Lördag med Gutenberg

Den som gör hus efter var mans råd, det blir aldrig färdigt (byggt).

Eget hus är en god sparbössa.

Små hus täckes med halm, stora med inteckningar.

Inget hus utan mus.

Hus är förmodligen något som alla människor har en åsikt om — och som det finns oräkneliga ordspråk om. 

Själv är jag, utan att ha några fackkunskaper, otroligt fascinerad av hus. Som barn kunde min kusin och jag sitta i timmar och rita planlösningar på de mest fantasifulla hus. Ibland utmanade vi varandra, vem kunde rita det minsta huset där en familj kunde bo, eller det brackigaste huset. Nu för tiden ritar jag inga hus — annat än i tankarna, men det är klart att jag kastade mig över USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 1738: Farmhouse Plans, (1934) av Wallace Ashby.

Indelningen är intressant, man samlar husen i olika grupper beroende på i vilken del av landet de ska byggas. Intressant därför att jag stött på många hus i Staterna som inte tycks ha anpassats efter klimatet — de byggherrarna har uppenbarligen inte läst det här häftet.

Spännande också att se att många av husen har förslag på hur man så småningom ska kunna bygga ut dem.

Som här, PLAN 6515, FOR THE SOUTH

Floor areas: Superstructure, first unit 565 square feet; with first addition 900 square feet; completed house 1,255 square feet. Porches, 175 square feet.

This begins as a three-room house but is planned so that eventually three bedrooms and a bath may be added. The kitchen in the original house is nicely arranged, as shown in the plan. When the house is completed, the first bedroom may be used as a dining room, with a door cut through from the kitchen. The range should then be placed against the living room wall. The fireplace and range will heat the first three rooms. Hall space for a circulator heater is provided in the first addition.

Några interiörer finns också.

Många opraktiska hus har jag sett "över där", men en sak gillar jag, det är att de flesta kök har diskhon under fönstret. Det är sällan vi har det här, ofta får vi stå med ryggen mot fönstret och måste ofta tända ljuset när vi diskar, även mitt på dagen.

Sista avdelningen handlar om mycket små hus, här PLAN 6501.

Floor areas: Superstructure, 325 square feet. Stoop, 15 square feet.

In plan 6501, sleeping space is provided in double-deck beds screened from the living room by draw curtains. If more space is wanted later, a bedroom wing can be added at the end of the living room. To save space, the kitchen is planned for an oil, gas, or electric stove. With a house of this size, part of the housework would have to be done outdoors, and a paved or graveled space under a tree near the house would be a convenience.

Och slutligen en annan bok från Gutenberg, där husen ser helt annorlunda ut. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, av Edwin A. Abbot.

The most common form for the construction of a house is five-sided or pentagonal, as in the annexed figure. The two Northern sides RO, OF, constitute the roof, and for the most part have no doors; on the East is a small door for the Women; on the West a much larger one for the Men; the South side or floor is usually doorless.

Square and triangular houses are not allowed, and for this reason. The angles of a Square (and still more those of an equilateral Triangle), being much more pointed than those of a Pentagon, and the lines of inanimate objects (such as houses) being dimmer than the lines of Men and Women, it follows that there is no little danger lest the points of a square or triangular house residence might do serious injury to an inconsiderate or perhaps absent-minded traveller suddenly therefore, running against them: and as early as the eleventh century of our era, triangular houses were universally forbidden by Law, the only exceptions being fortifications, powder-magazines, barracks, and other state buildings, which it is not desirable that the general public should approach without circumspection.

At this period, square houses were still everywhere permitted, though discouraged by a special tax. But, about three centuries afterwards, the Law decided that in all towns containing a population above ten thousand, the angle of a Pentagon was the smallest house-angle that could be allowed consistently with the public safety. The good sense of the community has seconded the efforts of the Legislature; and now, even in the country, the pentagonal construction has superseded every other. It is only now and then in some very remote and backward agricultural district that an antiquarian may still discover a square house.