September, 19 
12 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
143 
fireplace material is a picturesque feature that lessens the peril to 
rugs from sparks and does away with the necessity for fire 
screens. 
For kitchens, pantries and entries, beech flooring is commonly 
used, but if the floor is to be covered with linoleum or with cork, 
both of which are suitable kitchen floorings much easier than 
wood to keep clean, then a cheap grade of wood is permissible. 
Tile flooring, if seconds are used, is not extremely expensive, and 
a dado of the tiles would complete an ideal kitchen treatment. 
Cement floors with a dado of cement and no cracks between the 
two to harbor dirt are hygienic, and 
may be flushed with a hose if a small 
drain, rendered sanitary with a special 
trap beneath, is in one corner of the 
room. A couple of rugs may be needed 
on a cement or tile kitchen floor, as 
these materials are apt to injure the 
feet of the worker who stands on them 
for long periods. 
In laying the hardwood floor, care 
should be taken to select strips of the 
same tone so that the floor presents 
an even appearance. If the wood is 
varied in tone to begin with, it keeps 
this varied or spotty look throughout 
the staining and finishing processes. 
A plan that is recommended is to 
select first all the lightest colored 
strips for use together, then the next 
darker strips, and so on. This is 
especially practicable if the same wood 
is used for all floorings, a gradation 
from light to dark being thus secured. 
A sub-floor is placed beneath the hard 
wood, laid diagonally. Damp-proof or 
asbestos paper is put between the sub¬ 
floor and the hardwood. The hard¬ 
wood floor is laid across the joists and 
is securely nailed to prevent future 
squeaking. After it is laid it should 
be scraped with a cabinet scraper, a 
process that requires some skill and 
care, as knife marks show clearly 
after the floor is finished. This scrap¬ 
ing should be done with the grain, not 
across it. Sanding with fine sandpa¬ 
per is the next process, and is done 
with long even strokes that go with 
the grain. The floor is then swept 
clean and dusted with cheesecloth, 
preparatory to the finishing process. 
The proper finish of the hardwood 
floor depends on the furnishings and 
decorations of an interior. Some 
small house interiors, like miniatures, 
possess the charm of exquisite finish. 
Fine rugs, rare porcelain and prints 
are their decorations. Carved chairs and cabinets occupy floor 
space, or the furniture is of stately Colonial type. Polished floors 
reflecting light and color are a necessity in these interiors. 
Whether wax or dulled varnish is employed, the rugged woody 
qualities are obscured to promote the general harmony. 
Of entirely dififerent description are the small house interiors 
where strength and sincerity of construction are leading charac¬ 
teristics ; where the pottery of primitive peoples is a decorative 
factor, and furniture as well as woodwork is of the simple mod¬ 
ern sort. In these houses the tradition of the highly finished 
floor has been given up. The filler, heretofore thought necessary 
to fill the pores of the wood, giving it a resistent surface, is some¬ 
times omitted, and a coat or so of stain, with a coat of shellac or 
of paraffin oil, form the finish given to floors as well as to wood¬ 
work, a finish preserving grain and woody texture and easily kept 
in order. A floor in this finish must be well laid, and without 
noticeable defects. 
For the interior of Colonial style, as well as for the small 
house of rather luxurious furnishings, it is customary to keep to 
one of the older methods of finish. One treatment consists of 
first staining the floor the desired col¬ 
or, usually that of the woodwork or 
a little darker, since a floor lighter 
than the wall is neither restful nor 
agreeable to look at. After the stain 
is dry a thin coat of white shellac is 
put on. The floor is sanded when 
dry with fine sandpaper, and a pre¬ 
pared filler thinned with benzine or 
gasoline is next applied. As this is 
coiorless a little of the stain is added 
to it. A piece of burlap is used to rub 
the filler thoroughly into any cracks 
or defects of the wood. While the use 
of a filler is avoided in the treatment 
of distinctive wood trim and furni¬ 
ture, which are no longer given a 
surface resembling glass or steel, an 
impervious surface is still commonly 
desired upon floors. Two coats of 
thin white shellac are applied after the 
filler has dried, each coat allowed to 
dry for twenty-four hours, then sand¬ 
papered with No. O sandpaper or 
with steel wool used under a heavy 
brush. The floor is then swept with a 
covered broom and given a coat of 
prepared floor wax. Beeswax heated 
and mixed with turpentine is some¬ 
times substituted. The wax is rubbed 
on with a piece of cheesecloth and al¬ 
lowed to stand twenty minutes, when 
it is gone over with a weighted brush, 
directed both with and across the 
grain until sufficient polish is obtained. 
An ordinary scrubbing brush is oc¬ 
casionally substituted for the floor 
brush. piece of Brussels carpet 
fastened around a brick is useful in 
rubbing stairs. Tbe waxed finish 
secured by this method gives depth 
of color and brings out the beauty of 
the wood. A thin coat of wax, pol¬ 
ished with the brush, must be ap¬ 
plied occasionally to keep the floor in 
order. 
A varnish, considered exceptionally 
durable, is more expensive than the shellac and wax. It is not 
easily marred and is sometimes preferred to the shellac and wax 
treatment, especially if there are small children or aged persons in 
a family who may fall upon slippery floors. For this sort of finish, 
after the floor has been stained and the filler applied as in pre¬ 
vious directions, a coat of floor varnish of good quality is out on 
with a brush, allowed to dry for forty-eight hours, then rubbed 
down with pumice stone and oil or with very fine sandpaper. A 
second coat is then applied and is allowed to dry for the same 
(Continued on page 168.) 
With a weighted floor brush the labor of keeping the 
hard wood in condition is materially lessened 
