BUILDING NEW HOUSES 55 



An Abundance of Windows. 



Nothing adds so much to the healthfulness of a house 

 as an abundance of sunshine. At the present price of 

 glass, and low cost for making sash, glass surfaces will 

 cost but little if any more than the same surface covered 

 with wood and plastering and kept painted and papered, 

 while the glass surface unless broken will cost less to 

 keep in repair. A space covered with a single thickness 

 of glass will not be as warm as one lined, papered, and 

 clapboarded on the outside and plastered and papered 

 on the inside, but storm windows are comparatively 

 inexpensive and will last a lifetime if taken off every 

 spring and stored in a dry place during the summer. 



The Water Supply. 



As previously urged the water supply is of the utmost 

 importance. Old wells should be looked upon with sus- 

 picion, and new ones if made should be located where 

 no foul matter will run into them. The supply should be 

 abundant and continuous, if possible, without the labor 

 of pumping or carrying a long distance. 



HOUSES OF WOOD. 



One of the first questions to be settled after deciding 

 to build a new house is, of what material shall it be 

 wood, brick, stone, or cement (concrete) ? The present 

 cost of lumber and other materials makes houses of wood 

 very expensive, yet there is nothing more satisfactory 

 than a well located and well built house of wood. It is 

 warm and dry, and when the sills are carried high upon 

 a good foundation, with a well ventilated space or cellar 

 under it, and the outside kept thoroughly painted, and 

 in repair, such houses may be made to last a century or 

 more. 



