A MODEL BLACK WEATHER-BOARD COTTAGE.

THE following plans and specifications are those of the model cottage close to Merrow Common, near Guildford, which will be inaugurated by Lord Midleton next Saturday (time 4.30), at a gathering to be held under the auspices of the Rural Co-partnership Housing and Land Council. (Address, the Secretary, 4 Tavistock Square, W.C.) The object with which the cottage has been built is a very simple one. IN aim is to show that it is possible for a landlord, who is willing, as most landlords are, not to reckon in the rent the cost of the land on which the cottage stands, to build a perfectly comfortable and sanitary cottage with three good bedrooms, parlour-kitchen and scullery, larder, coal cellar, &c., at a total cost of £150. But if a landlord can build at £150 he can afford to let at 2s. 6d. a week (the tenant paying the rates) without any serious pecuniary loss. Yet in the south of England, or at any rate anywhere within forty miles' radius of London, cottages are often let at 6s. a week. The obtaining of a cottage at 2s. 6d. a week is, in the case of most country working men, equivalent to a rise in wages of, say, 3s. a week. The cottage, being plastered inside, is no more liable to catch fire than is a cottage which has a brick outside. (Fires begin in cottages, as in other buildings, not outside but inside, and a brick cottage is none the less deadly if one does not escape from it than is a wooden one; the difference is merely that between being baked in a brick oven and roasted at a wood fire.) The insurance on the model cottage here described is only 5s. a year. Black weather-board fitted to a timber frame was chosen for the external walls of the cottage, not because it was cheaper than cement blocks or a thin brick wall, but because it is so very much more weather-proof than most blocks or slabs or than a thin brick wall. The rain runs off well-tarred weather-board like water off the overlapping scales of a dragon. If any wet gets in or is forced in by the wind, it drops into the air-space between the weather-board on one side of the frame and the lath and plaster on the other. The air space being closed, no vermin can get in. The air-space also keeps the house specially warm and dry. Since /he whole of the inside surface of the house is good ordinary plaster there is no danger of insects or vermin or dirt being harboured, as in a cottage with inside walls of wood. For the purposes of the dwellers, it is not a wooden house. They never come into contact with the tarred wood of the outside.

In the model cottage new and patent processes have purposely

been avoided. The cottage, as regards externals and internals, is built of materials to be obtained in any and every part of England-materials, indeed, already on the spot in every large village in the country. Any builder who can build anything can reproduce it. Again, the contract was purposely not placed in the hands of a builder who specialized in cheap construction or who, owing to peculiar circumstances, could do what ordinary builders could not accomplish. Messrs. W. & G. King are very well known and very good Surrey builders, but the type of work usually under- taken by them is of a much more expensive class. They there- fore worked under no special advantages, but rather the reverse. Their yard is many miles from Merrow. Though they took great interest in the cottage, and though no small praise is due to them for their work, they would be the last to allege that what they did could not be done equally well by others. The design, which anyone is free to copy, is suited to any site and to any form of construction-stone, brick, cement blocks, rough-cast, ferro-concrete, or weather tiles.

SPECIFICATION of work proposed to be done in the erection of a cottage for J. St. Loe Strachey, Esq.

W. & G. KING, Builders, Abinger Hammer, Dorking.

September 2nd, 1912.

Preliminary.-Give all notices to the Local Authority, and pay all fees as may be necessary.

Excavator.-Excavate footings for walls 18in. wide and 12in. deep, and wheel and deposit within 20yd. of the site, part to be returned and well rammed to the footings. The footings for chimney stacks to be excavated 6in. beyond the line of brickwork and 24in. deep. Level and well ram the earth over the whole site to receive the concrete under floors.

Concretor.-Lay in the trenches to the full width of same lime concrete 4in. thick to receive the brickwork, and ditto bin_ thick under the chimney stacks.

Cement concrete 4in. thick to be laid over the whole area of the ground floor to receive wood floors.

Bricktvork.-All brickwork to be executed in hard well burnt stock bricks built in lime mortar. The external walls to be half brick, with one course 9:n. next the concrete, and carried up 3in. above floor line.

Chimney Stacks.-Where the chimney stacks occur above the level

of the roof they are to be built in cement mortar. Pointing.-All external brickwork to be pointed with a neat struck joint.

Chimney Pots.-.A. chimney pot (24in. red ware) to be supplied to each fine.

Chimney Bars.-The fireplace openings to have 2in. by sin. caulked and cambered chimney bars with arches turned over same. Trimmer Arches.-Trimmer arches to be formed in concrete, floated

with cement to form hearths.

Dampcourses.-Asphalt dampcourse to be provided to all walls 3in. above ground level, and a 31b. lead dampcourse to be built into chimney stack above roof level.

Steps.-Form steps at both entrances with hard brick on edge built in cement.

Copper.-Provide and fix a 10-gallon copper furnace pan with proper furnace ironwork and damper in scullery, and connect flue of same to adjoining fireplace flue.

Sink.-Provide and fix a 24in. stoneware sink in scullery on half brick piers, and take waste from same in 2in. socket pipe to discharge into pail outside.

Cement Floors.-All ground floors (except bedroom and kitchen- parlour) to be floated cement and sand, gauged one of cement to three of clean, sharp sand.

CARPENTER.

Wall Framing.-The whole of the external walls of the cottage above the brick footing to be constructed of deal framing of the following dimensions, viz., 4in. by 4in. angle posts, 4in. by 3in. sills, heads, and plates, and intermediate posts, 4in. by 2in. quarters and braces. The quartering not to exceed 16in. from centre to centre. All internal framing to be of the following dimensions, viz., 3in. by 3in. sills, heads, and posts, 3in. by 2in. braces and quarters.

First Floor Joists.-The joists to the first floor to be 'Tin. by 2in. with 'Tin. by 2in. trimmers, and to have one row of bridging to each room.

Roof Timbers.-The roof timbers to be of the following dimensions, viz., 7in. by 1} in. ridge, 41in. by 3in. purlins. 4in. by 2in. rafters and ceiling joists, 41 in. by 2in. eaves lath, 11in. by 4in. battens for tiles.

Exterior Boarding.-The whole of the exterior framing to be covered with 7in. by sin. deal weather-boarding.

Floors.-The two bedrooms on the first floor to have lin. white deal folded floor, and the kitchen-parlour and bedroom on the ground floor to have lin. yellow deal tongued and grooved floor properly laid in mastic.

Skirtings.-The two bedrooms on the first floor and the bedroom on the ground floor to be provided with 4in. by sin. square skirting.

Windows.—The window frames and casements to be as shown on the plan, and to be 4in. by 3in. deal rebated and chamfered frames, with 141n. rebated and moulded casements. The casements to be fitted with 21in. steel butts, japanned cock- spurs, and casement stays.

Each window to be fitted with lin. rounded nosings around same to receive plaster (no architrave). Doors and Frames.—All doors to be lin. ledged and matched deal and hung to lin. lining with 14in. Scotch tee hinges, the linings to have lin. stop nailed on. External Door Frames.—The external door frames to be 4in. by 2in. rebated and chamfered deal, with oak sills, the front door frame only to be carried up the full height of ceiling with transome head and liin. casement hung on top rail with 2iin. butts to open outwards, and to have japanned casement stay. Hoods over Doors and Windows.—Provide and fix over each door and window 11in. by lin. deal boards supported on deal brackets to form hoods as shown on plan.

.Architraves.—Provide and fix to each doorway 2in. by fin. plain deal architraves.

GROUND PLAN.

Staircase.—The staircase to be constructed in a proper manner and the dimensions to be as under : lin. treads, sin. risers, and lin. string. Form enclosure under stairs with lin. match-boarding, with door therein opening into scullery.

Fill in spandril pieces between strings lin. floor joists with lin. match-boarding. Form drop landing with 6in. by 2in. joists and lin. white flooring.

Cupboards.—The cupboards in bedrooms and on landing to be formed of lin. match-boarding, and the doors of these cup- boards to be hung with 14in. cross garnetts, and to be fitted with brass cupboard turns. Provide and fix one shelf, 6in. by sin. hanging rail, and six japanned wardrobe hooks to each cupboard.

Shelving.—Provide 20ft. super lin. shelving, and fix in larder and scullery.

Leal-shed.—Line the inside of coal-house to a height of Oft. 6in. above floor with lin. rough boarding tongued and grooved. E.C.—Fit up the earth closet with lin. hinged deal seat, earth box, galvanised pail, rim, and scoop.

Draining Board.—Fit up a lin. draining board to sink. Copper Lid.—Provide a deal circular copper lid with proper handle.

PLASTERER.

Render, float, and set the internal brickwork of kitchen and ground floor bedroom.

Lath, plaster, float, and set the ceilings, internal framing-3, and partitions throughout. Cement Jambs.—Form cement jambs and frieze, with deal shelf, to fireplace in kitchen.

SMITH AND FOUNDER.

Kitchen.—Provide and set in kitchen a 24in. Larbert range with cover plate and soot door in same complete. Bedrooms.—In bedrooms, provide and set 18in. mantel registers. Eaves Clutter.—Provide and fix to eaves 4in. half-round eaves gutter and convey the water to ground level with 2lin. stack pipe, with all necessary fittings, swan necks, &c.

FIRST FLOOR PLAN.

Locks, 4r..—The front and back doors to be fitted with Gin. rim locks and brass furniture, also two bin. barrel bolts to each of these doors. Coal-house door to be fitted with Suffolk latch and 5in. deadlock. E.C. door to be fitted with Suffolk latch and 4in. barrel bolt. All internal doors to be fitted with 41in. rim latches.

PAINTER AND GLAZIER.

The window frames and casements, externally and internally, to be primed and painted three coats oil colour. The eaves gutter and stack pipe to be similarly painted. The remainder of the woodwork other than the weather-board to be twice coated with " Jodelite " or similar preservative. Glaze the windows with 21oz. sheet glass.

Tarring.—The external weather-boarding to be twice coated with gas tar.

Bstiinate.—The whole of the above work to be properly executed, and the cottage left in a clean and habitable condition for the slam of .8150.