The Treatment of Porch Floors 
last been influenced by that gradual substitution of 
inorganic building material for wood, which has 
become such a marked characteristic of American 
architecture of the present day. The general 
devastation of our forests, with the resulting high 
price of timber, and the popular appreciation of the 
dangers of fire and of the extravagance of perishable 
building materials, are some of the causes that are 
discouraging the use of wood in building construction, 
and have given such an impetus to the brick, stone, 
marble and especially the concrete industry. Wood, 
the traditional 
building material 
of the New World, 
is now being re¬ 
served chiefly for 
the interior trim¬ 
mings of build¬ 
ings. It is, how¬ 
ever, not only in 
building opera¬ 
tions that the use 
of wood is being 
superseded by 
inorganic and 
more lasting 
materials. The 
old time hoard 
walk has given 
way to the brick 
or cement side¬ 
walk, and is now 
almost as much 
of a curiosity in 
this country as 
in Europe. The 
old rail fence, 
so common i n 
the country dis¬ 
tricts, is being 
replaced bv wire. 
Even the telegraph 
poles, fence posts 
and lamp posts are 
being made of iron 
or concrete. The railroad companies of the country 
are spending large amounts of money in their experi¬ 
ments with inorganic railroad ties, because the con¬ 
stant replacing of the wooden tie consumes each 
year entire forests. 
As a floor covering the baked clay tile is replacing 
wood in many parts of buildings, both private and 
public, that are subjected to rough usage, due either 
to constant traffic as in the halls or corridors of public 
buildings, or to constant splashing of water or other 
liquids containing organic matter that is likely to be 
absorbed by wood and cause it to decay, as in bath¬ 
rooms and kitchens. There is no place in the house 
where tiling is more appropriate from the standpoint 
both of its permanence and of its general attractive¬ 
ness than on the floor of the porch. The clay tile is 
baked so hard that even the steel nails of the shoe, 
which are the most destructive agents of wooden 
floors, cannot scratch it. The vitrified or the ordi¬ 
nary unglazed floor tile does not absorb moisture 
and consequently a tiled porch is not injured by rain. 
If properly set, that is if laid by an experienced tile 
setter, a tiled floor is virtually everlasting. Knocks 
and blows incident to moving furniture and baggage 
to and from the 
house, and to the 
moving about of 
chairs and tables, 
make no impres¬ 
sion upon the hard 
clay tile. Liquids 
or organic matter 
of any kind spilled 
from the table 
upon which after¬ 
noon or evening 
refreshments are 
served often make 
unsightly stains 
upon a wooden 
porch floor but 
cannot injure one 
that is made of tile. 
Burning cigar ash- 
e s o r lighted 
matches c a n- 
not scorch tile, 
although they oft¬ 
en mar a wooden 
floor. Instead of 
being the first 
place to need re¬ 
pairs, as is the case 
with a wooden 
floor, the tiled 
porch will be the 
last part of the 
bouse to show 
signs of wear and tear. In addition to its extreme 
durability, the tiled porch is likewise quite attractive 
in appearance. Through the use of different col¬ 
ored clays and by the addition of metallic oxides to 
the white clay, the tiles may be baked in an almost 
endless variety of color and shade. Asa plastic mate¬ 
rial the damp clay dust, out of which the tiles are made, 
can be pressed into moulds of almost any shape, 
although the usual dies are made up of about twenty- 
five different geometric patterns. This great latitude 
in the color and shape of the individual tde enables the 
tile setter to work out almost any color design that 
the architect or decorator may conceive of. Ceramic 
TILED ENTRANCE TO RESIDENCE 
