterward.

Second Floor Plan.

First Floor Plan.