Gas pipes of insufficient diameter
cause the flames to burn with unsteady, dim light. Made ground is
seldom fit for immediate building; and never for other than isolated
structures. Ashes, street-sweepings, garbage, rotten vegetation, and
house refuse are unfit filling for low ground on which it is intended
to build. Cobble pavements are admirably adapted to soaking-up and
afterwards emitting unwholesome matters. Asphalt has none of this
fault. Wood is pernicious in this respect. "Gullies" in cellar floors
should be properly trapped; and this does _not_ mean that they shall
have bell-traps nor siphon-traps with shallow water-seal. Cellar
windows should be movable to let in air, and should have painted
wire-screens to keep out cats, rats, etc. New walls are always damp.
Window sills should project well out beyond the walls, and should be
grooved underneath so as to throw the water clear of the walls. Cracks
in floors, between the boards, help the accumulation of dirt and
dust, and may harbor vermin. Narrow boards of course have narrower
interstitial cracks than wide boards do. "Secret nailing" is best
where it can be afforded. Hot-air flues should never be carried close
to unprotected woodwork. Electric bells, when properly put up and
cared for, are a great convenience in a house; but when they
don't work, they are about as aggravating as the law allows. Cheap
pushbuttons cause a great deal of annoyance. Silver-plated faucets and
trimmings blacken with illuminating and sewer gases.
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