Excerpt from Details of Building Construction

The drawings have been carefully prepared after a long, practical experience and with the aid of one of the best libraries in this country, supplemented by a large collection of working drawings from the offices of leading architects. No pains have been spared to free them as far as possible from the taints of local practice; and while not all that is shown is unreservedly recommended, great care has been taken not to include anything that has not the authority of good practice, and that may not fairly be called good construction when the element of cost is considered. Some cheap methods of construction have been shown and recommended as good of their kind. Such, for instance, are the wood sills shown on Plate VI., which have already been subjected to adverse criticism, but which it seemed best, after mature consideration, to retain. The wood sill in other than frame buildings has the same excuse for being as has the shingle roof it is cheap. It can of course be justified only on the score of expense, but 1t has the sanction of good practice in sections of the country where cut stone is not easily and cheaply obtainable; 1t is painted and treated frankly as wood, and has stood the test of time.

It has several times been suggested that the dimensions of parts be figured on the various details throughout the work, but to the author this has seemed entirely too dogmatic a procedure. As the sturdy Pennsylvania farmer builds his house with 3 x 5-inch if he does not build of stone, - and does not think of extravagance, while the toiling dweller in the cyclone regions of the West builds with 2 x 4-inch studs and wonders if he cannot safely space them 24 inches on the centers, so the 25 or 3-inch window-sill that is accepted as a matter of course in one section would strike terror to the heart of the builder in the thriftier region where the 2-inch sill is an extravagance. In order to make the drawings, however, it was necessary to show material of definite size and thickness, and the dimensions chosen for the various parts have been made to represent as nearly as possible the average of good practice. As everything has been most carefully drawn to scale, the sizes used can be ascertained to a nicety by simply measuring them on the drawings. The type window, Plate IV., has been pretty fully figured, but beyond this it was felt that figured dimensions would seem to be an attempt at finality that would tend to restrict the liberty of choice and the exercise of individual judgment on the part of designer and constructor, without which there can be no true progress. If the work Is to be used simply as a copy-book it must inev1tably fail of Its purpose, which in the intent of the author has been much broader.

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