410 



Labourers' Cottages. 



The pantry, which is 8 feet by 6 feet, has a northern aspect, 

 and has its entrance from the passage in preference to entering 

 from the scullery, that the vapour occasioned by washing or 

 similar operations may not pass into it. 



A closet, in which a barrel may stand, is proposed to be made 

 in the pantry beneath the staircase. 



On the chamber-floor are three bed -rooms, respectively 12 feet 

 by 10J feet, 10^ feet by 8 feet, and 11 feet by 8 J feet, and on 

 the stair-landing is a good store-closet for cheese, &c. 



The detached offices consist of a pigsty, coal-house, privy, 

 and ash-pit, which are so arranged as to form a small kitchen - 

 yard to each cottage, one side only of which would require to be 

 inclosed by a paled fence. 



Construction. — The foundations should be dug out to a width 

 and depth beyond what is actually required for carrying the walls 

 of the cottage, and filled up with concrete, as a preservative from 

 damp ; and, for the same reason, the floor-line should be raised 

 12 inches above the level of the surrounding ground, the earth 

 removed 18 inches beneath the ground-floors, and the space filled 

 up with broken stones, brick-rubbish, or gravel and lime, so as to 

 form a bed of dry materials, impervious to damp, for the floors to 

 rest upon. 



The walls may be constructed either of brick or stone, which- 

 ever material the locality affords the cheapest. If bricks are 

 used, the walls should not be less than 9 inches in thickness, and 

 20 inches when of stone ; but in either case a layer of slates, 

 bedded in cement, should be laid upon the course of brickwork 

 immediately below the floor-line of the ground apartments, which 

 will effectually prevent any damp from rising in the walls. 



I particularly desire to call attention to the precautions re- 

 commended to be taken against damp, as in our experience we 

 find so many cottages suffering and prematurely decaying from its 

 evil effects ; and peculiar care is requisite for a dwelling formed 

 without underneath cellars. 



In several instances of cottages recently built, the inner walls 

 of the ground apartments, instead of being plastered, are made of 

 dressed bricks. This, besides being a saving in expense, has, 

 when painted, a neat and clean appearance, and is not so liable 

 to be injured or chipped by accident, or by the children. 



The floors of the ground apartments are laid either with dressed 

 bricks or paving-tiles, which make a clean and smooth floor. 



With respect to the bed-room floors, experience has dictated 

 a change of opinion ; formerly I considered boarded floors the 

 most comfortable, but latterly I have given the preference, as 

 likewise the occupiers themselves, to plaster floors, as being more 

 cleanly, comfortable, and less liable to fire. 



