How Different Soils Affect Health and Building
The expense of building, besides depending on the accessibility of
the site and its exposure to the weather, will vary a good deal with
the nature of the foundations required. Moreover, a favourable soil
as regards the cultivation of the garden is of great moment to the future
cottage owner. Carting in vegetable earth is a costly matter, and fertilising
the ground still more so.
Picture 10. From this plan it will be seen that the
hall, which contains an ingle-nook, can really be counted as a sitting-room
: there is an alternate way to the front door from the kitchen. The
stairs are so placed to render a back staircase unnecessary, and a pantry
isolates the kitchen, and acts as a servery to the dining-room. Upstairs
are five bedrooms, and all the usual offices and aspects are considered.
Being in an exposed position, the external walls are made waterproof
by a coat of smooth cement, the white colour of which contrasts well
with the dark red roofing tiles.
Gravel, free from loam and covered with a strong top soil, is pre-eminently
the best for building sites, as it is porous and allows surface water
to disappear quickly. Sometimes it can be built on direct without requiring
foundations, but if insufficiently stiff to allow this, excellent concrete
may be made out of the material itself. Where gravel is on the spot,
and unless bricks can be obtained very cheaply, it is a saving to build
concrete cottages. Lowland situations are likely to furnish the advantage
of gravel.
Sand has the same characteristics as gravel, though to a less degree.
It is a sure cause of cracked walls and ceilings if there is a possibility
of its movement, either by the action of water springs or other causes.
Sand is also an important building material.
Chalk is considered to be healthy, being generally permeable. Like
sand and gravel sites, the loam on a chalky substratum is liable to
be shallow, and will produce nothing in the garden without a great deal
of attention. Where cropping up close to the surface, chalk become slippery
in wet weather, besides being subject to fissures. It is usually found
in hilly and elevated positions, which are dry enough but too exposed
for those who wish for shelter in the environment of trees.
Solid rock is of course, safe and strong ; but care will have to be
taken in choosing the position of the cottage in order to reduce the
expenses of levelling the site, and of excavation for walls and drainage.
A trickle of water is sometimes found in rocky strata, and it must be
seen that the foundation walls are not the means of forming a small
pond.
The commonest soil in this country is clay, and it is found in many
varieties, mostly in undulating and well-timbered land. Being impervious
to moisture, though always damp itself, clay when underlining a site
often causes the land to become more or less water-logged above ; careful
drainage will make the site fit to build upon, though it may be an expensive
business. A stiff clay makes a good foundation, especially if there
is a porous subsoil not far underneath. When building on clay, deep
excavations are necessary so that the footings will be out of reach
of atmospherical changes, which cause shrinkages in the soil and settlements
in the wall above.
"Made" ground should always be avoided. Consisting as it often does
of animal and vegetable refuse, it is liable to ferment and putrefy
for years with grave consequences to the health of the occupants of
the house thereon, as well as to the stability of the building itself.
This kind of ground is more common in suburban localities than in open
country.
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