Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-12-14
Reu airing Ruildfngs,


Buildings, like men, IN time grow old, But
unlike men, when they are fast going to decay
they can be repaired and brought back to their
original beauty and strength. As many OF the
readers OF the Farmer are Intending the pr .sent
winter to get out lumber with which either TO
repair old or put up new building, and as m my
more Will sometime DO the same work, q few
hints on this subject may be both interesting and
useful.
When man has buil ding which is sadly in
need ofrepairs the nrst thing which he ought to
do is to sit down and .scouut the cost of putt ~
1t in order. Neglect of this simple thing las
involved many man in debt and aused him a
vast amount Of trouble aud yexation. Take
case, and such cases are Constantly occurrinf,
for an illustration of cur subject. nam has n
old house which Is both out of fashion and cut of
repair. He wishes to have il made as strlisA as
possible and also thoroughly repaired. He .
out of debt and has little money in the bank
This he decides to use in repairing the house. 70
build new house he Is well aware is a vary
expensive operation, but he thinks it viii not
cost a great deal to remodel and rensir ons
He has no Idea that il will take more than ty >
thirds OF his money IN the bank to 90 all that he
wishes cone. SO If he has wood lot he gets
out what timber be thinks he shall need, aud
when IL is ready for use he hires a CARPENTER 70
come and do the work. Ii he has no wood lot
be engages his lumber and sets the carpenter to
work a. once. Such a job i y5.y easy TO begin.
A carpenter, or almost any ore sc, can tear
down a building. But once begun no man can
tell where it wiz end. Pulling of the old 90 .r,Is
OFTEN reveals decaSed and worthless timbsrs
which were supposed to he sound and strong.
Pull these away and something else will be
found cut of order. And o on. The small loo
becomes the summers work OF the carpentsr
and great expense to the owner OF the house
More timber must he obtained AMI more work
than be expected must be done, and as time
passes on the work dragS along until ne wishes
he had never undertaken it. But the longest
Jobs end at last and even this is finally ,ue.
when his btlis are paid he finds that his money
at the bank Is all drawn and that he has also
been obliged to borrow of others in order to
meet his payments. His house Is finished but il
does not suit him. It il an old house after al
Old barns, too, are sometimes tinkered up IN
this way and made to cost as much as new,
while they are really worth very much less.
Now, il man has a job of this kind to do let
blm get trnsty man who understands the
business TO come anu examine the building and
make an estimate of the expense of putting &c
in repair. Lee him pull OFF boards enough 50
that he can see to begin with what it vii b,
necessary to do. Then let him make out q bi
of the timber required 70 that just what il
needed, and that only, may be Obtained. t.
the estimate Of the carpenter add at least ID
per cent. for xtras which are always wbntsi
and you can form an intelligent opinion Of tn,
cost OF doing YOUR work. If the estimate is CO l.
siderably higher than you think it should I Q do
not imagine that the carpenter is trying to
work and knows that it will be long aud ex-
pensive. Sometimes an old house is repaired,
when, all things considered, it would be econ
omy to pull down the old and build new. One
OF my friends is just row Illustrating this point.
He has large and valuable farm with a nice
barn, but an old and almost worthless hotlSe,
The location of the barn was first-rate, but that
OF the house was very poor indeed. Near by,
on his OWE land and near his barn, was very
good building loc. TIE house was q coarse,
oyergrown thing, which was built in the days OF
our forefat1ers, when size was the main point
to which attention was pail. The cellar was
not good, the foundation was imperfect, the
l. part WAS IN the wrong place. the outside Of
the house had 10 be torn OF ami the i1tide tor
out, and then commenced the work OF rebuild
ing. When It is done he will have an ill-shapei
house, with rooms gre at deal larger than he
wants, and il will he bad location, as WEI as
poor building. Now, with the same amount
OF work, and prob ably with "a Ii tile money, he
could have dug a new cellar and built a new
house with good and con enient location
whatever he may think OF the matter. his ne gin
bors andtriends are convinced that he has N .de
a great mistake.
And such mistakes "a this are being made al
throufh the land. Men will work and S8cnI
their money to patch up some old house or barn
which 10 power o! man can ever make neat ana
desirable, because they think il vii. cost little
less t. DO this than IL will 10 bui "a new. IN
some cases little money NAV b. saved, bat
even mere n l. otten poor and short sighted
economy; for although the buildings NAV costa
little l'~> than new ones, they are not worth -
much by great deal, and when the farm comes
TO be sold, rs nearly all farms sooner or later
are, II VIII have to 20 Tor q mach smaller sum
than IL would II the buildings were neat and
good do nos wish to counten4nce extrava-
gance in building, hut I am convinced that
hew-st!i 10 house, Il neat, although il NAV he
'hCdl'lS bulll VIII sell lOE more NO ley tlAn
old style house which has been covered new
even ih0ngh the latter may have cost great
deal the nc-t.
Smuggling and other repairs TO rc-ss are gem
orally Done by The farmers themselves In This
Work two things are absolutely necessary to in
sure good root Good shingles mus be used
AMI they must he well laid. Probably The ma
Jority OF farmers use second or third ralC shin
gle FisSt-ciass shingie like heart cedar and
pine are very expensive, bat in the long run
they are probably cheaper than tie chestnut
and low grades of cedar and pine. In some
places hemloCk or pine boards half an inch
thick and twenty four inches long laid eleven
inchss 70 the weather, are taking the place of
common shingle. When the boards are free
from shakes and knots this X nd of roof proves
very Garshle and gives good satisfa ction. Bat
however good the Single, unless they are well
laid, t!.ev will make a poor and leaky roof.
Only one thing more and that is, attend to al
repairs in time. In this, as in other things, ga
stitch il time saves nine. Workirg Turner.