2 l6 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 1914 
Plate'Rail-. Wainscot: Trim: and JPoor_>. 
joints; care to be taken that mortar is not smeared over face of 
stone.” 
The inner hearth and backs and sides of the fireplace should 
be of brick, as there are few stones that will stand the heat. 
The brick must be sound, hard and well burnt; but the color 
seems not very important, as it will be more or less blackened by 
the fire. Buff firebrick would be excellent if obtainable. 
The “throat” or smoke chamber above the fireplace must be 
carefully built as shown, though a different damper may be used. 
The area of the 
flue must be at 
least one-twelfth 
the size of the 
fireplace opening, 
and should be 
lined with terra- 
cotta, either 
round or square 
pipe, whichever 
is easier to get. 
The outer 
hearth may be of 
flat stones of the 
kind used for the 
chimney breast; 
or, since we as¬ 
sumed a tile floor 
for our room, 
there need be no 
special outer hearth at all, the tiles carried up to the face of the 
fireplace. 
The tile of the floor should be laid with wide joints, from 
a quarter to a half-an-inch, of cement and sand mortar slightly 
colored with yellow ochre to match the mortar in the chimney 
breast, or some other colored sample the owner may select. If 
the floor construction is not fireproof a four-inch bed of cinder 
concrete fill must underlie the tile. This is known as “deafening.” 
The beams are 
beveled to a 
sharp edge at the 
top, and four 
inches down 
strips of wood are 
nailed against the 
sides of the 
beams and board 
laid across the 
concrete, which is 
then poured on 
the board. 
There is, of 
course, a wide 
range of selection 
in the floor tiles; 
the Welsh rough 
^-Plaster between 
jtano is be cased as 
yshowrz or else Adjc-cv 
-4 * 6 [cu j/ctfr- 
TInD ./OFcDeAMAT (jHIMNEy = 7)R.EAJ"Y■ 
The woodwork at a larger scale; the different pieces lap each other so that their 
shrinkage would cause no open cracks; wainscot board should be stained before the 
half-round moulding or the battens are applied to prevent unpainted cracks 
~Kk.6Ri.ace •• (Section anpTToht. 
Elevations — proportions may be somewhat changed to suit real conditions; stones of the chimney all irregular, if 
possible, stones that naturally suit being chosen for the lintel and the corbels under beam and mantel-shelf 
tiles, the smooth Ohio tiles, interesting rough-faced tiles from 
Boston and from Doylestown, and others of all textures and 
colors. They should be unglazed, the color harmonizing with 
other colors in the room ; they can be square, oblong or hexagonal, 
and laid in patterns if desired; but be cautious, most cautious, 
in deciding to combine two or more colors! 
There is still more latitude in the choice of a wood for doors 
and wainscot. If we intend to paint it, white pine, poplar or 
whitewood are best, and cheapest, too (assuming that we accept 
small knots if the builder prefers white pine) ; but such a room 
would seem more attractive if the grain of the wood show; of 
course, it may be stained and finished in any way we desire. 
Here, in the East, there are the following woods, ranged ap¬ 
proximately in order of their cost, based on a thousand feet each, 
board measure, planed one side: 
Cypress (Chestnut, if it can be had at all)... . $35.00 
North Carolina Pine. 35.00 
Georgia Pine, Birch or Common Red Oak. 40.00 
Maple, Ash or Red Gum. 60.00 
Best Quality, selected, kiln-dried. Quartered Oak 100.00 
The rarer 
woods, like good 
mahogany or Cir¬ 
cassian walnut, 
would seem inap¬ 
propriate here, 
too fine and deli- 
cate for the 
rough stone ; 
American walnut 
is now unobtain¬ 
able. However, 
those listed above 
fill almost all 
needs. A further 
survey of their 
qualities might be 
interesting: 
Cypress —F rom 
swamps in the 
nearer Southern States ; a soft wood, easily worked ; stands damp¬ 
ness fairly well — i. e., does not shrink, swell or warp badly; is 
easily obtained “clear” — i. e., without knots; has a beautiful and 
varied grain in layers alternately hard and soft, which swell ir¬ 
regularly under stain and varnish so that a perfect level sur¬ 
face is almost unobtainable, if one wants such a thing; then, too, 
it is unsatisfactory if uniformity of color is desired, as different 
pieces and different parts of the same piece vary from light to 
dark. 
North Carolina 
Pine — Cut princi¬ 
pally from the 
short - leaved 
Southern pine; 
neither soft nor 
hard; stands 
weather fairly 
well; easy to ob¬ 
tain “clear”; has 
a good, definite 
grain; does not 
take paint as well 
as the softer 
woods, but is ex¬ 
cellent under 
stain or varnish; 
stands hard wear, so is used in floors, but in such a position it 
should always be “comb-grained,” — i. e., cut radially, just as 
“quarter-sawed” oak is cut—for then it cannot wear splintery. 
This adds twenty-five per cent to the cost. 
Georgia or Yellow Pine —Principally from the long-leaved 
Southern pine ; resembles the N. C. pine, but is far stronger, stiffer 
even than oak, so it is used widely for heavy framing timbers; 
contains much resin, which exudes through any paint applied to 
it; stains do not sink into it, but it can be shellaced and varnished 
its natural yellow color. 
(Continued on page 239) 
rTUl 
P : 7 
XbofLAHP Vi^INJCOT. 0.KTJON. Wll 
INDOW AND GuNJCOT. 
