BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 191 



up with clean, broken stones to the required level or run. Avoid 

 making up the solum with rubbish. For the method of laying, 

 and types of floors recommended, see the section on " Floors." 

 When renovating a floor an effort should be made to fill up and 

 round off all corners with cement. 



Walls. Apart from any necessary heightening it will be found 

 that in the majority of old buildings the walls have been left in a 

 rough state inside the building. They will then require to be finished 

 off smooth with cement or covered with tiles to give the necessary 

 smooth, hard face that can be cleaned easily and that will not lodge 

 dirt and dust. All wallheads inside byres and stables should be 

 built up close to the roof boarding, thereby disposing of that trouble- 

 some shelf or scarcement on which dust and dirt accumulate, and 

 which is so attractive to birds and vermin. Where the walls are to 

 be cement plastered, the surface and jointing of the old work should 

 be picked out thoroughly, cleaned, finally brushed over with a wire 

 brush and properly washed before the application of the cement 

 plaster. The outer surfaces of walls should be raked out and 

 repointed, and all cracks repaired to prevent the entry of rain and 

 frost. Walls which become saturated by reason of faulty pointing 

 are liable to disintegration and bursting with each severe frost. 

 Repointing, properly executed, always pays in the long run. 



Drainage. Defective drainage is a very bad fault. Under- 

 ground drains are still to be met with in the older stables. In cow- 

 sheds the underground system is uncommon, but a gully trap is often 

 placed inside the building at the end of the dung channel. In every 

 case underground drains and inside traps should be removed and a 

 surface method of draining, as advocated in the section on drainage, 

 installed instead. Surface drainage in cow-sheds or stables may 

 be faulty owing to wrong construction in the first instance, or to 

 subsequent wear and tear. In stables laid with granite setts or 

 cobble stones the drainage cannot be good as the urine invariably 

 collects in little pools and gradually soaks into the ground between 

 the stones or bricks. It is impossible to get good drainage without 

 a properly laid floor, and if this is provided the drainage is a very 

 simple matter. 



Manure Pits are often badly placed on a farm or dairy. Some- 

 times they are too close to the byre or stable, and at others to the 

 milk store. It is often difficult in town byres to find a suitable 

 place owing to scarcity of room. With the smaller class of premises 

 the problem of the location of the manure pit is more difficult than 

 on the larger and more pretentious premises. This is so not only 

 because of the lack of room, but because labour is more difficult 



