The Construction of the Small House: A Simple and Useful Source of Information of the Methods of Building Small American Homes, for Anyone Planning to BuildWalsh, H. Vandervoort (Harold Vandervoort)
History
The Construction of the Small House: A Simple and Useful Source of Information of the Methods of Building Small American Homes, for Anyone Planning to Build
Walsh, H. Vandervoort (Harold Vandervoort)
Building; Dwellings
There is nothing very complicated in the plumbing system of the small
house. Certain sanitary precautions should be observed in arranging
lines, however. For example, the termination of the main soil-line
should not occur near a dormer or other window, nor should the
termination of the fresh-air inlet be located in the cellar wall under
a door or window. The system when completed in the roughed-in form
should be tested for leakage by filling it with water, and when all
the fixtures are connected and every part of the system is supposed to
be in working order, either the peppermint or the smoke test should
be used to detect any further possible leakage. The peppermint test
consists in pouring hot water and 2 ounces of oil of peppermint into
the top of the system from the roof, after all the fixture traps have
been filled with water, and then detecting with the nose where the
leaks are. If the smoke test is employed, a smoke machine is best. Old
oily rags and tar paper are burned in the machine, which has its flue
connected with the fresh-air inlet, and the smoke is pumped through
the system until it appears escaping from the soil-line extension on
the roof. If there are any leaks, the odor and the smoke stain will
attract attention to them, and if the water-closet traps in the bowls
are defective, the yellow stain of the smoke will make it very evident.
_Refrigerator Connections_
The drainage from the refrigerator should never be directly connected
with the drainage system of the house. If the plumbing code requires
any connection at all, the usual arrangement is to drip the ice-box
water into a lead-lined tray which has a pipe at least 1¼ inches in
diameter that carries the water down to the laundry-tubs in the cellar
and spills it into them. On the other hand, if there are no plumbing
regulations, it is best to drain this water off into a small hole in
the ground into which has been thrown gravel, and this will permit the
water to soak into the surrounding soil.
_Water-Supply Pipes_
If there is a city supply of water, the small house should have a
main supply-line from the water-main in the street of at least ¾-inch
diameter, but this does not give the service that a larger pipe, say a
1¼-inch pipe, does, for often with the smaller pipe, if the water is
being drawn in the kitchen, none will be secured from the faucets in
the second-floor bathroom. The kitchen-sink should have a service pipe
of at least ¾ inch, the tubs the same, and the lavatory ½ inch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account