Bungalow Flooring. 177 



architecture. The only objects I would be disposed 

 to keep in view are comfort, stability, neatness, and 

 economy. 



In 1855, I superintended the erection of a little 

 bungalow, in the Swiss cottage style, raised on pillars 

 three feet from the ground, and entirely of wood, 

 with thatched roof. This contained a sitting-room, 

 two bed-rooms and a verandah, the principal room 

 being provided with a masonry fire-place and 

 chimney, and the entire cost was about ;ioo. In 

 houses thus raised off the ground on pillars, dryness 

 and salubrity are secured, but the boards of the 

 floor should be dove-tailed into each other, other- 

 wise the wind will find its way up through the 

 interstices, and render it unpleasantly cool, espe- 

 cially at night. 



Bungalows may be floored either with bricks, 

 paving-tiles, plaster, asphalte, or boards. The 

 most durable of these materials is asphalte, the 

 most comfortable, in my opinion, boards. 



Asphalte is a mineral product, somewhat of the 

 nature of pitch, which, being reduced to a liquid 

 state by boiling, is largely mixed with sand, and 

 laid down about an inch or a couple of inches 

 thick, being then allowed to harden as it cools into 

 a solid, smooth surface. A great point in favour of 

 asphalte is its being impervious to the operations of 

 white ants, if laid of the proper thickness. 



N 



