Bridging and Deafening 



289 



be placed on top of the sills, thereby obviating 

 the necessity of framing, while preserving the 

 strength of sill and joist entire. When it is 

 desirable, as it often is in small structures, to 

 have the top of the sill or beam coincide with 

 the tops of the joists, it is 

 cheaper and better to use a 

 rather light timber and for- 

 tify it by nailing upon it 

 2 X 4- inch studding (Fig. Fig. 109. Laying the joist. 

 109), thereby avoiding the necessity of cutting 

 gains, while giving additional strength to the 

 timber which supports the joists. 



The joists in barns should be bridged as in 

 houses. That part of the barn floor which is 

 above the root- cellar should be deafened, as 

 shown in Fig. 101. Cleats nailed on the sides 

 of the joists serve to support the short boards 

 which carry the deafening material. The 2 -inch 

 space between the false and the true floor is 

 filled with mortar composed of about five or 

 six parts of sand to one of lime or cement. 

 If all of the floor driven upon above the base- 

 ment is deafened, it will deaden sound and 

 promote warmth in the lower story. 



While the balloon frame has been almost 

 universally adopted in the construction of houses, 

 it is only recently that large barn frames have 

 been successfully constructed on the same gen- 



