Porches are usually provided with two or three inch down spouts according to the amount of roof to be drained.
Flat roofs are best when made with a standing seam. It admits of the expansion and contraction of the tin without injury to the joint.
Copper has been extensively used on the better class of buildings during recent years. The improvement in the quality of tin has rendered its use unnecessary excepting for down spouts and ornamental purposes. New processes in the manufacture of sheet copper, and the electroplating of other sheet metals with copper, promise to reduce the cost of that material for architectural purposes, so that it will be better and cheaper than tin. When such claims are substantiated the public will be informed thereof, through the usual channels.
Galvanized iron does not have the general architectural uses that were common to it a few years ago. For down spouts in excess of four inches, No. 26 galvanized iron should be used.
Hot-air pipes which connect the furnace pipes in basement with the second floor are usually three and three-fourths by twelve inches in size. Before they are placed, all contiguous wood-work should be lined with tin. In frame houses the pipes should be covered with iron lath. They should continue above baseboard, with register opening on second floor and below joist with collar in basement. Where pipes run in an outside wood wall, which they should do only in case of extremest emergency, the back and sides of the pipe should be lined with several thicknesses of asbestos paper.
A zinc drain should be provided from the refrigerator to the outside of brick wall. This drain is one inch in diameter, and comes up through the floor with funnel-shaped opening at the top. An ordinary six-inch tin funnel let into the tube will answer every purpose. Thus the discharge pipe from the refrigerator may be readily placed over it.
Thimbles should be provided for the plasterer when he is putting on the last coat. Flue stops should be placed therein after plastering is finished. These are for stove connections with brick flues.
Painting is not so serious a problem as it once was. We hear about people buying their own paint, the lead and everything that goes with it, and having it mixed under their personal supervision. But even this is not satisfactory. After a short time the paint begins to look chalky and dingy. When the mixing of the paint is not done under the supervision of the owner, and the result is as above stated, the painter is often accused of dishonesty.