The Character of the Street - The Need for a Front Garden - External Appearance - Dampness Flues - Drainage - Garden and Outhouses

Neighbourhood

When, owing to the smallness of the household or slenderness of means, one has to seek a house of moderate rental, a difficulty will be found in regard to the class of people that may be one's neighbours.

In town and suburban districts the street takes its character from that of the majority of its occupants, and persons of refined tastes would find it impossible to live up to their usual standard of comfort in a district tenanted by people inspired by a different set of ideals. Amongst the disconcerting factors to be reckoned with are the presence of noisy children in the roadway, street music in generous abundance, hawkers of sturdy lung-power, and disturbances from early risers and late homecomers.

One could hardly mistake the character of an established neighbourhood, but in a new suburb, before the majority of the houses are occupied, it might prove that the pioneer tenant had misjudged the class of householder that would follow him, and in a few months he would regret his choice.

By diligent search, however, one may find quite admirable little houses sandwiched in between others of more ample proportions, and generally such houses are free from the objections that attach to those of the same rental repeated in endless perspective. Some landowners have recognised the difficulty, and provided variety of size when developing their estates.

Position Relative To Roadway

Other things being equal, the house-hunter is advised to select a house not too close to the roadway. A forecourt has many advantages apart from questions of horticulture. It is a barrier against road-dust, which in thoroughfares used by motors is fast becoming a bane to the housewife, filtering into the rooms through every opening, and appreciably adding to her daily round of work. Street nuisances become less distracting when heard from a distance, and undesirable callers are sometimes deterred when they find the front door remote from the side-walk.

The House from Outside

Questions of style and external decoration, although they do not necessarily affect the comfort and convenience of the house internally, cannot be ignored. The advent of the

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Garden City, and the recent revival of a more refined taste in domestic architecture, have already exerted their influence on the speculative builder, showing him that a fair exterior of simple design better satisfies the average twentieth-century person than the hotch-potch of cheap carving, florid cast-iron work, and gaudy paint that one time drew him tenants. Associated with an inartistic exterior one not infrequently finds faulty construction and bad materials.

The Walls

Bad brickwork soon shows its shortcomings. The bricks may be sound, but the " pointing " falls away, revealing the shoddy mortar behind, every course of which becomes a channel for conducting the rain inwards.

Look, then, at the pointing, and see that it is sound, continuous, and of cement-like hardness.

Every house is required to have a properly constructed " damp-course," the purpose of which is to prevent the moisture rising from the soil and permeating the walls. Many old houses lack this essential, but are not always damp in consequence, because they have been built of materials less porous than the present-day brick, and with better mortar.

Some modern houses have the damp-course in name only, owing to the use of improper materials, or of proper materials badly applied. The damp-course is generally obvious enough as an extra thick space between the brick courses just above the ground-level.

It will be noted that the bricks below this space are permanently damp in all weathers, but if the damp-course is effective, the brickwork above it will be dry. If not, and provided there is no temporary cause for the dampness, such as recent rain, it may be assumed that the damp-course is at fault and the house on that account undesirable.

Patches of moisture showing above, but not immediately contiguous to the damp-course, may have their origin in the same defect, the moisture passing up the inside of the wall for some distance before showing on the outer surface. Hence the need for examining the walls inside as well as out. Moisture showing near the eaves, or high up on the walls, may come from leaky guttering, faulty roofing, or from cistern overflow, and may be disposed of by remedying these defects. In detached country houses in exposed positions, the walls are not infrequently permanently damp through rain driving against them. A house subject to such conditions is not hopeless if the tenant or landlord be prepared to spend money in providing a protective covering on the weather side. Painting the brickwork is one remedy, but hanging tiles is a better one. Cementing and "rough-cast"* is still another. Houses of impervious stone, like those found in the north of England and in Scotland, are usually dry enough.

The damp-course is generally obvious as an extra brick space between the brick courses just above the ground-level. Shaded part of wall is always more or less moist. The unshaded portion should be always dry

Course of moisture in a wall provided with an inefficient damp-course. The brickwork above the damp-course should always be dry