124 



The Country House 



As to fireplaces in general, it is best to have them in all available rooms, in- 

 cluding chambers. They are the best of ventilators, and in the late spring and 

 early fall serve admirably to remove the chill from the house. In this way they 

 serve to curtail, for a time at least, the generally excessive heat of the furnace 

 or other heater. They are also excellent in case of sickness, for the above reasons. 

 As the chimney and fireplace are naturally and commonly the cause of many 

 fires, their construction should be 'carefully looked after. Fig. 22 shows an 

 effective method for their safe construction. The chimney should in all cases be 

 carried up from the ground and never allowed to rely on any woodwork for 

 support. No chimney should be corbelled out more than 8 inches from the 



original line, and then five courses of brick should he- 

 used to effect it. Floor timbers should not be let into 

 it but framed around it. No woodwork should come 

 within less than 2 inches of the brickwork in any case, 

 except where the jamb of the wooden breast or mantel 

 intersects the fireplace facing; this jamb should be 

 bedded in cement. Where it is desirable to rest floor 

 timbers on the chimney wall it should be done on a 

 projecting engaged pier and the ends of the timbers be 

 kept 2 inches from the chimney. The rough brickwork 

 should be 8 inches thick outside of the flue lining; 

 never less. A better method is to make two 4-inch 

 walls with a 2-inch air space between or, in other 

 words, a vaulted wall. This can be carried to within 

 a foot of the under side of the rafters, and the chimney 

 be topped out with 8 inches of brickwork. If small 

 pieces of pipe 6 inches long are laid in the brickwork 

 at the top of this air space in such a manner as to 

 connect it with the flue at the nearest joint of flue lining, 

 it will ventilate the air space and so tend to lower the 



Section, 



is///.-////////,, ~\ . , . . . 



Plan, 



Fig. 22. Showing a safe method of chimney and fireplace 

 construction 



a. Rough brickwork 



b. Brick facing 



c. Brick hearth 



d. Cement 



e. Trimmer arch 



f. Furring 



i;. H.-a!er 



h. Ash-pit "vcr 



j. Skew Lack 



k. Flue lining 



in. H..IT timl-er 



n. Wooden partition 



o. Ston chimney cap s. H> 



' stone t. Ash pit 



Cellar bottom 



r. Copperchimney flashing 



w. Fillet 

 z. Damper 



