Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-12-26
THE TRIALS OF HOUSE BUILDING.
A Man Who W0uld Have Every thing
According to Contract.

From the New York Tribune
From the somewhat indefinite era of the man
who builded his house upon the sand previous
to the rainy season, there has been . continu-
Gus wall going up from the unfortunate people
In every community who "are building" It Is
tale OF worriment, of estimates exceeded and
exasperations endless. It is reassuring, then. to
md at least one man who was too much for the
wicked contractor, and built his house not only
upon rock, but like q rock, SO that 1t shall
stand until some elevated railroad Of the future
gets the right of way through its second story.
Thus saith the man who beat the contractors at
careful when they are building, for those
who don't know what Is what in the
May Of work and material are hs
IS supposed to see that the contracts arc car
ried out, but he can't always be on hand and
toward the mechanics. Many of the inexplica-
BILE fires that occur in first-class dwellings are
simply the result OF criminal carelessness and
fraud on the part OF workmen and contractors
4 mad running fight while my mouse was
building. but it was done as wanted II ana
according to contract. The party wall was
twelve inches wide and bricks were to be bon
ded every live courses. 1 went to look att one
evening when the wall was twelve feet high
bonded. Some w WORK n were going bv on
their way home: hired them for an hour
We transformed big beam into battering
came back in the morning they found their wall
lying In the cellar bottom. From that time on
every NTH course was bonded according ITO TO
framing. l had distinctly specified that the
fiues in the walls should be spanned. One af-
and a 40 dhs sootg BRICK lying on
the scafOlding. 1t had been taken out OF the
wall OF my neighbor on the right, to let one Of
"Look here said to the German who was
doing the framing, you've run that 9eam
psh p Wake and na m
Cant help dot replied this original Bud
timber and began to pry the beam out.
here! Vot der Teufel! shouted the contrac-
tor; you stop dot!
"'Get out OF the wayr yelled, tor youth go
where where the good Germans go, all before your
HE grabbed an adze and jumped tor me.
tons. Then while he sat down TO think it over,
l sat down on the end of my lever. Up came
crashing down into the cellar It had protruded
four inches into what would have been red
hot hue when the furnace was well working.
came TO putting in the furnace had ordered
double tin pipes and double pipe guards wher-
ever partition was pierced: One afternoon
a partition about a furnace pipe. 1asked II the
double pipe guards had been put in. They
they had gone cut q little hole with q hatchet
and Investigated. NOta sign OF guard, double
or single, was to be found. It didn't take long
for me to rip that all out. l told the head la
borer TO get somebody other than those two APP
prentices to do the work; for If they ever en-
tered my house agoin I'd make him throw up
his contract. and If he sued me I'd fight him as
long as had dollar left. The furnace-builder
also wore an unhappy look after had finished
with him. Well, the house is finished as you
see, and it only cost $17O more than the origi-
nal estimate. The excess was due to the build
ing Of stone wall Tor the yard instead Of fence,
as originally intended, and the construction OF
coal bins, which had forgotten to include in
the original estimate"
Ii others would he as careful and energetic as
this man. there would be no chance for build
ers of the Budensiek type.