The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-12
BUILDING HOUSES
 IN THE OLDEN DAYS Aged Contractor Contrasts the
 Modern Methods HOMES LIKE EGGSHELLS Says the House Built Fifty Years Ago Is Better Than Modern
 House Five Years
HOMES LIKE EGGSHELLS

People who are having houses built these days do not get the same propor- tionate value for their money as they did 50 years ago. said Alec R. Walters, who retired from the contracting business 20 years ago, and who has already passed four score years. T started learning the carpenters trade when I was 15 years of age, and served as an apprentice until l reached my majority.
 While we had nothing like the facili- ties before the civil war of the modern contractors, still an inspection will show that many of the houses built in the 50s are in much better condition than a ma- 1ority of houses which have been built during the past few years at double the cost.
 Tn those days nothing but the finest lumber was used. and that used was of sufficient size to support railroad train. The common saying then was that "a building must be as strong as a trestle., and unless contractor met with these re- quirements it was the usual thing to take his permit away from him.
 T could show you numbers of house, which were built 50 years ago that are good for at least 50 years more of oc cupancy. But the way houses are built these days one becomes the veriest shack In less than 20 years, and as a rule the frame residences being constructed now will do well to last Ave vaars
 'Then we used 12x12 timbers. while tbe weatherboarding and flooring was not only put on in double and triple layers, but each layer was from two to five inches thick. There was no blued lumber. either, but all outside work was hand smoothed and so done that an oil finish would last when put on 1t. The oils and paints were much more expensive then. but they were up to the full standard and didn't peal off in a few months.
 "A house was erected slowly and placed on a firm foundation, and had settled well before the interior finish was put in. Now they use 2x4 timbers and one-inch floor ing and weatherboarding, and in most cases only one layer. A house Is put I'D in few weeks and the clustering put on immediately. A few months after the occupants move in the house begins to settle, the plastering cracks and falls off. the house assumes a lop-sided appearance. thep lunnbing becomes twisted and the cheap paint cracks into small particles and gradually drops off.
 Then a houee was built for comfort. Today the architects build the houses like a Chinese puzzle, and nine out of every 10 are about the most uncomfortable places imaginable. The solid construc tion of the olden houses made them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The thinly-built ones of the present time let the cold winds whistle through the cracks, while the summer heat penetrates the thin walls appearing to gather more heat as it passes through the rosin in the pine wood.
 T suppose that the building proposition, however, Is like everything else in mod ern life which to old people is appar- ently the effort on the part of the younger generation to make the world about the most uncomfortable of all the planets"