202 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, 1910 



Fig. 5 — First floor plan 



Fig. 6 — The main entrance is built 



at the side of the house facing 



the street 



Fig. 7 — Second floor plan 



plastered, we will take for granted that it is built in the 

 strongest manner possible, well braced, heavily timbered 

 and tightly weather boarded and as a final preparation for 

 lathing, covered with heavy waterproof building felt, and 

 all openings flashed with copper. Strips of wood are nailed 

 over the paper, and metal lath (the galvanized wire mesh is 

 the best) fastened to the strips. This allows the mortar 

 to surround the mesh and protect it from rust. 



The first coat of mortar, the scratch coat so called, is 

 mixed with Portland cement, sand, and a little lime. In 

 applying it each trowelful should be put on with just one 



upward sweep of the implement and left absolutely un- 

 touched, to set hard. If portions drop off, the patching 

 may be done later. 



In common practice the next or browning coat follows 

 before the first coat is dry. At this stage most of the dam- 

 age which later appears in cracked and blistered walls is 

 done by the plasterer with his trowel. An exacting public 

 taste is supposed by the plasterer to demand absolute 

 geometrical planes and angles and the trowel travels in 

 sweeps to and fro, to attain that perfection. Each sweep 

 forms minute capillary cracks underneath the surface and 



Fig. 8 — The chimney is the artistic feature of this stucco house 



