XXVIII. Thickness of Walls and Internal Partitions

In small houses, where economy must be studied, it is not advisable to indulge in a thick wall in brickwork, for its advantages will hardly be justified by its cost, and the money so spent would probably be more wisely devoted to an increase of the floor space. In such cases a nine-inch brick wall covered with cement rough cast and strengthened where required with buttresses, will answer all practical purposes.

In stone districts, however, the thin wall is no longer an economic gain, and the exterior walls may be made two feet thick.

This has many artistic as well as practical advantages, giving deep jambs to windows and recesses, enabling one to get a broad window-sill or seat without projecting into the room, and giving the whole interior an effect of solidity and comfort. To enter such a house is to feel really indoors, sheltered and protected from external conditions. Practically, also, the thick wall helps to maintain in the house an even temperature uninfluenced by external heat and cold. In winter it is easily warmed, and in summer it remains cool. But these conditions do not apply to the average modern house, where the builder, having built a thick wall to retain the heat, makes a large window to let it out, and to reap the advantage of the thick wall the window openings must be small.

Another advantage of the thick wall is that, with a high-pitched roof especially, it enables one in many cases to get a lower eaves line with the same inside height.

Internal walls should vary in thickness according to their position and structural requirements. The kitchen premises should be divided from the rest of the house by a solid wall, and this may be made more impervious to sound by the introduction of cupboards.

Between the family rooms generally, except those which require isolation, it will be noted that the principles advocated involve the breaking away of the usual partitions, and much of the beauty and interest of the house will depend on the extent to which this principle is judiciously applied. If, for instance, one imagines the corridor in the house called “Springcot,” flanked with ordinary partitions, much of its character would disappear, and very much of its effect here depends on the suggestion conveyed by the glazed screen tc the dining-room of something beyond half-concealed and half-revealed, and such effects as may be legitimately obtained by such means are very helpful ir obtaining a successful interior. As in all Art this suggestive quality is more potent in its charm than a complete revelation. In old buildings the wood and plaster partitions were often constructed to display the framing, as in half timber work, and this displayed use of construction may be effectively used in the house. The practical objection to it is that the vibration caused by the doors is apt to shake the key of the plaster filling; and so in modern work it is usual to cover the joint between the plaster and the door frames with a piece called a fascia, and this gradually led to the elimination of the solid structural door frame, and the use of superficial exposed woodwork. By keeping the door posts solid and heavy as befits their structural nature, and by reducing superficial fascias to their smallest dimensions, the structural feeling of the whole can still be retained, or if the plaster is omitted and the timber framing built in with bricks and tiles the fascia will not be required.

Such a method of construction in internal partitions is especially suitable in a half-timbered house, where it represents the logical continuation of the external structure.