226 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



June, 1910 



Fig. 31 — A portable garage 



The doors are made of California fir hung in a strong 

 frame and supplied with hinges, locks, etc. As a rule, the 

 doors are one and one-quarter inch thick. 



Three good coats of paint are applied — lead and oil, the 

 ground color, and finally the last layer of any color the 

 owner pleases to order. The woods vised are cypress, red 

 cedar and California red wood. 



Houses of this description run from $420, $540, $650, 

 $915 to $1,330, according to the number of rooms. The 

 highest named figure represents a nine-room, two-story cot- 

 tage with two dormer windows and verandah on two sides. 



Another method of building these portable houses is 

 equipped with double panels, dead-air space, two thicknesses 

 of heavy paper and one of hair enclosed in the walls, which 

 makes a building that is impervious to heat, cold or mois- 

 ture, and is therefore absolutely dry and healthy. All cot- 

 tages of seven feet or less in height are open to the rafters, 

 but those of eight feet or higher are ceiled overhead. 



The houses are In sections, three feet wide and from 

 six to ten feet high, proof against wind, being cross-braced 

 and bolted, and will not rack. 



The material used is the strong fir that grows in Wash- 

 ington, and thoroughly kiln-dried. The double ceiling con- 

 tains a patent hair insulator between ceiling and strips, 

 forming an air space. The hair insulator is made of 

 cleaned and dried hair sewed between paper; which the in- 

 ventors claim makes a house as warm as if plastered, and 

 drier and healthier. The roofing is perfectly water-tight, 

 but, if preferred, shingles are furnished. The outside is 

 primed with a good coat of boiled oil and ochre as the set- 

 ting up progresses. 



Two-room cottage, 12x24 feet, with 7-foot ceiling and 

 porch 5x24 feet, costs $212.50; three-room cottage, 12x30, 

 with porch 4x12, costs $230; 21x24, with porch 6x9, costs 

 $275; and 21x24, with porch of same size but slightly 

 heavier in weight, costs $295. A four-room cottage, 22x24, 



Fig. 32 — A double car garage 



with eight-foot ceiling anci no porch, costs $345. Another 

 with verandah, patent roof and galvanized iron flue for 

 shipping, costs $375. The same house can be rendered more 

 attractive and comfortable by the purchase of extra double 

 dormer windows for $15, single dormer for $10, and dou- 

 ble cottage windows are substituted for the regular windows 

 at an added cost of $1.25 per opening. 



A five-room cottage costs $470; and a charming little 

 bungalow 21x36 feet with 12x15 projection for a kitchen 

 and a regular covered, or pergola porch, for $675. 



Another variety of portable house is constructed with a 

 steel frame. The posts are iron pipes of suitable dimen- 

 sions, which fit over the projecting casting on the founda- 

 tions and support the rafters, which are made either of 

 iron or of wood well ironed, and which fit into the top of the 

 posts. The frame is braced by means of heavy steel wire 

 or rods, having turnbuckles to tighten the frame until it is 

 firm and rigid. The purlins are of angle iron, placed at the 

 proper distance apart to support the roof sheets. Angle 

 irons also extend along the sides and ends, to which the 

 siding sections fasten. The siding is of corrugated iron 

 galvanized or painted, fastened securely to the angle iron 

 frame by means of malleable iron hooks, or it is made of 

 lumber, in sections about three feet wide, beaded on the 

 outside but smooth inside, for paper or burlap. The par- 

 titions of the rooms are made of the same grade of lumber 

 as the outside. The ceilings are canvas of eight-ounce duck, 

 and when stretched tight overhead and painted makes an 

 air-tight ceiling. 



The windows are put in a section and do not have to be 

 removed for shipping. They are composed of one sash, 

 which raises by sliding in a groove in the frame, and is 

 held by a common spring bolt. As a rule for eight-foot 

 rooms, a two-light sash 24x20 is used, and for larger rooms 

 a two-light sash 24x24 is used. The floors are usually of 

 yellow pine made in sections three feet wide and from 



Fig. 33 — A car leaving the garage 



Fig. 34— A 



single car garage 



