3i6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The first part of this charge, viz., that architects do not, as a 

 rule, furnish proper plans and specifications for the plumber's 

 work in the houses which they design, is true. They indicate 

 upon the floor plans the positions of sinks, bath-tubs, and water- 

 closets, and specify that the plumber's work must be done to the 

 satisfaction of the architect, possibly stating the particular form 

 of sink or closet that is to be furnished, especially if this has been 

 dictated by their clients. They do not, as a rule, show the pipe- 

 work in section or elevation. A proper set of working drawings 

 for the plumbing of a house, upon which bids are to be made and 

 the responsibility for plan and workmanship is to rest, and which 

 is to be preserved as a guide for future work in changes and re- 

 pairs, should be almost as minute in detail as the working draw- 

 ings for the stairways or carved work. These plans and sections 

 should show every pipe, fixture, joint, stop-cock, and trap, in their 

 relations to walls, timbers, floors, gas and steam pi]3es, and venti- 

 lating flues, and give their dimensions. From these plans and 

 specifications a competent plumber should be able, not only to 

 make out a complete list of every length and size of pipe, trap, 

 hanger, and fitting that he will need, but to do a considerable part 

 of the work in his shop and deliver it ready to put in place. It 

 must be admitted that such plans and specifications are rarely 

 prepared, and that when they are furnished they are rarely made 

 in the office of the architect. I do not think, however, that this 

 fact is due so much to the inability of architects to make such 

 drawings and specifications, as to the fact that they are unwilling 

 to take the time and trouble to prepare them unless they are 

 specifically demanded by their clients ; thinking that any good 

 plumber will be able to settle all the details of the work if the 

 general scheme is only indicated, and that detailed working draw- 

 ings are an unnecessary expense. Certainly the course of instruc- 

 tion in our schools for the systematic education of architects in- 

 cludes enough to enable the graduates of such schools to do this 

 kind of work, although it may be doubted whether actual prac- 

 tice in the preparation of such drawings and specifications is suffi- 

 ciently insisted on as compared with that required in the design- 

 ing of fagades and ornamental carving. 



It is wise for the man who proposes to build a house to insist 

 upon having detailed drawings and specifications for the plumb- 

 ing-work, even if he does not employ an architect ; the cost of 

 obtaining them will be saved twice over in the first ten years after 

 the building is completed, and this independent of the influence 

 of the work on the health of the inmates. The drawings should 

 not be folded up and put away, but should be neatly framed 

 under glass and hung in the bath-room in a good light. The gen- 

 eral principles to be observed in preparing such plans to obtain 



