Part 15
But perhaps the most widely used method of producing an intimate connection between ground and walls of the house is with foundation planting. There is much abuse of this method. To surround the base of the house with billowy clumps of shrubbery, so that it appears almost as if it were springing from a bed of clouds, is not at all satisfying. Nor should the owner have to be everlastingly kept at the job of trimming down these plants or removing dead ones which refuse to grow in the poor soil and bad drainage next to the cellar. And the house should not be made to mourn behind a bed of evergreens, protected at intervals with sentinel-like cedars, dark and foreboding, against the wall and sighing and whining in the wind. Rather should a delicate use be made of foundation planting by using vines, and now and then a small shrub or little evergreen. The object should be to make a shading and transition from the green lawn to the walls of the house by carrying upward upon the walls or against them some of the climbing plants, that the green of the ground may fade gradually into the white of the stucco or the red of the brick wall. Public buildings need massive and impressive foundations, but the small house should be nestled in Nature’s lap.
2.—NATURAL FRAMING FOR HOUSE
When viewed by the passer-by in the street the planting around the house should be so arranged that it makes a natural frame for it and creates a composition for a picture. Regarded from this angle there should be background trees, trees and shrubbery flanking the sides along the edge of the plot, a green open lawn stretching forward to the street, some columnar-shaped trees or lacelike trees wisely placed to suggest the middle ground, and then a wall or low hedge with low plantings to make a foreground.
The background trees should be tall and mixed in character, so that their skyline is not stiff and wall-like. The trees which run along the edge of the lot ought also to be varied in type. Low shrubs should fill in the spaces between their trunks, but as they come forward on the property they should be more scattered, lower and thinner, so that the neighboring property can be seen, and finally they should end, allowing a blended connection between the lawns on either side. There are some who advocate that the site should be completely walled in with shrubs or fences and separated entirely from the neighboring plots, but this is not quite in harmony with our traditions, and ought not to be carried to this individual exclusiveness, although the rear of the lot may be so screened in.
The green lawn should not be broken with flower-beds, for, taken at its largest, it is bound to be little, and nothing should be introduced to break it up. The windings of the front path may be such that clumps of low shrubbery and a few columnar trees, like cedars or Lombardy poplars, can be placed along its edge and produce a motif for the middle ground, like a moving silhouette against the elevation of the house as one passes by.
The building up of the foreground should be with some low planting over which one can look. The use of fence or wall is legitimate if it does not cut off the view. Gates are a little out of harmony with our American traditions, for they mean that they should be attended by a gatekeeper, a human tool that is quite extinct in the average home, and especially in the small one.
3.—INTERESTING APPROACHES
Generally speaking, due to the smallness of the average plot upon which the little house is erected, the building of a prominent pathway to the front door directly in a straight line from the street, cutting the lawn and the property in two equal halves, is not pleasing. The lawn will be small enough as it is without chopping it into two pieces. If a straight approach is desirable, it should be made of materials that will not visibly produce this effect of division. Stone slabs of greenish color or neutral tones set with open joints, or even stepping stones, solve the problem. But the straight approach has not the mystery and picturesque quality of one which curves around the outside of the lawn, and is framed in with planting, so that the view of the house is constantly changing as one proceeds.
The roadway to the garage might also be the way to the house. Nothing looks uglier than the straight cut from street to garage. Planning the location of this service building so that it cannot be seen from the street is an excellent step in the right direction.
The material of which these paths and roads should be constructed ought to be in harmony with the house. Brick paths look well with brick houses, stone paths and gravel paths look well with stone houses, concrete paths and roads go well with concrete and stucco houses, for one naturally associates these materials as being left over from the building. It is the most natural thing in the world to use up a few of the bricks for the paths after one gets through building the brick house, or laying some of the stones to walk upon, after finishing the house of stone, or using up a few odd barrels of cement for the walks when the job on the concrete house is over. And being so natural a thing, there is a likable gesture in doing it.
4.—PLANTING FOR THE SEASONS
The composition of the picture which is the aim in all of this work about the house, should not be spoiled by careless selection of plants for the various seasons of the year. It is very unwise to place in the front of the house tender shrubs and flowers which wither and die in the winter months or which have to be wrapped in swaddling-clothes. Is there anything more forlorn than to see a lot of burlap-wrapped or hay-packed mummy trees or shrubs, standing out on the cold wintry lawn in front of the house? A few evergreen trees and a few broad-leaf trees which show delicate limbs when bare, and a few shrubs that hold the snows that settle upon them are the things to plant in the front of the house. Leave the tender plants to the garden in the rear.
And this garden at the back of the house should be treated in a most private way. It should be surrounded with a wall or high hedge. There should be walks, border plantings, a little touch of water, and a seat in the smallest garden. It should be located so that it can be viewed from the house and enjoyed. Here all of the fine, delicate, and colorful flowers and plants can be placed. In the winter months the protected plants with their ugly clothes will not seem so out of place in this secreted patch of ground.
5.—IMPROVING THE VIEW FROM THE HOUSE
Next in importance to planning the setting of the house and its appearance from the street should be the planning of the views from windows of the house itself. The development of the private garden at the back is one help which was previously alluded to, but there are generally ugly things which can be seen from the windows of the house that need screening out. These ugly objects may be on the neighboring property, or they may be the drying-yard for the clothes, or the garage. Whatever they are, a screen of trees can be used to shut them from the view.
But the most important part of this problem is to make the best of any view that may be possible from the house. A far-away river, a hill, or a meadow might be brought to sight by trimming some trees or brush. Distant landscapes are most satisfying to the eyes, for they rest them.
_Construction of the Lawn_
From what has been said, the importance of the lawn in front of the house can be appreciated. It is the rug spread out before the jewel-box. Over it one can view the beauty of the home, and so it needs the best attention. The very first thing to consider in building the lawn is to arrange for good drainage and a deep top layer of good soil, say 18" to 24". Pockets where water may collect and settle must be drained with tiles placed in the ground. The surface water should be carefully distributed away from the house.
An ordinary site will have stones and weeds scattered over it. In the beginning these stones should be carted away and the weeds cut down with a scythe, and a plough run over the surface to a foot in depth, unless the subsoil is not sandy and holds water, in which case a deeper ploughing is better. Then stones and weeds should be taken out of this earth, not once, but as many times as the earth delivers up stones and weeds. When this is done, the grading may be started, and this should be with long, easy grades. Where trees and shrubs edge the lawn, a slight hollow in the grade will improve it.
This graded soil is not ready for grass until it has been covered with 25 to 50 loads per acre of thoroughly decayed, composted stable manure, or, if not this, bone-dust, wood-ashes, superphosphates of lime, nitrate of ammonia, etc. This dressing should be raked into the top-soil with the harrow and hand rake, and whatever weeds and stones come up with this operation should be removed.
Grass seed should then be selected which will give the most rugged growth for the particular conditions of the site. Often this can best be accomplished by using a mixture of seed. The different kinds of grass have qualities suited to certain types of soil. For example, Kentucky blue-grass, while coarse and not so attractive as some others, grows vigorously and holds its own in sandy soil. Rhode Island bent-grass makes good sod in moist climates, and redtop is apt to die off in a drought.
This seed must be sown liberally to make allowances for loss in germination, and evenly to prevent patchy growth. About six bushels per acre is considered enough. All of this must be raked under with a fine-toothed iron rake and pressed down with a heavy roller. As soon as the blades are tall enough to be caught in the mower, this new grass should be cut, for this helps to make it grow thicker and keep down the weeds. But work on the lawn does not end here. Constant care is the price of a good one.
_Construction of Roads and Paths_
Attention has already been called to the use of materials for paths and roads which harmonize with the materials of the house. In a previous chapter, details were given on the construction of concrete paths and roads. Therefore other types will be considered here, such as brick, gravel, and stone.
The driveway to the garage ought to be about 10 feet wide and flare out to a 15-foot width at the house, where the car is driven up to the entrance, so that an incoming car can pass by any which is standing in front of the door. This roadway should widen out into a Y shape in front of the garage, as shown in the drawings, to permit of backing out and turning around. A round turning area in front of the garage may be substituted for this Y-shaped arrangement. Any curves made in the driveway should have a radius from centre of the curve to outside edge of the road of 30 feet 6 inches, although a Ford car can run on a road having a radius of only 14 feet.
If the driveway is to be of gravel and the subsoil is wet or clayey, drainage must be arranged for along the edges. Trenches 3 feet to 4 feet deep should be dug on either side and 3-inch diameter agricultural tile laid at the bottom with open joints covered with collars, then a layer of sod, and then 6 inches of field stone or gravel, and finally top-soil. Wherever there are pockets that would collect surface water, outlets should be constructed and covered with iron grating. All the subsoil tile should connect with one main tile and drain off at some low point.
For ordinary light traffic the road itself may be built with a foundation of stones to a depth of 2 feet. This should be covered with a layer of coarse gravel 2½ inches thick, a top layer of finer gravel 4 inches thick, and rolled with a heavy roller after water or some bituminous binder has been sprinkled over it. A crown of ½ inch to the foot should be made, and any grades ought to be kept about 5 feet in 100 feet, and at the most 10 feet in 100 feet.
In the construction of gravel walks the grade should be kept to within 12 feet in 100 feet and be crowned ¼ inch per foot.
The success of the brick walk depends upon the foundation used. A poor one will permit the bricks to settle unevenly, crack, and break away at the edges. The bricks themselves may be laid in any number of different and interesting patterns, such as the basket weave or the herring-bone. A row of bricks on edge along the outside of the walk makes an excellent finish.
The foundations of the brick walk may be built of sand, cinders, or concrete. The first two give a walk somewhat irregular, and grass can be made to grow in the joints. To begin the laying of a brick walk, the earth should be excavated to a depth of 4 inches, and either a bed of sand 2 inches thick, or a concrete of one part cement to eight parts sand 3 inches thick should be spread. When the bricks have been arranged on this bed, sand should be worked into the joints between them by leaving a layer on the walk for a few days and brushing it into the crevices.
Where concrete is used for the base, a more rigid walk will result, and in such types it is customary to use mortar to fill the joints. A thin 1:3 grout can be brushed into these joints and the little that is smeared over the surface can be washed off with scrubbing-brush, water, and 5-per-cent muriatic acid. A better method is to pour grout into the joints, wiping the brick clean before the mortar sets.
There are a number of different types of stone walks that can be used, depending upon the character of the stone in the neighborhood. Flat flagstone walks are usually rather uninteresting, and many prefer the picturesque effect which is produced by stepping stones. These ought to be placed about 22 inches apart to make walking easy on them. A very interesting and much-used walk is made by setting flat stones of different shapes together, like the pieces of a cut-out puzzle, but leaving a small space between each stone in which grass or moss can be grown.
XXII FINANCING THE CONSTRUCTION WORK
The problem of financing the small house is a part of the problem of building, and to some extent is a very personal affair, and every prospective owner has his own difficulties and personal solutions. Those who have saved for a number of years enough money to invest in this adventure of home-building are quite simply fixed, and all that they need consider is how large a house they can have for the money saved.
A method was shown in an early chapter by which the approximate cost of a house could be determined when the plans were in the rough. This consisted of studying the houses built in the neighborhood where the new home was to be erected, calculating their cubical contents and dividing this into their total cost, so that their cost per cubic foot could be known. By comparing this result with the figures which the local builders had offered, a fair idea could be obtained of how much per cubic foot the new house would run. A few figures were given for the different types of construction, but nothing certain can be predicted from them, for, as was pointed out, the cost is definitely related to the locality and the time.
Once, however, having arrived at a reasonably correct cost figure for the cubic foot, the question of how big a house is to be had for the money is quickly determined. Divide this cost per cubic foot into the total sum of money which is to be used for building the house, and the allowable number of cubic feet in the new house will be found. If now the average height of the new house, from the cellar to the average height of the roof, is divided into this allowable cubic contents, the allowable ground area for the plan will be known.
For example, suppose the sum that can be invested in the house itself is $10,000, and it is found that the houses in the locality, of similar construction, cost per cubic foot about 35 cents. Dividing 35 cents into $10,000, it is found that a house having approximately 28,570 cubic feet can be constructed. If 8 feet is allowed from cellar floor to level of first floor, 9 feet from first to second floor, and 13 feet from second floor to the average height of the roof, then a total average height for the house will be found to be 30 feet. Dividing this 30 feet into 28,570 cubic feet, it will be found that a floor area of approximately 950 square feet can be had. Now, as the floor area of the plan of any two-story house is determined by the area required for the second floor and not the first, the desired sizes of the various bedrooms should be approximated, and the results added together to see whether they come within the allowable floor area. Continuing this example, suppose that the master bedroom is to be approximately 14 feet by 15 feet, the other three bedrooms approximately 12 feet by 12 feet, the toilet about 7 feet by 10 feet, the hall about 8 feet by 12 feet, then by adding the area of these rooms together it will be quickly found out whether the allowable area has been exceeded.
Master bedroom, 14 feet by 15 feet 210 square feet Three other bedrooms, 12 feet by 12 feet 432 “ “ Toilet, 7 feet by 10 feet 70 “ “ Hall, 8 feet by 12 feet 96 “ “ ——————————————— Total 808 square feet
This number of square feet is within the amount allowed, which is 950, but additional area must be added to this for closets, say 3 feet by 4 feet for the closet of the master bedroom, and 3 feet by 3 feet for the closets of the other rooms, and other closets for linen and space for chimneys and the like, making about 60 square feet, which should be left for this part of the plan. This makes the area about 868 square feet, and no allowance has been made for porches or passageways. It is quite evident from this that the number of bedrooms desired, their approximate size, and the size of the toilet and closets is nearly up to the maximum which the limitations of cost will permit. Working with these approximate figures, the plans of the house can be roughly prepared, the area required for the second-floor rooms being used as a basis for the allowable area of the first floor, since it is more than enough, for the second-floor area of a house, as has been said, is always greater than the minimum area for the first floor.
When roughly prepared plans and elevations have been arranged on this basis, the cubage can again be checked, and if it is over the allowed amount, the size should be cut down; if under, increased. The cubical contents of porches may be computed at one-quarter of the cubage of the main portion of the house, but if enclosed with glass they should be estimated at their full cubic contents.
Having thus roughly arrived at the plans and elevations of the house which is within the allowed cubage, a rough outline specification should be prepared in which the essential materials, workmanship, and mechanical equipment are defined. Enough information will then be had from which a rough estimate can be secured from a local contractor, or even the architect may make an estimate, based upon previous examples of other houses. If this rough estimate comes within the allowable figure which is to be spent for construction, then the contract drawings can be safely started, and a reasonable assurance can be had that the cost of the house will not go beyond the amount of money available. As most contractors will give an outside price on any preliminary estimates of this kind, unless radical changes are made in the plans, it can almost surely be the case that the final estimate on the contract documents will be less. However, there are often times when the final figures exceed these preliminary estimates, and one should always be prepared to shrink parts of the building or withdraw some of the finest requirements of the specifications.
But one of the prime essentials in financing any building operation is to be sure that the contract drawings contain everything which is desired in the finished building, and that none or very few changes are made in the building after the contract is let and the building is in process of construction. Alterations from the original plans, after construction work has begun, come under the bugbear title for all architects, “Extras.” They always mean waste of money. Likewise, things which were omitted from the plans and specifications, which are later found to be necessary, run up extraordinary bills, and the general impression which most people have that a building operation always costs more in the end than was originally counted upon is due largely to the neglect of these factors. Competent architects make such complete plans and specifications that extras of the “omission type” are avoided, but most small houses are built from plans that are not complete, or prepared by architects who sell their services at such low rates that they cannot afford to take the time to check up the plans carefully. It is right here that the architect has a real business point to give the client, namely, that if he does not pay for carefully prepared plans and specifications in the beginning, he will pay out much more in the end for extras.
Up to this point the financing of the small house, for the one who has the money, is not complicated, but this is the unusual condition, because the average person who builds the small house has not the ready cash to put into it, for that is the reason he builds a small house. The average individual who builds the small house generally has a certain amount which can be invested and the rest must be borrowed, and there are many who advise that even if one did have the whole amount to invest, it would be better to borrow some for the building operation, and keep out as much as possible for investments in other lines where the money might bring in greater returns.
The problem naturally turns upon where and how much can be borrowed for the building operation. Here again a very personal matter is involved. Some will have very close friends from whom they can secure a large first and second mortgage at a fairly reasonable rate, others may be able to secure a first mortgage from some financing institution which will be an amount equal to one-half the total cost of land and house, and then they may be able to secure a second mortgage from some friend, for most business houses are not prone to take second mortgages. Often a greater sum can be raised on the contract system, for by this method the person lending the money is more certainly assured of securing quick control of it in case of the necessity of action when payments on the interest fail. By the contract method, the individual lending the money holds the deed of the property, and can secure control of the property more quickly than if he had a mortgage and the owner held the deed. In many cases where foreclosure of mortgages are found necessary, there may be a delay of a year or more before the money-lender can secure control of the property, but if he holds the deed the delay is shortened, and because of this fact he is apt to lend more money than 50 per cent of the total value. Of course, in the contract method the owner secures the deed to the property when his last payment is made upon the principle and he has wiped out all of his interest indebtedness.