Floor joist

“ If you are particularly aristocratic you can lay down three pieces of three-inch joist across the tent floor and place a plank flooring over them. But the cool summer or fall ground is quite good enough for the average sportsman. ”

“ Fig. 329.—Ceiling Joists connected to Binder by Fillet.
Fig. 330.—Under Side of Floor with Wrought Binder.
Fig. 331.—Section through Double Floor taken across Iron Binder.
which they are connected should always be thicker than the ordinary joists. A common rule is to make the trimmers and trimming joists 1⁄8 in. thicker for each joist carried. Single floors may span as great a distance as 18 ft. by using 11-in. by 3-in. joists stiffened with two or three rows of herring-bone or solid strutting. ”

“ Floor Joists.—Russian deals make the best joists, as they are straight-grained and free from knots, sound and tough. Baltic fir is cheaper and next best. Swedish and Norwegian not reliable.
Half-timber Framing.—Oak is best, as it resists decay the longest, and can be obtained naturally shaped in curves or straight, as may be required. The colour and texture are also suitable for architectural effect. Teak is good, but does not weather quite so good a colour; it is apt to split with nailing. ”

“ The advantage of this type of girder lies mainly in the fact that it leaves the headroom of a basement clear, which is not the case in the type shown in Fig. 22-b. This second type is somewhat easier to frame, and is therefore greatly used where the owner does not object. It is better where furnace stacks must be placed in a partition above it.
-32-
First floor joists, like second floor joists and studs, should be spaced 16 inches from center to center, beginning at one side or end of a room. ”

“ When the distance between the supporting walls exceeds 14 ft. or 15 ft., it is usual to place binders or girders of wood or iron at intervals of from 6 ft. to 10 ft., and on these to support the bridging joists. Floors so constructed are known as double floors, having two sets of joists, the lower set (ceiling joists) being smaller, and used solely to support the ceiling. Thus the ceiling, being supported independently of the floor joists above, is not liable to be jarred by
Fig. ”

“ The four cross-sills will then (Fig. 95) serve as a foundation upon which to begin your work. Other joists can now be laid across these first and supported by braces running diagonally down to the trunk of the tree, as shown in Fig. 95. After the floor is laid over the joist any form of shack, from a rude, open shed to a picturesque thatch-roofed cottage, may be erected upon it. It is well to support the two middle rafters of your roof by quartered pieces of logs, as the middle rafters are supported in Fig. ”

“ Plaster fell from the ceilings; paper peeled away down the staircase; stuccoed portions of the front began to crack and moulder. Not a door that would close as a door should; not a window that would open in the way expected of it; not a fireplace but discharged its smoke into the room, rather than by the approved channel. Everywhere piercing draughts, which often entered by orifices unexplained and unexplainable. From cellar floor to chimney-pot, no square inch of honest or trustworthy workmanship. ”

“ A tumble-down trunk in a corner of the room did precarious duty for a chair; a faded carpet hid the floor; a cheap rocking-chair in the act of moulting its upholstery spread its luxurious arms invitingly near the dim window; and a table, on which a pack of German playing cards was coyly half concealed by a newspaper, a coal-hod, and a poker, completed the necessary furnishing of the apartment. ”

“ The floor was different, the ceiling was different, the furniture was different. His had been plain and austere. This was sumptuous and yet dirty, hung with rare velvet curtains splashed with wine-stains, and panelled with costly woods which were pocked with pistol-marks. ”

“ The current of air admitted by the open jalousies, passing constantly through this apartment, renders it at all times delightfully cool; while the lattice-work serves to mellow the glare of light, which, under the sky of the tropics, is almost as disagreeable as the heat. An uncarpeted floor, composed of the hardest sorts of native wood, and subjected to a diurnal polish, contributes to increase the coolness.
This great hall is the principal apartment of the dwelling. ”

“ In order to fill up the intervals between the joists that support the floor, short pieces of common laths, whose length is equal to the width of these intervals, should be laid in the contrary direction to the joists, and close together in a row, so as to touch one another; their ends must rest upon the fillets, and they ought to be well bedded in the rough plaster, but are not to be fastened with nails. They must then be covered with one thick coat of the rough plaster, which is to be spread over them to the level of the tops of the joists ”

“ A grand ball is in progress in the salon of the mansion which the Man has built for himself. The scene is a large, square, lofty room with smooth, white walls and ceiling and a polished floor. Yet a certain discrepancy in the proportions of some of the minor features of the apartment conveys to the beholder a sort of vague, unsatisfactory impression, as though something were wanting, or discordant, or superfluous, or bizarre—one cannot exactly tell which. ”

“ No rug will ruck on it, no slipper stick to it. Needs no weighted brush. Self-shining. The only perfect Floor Wax known. One box will do all the floors you have."
Indeed, half a box did all the floors we have. No slipper would stick to the paste, but the paste would stick to the slipper; and the greasy Prince did in spots all the floors we have: the laundry floor, the attic floor, and the very boards of the vegetable cellar.
I am young yet. I have not had time to collect my twelve two-horse loads. But I am getting them fast. ”

“ The floor was composed of earth mixed with lime, trodden into a hard substance, such as is often employed in flooring our modern barns. For about one quarter of the length of the apartment, the floor was raised by a step, and this space, which was called the dais, was occupied only by the principal members of the family, and visitors of distinction. For this purpose, a table richly covered with scarlet cloth was placed transversely across the platform, from the middle of which ran the longer and lower board, at which the domestics and inferior persons fed, down towards the bottom of the hall. ”

“ And she must have one section for a living-room. I'm going to have a floor made—the carpenter will go out in the morning, if he keeps his word. By quick work we ought to be able to take her out there to-morrow night, but allowing for delays, the next evening will have to do. Mother, have we any cots?"
"I'm afraid we have no cots. There are two single-width white iron beds in the attic—"
"All the better. May I have them?"
"I wonder you stop to ask permission of anybody for anything," observed Josephine. "Mother, have you seen Jarvis look so waked up since he put on goggles?" ”

“ When she came out of Bathroom 8, Joey had noticed a ladder at the far end of the passage; she guessed that it must lead on to the roof. And what better place could one find to sleep on than a roof, on such a fine September night as this? Even if it rained she thought the leads would be better than a Blue Dorm full of hateful girls who talked at her.
She scrambled up the latter, stumbling over the blue quilt; pushed open a trap-door, and arrived, sure enough, upon the leads, all silver in the moonlight. ”

“ The business on the floor was in full swing when he came out on to the marble gallery of the vast, square marble hall of the Exchange, and the busy swarm of money-gathering men beneath his eyes immediately stopped to cheer him. To look down, as he did, was to look down upon the floor of some great bazaar. The floor is set with ranks of kiosks spaced apart, about which men congregate only to divide and go all ways; these kiosks might easily be booths. The floor itself is in constant movement; it is a disturbed ant-heap with its denizens speeding about always in unconjectural movements. ”

“ Then comes the entre-sol, with low ceilings, short windows, and dwarf chambers; then succeed a succession of floors, or stories, rising one above the other, to the number of Mahomet’s heavens. Each floor is like a distinct mansion, complete in itself, with ante-chamber, saloons, dining and sleeping rooms, kitchen and other conveniences for the accommodation of a family. Some floors are divided into two or more suites of apartments. Each apartment has its main door of entrance, opening upon the staircase, or landing-places, and locked like a street door. ”

“ It was her belief that a floor was by nature cold and that the more one put upon it, the warmer the house would be. She covered the windows with white roller-blinds, double sash-curtains of muslin starched like surplices, long lace curtains reaching from the cornice to the floor, and over-curtains of some sort of yellow stuff with an inwoven tinsel thread—until every window was as beautiful in gold embroidery and fine lace as "an archbishop sayin' mass." ”

“ I have to find the door," Joey cried cheerfully. The worst was over now, she thought; the tower floor was well raised, and inside there was a ladder. She waded round to the narrow ledge, scrambled up, and felt the door.
It was bolted as before, and this time she had no knife in her pocket. To be accurate she had no pocket in her djibbah; when she had begun this long queer day her handkerchief had been up her sleeve. Now it was probably whirling hither and thither about the Deeps.
Joey stooped a little, and put her mouth to the chink. She must make the young man hear. ”

“ Imagine an exquisite room long and narrow. The walls are painted white or light gray—a warm golden gray for the relief and pleasing of the eye. The floor is comfortable to the feet, sanitary, easily cleansed and durable. There is an iron ring in the floor where the cover to the chute is lifted down which the dust is to be thrown. There is another for the ash chute, lined with metal for protection from fire by [Pg 138] means of the hot coals that may sometimes be left in the ashes. ”

“ Take care, Jimmy, I've a wet paint brush, and you have a good suit on! I want to put shelves from floor to ceiling of the bathroom, because the walls are rough and unlined, and nothing on earth will make it a beautiful room. ”

“ As it is one of the principles of colour in a house that the floor is the foundation of the room, this weakness of colour in hard-wood floors must be acknowledged as a disadvantage. The floors should certainly be able to support the room in colour as well as in construction. It must be the strongest tint in the room, and yet it must have the unobtrusiveness of strength. This makes floor treatment a more difficult problem, or one requiring more thought than is generally supposed, and explains why light rooms are more successful with hard-wood floors than medium or very dark ones. ”

“ We squeeze past the hat and umbrella stand: there is just room, but one must keep close to the wall. The first floor is rather an imposing apartment, with a marble-topped sideboard measuring quite three feet by two, the doors of which will remain closed if you introduce a wad of paper between them. ”

“ All the fresh air that ever enters these stairs comes from the hall-door that is forever slamming, and from the windows of dark bedrooms that in turn receive from the stairs their sole supply of the elements God meant to be free, but man deals out with such niggardly hand. That was a woman filling her pail by the hydrant you just bumped against. The sinks are in the hallway, that all the tenants may have access--and all be poisoned alike by their summer stenches. Hear the pump squeak! It is the lullaby of tenement-house babes. ”

“ In whatever grade a wooden floor is used, it has the disadvantage of needing attention. It always needs refinishing. The better the floor the more attention it will need. It will splinter eventually and show marks if things are dragged over it. Although the scraping down and refinishing always make the floor look like new, the wooden floor is better in any room in the house than the kitchen, laundry or pantry. ”

“ A CREAM-COLORED PORCELAIN STOVE IN A NEW YORK HOUSE
Which reminds me: the floor cushion, made of the same velvet made for carpeting, is a modern luxury we can't afford to ignore. Lately I have seen such beautiful ones, about three feet long and one foot wide, covered with tapestry, with great gold tassels at the corners. The possibilities of the floor cushion idea are limitless. They take the place of the usual footstool in front of the boudoir easy chair, or beside the day bed or chaise-longue, or beside the large bed, for that matter. ”

“ For upper floors the ordinary flooring is of floor-boards supported on wood joists, beneath which are wood laths and plaster. The floor-boards should be thoroughly seasoned, otherwise they will shrink, and the joints be filled with dirt. This dirt may accumulate for years between the floor and the ceiling of the room below, vitiating the air and helping to increase the stuffiness characteristic of dirty houses. ”

“ No sooner were we in this vast place than we saw a strange and startling thing—a man, sitting or crouching on the floor, his hands before him, the wrists tied together, his body bound with thongs of raw hide to a big post which stood in the centre of the floor and supported the beam of the loft above. ”

“ The joists in barns should be bridged as in houses. That part of the barn floor which is above the root-cellar should be deafened, as shown in Fig. 101. Cleats nailed on the sides of the joists serve to support the short boards which carry the deafening material. The 2-inch space between the false and the true floor is filled with mortar composed of about five or six parts of sand to one of lime or cement. If all of the floor driven upon above the basement is deafened, it will deaden sound and promote warmth in the lower story. ”