Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/202

 Before going farther you had better take your plan into your hand and study it carefully. In the sketches I have done my utmost to be plain and understandable. Now I will give the exact list of posts, &c., &c., that are required:—

Rafters, main building (22) 8 ft. 6 in. long, 3 x 2 in. diameter.

Rafters, skillion and verandah (22) 11 ft. long, 3 x 2 in. diameter.

Slabs, main building, about (150) 8 ft. 3 in. long.

Slabs, skillion, about (56) 5 ft. 3 in. long.

Battens for shingles to be nailed on every three inches down the rafters.

Ridgeboard (1) 21 ft. long, and 6 in. x 1 in., to go the whole length of house.

In this plan I have not provided for a floor, so many huts in the far bush are made without flooring where time and trouble are considered, but a floor is very easily made. Joists would need to be laid across, and slabs or boards nailed across them. Another way I once saw was with sheets of bark laid upon the earth floor. This is not a very even flooring, nor for that matter are slabs.

The following are a few of the terms used in building and fencing, with their meanings, as well as I can give them:—

Mortise, to cut an opening with the chisel in a post.

A mortise is the opening so cut. For instance you mortise the post to receive the rail in fencing. In building the posts have to be mortised so that the sleepers can fit into them, and the part that fits in, and which is also cut and shaped is called a tenon and shoulder, the part under shaped neatly to fit, being the shoulder.

Sleeper showing Tenon and Shoulder.