The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Estimating Frame And Brick Houses
The scaffolds are supported by 6 x 8 inch posts, with braced girts, framed so as to form a knee from the side posts out and down to the beam, still leaving all clear above the beam through the middle of the barn. The cattle stable has stanchions for 28 cattle, with a large hospital. The hospital can also be fitted with stanchions to be used temporarily to stable four more cattle if necessary, but, as it is designed for other uses, there is no manure drop in it. The manure drop is made 14 inches wide and 4 inches deep, so that it will hold the droppings for a whole day, and it is so wide that a large scoop shovel may be used in cleaning it. The stanchions are made of selected 2x6 inch joists, cut 5 feet 4 inches long. A 10-inch board is put in between the rails at the bottom and nailed outside the rail above, next to the body, so that the sliding post will drop behind it. This board closes the space between the stanchions.
The hay is put down the chute into the alley, and distributed with a fork. It can also be brought in from the barn floor. The meal bins hold all that it is desirable to store in a stable, and are very convenient for feeding. There is no provision made in this specification for feed boxes in the manger, as most farmers prefer to have the manger free from partitions, and clean it every time before feeding meal. The loft is floored with good common matched flooring, so that no dust or grain can fall on the cattle.
All doors to be hung with heavy wrought hinges, with the exception of doors opening to driveway. These are on hangers, and may slide inside or outside as may be decided upon. The stable windows slide upon the girts, and have proper fastenings. The building is boarded up and down with good, sound stock, and is battened with O. G. concave backed battens. The shingles are laid 5 inches to the weather, and held in place by cut shingle nails oxidized.
The ventilating louvres are formed with fixed slats made of 6-inch strips, 1/2 inch thick, well Overlapping to keep out the driving snow or rain.
The building may be set on posts, or it may rest on a stone foundation and have stone piers at intervals of 14 feet under the center timbers. The matter of foundations, however, will not be discussed here, as the cost of the foundation in brick or stone, also the cost of excavation, may be found in the chapters referring to these subjects in the earlier pages of this book.
In all cases of estimating the estimator should have before him some substantial data to figure from, either in scale drawings of the building being estimated on or in specifications of the work, or both. It is better to have both where possible. In the present case I give a side and end view of frame, a ground plan, a side and end view of finished building, and a portion of cross section of main floor, also a bill of materials, all of which should equip an estimator with sufficient data to enable him to make an estimate of cost as correct as it is possible to make one.
