HOUSES THAT FAIL TO PLEASE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 29, 28 October 1932, Page 6

HOUSES THAT FAIL TO PLEASE

Importance of Details in Building Design

HOW TO AVOID UGLY TILED ROOF

Success or failure in achieviti of virtues in a building—often de little touches which in some myst individuality. Tt often happens 1 house is completed the owner is c the result is commonplace. There arc a host of ways in wi can lift a building, large or small, < consideration, for they mean mud buyer with an eye to future dispo . jie pitch of roofs is a factor Htbat plays an important part in the appearance of houses having roofs covered with tiles. Merc is an instance wherein the finished article belies the drawing. A roof, when completed, never looks the same as the elcvational drawing, because tiie building is never viewed in elevation, but in perspective; Ju perspective the height of the roof is considerably lessened, and will always appear flatter in actuality than on the elevatlonal drawing. According to the text-books and general theory of building construction tiles should not be laid on a roof with a. pitch of less than 45 degrees, and this pitch is.usually advocated as the most suitable. Structurally and economically it may be the best, but aesthetically it is the ugliest. As the pitch of 45 degrees forms a right angle

at the apex, it is .neither flatly nor steeply pitched, with the result that it is undecided and expressionless. In all matters of architectural composition, any form should be decisive, and a roof should be either flatly pitched or decidedly steep. As it is structurally unsound to design a tiled roof with an easy pitch, it is necessary that the, pitch should be greater than 45 degrees, and any pitch from 50 degrees upward will be found more satisfactory. A roof of this pitch will most probably appear too heavy for the building on the elevatlonal drawing, but the effect of perspective in the finished building Will nullify any disproportionate appearance. Quite a number of . well-designed houses are spoilt by overdoing the use of lead, writes an English architect. Lead that is used too prominently in flashings to chimney-stacks, dormer windows and elsewhere, is always ugly aud detracts from the beauty of the building. Lead step flashings are essential to a. chimney stack where ft emerges from the roof, but if the flashing is formed with soakers built in with the tiles as the work proceeds. a great deal of tbc lead can be hidden beneath the tiles. The same thing applies to dormer windows. The whole appearance of

ig distinction —that most subtle :pends upon the detail, those erious way confer charm and that when a carefully-planned lisappointed because, somehow,, hich a small refinement of detail out of the rut. They'are worth h to‘the owner-occupier or the >sal. a dormer window is spoilt if the sides are dressed with heavy lead flashings turned over the roof tiling; here again lead soakers would form a. perfectly watertight job and loss of the lead would be exposed to view. Dormer Window Construction. While on the subject of dormer windows, it would be as well to draw attention to their construction generally. If we were to inspect the dormer windows of an old Georgian house we should find that they sit comfortably on the roof, for they fit into and form part of it. This rarely happens in a modern house, because more often than not the dormer is constructed with a heavy wooden sill that projects on cither side of the cheeks, and with a heavy frame probably a still heavier cornice moulding. If the window were formed with lighter framing, and with a sill that fin-

ished flush with the framing and sat tightly and snugly on the roof tiling, more refluemeht would bo obtained in the finish. A little restraint in the handling of window sills will always repay the designer. Too often -windows are constructed with heavy sills haying excessive projections at either end of the opening and too much projection from the wall. Overdone Uso or. Tiles. Tiled window sills are usually more satisfactory than wooden ones. This, by the way, is almost the only circumstance in which it is wise to use tiles for any purpose other than their legitimate use. Tiles used decoratively in gables and in panels in the form of diamonds and other geometrical shapes are anathema. They look cheap, and are cheap. If a building is so uninteresting in its composition that it requires the assistance of applied, ornament, then let the ornament be of a material that was intended for decorative use. Tiles are not decorative materials, and when used iu that way they look out of place. They give the impresston that the designer of the building was at a loss for a way in which to inspire interest in a blank space and, having a few spare tiles at his disposal, used them as a last resource.