The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-04-10

you may know Just how much the excava-
ton will be. 1t often happens, when this
precaution is not taken, that there is more
excavation than ordinary, and the contrac-
tor will refuse to do the work requi cd,
without extra pay; and rather than have
an extra, the house is located either too
low or too high from the street-an error
that can never be corrected except at n
considerable cost To ascertain the exact
excavation. it is necessary first TO know
the or de of the sidew ak, and from this
measure back the distance desired from
the street line, allowing fall 10 the sire ct
for the water of not less than one inch TO
three feet. This will give you the grade
line nj your foundet on wall. ard the ex-
cavation will thus be easily calculated, as
the wall is usually feet inches above
the grade, and as much below as the cell
lar is required deep, allowing three inches
for concrete on cellar bottom Having
fixed the distance of the house above the
street and its elevation above the
same, see to il that the top soil is
carefully removed at such a dis
lance from the house ms not TO be
covered up by the poor soil when
thrown ont, and in such deposits as to be
most convenient for top covering when
ground is fnally graded. This piecaution
will save moving dirt unnecessarily. The
poor soil should be thrown out and de-
posted far enough away from the wall so
as not to be in the way of the carpenters,
or act as a dam to keep the water from
running away from the building As much
of it as possible should be deposited
where il is wanted to remain. Handling
dirt twice over is expensive, and this gem
orally falls upon the owner, if inexperi-
enced. The specifications generally call
for trench TO be dug under the wall
few inches wider than the wall itself aud
eight TO twelve inches below the cellar
BOTTOM this trench TO be filled with con-
crete of which the wall is to he built
This Is very important matter, rs upon
n good foundation depends the stability
of the house. IL too often happens. how
ever, that the co tractor hurries over this
part of the work, as he can easily escape
detection b. putting in but three or four
inches of concrete only of the width of
the wall If this work be done in the late
autumn, the inside OF foundation wall
should be we'll banked up with earth to
keep out the frost
THE LAW AS TO PARTY WALLS.
A party wall in law is the wall dividing
lands OF different proprietors, used in
common for the support of structures on
both sides. At common law, an owner
VINO erecis q wall for his own buildings
which is capable of Icing used by an adj
joining proprietor, can not compel such
proprietor, when he shall build next TO it.
to pay for any portion of the cost Of such
wall. On the other hand, the adjoining
proprietor has no right to make any use OF
such wall without consent Of the owner
and the consequence may be the erection
of two walls, side by side, when one
would answer al purposes. This con-
venience is often secured by an agreement
TO erect wall for common use, one-half
on each others land. the parties to
divide the expense: If only one is to
build at time, he gets return from
the other party of half what it costs him.
Under rcoh an agreement, each has an