Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-17
First Aid
For the
AiHngHouse
Nv ROGER b. WHITMAN.

Nv hooLut w III
Question: What suggestions can
you make for covering basement
floor OF uneven, broken cement?
Answer: The cement should be
broken up into small pieces to be
packed and leveled New concrete
should chen be poured on top, with
the pieces Of the old floor serving
as the foundation. The new con-
crete should be 2 inches thick
This will form an excellent floor in
itself. Coloring powder can be
added to the cement; or the floor
after hardening, can be finished
with a rubber base or synthetic
resin paint that is not affected by
lime. Other ideas would be to set
floor tiles in the cement before it
hardens. or to finish with an as
phalt tile.
House Plans.
Question: Please inform me of the
catalogue of small homes and camps.
Answer: do not know of any
Government publication that could
be called catalogue However, there
are two excellent bulletins contain
ing plans and information on the
building and design of small houses,
both of which can be had from
the superintendent of documents.
Washington. for 10 cents each Tin
COIN. One is the Farmers Bulletin
No. 1898: Farmhouse Plans" and
the other is Technical Bulletin No. 4
of the Federal Housing Administra-
ton: principles of Planning Small
Houses.
Computing Radiation.
Question: What formula is used
for computing the size of steam
radiator for room? How can 1
tell the necessary size of hand
fired steam boiler?
Answer: There are so many things
to consider that formula must be
very general and may be altered by
several points that can be known
only by inspection. One formula
begins by allowing l square foot of
radiation for each 2 square feet of
glass, l for each 20 square feet of
exposed wall, and l for each 200 Gu
bic feet of contents. Ceilings under
an unheated attic are considered
as exposed walls. A north or north
east room should have 25 per cent
increase, a west room a Is per cent
increase. and an east room a 10 per
cent increase. Many other things
should be considered. For the size
of the boiler. add together the radia-
ton required for all of the rooms
and increase it by so per cent
Cracked Plaster.
Question: The plaster walls in my
kitchen show hairline cracks in
places and some slightly larger
cracks in other places. I want to
fill these before painting. but I do
not think the cracks are big enough
TO take patching plaster. What
do YOU suggest?
Answer: The larger cracks should
he widened by running knife into
them to make for patch. Patch
ing plaster can then be worked into
them. White lead paste can be
pressed into the fine cracks with a
putty knife. After hardening, the
surface should be smoothed with
sandpaper. In using patching plas-
ter follow the instructions on the
label.
Cleaning Problems.
Question. I am a cleaner in
large Boston institution and ! am
looking for new wrinkles and ideas
on cleaning various materials. Can
you suggest books or pamphlets that
will help me? We have acres of
marble floors and plenty of waxed
floors, limestone walls. etc.
Answer: The Marble and Stone
Institute, II East Fortieth street,
New York City, issues information
on the cleaning of building stone of
all kinds. The Portland Cement
Association, BAT Madison avenue,
New York City. can inform YOU on
the cleaning of great variety of
stains from concrete. and for in
formation on cleaning tiles, write to
Inc lie INDUSTRY research Bureau,
l9 West Forty-fourth street, New
York City, The Copper and Brass
Research Association. 420 Lexing-
ton avenue, New York City, issues
pamphlets on the care of the ma
terials in which it is interested.
Garden Pool.
Question: In building an 8x12 foot
garden pool, I lined the bottom with
fiat rocks, and I intended to pour
concrete over them HoMeuer I