Mistakes We Made In Building Our House 
A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN HOME-MAKING AND THE ERRORS IT BROUGHT 
TO LIGHT—VENTILATION, HEATING AND OTHER VITAL CONSIDERATIONS 
by Charles K. Farrington 
I DO not suppose we made more mistakes than does the average 
house builder. We had an architect, and told him before 
he drew up the plans and specifications what we thought we 
wanted. After we had lived awhile in our house we found how 
different many things might have been. 
Take the cellar, for example. Few housebuilders pay much 
attention to this part of the house, often — I might add—to their 
cost. The cellar is used a good deal, and the health of the family 
may depend in a measure upon how it is constructed. We did 
not plan for coal space. We did not think of the necessity of 
doing so. Consequently our supply of coal has to be placed over 
the piping from the heater. This is always objectionable. The 
piping may be injured by the coal rushing against it when it is 
being put in, or a leak may develop underneath the coal, making 
much labor necessary to reach and repair it. We found out also 
that in common with many housekeepers we could save fifty 
cents per ton on our winter’s supply of coal for range and furnace 
if it was put in during the late summer or early fall. In our case 
this would mean a saving of ten dollars a year. When planning 
for your furnace to be set, see that there is sufficient coal space 
near it for the entire winter’s supply of coal, and that no piping 
is in the way. Then it will be in a position where it can be 
handled easily without undue labor when the furnace is coaled. 
We have many times wished we had planned for this when we 
built our home, and we could easily have done so with no extra 
expense. 
“Outside flap folding cellar doors” should be avoided. They 
are very expensive to keep in repair; slamming them down will 
injure their hinges, and the wood also rots rapidly away. An 
ordinary door in the side of the house is vastly superior. Then 
there is no snow to clean off the cellar doors in the winter time, 
nor do they freeze up as the outside kinds do, and in summer a 
wire screen door can be used, thus largely ventilating the cellar. 
A door placed in the side of the house can often be arranged to 
open directly upon the kitchen stairs leading to the cellar. Such 
an arrangement economizes space, especially if the back stairs 
from first to second floors are located directly over the cellar 
stairs. A little care in planning these details will save much 
valuable space. 
The cellar should be provided with plenty of windows opening 
directly to the outside air, and not underneath piazzas as a number 
of ours did. If windows open so they do not ventilate as they 
should. If a wire door is used in connection with a door set in 
the side of the house, and a good number of windows, the air 
in the cellar will be kept pure and sweet. People sometimes 
wonder how bad air from the cellar comes through the house. 
It does so easily, through the walls, directly from the cellar. 
Also a damp cellar will make the first story rooms very unpleasant 
to live in. 
Our plans showed room for the kitchen range to be set in 
the chimney, but it was found impossible to do this because suf¬ 
ficient space had not been allowed for the range and hot-water 
boiler next to it, also two doors, one opening into the pantry, 
the other into the laundry, one door being located on each side 
of the range. The range therefore was set next to the chimney. 
This wasted room, and room is always at a premium in a kitchen ; 
also the kitchen was much warmer in hot weather. This same 
error made it impossible for a third story room — through which 
the same kitchen chimney passed on its way lo the roof—to have 
an additional window. The plans showed a window on each 
side of the chimney, but it was possible to place but one. Mis¬ 
takes like this are very common in plans, strange to say, and the 
housebuilder should plainly state the number of windows he must 
have to his architect, and leave nothing to chance. 
A range for the kitchen with one large oven instead of two 
smaller ones we have found from actual tests to be far more 
serviceable, and we discarded our two oven range for one with 
a single oven. The two oven ranges have of course a much 
larger fire pot and consequently burn a far greater amount of 
coal. At most times a single oven with a shelf in it will give an 
abundance of room for the cooking of an average family. In 
such cases if a double oven stove is used it causes needless ex¬ 
pense. We found this so after a thorough trial. Also we had 
too much hot water as too large a water back came with the 
large fire pot, and we wasted 'fnuch water by being obliged to 
let it off at frequent intervals to prevent damage to our boiler 
by steam from overheated water. All such details one learns from 
experience, but it is costly; a far better way is to learn from others 
and make a right selection at the start. Of course unless such 
matters are brought before a housebuilder’s attention they will 
probably not be considered. Few persons think to inquire about 
the size of the fire pot, this of course determining the amount of 
coal the range will burn. Small details as regards attachments, 
finish, etc., are usually considered, but the important item as to 
how much coal the range will burn is too often entirely ignored. 
A combination gas and coal range is a nice thing to have and 
saves much room in the kitchen. Our kitchen was not well 
ventilated ; windows should be provided on at least two sides of 
a kitchen so as to secure sufficient air from outside. 
The back stairs leading from the kitchen to the second story 
were also a failure. Care in designing them was not used, 
consequently sufficient space was not left to make stairs with 
square platforms at the turns. Instead, the steps at the turns 
were of the kind that go to a point at one side. This, of course, 
makes the stairs dangerous, yet such stairs are used. Do not 
allow them to be used in your home ; a very bad accident is likely 
to occur at any time. Our third story stairs were also poorly 
planned. A room above them made it impossible for a large 
piece of furniture to be carried up them to the store room located 
on the third floor. Insist upon having stairs which are designed 
for use, and which will allow furniture to be taken up or down 
them without damaging woodwork or walls. Ours are not so 
and we have suffered much inconvenience thereby. Insist also 
that hand rails shall be placed on them. Without hand rails stairs 
are very dangerous, but ours did not have them until we put them 
up at considerable expense after living in our home awhile. 
A servant’s bathroom was built off the laundry without the 
cellar being built underneath it. Under no circumstances allow 
such a thing to be done in any house you build. The warm air 
from the cellar, of course, could not protect the plumbing, and 
each winter much damage resulted. The idea that warm air from 
the laundry and kitchen would warm this extension proved an 
absolutely mistaken one. It is necessary to have the space be¬ 
tween the floors warm also to prevent damage to the traps. 
Building the bathroom over the front door vestibule is also a 
very bad practice. Often this is done in houses built these days 
when two bathrooms are provided, and even small houses are 
now provided with two bathrooms because the convenience of 
having them is becoming more and more realized. “The owner’s 
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