HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 
DU 
33 
the laundry, for food supplies and for other storage. The heater 
is usually placed near the center of the house for the better 
distribution of heat above. In too many cellars it, with its 
attendant coal bins and ash barrels, stands in the main open space, 
so that coal dust and ashes are carried 
into all parts of the cellar and up the 
stairs by every passing foot or wander¬ 
ing breeze. The cleaner way is to place 
the heater and all the fuel in one room 
with a door near the foot of the stairs. 
Brick, stone, concrete or hollow tile make 
the safest partitions to separate this 
room from the rest of the cellar, though 
wood covered with plaster on metal lath 
or with plaster board will answer for 
stopping the dust. The ceiling should 
be plastered or covered with plaster 
board, to keep the dust from coming up 
through the floor above. The heater is 
sometimes placed just outside this room 
but opening into it through the partition, 
so that it may be fed directly from the 
coal bin. 
The bin for the furnace coal should 
be so placed that the coal may be 
shoveled into the furnace with the 
easiest possible motion, and should be 
filled through a chute. The 
location of the furnace 
room should be considered 
in connection with the 
chute, which should open 
from a drive, if there is 
one, or where the men will 
not have far to carry the 
coal if it must be carried. 
At the same time, the 
comfort of the family on 
coaling days must be con¬ 
sidered, and so it is better, 
because of the noise, not to 
have the chute under the 
living-room. There are a 
number of good iron chutes 
on the market which when 
open form a hopper to re¬ 
ceive the coal, protecting 
the house wall from in¬ 
jury, and when closed are 
no more conspicuous than 
a cellar window. A second 
one is needed if a different 
kind of coal is used for 
the kitchen range, and the 
bin for this coal should be 
placed beside the other in 
the fuel room, but nearer 
the door. Space for kind¬ 
ling and fireplace wood 
should be as ample as 
needed and a third chute 
and a fireproof bin may be 
placed for them. Bins for 
soft coal should also be of 
fireproof material on ac¬ 
count of the danger of 
spontaneous combustion or fire from an accidental spark. 
The next need to be met is room for storing provisions. The 
room should be provided with such bins, open shelves and cup¬ 
boards as will hold the desired store of potatoes, apples, pre¬ 
serves, and what not. All the shelves 
should be loose so they can easily be 
taken out for scrubbing and sunning. 
This room should be cool, well protected 
from the furnace heat, yet out of danger 
of frost, dry, well ventilated, but not 
very light, as sunlight will start the 
potatoes sprouting. The windows had 
better be northerly or protected from the 
sun under a porch. 
If a laundress comes in to do the 
washing or if the maid who does it is 
relieved from kitchen work and door 
duty during washing hours, the cellar 
laundry has advantages over tubs in the 
kitchen or in a small adjoining room. 
There is more space and coolness to 
work in, the laundress is undisturbed by 
other household matters and the house¬ 
hold is undisturbed by steam and soapy 
smells. Space is left for other uses 
above stairs and waste space is utilized 
below. If the stairs are easy and access 
to the drying yard direct 
there is no complaint on 
the score of stairs. If the 
laundry is large enough, 
and thoroughly protected 
from coal dust by the 
fuel-room partitions, the 
clothes may be dried there, 
on lines or racks, in stormy 
weather. 
The tubs should be placed 
on a wooden platform, to 
save the laundress’s feet 
from the concrete floor. A 
narrow shelf just above is 
convenient for the soap, 
blueing, etc. Above this 
should be as much window 
space as possible, with 
preferably an easterly ex¬ 
posure. The more sunlight 
the laundry gets, the cleaner 
the clothes will be. A cor¬ 
ner room with cross drafts 
and a south and east ex¬ 
posure is desirable. A 
clothes chute is a small 
luxury that is dear to the 
housekeeper’s heart, and 
may be put in almost as 
easily as a furnace pipe; 
indeed, a large furnace pipe 
makes a very good one and 
avoids the fire risk of a 
wooden chute. If the laun¬ 
dry, kitchen or pantry sink 
and a bathroom or two are 
on one plumbing stack, 
the clothes chute may be 
■ .. „ v 
The most practical of all cellar entrances is the vertical 
door without areaway 
The relation between the cellar and upstairs is demonstrated by imposing this plan on 
the plan above. Note the arrangement of chimneys, walls and stairs 
