Field Survey of Housing in Vincent County

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 81, Issue 6, 15 December 1950, Page 573

Field Survey of Housing in Vincent County

FIELD surveys on the rural home are strange to most New, Zealand housewives. A systematic survey with sufficient cases enables the worker to classify groups, to isolate problems, and to draw conclusions that no amount of casual work could achieve. In a well-conducted survey the units studied, whether they be houses, families, kitchens, or individuals, are selected to represent a fair cross-section. Individual case studies can be very informative and useful, but they can also be misleading if they are taken unjustifiably as representative. In any subject a field survey permits a detailed knowledge to be gained, and frequently from this generalisations of wider application than the district studied may be obtained.

THIS is the first field study of its type to appear in the “Journal”. Results of similar studies in future will be published as they become available. The data for this article by Edith G. McNab, Rural Sociologist, Department of Agriculture, Timaru, and for two to follow were obtained by a field survey of housing in Vincent County, Central Otago.* In these studies close attention is given to the way in which other members of the family affect the work of the housewife.

THE facts provided by the 107 housewives visited in Vincent County are likely to be of interest to country women in general, and these articles will also let the women who assisted the writer know something of the results of the survey. Chance decided which housewives were called on. One property in 18 was visited in the \ county and in the two boroughs of Alexandra and Cromwell, giving a total of 65 rural houses (of which 46 were farm houses) and 42 houses in the boroughs. The variety of types of farming and occupations of the families visited is considered to provide a representative cross-section of homes, so the information and opinions collected from the housewives would also be representative of the whole of the county. |L-

Building Materials and Designs

In the earliest days of pioneering the scarcity of building materials and the necessity for making a living severely limited the kinds of houses erected. No timber was available locally, and many of the original buildings were temporary and constructed of makeshift material. Because of the difficulty of transport from Dunedin a minimum of glass and timber was used. There are some interesting survivals of houses built of the durable local materials stone and cob, and another local material, sundried bricks, has returned to use. Cob consists of puddled earth mixed with chopped tussock and tamped down within a wooden framework to form thick walls, the framework being removed later. The cob houses of Vincent were finished by applying mud plaster until the surface was smooth and' free from cracks; after that linseed oil was sometimes used to coat the outer surface. The same raw material is used for making sundried bricks from which walls are built. Buildings of long life can be made from these materials if they have good foundations and sound roofs with adequate eaves. The plans of the older houses visited reflected the difficulty of obtaining material. Five out of six houses more than 80 years old had a basic plan of three or more (usually four) rooms opening out of each other. Windows

were small and chimneys built outside. This pattern is still used, but to a less extent. Houses built on the same basic plan may differ in details of later additions, porches, and verandas. As materials became easier to obtain this basic plan had a hall added between the two front rooms. This

plan appeared in a third of the houses aged 40 to 80 years, but was not used for houses built later. It seems to have been replaced by the type of house with four to six rooms opening off each side of a straight hall, the front entrance being into the hall. Sometimes the back door also opened into the hall, but more frequently the end of the hall was cut off to form a

bathroom and the rear entrance opened directly into the kitchen. By this time chimneys were built between two rooms to serve two fireplaces. Windows became larger and more easily opened. Among the houses built within the past 20 years floor plans vary more and are less easily classified into basic patterns. There is more building planned to take advantage of sunshine, more grouping of bedrooms and bathroom together and of living rooms together, and more attention paid to planning kitchens for greater convenience to the housewife. Size and type of windows and finishing details show more variety. The houses visited were built of a number of different materials, more than half being wooden:

The cob and stone houses were among ' the oldest. Neither of these materials is used for new dwellings. Roofs were of iron excepting those of the newer houses, for which tiles have been used.

The building material most suitable in Vincent’s climate appears to be sun-dried brick. It has many advantages over wood and iron in particular. One factor contributing to the present popularity of sun-dried brick is that a family which can give some time and labour to making the bricks can reduce the cost of its house.

HOUSING IN VINCENT COUNTY

The average number of rooms in a house was five. Bathrooms, kitchenettes, sculleries, pantries, storerooms, laundries, and unenclosed porches were . not counted as rooms, but kitchen-living rooms and sunporches which could be enclosed and used as bedrooms were counted. The number of rooms varied from two to eleven. One standard of adequacy for housing is the room ratio, found by dividing the total number of rooms by the number of people who usually live in the house. About 10 per cent, of the homes had less than one room per person, the most common reason being that none of the children of the family had yet left home. Facilities and Fittings Another . criterion on which the standard of housing may be judged is the number of facilities. The following table shows the proportions of the houses visited in which certain facilities were present: — .

County plus Facility County Boroughs boroughs

A smaller proportion of houses in the county than in the borough had piped hot water, piped cold water, bathroom, laundry, and electricity. Lack of electricity was a result of the isolation of some of the homes in the county. The unusually large number of houses having both a coal and an electric range is accounted for by two facts —the cold winters, making some source of heating in the kitchen desir-

able then, the coal range serving this purpose as well as cooking; and interruptions to the power supply making an alternative way of heating water an advantage. Therefore the coal range is not always removed when an electric one is installed. The electric range is a boon to many housewives in summer, reducing the discomfort of cooking in the heat and saving work. In some parts of Vincent County a reliable water supply is not easy to obtain, and it is a prerequisite for a hot-water system and for the installation of a septic tank. Of the houses in the county 43 per cent, had water closets, but the percentage of farm houses having these would be lower, for the county includes the small townships of . Clyde and Omakau. Despite the fact that parts of the county have an annual average rainfall of only 12in., three households visited depended on rainfall alone for their water supply, and a number of others used rainfall supplemented by irrigation water, which is not always available at the time or in the quantity desired. Nor are wells or springs always reliable as sources of supply. Additions and Alterations Details of additions made to their houses by the present owners were available in 26 cases. Reasons for additions were one or a combination of the following: To accommodate a family increasing in size, to facilitate the work of the housewife, or to add amenities. Most frequently additions were bedrooms or sunrooms which could be used as bedrooms. If the kitchen was the only living room, a second living room might be added. Sometimes extra living space was provided by building a new . kitchen and turning the old one into a dining or living room. Bathrooms, wash - houses, porches, and water closets were also among the additions. Most alterations were to the work areas of the house, particularly the kitchen. Sculleries or pantries often were turned into kitchenettes, the old kitchen being used .as a dining-living room; this change was as popular in farm houses as in the boroughs.

EARLY DEVELOPMENTS IN DESIGN

The dates of making additions and alterations were significant. There was some waiting for money to become available, but on the whole additions and alterations were made about the time the house was taken over by the present occupants. It would appear to be well for people who have lived for years in one house to take stock of. their home and of their manner of life from time to time and decide whether the arrangements within the house are still as suited to their circumstances as they were when the house was first lived in. Changes in the size and composition of the family, the acquisition of new equipment, and other more general changes outside the family during the years may mean that the original arrangements are no longer the most comfortable or the most efficient for work. Though economy of energy and time reduces many tasks about the house to habit and routine, this process should not be followed blindly for ever, but should be adapted to changing circumstances as the ideas and aims of the family alter. The house is there to serve the needs of the family; it is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Washing, Ironing, and Airing A small number of homes had either a separate table or a bench for ironing. Women whose ironing time was broken into short periods found the separate space most convenient, for the time and handling required for putting equipment out or. away were much reduced. The ironing equipment is often overlooked when cupboard space is allotted. If it can be kept at the place where the ironing is most frequently done, instead of its having to be collected from several places, work is saved. Occasionally sewing was done in a spare room, but usually it was carried out in the main living room, which in 41 per cent, of the houses visited was the kitchen. In almost all houses the hot-water cupboard was used for airing clothes, sometimes supplemented by rails which could be let down from the kitchen ceiling. When the water was heated by a coal range and the cupboard was easily accessible and well provided with rails or racks for clothes, the method was satisfactory. It was less so when the water was electrically heated and the cylinder well lagged to prevent loss of heat and when the cupboard was difficult of access and lacked racks or hanging space. Leaving part of an electrically heated water cylinder uncovered to provide warmth for airing is not desirable, for heat is lost all the time, whether or not clothes are being aired, and as a consequence electricity is wasted. One good airing cupboard was provided with a thermostatically controlled tubular electric heater. There was some division of opinion on the question of having the laundry under the same roof as the dwelling. Most women recognised the convenience of having it in the same building, but some objected that too much steam would enter the house; good ventilation would overcome that objection. No dissatisfaction was expressed by any woman whose washhouse was under the same roof as the house.

HOUSING IN VINCENT COUNTY

Toilet Facilities A water closet was generally agreed to be the best toilet arrangement. In most houses the water closet opened off the laundry, which nearly always meant that the living room or kitchen or both had to be traversed to reach it from the rest of the house, though on the whole it was conveniently reached from outside. Most housewives agreed that the best place for the water closet was not in the bathroom but next door to it, with an entrance from inside the house and . another from outdoors directly to it. ' , . , , , , Fewer women objected to a water closet in the bathroom if there was a second one elsewhere. In a few instances ere there were either young children or elderly people a preference was expressed for a water closet m the bathroom, but in all these cases the housewives considered this arrangement to have drawbacks for other stages of the family cycle,

Farmers’ wives in particular recognised the need for access to the water closet from outdoors without passing through any rooms of the house.- A number of farms had an extra toilet at the farm buildings. In the older houses the water closet was often added at some date after the house was built and some compromise was necessary in selecting a place for it. Storage Space > Nearly all housewives desired more cupboards. Most houses had some built-in storage place for food, but many depended on furniture for clothes storage. Because of the climate of Vincent County housewives place a refrigerator high on the priority list for electrical equipment. One type of storage which was often lackingto the regret of the housewives concerned — space for cleaning equipment . such as brooms, , mops, . and vacuum cleaners. Very few houses had carefully planned storage space for all purposes. Access to cupboards was often difficult because they were too deep and doors were too small or hinged at the wrong side. Not all builders or carpenters know what is best for different types of storage, and the only way out of the difficulty is for ■ the housewife herself to be prepared to instruct them at the time the cupboards are to be made. To do this she must study the problem herself. She must make up her mind how much storage space she wants and where it is to be, how deep the cupboards should be and how far apart the shelves, whether racks or rails or any other special features are to be

included, and what types of doors fife to be used and how they should be hung. To make the most economical use of materials and space each cupboard should be planned round the things which are to be stored in it. The housewife must also know how much of a commodity she wishes to keep on hand and decide what space should be allowed for it. Then she must be able to explain to the workman precisely what is wanted, and see that her instructions are carried out. Lighting and Heating Most artificial lighting was of the central ceiling-fixture type, with the lamp exposed. One or two houses had some fluorescent lighting. Local lighting for reading or sewing was rare, except for reading lamps .at beds, which were more common. Ventilation in all cases depended solely on windows. None of the houses visited had a hood over the range to carry off steam and cooking odours. In most houses the only heating was by open fires. Some homes had electric radiators for occasional use, and a fairly recent development was the use of tubular electric heaters, thermostatically controlled, for background heating. A few people were beginning to use heating stoves of the controlled-burning type, which use fuel more efficiently than do open fires. There is room for some study of heating methods and factors affecting heating of houses such as building materials, aspect, methods of construction, ventilation, and adaptation to the climate. Kitchens and Wash Places It would be interesting to know if use of the kitchen as a living room is increasing or decreasing. In 41 per cent, of the homes visited the kitchen was used as the main living room. While there were houses in which a large kitchen was being altered to serve as a dining or living room, with pantry or scullery fitted up as a kitchenette, in several new houses the kitchen had been planned consciously and most successfully as a kitchenliving room. Only eight of the 107 houses had but one living room.

Most back doors opened into the kitchen, so that, excepting in the six houses in which it opened into the hall, people entering by that door had to pass through the kitchen and possibly another living room before reaching the hall. In more than 70 per cent, of the houses it was necessary to pass through a living room when going either from outside or from the bedrooms to the bathroom or the lavatory. Many housewives dislike the living rooms being used as passageways, particularly when casual farm workers must go through the kitchen to reach the bathroom.

A number of farmers’ wives spontaneously raised the subject of having either a separate place in which men could wash and tidy up before entering the house or a bathroom easily accessible from outdoors. In many houses where the bathroom adjoined the back porch providing an entrance directly to it from the porch as well as from the hall would have been

HOUSING IN VINCENT COUNTY

simple. In some houses the laundry was used occasionally by the men for washing and tidying before meals, but special provision for convenience in doing so was made in only three homes. In some laundries which open on to a back porch the addition of fittings to encourage its use as a washroom would be comparatively simple, particularly if the laundry already has a hot-water tap. Arrangement of Entrances If economy makes necessary an entrance directly into a living room, it is a moot point whether in a farmhouse it may not be better to arrange the front entrance thus rather than the . back. This must be decided by each family for itself. On many farms there is little traffic through the front entrance, whereas the back door is in constant use. If the main back entrance must be into the kitchen or living room in a new house, careful planning is called for so that traffic through that entrance will cause as little disturbance as possible to the people working in or occupying the rooms concerned. Unsheltered entrances were common, even the much-used back door often being quite exposed. This does not affect the cleanliness of a house in Vincent County as much as it would in a wetter district, but in cold weather or where the door is in the side of the house exposed to the prevailing wind it must be undesirable. Aspect of Rooms Women who had given some thought to the problem of . aspect—and summers are hotter and winters colder in Central Otago than in most other parts of New —considered that’ the kitchen should have an easterly aspect, never northerly, and that bedrooms should always receive some sunshine. A number of women favoured a north-easterly aspect for

living rooms.

There seemed to be ■■ little use of wider eaves as a means of excluding the midday sun in summer and admitting it in winter, but porches as a method of extending the living or resting area of the house in summer were popular. Planning for Requirements It seems significant that a high proportion of the best-planned houses were those erected for their own families by builders or men engaged in allied trades.. Though' few people can hope to acquire such wide experience before having a house of their own built, much can be achieved by thinking over the requirements of the family beforehand, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of houses or plans seen by members of the family, and making a close study of plans submitted by the builder. Imagining the family living in the house, with its members going about their usual occupations for, say, a week, will show good and bad points about a plan. Not every home builder can employ an architect, but it may be possible to reap some of the benefits of his knowledge by taking advantage of the limited-plan service, under which the architect, having been given details of the site, the expenditure permissible, and the type of house required, supplies plans and specifications, but does not supervise the work. A plan may be judged on its suitability for the family and for the conditions under which the family lives and on its adaptability to possible changes in family circumstances. Few families can build houses incorporating all that they ; desire. Compromises are almost inevitable, but when they are being made the desirable features should be ranked in order of importance and an effort made to keep those which best satisfy the requirements for health, comfort, and convenience for working.

♦ Data for the survey were collected by the author in her private capacity as a student and not as a Departmental officer.

. Field Survey of Housing in Vincent County 'T’HIS is the first field study of its type to appear in the “Journal”. bathroom and the rear entrance A Results of similar studies in future will be published as they opened directly into the kitchen. By Results of similar studies in future will be published as they this time chimneys were built between become available. The data for this article by Edith G. McNab, two rooms to serve two fireplaces. Rural Sociologist, Department of Agriculture, Timaru, and for two ea'dly^pene^f ame larger and more to follow were obtained by a field survey of housing in Vincent Among the houses built within the County, Central Otago.* In these studies close attention is given past 20 years floor plans vary more to the way in which other members of the family affect the work , patterns 7 building of the housewife. planned to take advantage of sunshine, more grouping of bedrooms and bathnpHE facts provided by the 107 house- were small and chimneys built out- room together and of living rooms J- wives visited in Vincent County side. This pattern is still used, but to together, and more attention paid to are likely to be of interest to country a less extent. Houses built on the planning kitchens for greater conveniwomen in general, and these articles same basic plan may differ in details ence to the housewife. Size and type will also let the women who assisted of later additions, porches, and of windows and finishing details show the writer know something of the verandas. more variety. results of the survey. As materials became easier to obtain The houses visited were built of a Chance decided which housewives this basic plan had a hall added number of different materials, more were called on. One property in 18 between the two front rooms. This than half being wooden: was visited in the \ county Number and m the two boroughs of Alexandra and Cromwell, giving a total of 65 rural houses (of which 46 were farm houses) and 42 houses in the boroughs. The variety of types of farming and occupations of the SHIELD surveys on the rural home are strange to most ‘ New , Zealand housewives. A systematic survey with sufficient cases enables the worker to classify groups, to isolate problems, and to draw conclusions that no amount of casual work could achieve. In a well-conducted survey the units studied, whether they be houses, families, kitchens, Material of houses Wood .. .. .. 55 Stone 12 Brick .. .. .. 10 Concrete . . .. 10 Corrugated iron . . 7 Sun-dried brick . . 6 Cob ... 4

(per ' cent.) (per cent.) (per cent.) Piped cold water .. 92 ' 100 95 Piped hot water .. 82 95 87 Bathroom .. 88 100 92 Laundry- or washhouse .. 81 98 88 Water . closet 43 95 64 Electricity .. 89 100 94 Electric range only 31 38 34 Coal range only . . 50 45 48 Both coal and electric ranges 19 • 17 18