The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-08-31
Selecting Durable Building Tim
Der,

4 COMMON error is frequently COM
mitted in selecting durable building
timber for dwelling houses and out
buildings, and then choosing perish
able timber for sleepers or cross stills,
though the main sills may have been
procured of the best quality at large
expense. We frequently see white oak
or red elm sills and sleepers Of sugar
maple, which will decay as soon as
Eastwood or buttonwoOd. When the
ends of sleepers are received in gains
cut in the sillS the very ends are more
liable to decay than any other part,
especially if water is allowed to find
its way down in the joints. For this
reason it is always quite as important
to select durable timber for jOists and
sleepers as for sills. But when the
sills Of building are resting on high
wall, where the timber will not be
exposed to the alternate influences of
moisture and dryness, almost any kind
of wood may be employed. So long as
water can be kept from the surface,
from cracks and from mOrtiseS timber
will remain quite sound. Eastwood,
white beech, maple and other kinds of
timber that are known as perishable,
will satisfactorily serve these purposes
and continue sound so long as the sticks
can be kept dry.
In many localities durable timber
for fence posts or for Sills to building
is exceedingly scarce. Yet there are
so many varieties of durable timber
that, if oak of some kind or chestnut
cannot be obtained, some other kind
OF timber may be had which Will be
found satisfactorily durable. Red elm,
If seasoned before the timber is en-
ployed, for fence posts, will last quite
us long as oak. When red elm is used
as sills for building, as the newly
hewed sticks are liable to warp and
spring, the timber should be hewed.
framed, put in its place and protected
from the sun all in one day if practi-
able. In case red elm cannot be Sc
cured in frame soon after it is sawed
OF hewed out every stick should be
placed on level foundation, so
that stones or other heavy mate
rial may be laid above it to
hold it straight. Red beech is another
kind of durable timber which will
serve satisfactorily for sills of build
ings, for posts or beams, where the
timber is liable to be exposed to damp
ness or to the influences Of wet and
heat. Red beech will be found an eX-
cellent substitute for oak. As this
kind of timber rarely grows where we
find oak forests, it may be sawed into
all kinds of strips for building dwell
ling houses or out-buildings. 1t will
make joists, studs and excellent floor
boards, provided they are "stuck up"
straightly soon after the logs are
sawed, so that the pieces may have OPP
portunity to season straight without
being warped by the sun. Butternut
is another timber that is often more
durable than any oak, even when en-
ployed for fence posts. Butternut is
usually soft wood, often soft as white
pine. Hence this kind of timber may
be employed for flooring, for casing
and window stills or for making doors.
Yet as butternut timber is so liable
to warp and spring when the pieces
are seasoning it is always important
that this kind of lumber should be
stuck up while the timber is green,
that it may be straight after the pieces
are well seasoned. The grain is so
beautiful that parlor finished with
butternut lumber will often look richer
than if wainscoted with the best of
black walnut. Many man has pur-
chased black walnut at an exorbitant
price for making handrail and banis-
ter for his stairs, or for other work in
his house, when there were large