Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1875 — Health and Comfort in House Building. [ARTICLE]

Health and Comfort in House Building.

Among oifr readers in country and village are many who propose building residences this season. The best advice which can be given in many cases where this is proposed is that a competent architect be employed and that his directions be followed. Some things. are so often neglected by those building that a few suggestions may do good, even if they be of the kind which suggests the remark, “Everybody knows that.” On many farms the location of the residence is determined by the water supply. Water is a good thing, but it is coming to be understood that in the wrong place it is a very bad thing. Dry earth is healthful; it absorbs unpleasant odors and bad gases. Wet earth gives oht these things. Many diseases have their cause in malarial vapors arising from stagnant water. Hence the first suggestion we make is 1 that, if the spot selected is not by nature so fixed as to do this, it should be so graded that water will not remain near the house, especially not under it. The eaves should be troughed, and even a very little banking of earth against the foundations will do much good. It is also especially important that grading be done about the well so that the surface water may run from rather than to and into it. Cellars should be well drained and well ventilated, especially if they are used for storing vegetables. It is beyol%. doubt that sickness is frequently caused by the dampness and bad odors arising from cellars. This is so true that there is much force in the suggestion that the cellar should be made outside of the house, at least not under the parts usual 7 ly occupied. Ordinarily the house that is warmest in winter is coolest and mo?t comfortable in summer. Where little money can be spent some things which would add to comfort cannot be afforded, but often a saving in the first cost is poor economy, as the increased expenditure in the course of years may far exceed the cost of the things omitted. In wooden houses it is important that special care be taken to prevent ingress of the extreme cold or heat. The use of building paper is a great help at small cost. It will pay well to use it not only on the sides but under the floors and roofs of houses. Windows and doors should be made to fit and the wide opening under the baseboard so often found should be avoided if possible. -? Ventilation is very generally neglected. Many intelligent people seem to believe that the purity of the air is determined by its temperature; that cold air is necessarily pure. Almost everybody admits that “ fresh air” is desirable in hot weather or in a too warm room, but very bad air is tolerated, perhaps unnoticed, if it be only cool. Ventilation is secured in a room with many cracks and loosely-fitted doors and windows, but in an expensive and undesirable way. Currents of cold air flowing on the Hoof are very bad for the health and often cause unnoticed suffering on the part of small children. In an ordinary house, lying on the floor in winter by a grown person soon shows how uncomfortable it is, yet the children creep and lie there unnoticed. So direct drafts are to be avoided. It is better to have the room so it can be made nearly air-tight and admit air and allow it to escape by openings controlled at pleasure. In every case where it is practicable, a room should have windows on two sides, otherwise perfect. ventilation Is very difficult unless special apparatus is supplied. The windows should extend to within a foot of the ceiling, which should never be less thau eight feet from the floor, and better ten, and should always let down from the top as well as raise from the bottom. One of the simplest and cheapest contrivances for ventilation in winter of which we know is to introduce fresh air through a tin or wooden pipe under the floor, coming up at the stove, and extending up beside it and the stove-pipe to the lieigbk°f, say, six * eet - The air is warmed as it passes up, and the tendency is to have the air pass out, instead of in, at the cracks and openings. Shade trees near the house are exceedingly desirable, but they should not be too close to the house nor too thickly planted. Sunlight and fresh air should not be excluded even to secure shade. Thick hanging vines on the walls are also to be avoided.- Western Rural. . A short time sincA two or three score of young girls at -work in. the cotton mills in Allegheny struck, and retired to a board pile in the neighborhood. They were let alone, and the next morning all were at work again. The Coates thread manufacturers of Scotland have about $1 000,000 invested In mills between Pawtucket and Central Falls, R. I. *