Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-12-16
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BUILDING AN ICEHOUSE.
How to Make Good One without Great
Expense.

Expense.
In answer to an inquirer who wished
to build a dairy under an icehouse, q
correspondent of The Rural New Yorker
says:
| advise this inquirer to abandon the
notion of having the dairy under the ice,
with an idea of utilizing the drip. 1t
would require an extensively framed
icehouse to support the great weight of
the ice, the greater elevation would re-
quire more labor to store it and the drip
from properly stored ice would not be
very cold by the time it reached the
creamery. Mr.. Richardson's icehouse
embodies a combination of ideas, most of
which he claims are not original with
him; he has simply used in combination
such points as seemed to him best, and
the result is very satisfactory. | give
below an outline of the plan, sufficiently
definite to enable any carpenter to build
one.
Perfect drainage is absolutely neces-
sary. To accomplish this, dig a cellar
about 215 feet below the level of the
ground. Fill this in with cobble or
broken stones. Level off and cover
with strips of scantling two inches
wide, leaving a little space between
each one. On top of this put eight
inches of sawdust and tan bark. A hill
side location is best, in order that the
drainage may be easily arranged. On
the foundation lay 6 by s SILL put up
2 by s studding of the desired height
and cover with rough hemlock boards
on both sides up to the plate. On the
outside of the boards put on Pinch
Turing strips up and down, and on
these nail the siding, leaving it open at
the bottom.
Fill in the S-inch chamber with saw
dust or tan bark, which should be thor
oughly dried in the sun before it is
packed. The Turing strips make a
2-inch air space between the boards and
siding, and being open at the top and
bottom, the air circulates freely. when
the sun is beating holly against the side
the moving air carries the heat to the
open top and prevents its absorption by
the tan and inner boards. Overhead lay
by 8 floor beams, and on these lay a
tongued and grooved floor, planned on
one side. 1t must be laid from the in
side of the plates only, so as not to close
the air chamber at the top. In it put a
couple of ventilators, each about twelve
inches square and made with shaft
about eighteen inches in length. Spread
. this upper floor with tan or sawdust
about eight inches thick.
Put rafters for false roof on the in
side edge of the plate, and board them
to within y feet of the peak. leaving
the remainder open. Put rafters for the
real roof on the outside of the plate, and
raise that point about foot, so as to
make chamber about eighteen inches
in width between the two roofs. Put a
ventilator in the roof the whole length
of the building, in the peak. A vesti-
bule about 81 or feet square is put III
the front, and in this is the door. When
it is opened the sun does not shine in.
Paint the inside Of the icehouse with
roofing or india rubber paint to keep the
boards from absorbing moisture, and the
work is done.
Cut your ice so that a given number of
cakes will fit nicely i'll the icehouse and
pack it snugly against the boards. No
sawdust OF tan bark is needed about it;
it comes ont as clean as it goes in. The
only handling of tan is at the opening,
and as this is lowered the tan is thrown
on the upper floor or taken outside, as is
preferred. All washing of the ice is
thus obviated, and the annoyance from
the dirt of sawdust or tan is avoided
In front of the door of Mr. Richardson
icehouse is platform which goes di
rectly to his dairy house on a little lower
ground. A slight shove given a cake
lands it in the dairy.