It is not here proposed to give working plans, or estimates, to a
nicety; or particular directions for building any design even, that we
present. The material for construction best suited to the circumstances
and locality of the proprietor must govern all those matters; and as
good builders are in most cases at hand, who are competent to give
estimates for the cost of any given plan, when the material for
construction is once settled, the question of expense is readily fixed.
The same sized house, with the same accommodation, may be made to cost
fifty to one hundred per cent. over an economical estimate, by the
increased style, or manner of its finish; or it may be kept within
bounds by a rigid adherence to the plan first adopted.
In western New York this house and attachments complete, the body of
stone, the wood-house, wagon-house, &c., of wood, may be built and well
finished in a plain way for $1,500. If built altogether of wood, with
grooved and matched vertical boarding, and battens, the whole may be
finished and painted for $800, to $1,200. For the lowest sum, the lumber
and work would be of a rough kind, with a cheap wash to color it; but
the latter amount would give good work, and a lasting coat of mineral
paint both outside and within.
As a _tenant_ house on a farm of three, four, or even five hundred
acres, where all who live in it are laborers in the field or household,
this design may be most conveniently adopted. The family inhabiting it
in winter may be well accommodated for sleeping under the main roof,
while they can at all seasons take their meals, and be made comfortable
in the several rooms. In the summer season, when a larger number of
laborers are employed, the lofts of the carriage or wagon-house and
work-shop may be occupied with beds, and thus a large share of the
expense of house building for a very considerable farm be saved. Luxury
is a quality more or less consulted by every one who builds for his
_own_ occupation on a farm, or elsewhere; and the tendency in building
is constantly to expand, to give a higher finish, and in fact, to
over-build. Indeed, if we were to draw the balance, on our _old_ farms,
between scantily-accommodated houses, and houses with needless room in
them, the latter would preponderate. Not that these latter houses either
are too good, or too convenient for the purpose for which they were
built, but they have _too much_ room, and that room badly appropriated
and arranged.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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