June, 1912 
every essential detail of 
home comfort. 
The construction of the 
houses chiefly used is exceed- 
ingly simple. The building, 
of course, is of wood 
throughout, with an inner 
lining of wood in addition to 
the outer walls, which are 
usually of clapboards. These 
walls, as well as the floors, 
ceiling, and roof, are made 
in sections, small enough to 
be handled without difficulty, 
and strongly held together 
with bolts and other devices 
of metal. There are many 
well-known firms manufac- 
turing these portable houses 
and one has but to select his 
cottage from a catalogue 
which may be had for the asking. A few weeks are usually 
required for the proper finishing and shipping of such a 
structure and this allows for including such details of paint- 
ing, finishing and arrangement of rooms and partitions as the 
purchaser may desire. When received from the factory the 
sections will be numbered—floors, outer walls, inner parti- 
tions, roof, and framework will be so labeled that the build- 
ing may be erected in a few hours by almost anyone who 
will follow the printed instructions and the carefully drawn 
diagram which will be sent with the house. In this connec- 
tion it is well to state that freight charges are very low for 
shipping the sections, and it does not require skilled hands 
to set them up. 
Unless the building is to remain for a long period in one 
place it will hardly be necessary to use posts or piers as a 
foundation. The ground may be leveled and the sections 
of the floor placed upon stones or blocks and securely fitted 
together. After the floor is solidly in position the walls of 
the house and the interior partitions are set up and fastened 
together, not with nails, but with “key bolts’ which are 
secured with one blow of a hammer. The floors and walls 
being in place, the sections of the roof are set in position 
and then the moldings under the eaves and about doors 
‘and windows are fixed into place, together with such details 
as steps and the railings about verandas. ‘The erecting of 
such a structure is not at all difficult, but care must be taken 
that the joints are closely and firmly united or the building 
will not be weatherproof and there may be trouble where 
the house has been taken apart and is to be re-erected in 
some other place. A house of this type, particularly when 
carefully set in place and built upon piers or posts as a foun- 
The portable house is well adapted to the sea-side 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
A portable cottage like this is just the thing for a Summer outing in the 
lake district 
219 
dation, will last for many 
years, and any number are 
in use upon lakes or sea- 
shore, or upon mountains 
where they have been occu- 
pied each year as vacation 
homes. Many more have 
been used year after year, 
but in different places, for 
their owners have found no 
dificulty in taking the 
houses apart and rebuilding 
them in different localities. 
There is still another type 
of house which may be 
easily and quickly moved. 
This variety has a floor and 
a strong framework of wood 
upon which walls and roof 
of very strong canvas are 
stretched. This kind of house 
is, of course, not nearly as durable as that built of wood, 
but it may recommend itself to many by reason of its lower 
cost and the even greater ease with which it may be 
moved about. In houses of this sort the divisions be- 
tween the rooms are also of canvas, and as there is no 
glass in the windows the openings are merely screened 
with wire netting and protected by awnings or ‘“‘flaps.”’ This 
house is somewhat of the nature of a tent, but is much 
more comfortable and durable, and yet is moved with 
almost as much ease. 
The plan of the portable house to be really successful 
should be quite simple. It must be remembered that walls 
and roof are not heavily built nor with the type of construc- 
tion which is used in erecting an ordinary dwelling. The 
floor plans should therefore be strictly rectangular, with no 
projections excepting an additional room, a porch or ver- 
anda, or any extension such as may be complete in itself. 
The roof lines also should be plain and simple, for without 
‘“furring”’ such as is used at the joints of an ordinary roof it 
would be impossible to prevent leaks if an irregular roof 
plan were followed. ‘The size of the house must be gov- 
erned, of course, by the number of people who are to live in 
it. The kitchen is so often a separate or semi-detached 
building that it need hardly be counted as a room of the 
main structure, which will therefore be devoted to a living- 
room and the necessary bedrooms. Fora family of ordinary 
size a house of four rooms might be sufficient. This will 
allow for a combined living- and dining-room and for three 
sleeping-rooms. The kitchen or “cookhouse,” which will 
no doubt, be a separate structure, should be so planned that 
(Continued on page 228) 
A portable house placed in a wooded locality 
