1 14 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
February, 1913 
An 
interior showing 
and wall 
least ten or fifteen 
feet away from 
any building, and 
two or three 
feet below the 
ground, filled 
outside through a 
tube with cap 
and lock six 
inches above the 
ground. 
The exterior 
walls may be of 
stone, brick, con¬ 
crete or terra¬ 
cotta tile, plas¬ 
tered on both 
sides. The inte¬ 
rior partitions should be of terra-cotta 
tile plastered, or of metal studs and 
wire lath plastered on both sides like 
the exteriors. The foundations should 
be of concrete. The concrete floor 
should be built on cinder fill to drain 
to a central trap, and this trap should 
collect all sand and grease, so that they 
can be easily cleaned out. The ceiling 
should be of reinforced metal lath or 
reinforced concrete beams and terra¬ 
cotta tile plastered. If the second floor 
is to be used for storage or living 
quarters, or any weight must be sup¬ 
ported by it, steel beams and reinforced 
concrete should be used. If the roof 
is a flat one it may be covered with tin, 
tar or gravel, and with slate or tile if 
it is a pitched roof of frame construction. 
overhead 
lights near 
washer, heating pipes 
the floor 
This fireproof garage of reinforced concrete is a good example 
of the more pretentious type 
GK.OVMP • PLA/'J 
GK-OVAIP • PLAA 
The arrangement of the upper right hand garage is illustrated by the larger plan, while the smaller 
one applies to the photograph below it 
The second floor 
ceiling being fireproof, there is little danger of fire being com¬ 
municated to the loft above. 
If an independent heating plant is used, it should have no con¬ 
nection with the garage. Gasolene vapors are heavier than air, 
and consequently seek a lower level. If the boiler-room were 
connected with the garage, it might become filled with gasolene 
vapors that would explode when they came in contact with the 
fire. 
Frame garages may be made slow-burning if the floor laid on 
the ground is of concrete and the inside of the garage proper 
covered with metal lath or plaster board, over which are applied 
two thick coats of asbestos plaster. This is retardent to fire and 
fairly fireproof when threatened with an incipient blaze, but it 
would probably disintegrate under a concentrated heat, letting 
the flames through. 
The garage should be heated by steam or hot water with the 
boiler located in a small cellar built under one corner, or if it is 
close to the house and the house boiler is large enough and below 
the level of the garage, a main may be carried over, laid in tile 
and protected with magnesia covering. The small boiler-room 
may be built either in the basement or at one side of the garage, 
having an independent entrance from without. 
Every garage should contain a toilet-room and hot and cold 
water, which is usually carried over from the house in the trench 
with the heating pipes, but laid well below the line of frost. In 
a good many cases the drain of the garage is connected with the 
house drain, the sewerage passing through the house to the 
sewer in the street. There are, of course, some cases where the 
garage may be nearer the street than the house, so that it would 
be advisable to have it drain into the main sewer and take the 
Another example of fireproof construction. Here the brick walls are 
plastered on the inside 
water and electricity from the main street supply. Where 
garages are placed back of houses the heating, lighting and sewer¬ 
age should be a continuation of the house system if possible. A 
cesspool may be resorted to where there is no sewer. If the 
conductors on the house are taken into a sewerage system with 
cast-iron pipes, the garage sewer can be connected at the bottom 
of the conductor where it passes through the house wall. There 
should also be hose cocks and an overhead washer in every garage 
for washing cars. A telephone from the house with the wires 
laid in an underground trench, should not be neglected. 
Electricity is required for lighting, to furnish power for the 
(Continued on page 133) 
