New-York tribune., 1921-06-19
By Harlow Lewis
OF Tucker C. Le,Uis

People build houses because they And
IL inconvenient to live out In the open
air. In other words, they want a shell
ter from the elements-rain, cold. snow.
wind, etc. Even in temperate climates
they also require protection from the
sun and excessive heat of summer. For
this reason the successful house, hav-
ing been primarily built for the pur-
pose of shcltering its occupants from
weather conditions, must be as weather
proof as it is possible to make it.
Such weatherprooting, of course, con-
ssts generally of building walls to keep
out the sun and the wind, and roofs to
keep off the rain and the snow. The
problem of making plain wall and roof
surfaces weatherproof is comparatively
simple, so long as these surfaces are
continuous. The moment, however, that
they are broken either by openings in
them such as doors and windows, or bv
intersections with surfaces in another
plane, as, for example, where chimney
passes throuhg a roof, it becomes one
Of greater difficulty.
Wherever such openings occur in
rails or roefs it is obvious that we
have joint between two different ma-
of the same material, and this joint If
not properly taken care of, will permit
the leakage of air and water.
Simple Form of Flashing
To prevent such leakage all Joints of
this kind should be properly FLASHED" >"
The simplest form of flashing occurs
Al
sects vertical brick wall, as, for in
ample, a parapet wall In this case
all that is needed to fash the joint be-
tween the roof and the wall is to bend
piece of metal, preferably copper,
underneath the waterproof surface of
the roof, and upward along the YER
ticai face of the wall. This base
flashing is then covered by what is
known as cap flashing, which con-
sists Of similar piece of metal. built
into the horizontal joints of the
brckwork, and bent down. so as to
lap over on the outside of the base
flashing, This, OF course, prevents any
water which may find it's way down the
face Of the brick wall from working in
underneath the waterproof roof sur
face.
Flashing around ali openings and at
all intersections is done on this same
principle, but is usually much more
complicated operation by reason of the
shape of the openings or the pitch of
the roof or some other similar CON
sideration. In the case of brick Chin
neys in frame houses. for example,
where chimneys are entirely or par
TALLY built on the outside Of the house.
it is very difficult matter to make
tight joint from top to bottom In
this connection, if we are to make
absolutely certain that no signs of
moisture appear on the finished sur
face Of the house at the chimney, we
should remember that in addition to
the chimney flashing it is advisable
to fur out the face of the chimney
inside the house. so that the plaster
is not applied directly to the bricks.
This is necessary because chimneys
are open to all~6f the rain that falls.
and because brick and terra Gotta are
more or less porous. In a prolonged
rainy spell they are almost certain to
absorb enough water to cause stain
on the plaster unless the plaster is
applied on furring.
Wooden pediments OF other proiec-
tions over doors or windows, are a
fruitful source Of trouble unless the