i86 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, 1908 



sewer pipe being arranged with a switch, which may be of 

 wood, so placed that the sewage may be diverted at alternate 

 intervals of four or five days on to either filter bed. From 

 time to time, as conditions show, the surface of the bed, when 

 it is dry, should be scraped with a hoe, and if necessary a 

 little fresh sand added. No care is required except in laying 

 the surface almost level. The two beds should be built for 

 fifty dollars. 



The cost of installing either of the alternate sewage sys- 

 tems, inclusive of filter beds, and requisite for the needs of a 

 single bathroom, will be about one hundred and fifty dollars 

 over and above the cost of the plumbing fixtures and pipes 

 in the house. 



No main house trap is necessary in a small self-contained 

 building with an efficient sewage disposal system of its own. 

 The pipe, if left open from the disposal fields and extended 

 above the roof of the house makes a very efficient vent for 

 the drain pipe system. 



The sewer pipes and sewage system are one side of the 

 question; the water with its 

 pipes and storage is the other. 

 The water is generally sup- 

 plied from a well or stream, 

 lying at a sufficiently higher level than 

 the house to give requisite pressure 

 without a pump. A line of piping 

 one and one-quarter or one and one 

 half inches in diameter should sup- 

 ply the requisite water. Whether 

 or not the bungalow is 



placed conveniently near 



a stream, rainwater may ^^^^^ 

 be very necessary, and it 

 may be advisable to collect and 

 store it. The spring or well, 01* 

 other available water supply, may 

 be so hard (impregnated with 

 mineral or earthen matters, such as 

 iron or lime) that rainwater may 

 be of great advantage for washing 

 and laundry purposes. If it is to 

 be stored it may either be carried 

 through earthenware pipes to an 

 underground brick or cement cis- 

 tern, located near the house, or col- 

 lected in wooden tanks or water- 

 butts raised above the surface of 

 the ground. If the water from the 

 roofs is destined for drinking pur- 

 poses it is better to cover the roofs with "back-slabs" (the 

 four waste segments of the sawn log) or unstained shingles, 

 and to use wooden (cypress) gutters and leaders. The 

 water is, by this procedure, kept free from the impurities of 

 lead, paint and rust. 



The rainwater should not be connected with the sewage 

 system, as this makes an increasingly large quantity of impure 

 water to be treated and cared for. The rainwater is not 

 objectionable. If collected underground it is gathered in a 

 cistern and carried to this in earthenware pipe, similar to the 

 sewage pipe, and laid in the same manner, only at a depth 

 below whatever the frost level may be in the location in 

 which the bungalow is built. 



A cistern is built differently, according to the soil which it 

 is in. Any intelligent mason properly instructed can build it. 

 If the ground is of firm gravel, sand or clay, a circular cham- 

 ber should be dug about nine feet in diameter and nine 

 feet deep (Fig. 4). The loose sand is brushed off the sides 

 and they are plastered with one and one-half inches of Port- 

 land cement mortar. The bottom is covered with two inches 



^//l- stxttj^amp er*zmsyr 



^tJ^'j W^HWHBCTCTB!,;:^ 



of cement concrete. The rainwater pipe is brought into the 

 bottom of the cistern, and around the end of the pipe is built 

 a brick chamber about two feet square and high, of soft 

 bricks, and covered with a piece of flagstone. This acts as 

 an efficient filter for the rainwater. At a distance of about 

 four feet six inches below the ground a shelf is cut in the 

 gravel bank and a brick dome is started and gradually drawn 

 in, until an aperture of about twenty inches in diameter is 

 left. 



This may be covered by either a flagstone or iron cover. 

 An overflow pipe should be taken from the cistern at the 

 spring of the arch. 



This is perfectly sound construction, and at the same time 

 the cheapest manner of building a cistern. It can, however, 

 only be used when the earth is of such a nature that it can 

 stand up of itself. 



If the cistern is built in poor ground an eight-inch brick or 

 rubble wall must be built in place of the one-and-one-half-inch 

 cement lining to support the adjoining earth banks and hold 



the water and support the 

 dome. Sometimes the loca- 

 tion may be such that a flat 

 roof may be built over the 

 cistern, which may cheaply be made of old 

 railroad iron laid about three feet apart 

 and with close wire cloth stretched on 

 the under side and above the 

 top. Five or six inches of 

 concrete is filled in between. 

 Of course, an aperture for 

 access must be left in the center 

 of the covering for ready access and for 



cleaning. 



J5^c7-/oa? y"«ec<Jc//// ouch a r e 



the princi- 

 ples of con- 

 struction and 

 he problems in- 

 o 1 v e d in pro- 

 d i n g for the 

 mbing for a 

 3w. None of 

 re beyond the 

 id the intelli- 

 average builder 

 I have dwelt at some length 

 on these details, not only be- 

 cause it was the specific pur- 

 pose, of this article to treat of 

 them, but because, in consider- 

 ing the question of the design and erection of the house such 

 matters are too often viewed as of comparative unimportance. 

 There are many structural economies that can be introduced 

 in building a bungalow, but the plumbing and drainage 

 problems are quite as important in dwellings of this type as 

 in those of higher cost. It is true that even in this depart- 

 ment, as I have shown in a somewhat hasty manner, there is 

 ample, room for economies of detail that would not be 

 practised in houses of a more permanent style; but this is 

 one aspect of building that is so supremely important that 

 economies should not be pushed to the danger point, or any- 

 thing left undone that would add to the health and safety 

 of the building. After all, these matters are much more 

 important than questions of taste or even cost of construc- 

 tion. The bungalow may be erected in as hasty a manner 

 as you please, and with as many economies of cost as may 

 be permitted, but the sanitary departments should invariably 

 be the best than can be afforded. The money will always be 

 found to have been well spent and an actual source of profit, 

 since it increases the livability and usefulness of the bungalow. 



as !A'--m^..w g ,.«'--..-ffls».^ 



~-f-/iujir 



Fig. 4 



