Bec. 19.] now TO BUILD BALLOON FRAMES. 327 



building. Make no calculation about the top of your studs ; wait till you 

 get to tliat liigUt. You may use tliein of any length, with broken or srub- 

 eliot ends, no niutter. Wlion you have this side boarded as high as you can 

 resell, proceed to set up anotiier. In the mean time, olher workmen can 

 be lathing the first side. When you have got the sides all up, fix upon thchiglit 

 of your upper llooi-, and strike a line upon the studs for the under side of the 

 joist, and cut a gain four inciies wide, half-inch deep, and luiil on firmly 

 one of the inch strips. Upon tliese strips rest tlie chamber-floor joist. Cut 

 a notch in the joist one inch deep in the lower edge, and lock it on the .strip, 

 and nail each joist to each stud. Now lay tliis fioor and go on to Ituild tlic 

 upper story as you did the lower one, splicing on and lengthening out studs 

 wherever needed, until you get hi<rh cnougli for the plate. Si)lice studs or 

 joist by simply butting the ends togetlier, and naibng strips on each side. 

 Strike a line and saw ofl" the top of the studs even upon each side of the 

 building — not the ends — and nail on one of the inch strips. That is the 

 plate. Cut the ends of the up|H'r joist the bevel of the pitch of the roi)f, and 

 nail them fast to the plate, ))lacing the end ones inside the studs, which you 

 will let run up promiscuously, to be cut ofi" alongside of the rafter. Xow 

 lay the garret floor by all means before you put on the roof, and yon will 

 find that you have saved 50 i)cr cent, of hard labor. Tiie rafters, if sup- 

 ])orted so as not to be over ten feet long, will be strong enough of the two- 

 by-four stuff. Bevel the ends and nail fast to the joist. Then there is no 

 strain upon the sides by the weight of the roof, which may be covered with 

 shingles or olher nuiterials, the cheapest being composition or cement roofs. 

 To make one of this kind, take soft, spongy, thick paper, and tack it upon 

 the boards in courses like shingles. Commence at the top with hot tar and 

 saturate the paper, upon which sift fine gravel eveidy, pressing it in while 

 hot — that is, while tar and gravel are both hot. One coat will make a tight 

 roof; two coats will make it more dijral)le. I'nt u)) your jiartitions of stufl" 

 one by four, unless where you want to support the uppjr joist ; then use 

 stuff two by four, with strips nailed on top for the joist to rest upon, fftston- 

 ing altogether by nails wherever tindiers touch. Thus you will have a frame 

 without a tenon, or mortice, or brace, and yet it is far cheaper and incalcu- 

 lably stronger when finished than tiiough it was composed of timbers ten 

 inches square, with a thousand augor-holes and a hundred days' work with 

 the chisel and luhc, making holes and pins to fill them. To lay out and 

 frame a building so that all its i)arts will come together, recpiires the .-kill 

 of a master mechanic, and a host of men, and a deal of hard work to litt 

 the 'neat sticks of timber into position. To erect a balloon building requires 

 about as much mechanical skill as it does to build a lioard fence. Any 

 farmer who is handy with the saw, iron square, and hammer, with one of his 

 boys or a common laborer to assist him, can go to work and put up a frame 

 for an outbuilding, and finish it <>tf with his own labor just as well as to 

 hire a carpenter to score and hew great oak sticks and fill them full of 

 mortices, all by the scieucc of the 'square rule.' It is a waste of labor that 



