The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Estimating Frame And Brick Houses

These are not connected with the actual construction of the building, but a number of them are necessary to fully equip an up to date stable.

All other items must be figured as described under the heads of estimating a frame or a brick house, as the case may be. If building is to be of brick, then use rules as given for estimating brick work. If it is to be built of wood, estimate according to rules given for estimating a frame building. Plastering, painting, plumbing and glazing is figured exactly the same as for either wood or brick buildings.

This data places in the hands of the estimator sufficient material to make up an estimate for stable work that should be reliable. Prices for all these items given may be obtained from catalogues and price-lists of manufacturers, a full supply of which should be in the hands of every estimator and builder.

Estimating a Barn

As no two persons exactly agree as to the design or construction of a house, so we find that no two farmers want exactly the same barn, therefore I have taken as a model on which to estimate, the barn illustrated herewith, because of its being a good type of barn, and one that has been found to answer very well in the Western States and Canada, where timber is the chief material employed in the construction of farm buildings.

The dimensions of the barn illustrated are 32 x 74 feet, with posts 22 feet. It has stable room for 28 cattle and seven horses, and has a capacity for stowing 70 tons of settled hay and 200 bushels of oats and ground feed. The horse stable is 14 x 32 feet, with a hight of 8 feet from floor to joists overhead, and has five single stalls and one double. There are two windows and two outside doors to the stable, also a door opening upon the barn floor. The hay for the horses is run in the chutes from the loft, while the grain may be kept in the feed bin in front of the hospital manger. The bottoms of the hay chutes for the horses are made of narrow strips put 2 inches apart, so that dust and seed may sift through and fall to the floor. The driveway or barn floor proper, as shown in the ground plan, Fig. 1, is 12 feet wide, and its doors are 12 feet high. The interior space is scaffolded above the doors for 12 feet from either end, leaving an opening 8 x 12 feet, for pitching hay, or hoisting it with a horse fork.