The Livable House 



cheaper, and more reliable, however, than pumps and wells, and 

 raise a point worth a second consideration in the location of one's 

 house. 



It is an axiom that the general slope of the land should be away 

 from the house, an axiom which refers to the land immediately 

 surrounding the house, however, rather than to the entire grounds. 

 It might appear, for example, that a house placed twenty feet 

 from the foot of a hill would be more or less inundated after a 

 rain, bv surface water running down hill. But the simple ex- 

 pedient of grading the intervening twenty feet, with a pitch to- 

 ward the hill would prevent such a disaster. 



Any house built on hard clay or rock is apt to be troubled by 

 dampness or actual wetness from the subsurface water, unless it is 

 provided with a foundation drain. This is exactly what its name 

 describes — a drain laid around the foundations of the house to 

 carrv off the water which invariably collects where the soil is least 

 dense. 



But the value of grading is not confined to its usefulness in rela- 

 tion to proper drainage. It adds to the beauty of the grounds or 

 detracts from it materially, according as it is skillfully or poorly 

 managed. 



On approximately level ground the problems of grading are apt 

 to be less troublesome, though not so interesting in results as those 

 of a more uneven site. It is a mistake to flatten out too ruthlessly 

 irregularities in surface, for more often than not a garden built 

 on different levels has greater charm than one which presents an 

 even stretch to the eye. Even a slight difference in levels may 



[32] 



