BUILDINO. 



BUILDING. 



the sbdl of the structure. The effect of a|rturi in wall U coun- 

 teracted by the introduction of invrru. or inverted arches, in the 

 portion of wmll beneath than, and of discharging archm, which may 

 either be left risible or not, orar them. The filing of door and window 

 frames, and other small woodwork, U provided for by the insertion hi 

 the wall of W AoVJb, or block, of aeaaoned wood reaembling bricka 

 in form and aite. Liittit are ban of wood inserted, in lieu of arches, 

 over the apertures of doors and windows ; but they should always be 

 surmounted by discharging arches abutting upon the solid brickwork 

 beyond the eods of the lintel, which, in such a case, may be nude to 

 taU into the wall to a very short distance only beyond the sides <>f the 

 aperture. Where, however, there is to be no discharging arch over 

 the lintel, it should be of sufficient length to tail considerably into tin- 

 wall, and its end should rest upon transverse templates or wood-bricks 

 built into the wall. Tnx/Jiila are pieces of timber often three or four 

 bet long, which are let into the wall after the manner of wood-brick*, 

 either for the purpose of fastening to, or of supporting the ends of beams 

 lei into the wall, and distributing their pressure over a considerable 

 space. Discharging arches should be turned over these, and over the 

 ends of beams, so that their shrinkage, or even their decay or destruc- 

 tion by fire, should not be sufficient to affect the stability and cohesion 

 of the wall. Some floors are so framed together that they may be con' 

 nected with the walls by a few principal beams, the ends of which 

 rest upon templates; but more usually the ends of the joists rest 

 upon long pieces of timber called trail -jJotrt, which are let into the 

 brickwork, and serve to distribute the weight equally. Bond-timber* 

 are occasionally inserted with a special view to the distribution of 

 strain, but their liability to swelling and shrinking, as well as their 

 perishable and combustible character, render it desirable to bond 'the 

 structure as perfectly as possible without them. Timbers should, in 

 all cases, be kept clear of the chimney flues, or, if this be impos- 

 sible, should be guarded with iron so as to prevent the possibility 

 of a spark coming hi contact with them. The various plans which 

 have been introduced of late years for securing timber from the 

 ravages of dry-rot, and rendering it incombustible, greatly lessen the 

 risk of employing it in walls. [TIMBER, PRESERVATION* or.] The 

 variations of size occasioned by changes of temperature render the 

 combination of iron with brickwork even more hazardous than the 

 use of timber, though the employment of straps of hoop-iron laid in 

 the mortar between the courses of bricks is found advantageous under 

 certain circumstance*. An instance of its employment in the con- 

 struction of arches without centering is mentioned under SCAFFOLDING. 

 The brittlenees of cast-iron renders it very unfit for use where unequal 

 settlement may occur. The construction of efficient drains should be 

 attended to in an early stage of the building. This subject is fully 

 treated under SEWERS, and it is only necessary here to observe, that 

 in order to increase the current and prevent the deposit of sediment, 

 all drains should be concave at the bottom, and that where they 

 pass through houses, or in any case in which it is probable that they 

 may have to be opened, it is desirable to make the top consist of flat 

 paving-stones or tiles, laid in cement ; as a circular, barrel, or, aa it 

 is sometimes called, a gun-barrel drain, unless its fall be very con- 

 siderable, will be likely to involve much trouble and expense in 

 opening and cleaning. Where the drain is straight, and short enough 

 to be raked, this matter U not of consequence. It is A usual and 

 convenient plan to conduct the drain under a doorway, between the 

 till and the invert ; but when this cannot be done, an arched opening, 

 called a bull's-eye, must be made in the wall where it passes through. 

 In addition to the air-traps which, as described under SEWERS, should 

 always be placed at the entrance of drains, a very simple trap may be 

 formed at any convenient point in their course, by sinking a small 

 well a few inches below the bottom of the drain, and building in with 

 the brickwork of the drain a flat piece of flagstone in such a manner 

 as to form a dipping-valve resembling that shown in SEWERS, so that 

 no water can escape until the well is filled, and no air can pass the 

 trap unless the well becomes, by evaporation, so dry as to allow it to 

 pan under the edge of the dipping-valve. 



AM the erection proceeds, contrivances for supporting the workmen 

 and materials are required, of which an account U given under SCAFFOLD- 

 MO. In the basement story of a building, the partition walls, as well as 

 the external and side or party walls of a house are usually formed wholly 

 of brickwork, but in the upper stories they are generally of lath and 

 plaster, on a framed and trussed timber foundation, or of what is techni- 

 cally called brirlt nagging, which consist* of a framework of quartering, 

 similar to that used for lath and piaster, but having the intermediate 

 spaces between the timbers filled up with brickwork, thus forming a 

 wall either 44 or 8 Inches thick, according to whether the bricks are 

 laid flat or on edge. Though trengtlicm- 1 i ;. ! upright quarterings 

 or timbers, the brickwork, being so thin, should bo strengthened or 

 bonded further by the introduction, at intervals of not more than six 

 course*, of horizontal bars of wood called inttrtict, or i. 

 skew-nailed at each end to the quartering*. Some bin Idem,' in li.-. of 

 brick Hogging, use half-brick, or 44 mch, w.ills carefully built in 

 cement, and strengthened with iron hooping, a plan which hns the 

 advantage of greater security from fire, ouch partition* also ilmk. 

 more effectually than those in which much timber is introduced, the 

 transmission of sound from one room to another. The joints of brick- 

 work in internal walls, and in such external walla a* are to be Covered 



with 



}< 



stueeo, or cement, ire left rough, with the mortar pro- 

 from the joints, because the inequality of surface thus produced 



causes the plaster to adhere better; but in such external walls as are 

 to be exposed to vie< the superfluous mortar is removed, and each joint 

 is drawn, by applying the point of the trowel so as to flatten the joint, 

 or rather to leave it slightly concave. The use of thick beds of mortar 

 between the bricks is not only injurious from the settlement thereby 

 occasioned, but also because the oompreasion of the mortar causes it to 

 bulge out at the joints, and so to counteract the effect of drawing with 

 the trowel. The joints, being thus rendered convex instead of eoneave, 

 catch and absorb the rain which trickles down the wall, and when a 

 frost comes this absorbed moisture freezes, and occasion* the mortar to 

 crumble away, thus involving the necessity of pmntiwj, or tilling in the 

 joints with new mortar, to preserve the wall. To do this, the old 

 mortar must be scraped out to the depth of three-eighths of an inch, 

 or further if needful, and the joints must be thoroughly cleaned and 

 moistened before inserting the new mortar, which should be of the 

 best quality. Mortar for this purpose is commonly mixed with forge 

 ashea, which give it a bluish tinge, and render it better fit to resist 

 injury from weather. Cement is sometimes used for the purpose in 

 lieu of mortar. If the work be required to be very neat, each joint 

 is finished with a narrow line or parallel ridge of fine white putty or 

 mortar, made principally of bone-lime. In the application of this kind 

 of pointing, which is termed ti(i-!.- r ,,uiii,'!i. to an old wall it is usual to 

 wash and colour the whole surface of the brickwork ; and when, by 

 the carelessness of the bricklayer, the vertical joints which should come 

 in a line over each other, technically called the;r/wW, have not been 

 properly attended to, the misplaced joints may be filled up with brick- 

 coloured putty, and false joints made in the proper places. Mortar 

 used for the jmryrtiinti, or internal plastering, of brick chimney flues is 

 mixed with a little cow-dung, to prevent its peeling off from the heat. 

 The top of a brick-wall, whenever it is not covered by the roof, roust 

 be protected by coping [COPING], which in single-brick walls is often 

 formed simply by a row of bricks set on edge in cement across the 

 wall, and called a bari/e-ruttmf, a name which is also given, with more 

 propriety, to the projection of a roof over a gable-end. [ BARGE-COURSE.] 

 This kind of coping is very imperfect, because, as it has no projection 

 or inclination, it does not throw off the water. It may be improved 

 both in appearance and efficiency by laying underneath the barge- 

 course two double courses of plain tiles, with their joints broken, and 

 their edges projecting about an inch and a half on each side of the 

 wall, or by a similar application of paving tiles. Stone coping, how- 

 ever, which can be made of any width, and properly sloped or weathered 

 and throated, is far better. For ornamental brickwork proper coping- 

 bricks are made, which if well set in fine mortar or cement may be 

 equally efficient with stone, and have a better architectural character. 

 It may be remarked, generally, that brick walls often suffer injury in 

 consequence of the insufficient projection of copings and cornices, 

 which ought to throw off water aa much as possible from the face of 

 the wall. 



The established mode of measuring brickwork is explained under 

 BRICKWORK. Brick and tile paving, which are noticed under FLOOB, 

 arc measured by the superficial yard of 9 feet, and tiling, for which see 

 ROOF and TILE, by the tquare of 100 superficial feet. 



Of the use of stone in building some account is given under 

 MASOSRT, ASHLER, and RVSTICATED WORK. Rubble-work is more 

 difficult to execute well than building with cut or squared stones, 

 since there is great danger of trusting too much to the mortar. Un- 

 wrought stones, however irregular in shape, ought to be eo hud 

 together that the wall would stand if laid to a considerable height 

 without mortar. It is of course desirable to give the outside of a 

 rubble wall as neat an appearance as possible ; but care must be taken 

 in doing so to bond the facing stones as thoroughly as possible with 

 the centre of the wall, and not for the sake of show, to expose the bed 

 of the stone, or the flat surface formed by its stratification, in the face 

 of the wall, as a stone so applied cannot be firmly bonded into 

 the wall, and its flat surface is far more liable to in j ury from the 

 action of the atmosphere than a surface cut at right angle* with its 

 plane of stratification. It is better to bond the wall by means of many 

 stones extending partly through its thickness, alternately from each 

 side, than to use a few thorough stones, or stones reaching completely 

 from face to fcice, and yet leave the greater part of the wall like two 

 hell enclosing an irregular core of coarse rubble. Stone copings and 

 some other kinds of stone-work are frequently cramped together with 

 fastenings of iron or copper, run in with melted lead ; but unless these 

 metal fastenings, especially those of iron, can be thoroughly secured 

 fnun the influence of the atmosphere, they are liable, from oxidation 

 and the effect of changes of temperature, to produce much harm, and 

 therefore it is better, if possible, to use ten. joggles, or dowels 



of stone or wood, protecting them also from the weat her. The principal 

 purposes for which stone is introduced in brick buildings are enume- 

 rated under MASONRY, to which we need only add that the setting of 

 stone window ami door -sills is usually delayed as long as possible, to 

 irive the briVkwnrk time to settle, because a very slight inequality in 

 the settlement would cause them to break, being long and thin. The 

 brittlences of stone, indeed, renders it always (inadvisable to use it in 

 pieces of great length of bearing, and very important to make the 

 joints perfectly even. In the jointing of columns, for example, the 



