“ But if the brick house, because of its structural merits, is more economical on the score of upkeep, depreciation, insurance rate, comfort and health, it has a money value because of its artistic appearance. The substantial and attractive appearance of a face brick house makes the same appeal to everybody else as it did to the owner when he built it, so that if he desires, he can borrow more money on it, or if he must, can sell or rent it to better advantage. Beauty has a real economic value. ”

“ We have recently been learning the science and art of war from Europe to combat unjust aggression, but we have a much better lesson to learn from the older country in our fight against the ruthless fire fiend. Making all allowance for difference in the purchasing value of money between Europe and America, it still speaks ill for our good sense that we, over a hundred million strong, besides enduring all the suffering involved, should allow our National "ash heap" to cost us upwards of $2.00 a piece, when the European countries manage to get through on a per capita cost of from 11 to 49 cents. ”

“ So far as brick enter into the construction of a house, it requires practically no maintenance. You do not have to patch, repair, or paint a brick wall,—it wears. It is as sound in twenty-five years as the day it was built, and even more attractive. Figure up the paint bill for a frame house in ten years, then add the various little repairs necessitated by the shrinking, cracking, and decaying of wood exposed to the weather, and you have a neat little bill of upkeep, for the frame house, which is exactly nothing for brick. ”

“ To begin with, we frankly admit and, in fact, assert that such a house costs more than the less substantial frame or stucco house,—as it ought, because it is worth more. It wears better, it looks better, it sells and rents better. You can never get something for nothing. You have to pay for it. But what we can show from actual figures is that the face brick house at the start costs only a little more than the frame or stucco house and in the end, when all the bills are paid, costs much less. ”

“ When you consider that even in fireproof homes built of concrete, stone, or brick, lumber bears from 20 to 25 per cent of the cost of the building, and that now 80 per cent of the houses in the United States are built entirely of wood, you can easily guess why so much used to be said, even in pre-war times, about the disappearance of our forests and the advancing prices of lumber. ”

“ The American manufacturer of face brick has far outstripped the rest of the world in the wide range of color tones and textures he offers. So that the prospective builder has before him the possibility of giving to the exterior wall surface an enduring color scheme of monochrome uniformity or polychrome blending, as his taste may dictate. The whole sweep of color, in smooth or rough textures, is at his command from the pure, severe tones of pearl grays or creams, through buff, golden, and bronze tints to a descending scale of reds, down to purples, maroons, and even gun metal blacks. ”

“ Cleanliness, looks, beauty, have a very real value in dollars and cents. The same principle applies to a face brick finish of the wall surface. Face brick are made with more care, are handled and shipped with more care, and laid with more care, just for the purpose of producing a more attractive wall. When you use face brick for your clients, you give them the last word in wall construction, which is at once, as no other material, strong, enduring, comfortable, fire-safe, economical, and beautiful. ”

“ You will thus greatly enlarge your field of action, increase your profits, and gain a much higher standing in the community as an all-around builder. If you hesitate about taking up building in brick, it is doubtless because you share the common erroneous belief that it costs your client too much, or because you think it outside of your building practice, presenting difficulties you do not care to face. ”

“ For the most part the brick building of that period was confined to the use of common brick for ordinary construction or for backing stone-faced walls. From that date, however, to the present, a growing taste has demanded and secured artistic effects in the brick wall by the use of specially manufactured face brick which, in a bewildering variety of beautiful color tones and textures, have been sympathetically and artistically treated by our leading architects, as may be seen all over our country. ”

“ In examining the bond in a brick wall, the eye naturally is first attracted to the brick units as so many colored spots arranged in different order so as to produce a certain pattern effect; but this pattern effect in the brickwork depends very largely upon what at first may be overlooked or disregarded, the mortar joint. The mention of mortar suggests in the mind a very commonplace thing which the workman mixes and carries in a hod to the bricklayer; but it is concave one of the most important elements entering into the beauty, as well as the strength, of a brick wall. ”

“ You represent the best work that can be done in your community. People come to you when they want to build because they know you as an able designer and one capable not only of giving them sound advice but of carrying the work through to a successful termination. Why then confine yourself to one type of building such as frame or stucco?
More and more people are going to ask you about a brick house, and for very good reasons which we intend shortly to give you. Why not tell them you can build a brick house as easily as you can one of frame or stucco ”

“ Furthermore, there is the matter of fire insurance, not a large one, but growing in the course of years to an appreciable sum. The reason for better insurance rates on the brick house is one that makes the strongest appeal to a man, and that is, safety from the fear and fact of fire, protection for himself and family from a justly dreaded misfortune. Acting on this reason, the insurance company will put from 19 to 37 per cent higher rate on a frame or stucco than on a brick house. Besides, you can carry 20 per cent less insurance on the more substantial structure. ”

“ Take the abnormal demand pressure off lumber in every possible way, and we reduce the danger of a lumber famine that threatens us for some years to come. Thus, lumber should not be used in the exterior walls of a house, where it is exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather or to the trial of fire, especially when building material such as brick, which is nearly as cheap, and considering its durability and fire-safety, far more economical, is everywhere in evidence. ”

“ From the time when men wove together branches of trees or piled up loose stones and mud for shelter to the present day, when they erect huge heaven-soaring structures of steel to house a multitude, the builder has played a most important part in the progress and development of human civilization. ”

“ But whichever type of wall you build, it is the face brick that gives to it character, distinction, class, all of which means not only deep personal satisfaction to the owner, but real money in higher rental or sales value, far in excess of the initial cost of the face brick over poorer and less attractive material. ”

“ Bond in brickwork is the overlapping of the brick one upon the other, either along the length of the wall or through its thickness, in order to bind them together into a secure structural mass. It is true, mortar is used to cement the brick together into a monolithic whole, but the real bond is the overlapping of the brick which the mortar serves to maintain. ”

“ The framing of the house is in all probability substantially sound, it is only the exterior that is dilapidated and outclassed. By veneering his house with a well-chosen face brick, laid in proper bond and mortar joint, the owner at a comparatively small expenditure has got what is to all intents and purposes a new house. ”

“ Taking it all in all, you can tell your clients that in building a face brick house, they get more completely than in case of any other material the structural values of permanence, fire-safety, comfort and health, and the artistic value of beauty, out of which follow a real economy and a genuine personal satisfaction. ”

“ Reverting to the economies of the face brick house you will find that the maintenance and depreciation items alone on the frame construction will, in a very few years, entirely wipe out the 5 or 6 per cent excess initial cost of the brick, to say nothing of all the other items that go to make your face brick home all the time an investment of a permanent and remunerative value. ”

“ The roomy front porch, all of brick, affords a delightfully cool spot for hot summer evenings. Entrance is through a vestibule to a hall with an open stairway, and a coat closet on the lower landing.
The living room has an attractive fireplace across the corner of the room and wide openings to dining room and hall. There is a large pantry and a good porch in connection with the kitchen. The basement stairs have an entrance at grade, a point readily appreciated in stormy weather. On the second floor there are two very large bedrooms. The closet space is much larger than is found in most houses. ”

“ Shingle tile, slate, and asbestos are the most fireproof as well as the most expensive in the group of permanent roof coverings. They are heavier than the wooden shingle and generally require a stronger roof construction to support them. Each has artistic qualities of its own in the way of permanent textures and colors which recommend it. Asphalt shingles, while not fireproof, are fire-resistive to a very great degree. They do not support combustion, cannot be set afire by flying brands, and thus retard the spread of fire. ”

“ You know that when a man wishes to sell his house, he cleans up the yard, repairs the fence, patches up the holes, and paints the house from top to bottom because he knows the value of looks. He knows that his restoring the house to its pristine glory attracts the purchaser, helps to persuade him, and secures a far better price of sale. ”

“ If you use face brick, not only additional solidity and strength are added to the wall but if, as we recommend throughout this Manual, an air space is left between brick and tile, the inside furring is not needed. Besides, stucco is apt to stain, crack, or, in damp climates with freezing weather, peel off in spots, presenting an unsightly appearance. You can assure your client, who is debating between stucco and face brick, that years of usage will prove the brick surface to be both in artistic appearance and actual economy by far the better investment. ”

“ Even a well-burned, selected common brick, with proper bond treatment and mortar color, may be made attractive, but the endless variety of color tones and textures found in face brick give to the artistic sense of the builder an unlimited choice. ”

“ Show the merchant of your town the increased value of his property and the increased profits of his business made possible by a beautiful store front of face brick, and you will get more business yourself. ”

“ The location of the fireplace in the room is of great importance to its enjoyment. As it is the most ornamental feature of the interior of the house, it should be given a prominent position, but it should not be in the line of travel through the room, near the entrance door, or where a cross draft sweeps it. The far end of the room is one of the best locations; or better still, an ingle nook. If placed on the broad side of a room, it is pretty sure to project so far as to reduce the practicable width of-the room and force the rug over the hearth. ”

“ Where is all the needed lumber so lavishly used in building to come from? The average normal supply would not be sufficient and the supply cannot be increased for a period of years simply because Russia, which normally supplies 50 per cent of the lumber for the European markets, has fallen into such industrial chaos, and needs so much material for her own reconstruction that, according to one authority, she will not be able to export lumber again before 1922 or 1923. In consequence, the burden of supplying lumber to the world market at the present time will fall upon America. ”

“ Where local requirements demand a 12-inch wall, the method of construction is the same as in the 8-inch wall, except that two rows or tiers of backing brick, instead of one, are carried up to the advanced level of the face brick, leaving the thin spaces between the tiers of brick open as the best way of securing a warmer and drier wall. Of course, in the case of piers and points in the wall that carry heavy loads, all interior joints should be well slushed with mortar for evident structural reasons. ”

“ Throughout the whole process there is danger of distortion or discoloration in the ware unless the fires are skilfully handled. Properly done, the brick come out of the kiln in their beautiful, natural colors, due to the constitution of the clay or the various metallic oxides contained in it. To enhance these effects, different clays are sometimes mixed in going through the machines, certain ores may be added to modify the color, the brick surfaces may be scored in various ways, or the ware may be set in the kiln so as to avoid or get the flash of the fire. ”

“ But perhaps the strongest appeal you can make is based on what naturally grows out of the strength and beauty of good brickwork, and that is real economy. But don't be deceived by the superficial error of initial cost. A $4.00 pair of shoes are cheaper than a $5.00 pair, it is true, but if the $5.00 pair fit better, look better, and wear twice as long, the $4.00 pair are dearer, and you would lose not only in money but in personal satisfaction by getting them. ”

“ Whatever type of construction is chosen, solid brick, hollow tile, or veneer, it should rest upon a solid brick foundation. In the majority of cases, where soil conditions are favorable, the brick foundation walls of moderate sized houses do not need a footing except at points bearing concentrated loads. Naturally, the excavation should be carried down to good solid earth, free from loose, spongy soil or filled-in ground which might later permit sufficient unequal settlement to result in serious cracks throughout the wall of the house. ”

“ The 10-inch vaulted wall is strong enough for ordinary dwellings, even though the ties do rust out, unless it is built out of the poorest kind of brick with very poor mortar. In my opinion, a vaulted wall, if properly built, the vault not filled up with droppings, and provisions made for ventilating from the inside, is an ideal wall for dwelling house construction, but I would not recommend it for buildings for other purposes where there would be more or less of a dead load coming on the floors. ”

“ The wooden frame may be completed and roofed before the brick veneer is started on the outside. If constructed according to our specifications, the veneered wall makes a much warmer and more comfortable house than frame, not only because the veneer wall is over 2 inches thicker than the frame, but because the brick veneering forms a solid monolithic shell that steadies the framework and is proof against the wind pressure that searches out the cracks and crannies of the less substantial construction. ”

“ The quantity survey is a complete bill of materials for the brickwork, carpentry, and plastering work, with blank columns for the use of the estimator in filling in his prices. This feature is not only of great assistance to the contractor when estimating, but assures the owner that competing contractors are figuring on the same materials. This survey is compiled to list the materials necessary for a house with walls of solid brick, giving at the same time alternative quantities for walls of face brick on hollow tile, and face brick on wood studs. ”