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PRACTICAL POINTS ABOUT CRAFTSMAN WOODWORK
PRACTICAL POINTS ABOUT
CRAFTSMAN WOODWORK
LMOST every day we get com-
        ments and inquiries from our sub-
        scribers in regard to some particu-
        lar kind of woodwork or other
 feature of interior or exterior construction.
 And recently we received a letter from a
 doctor in Dannemora, N. Y., in reference
 to the use of ceiling beams, which-being
 of general interest-we have decided to an-
 swer here.
   "I have noted from time to time," our
correspondent writes, "in different articles
in the magazines and      elsewhere, that
beamed ceilings are something to be avoid-
ed when the beams are not genuine. A re-
cent article in particular referred to this
rather contemptuously as 'fake' beams.
May I ask you to advise me if, in your opin-
ion, such use of wood for its decorative
value is objectionable? In the administra-
tion building of our hospital, for instance,
iron beams which show below the ceiling
have been encased in oak; and while the
fact that the iron beams show below the
ceiling might give an excuse for thus en-
casing them, is it not after all as much a
'fake' as to represent a beam for its deco-
rative effect ?"
  The doctor also sends us a photograph,
which we are reproducing here, showing a
living-room wall and chimneypiece in which
wood has been used with very solid effect.
He feels, he says, that the scheme of deco-
ration would be more satisfying with the
11        1 -    -
eca edt ceiling, and
asks our point of
view about it.
  From   this photo-
graph we judge that
a beamed ceiling
would be particularly
in keeping with the
rest of the construc-
tion, and we can see
no reason why such
beams should not be
used, even though
they may serve no
r~al structural pur-
pose.
  As to the writer
who spoke of "fake"
beams - we imagine
that either he was n-t
f. a   i    I ....-, V,,L'I ar - , .  A  Bl.AMV ( CjILINI
practical side of woodwork, or else his at-
titude was simply a pose. For, as every
carpenter is aware, the use of solid beams
for ceilings is becoming more and more
impracticable, for' several reasons.
   In the first place, 'it is difficult to season
 wood of more than three inches in thick-
 ness, and a solid beam would need to be
 seasoned for at least three to five years.
 Even if this were feasible, it would be too
 expensive, for the price of lumber is in-
 creasing and people can no longer afford to
 use fine  hardwood for such    purposes.
 Therefore, where carrying beams are need-
 ed, some inexpensive kind of wood is used
 and encased in boards of a better quality to
 match the rest of the trim. And where the
 beams have nothing to support and are used
 only for decorative purposes, they are built
 up as shown in the detail drawings of Fig-
 ures i and 2.
 Where the floor overhead is carried by
 iron beams, as in the case quoted above, it
 is as natural to encase the iron in wood as
 in plaster, plaster being preferable in some
 rooms and wood in others, according to the
 decorative scheme of the interior.
 This brings us to the question of how
 purely artificial beams and similar forms of
 woodwork should be used-whether they
 should appear to be a consistent part of the
 structure of the house, or whether, as our
 correspondent asks, "it would be permissi-
 ble to use the wood for its decorative effect
 with no attempt to deceive anyone as to
the structural details."
  Personally, we do not feel that it is a
G WOULD BE IN KEEPING WITH THIS CONSTRUCTION.
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