Chapter 30 of BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME plans for a simple suburban home.

This article series provides an updated version of Hubbard Cobb's Your Dream Home, illustrated by Sigman-Ward, first published by Wm. H. Wise & Co. New York, 1950.

From site selection and obtaining financing through each step in construction of a single family home the simple procedures and drawings in this book are still useful for anyone building or repairing a home or other small structure.

Chapter 30 A Suburban Home

This is an ideal house for a growing family in a growing community. Its conventional design makes it acceptable in almost every kind of residential zone but at the same time it has sufficient character of its own not to look like “just another house on the block.’' This is an important point, for far too many homes these days have no character of their own and might just as well have been poured from a mold. Of course, this home does just as nicely out in the country as in a well settled community.

The Suburban Home, when fully completed, can easily accommodate a large family. The attic is large enough to contain two full-size bedrooms as well as a bathroom and ample closet and storage space besides. The large dormer window in the roof insures that these rooms are both light and airy. They will be perfect for two or more older children, or they can be used as guest rooms.

The Floor Plan

The first floor, as you can see from the floor plan, includes a large master bedroom and a somewhat smaller second bedroom. Each room has ample closet space, and there is additional closet space that can be used for linens or the like. There is a large living room with a dining alcove off to the rear as well as a large kitchen and bathroom. 

The kitchen has been located so that there is easy access from it to the dining alcove. There is enough extra room in the kitchen for a breakfast bar, so that the dining alcove need only be used for the main meals or when there is company. The layout of the fixtures in the kitchen is the conventional L-type arrangement, which is considered most efficient.

An interesting feature of the first floor is the location of the front door, which, as you can see from the plans, is located in an off-set on the front wall. This door opens into a coat entry or foyer. Its location—protected on two sides by walls—makes it highly desirable in cold climates where there is a tendency for houses to become chilled by strong w^Tinds each time the front door is opened. The rear door of the house is located in the rear of the dining alcove. A stoop in front of this door leads directly to the door of the garage. While there is no outside door to the kitchen, it is only a matter of a few steps from the kitchen to the outside dining-room door.

The front of the living room is almost entirely taken up by large picture windows and there is another window that looks out on the side over the driveway.

The comers of the two bedrooms consist entirely of windows, and there are windows as well over the kitchen sink and in the bathroom.

The Basement

Some sort of a basement will be required for this house since no provision has been made on the first floor for a utility room for the furnace and other necessary equipment. You have a choice here either of making a half- or quarter-basement—enough to take care of this equipment—or of building a full basement and dividing it up into a utilitv room, a laundrv room and a good-size game room. If the family is large, it might well be worth the added expense of having a full basement with a decent-size rumpus room.

Partitions between the rooms in the basement can be made out of masonry-blocks. This will eliminate the need for a heavy girder or lintel and will also make it possible to use a lighter size of joist than would be required if there was no support for the joists other than the main girder running through the approximate center of the floor.

Access to the basement is by means of the stairs located in the hall between the bathroom and bedroom. In planning the basement, be sure that these steps lead down into the game room rather than into the utility room or laundrv.

The one-car garage is incorporated directly in the house. If a two-car garage is desired, this can easily be constructed by extending the far wall of the garage the required distance.

The Foundation

If this house is to be built with a full basement, the foundation walls should be of either poured concrete or masonry-blocks and all precautions should be taken to insure that the basement will be adequately drained. If a laundrv is to be located in the basement,

there should be a floor drain at some point and the necessary provisions should be made for drainage pipes for the laundry equipment. In many instances the basement will come below the sewer line or septic tank, and in this case a sump pump will have to be installed to pump the waste water into the house sewer line.

Many basement game rooms are provided with a powder room or half-bath-room located under the basement stairs. Such fixtures will also have to be served by a sump pump if the basement is below the grade of the sewer.

Many persons, of course, will not wish to complete the entire house at one time but will put off finishing the attic and the basement until some later date. This is an excellent plan, but provisions for the attic bath and the basement laundrv and bath should be made

when the main house plumbing system is put in or else you will find that these additions later on can be unduly expensive.

The Suburban Home

When the house foundations are poured, the garage foundations must be poured as well. This is absolutely necessary, because the garage framework will have to be built right along with that of the house. If you want, the garage can be added later on, but this will complicate construction considerably.

The Framework

The erection of the house framework will, in general, be just the same as for any of the other homes covered in this book. As there is no single partition that runs the entire width of the first floor, the various room partitions should be erected before the ceiling joists are installed. They will serve as bearing partitions and allow you to use somewhat smaller joists than are needed for a large span. On the other hand, bearing posts or masonry walls will be required under the partitions carrying joists so that the load of the

second floor can be adequately supported. This load can sometimes be compensated for merely by increasing the joists under the partitions by one or even two additional joists spiked to the side of the main joist.

There should not be any problem in building the larger dormer in the roof as its design is very simple, but it is most important that the windows in this dormer be centered directly over the ones on the floor below. They should also be exact duplicates of the windows used on the first floor.

If the garage is built along with the house, the construction of the roof at the point where the garage and house meet will not be difficult. As you can see from the Rear Elevation, the rear portion of the garage roof has exactly the same pitch as the house roof. Consequently, after the main house has been framed, you can simply install one of the rear garage rafters and spike it to the end house rafter. Install a rafter on the rear of the garage at the opposite end and then run a ridge board between the two. Now the intermediate rafters can be put up, running from ridge board to garage plate.

As you can see from the floor plan, the chimney for the heating system runs up past the linen closet. There is no fireplace, but one can be installed if you wish. It can be located in the front of the wall between the living room and kitchen or in the right wall of the living room.

Windows for the Suburban Home are metal or wood casement windows except for the picture window in the

living room. The picture window* is fixed but is flanked on both sides by single-pane movable sashes. These are necessary in order to provide the necessary cross-ventilation in the living room during warm weather.

The Exterior

As far as exterior siding goes, plywood or bevel siding or wood or asbestos shingles are suitable. A combination of two kinds of siding, one on the lower portion and one on the gable ends, is very desirable and breaks up surfaces that would otherwise become monotonous.

The roof should be shingled with either wood or asbestos shingles. Slate can be used, but it is expensive and difficult to install.

The Interior

As this is basically a light and cheerful house, care should be taken in selecting the covering for the interior walls. Without a doubt the most suitable material would he either plaster or plasterboard, as either of these can be painted or papered. A light-color "wood or plywood paneling would he suitable in the living room with a somewhat darker paneling used in the dining room. It is best not to make the walls of both these rooms with paneling of the same color, as too much of a good thing can often ruin the entire effect.

Bedrooms should have walls that will take either paper or paint and the bathroom and kitchen walls should be of a type that can be covered with paper, linoleum or metal or plastic wall tile.

The living-room floor should be of either wood or linoleum in a light color. A softwood plank floor finished in a light color would be most suitable.

Finishing Off

The Suburban Home is an American house in design, and this fact must not be forgotten when it comes to finishing it off. Too many homes are neither fish nor fowl when completed, not through any fault of the design but because little items such as the hardware and fixtures were selected without any thought of the style of the house in which thev were to be used.

As far as hardware goes, simple wrought iron of Colonial style or solid brass is suitable. Many persons with a love for all that is nautical may want to choose hardware with a ship motive and this too is suitable if not carried to an extreme.

The exterior walls should be painted white or grey with the same color used for the outside trim around window and doors or with blue or green trim. Green trim is in keeping with Colonial style but many persons prefer to have the trim the same color as the siding.

The front door should be in Colonial style and painted the same color as the siding. A heavy oak door with a dark natural finish would be somewhat out of place. The door at the rear of the

dining room should he a panel door

with lights, as this will give an almost solid w^rall of glass at the back of the house.

SUBURBAN HOME MATERIALS LIST

Materia!

Mixed cement 0" x 6"

Quantity

48 cu. yds. 3

Dim *n*ion*

6' 6"

Material

2" x 10"

2" x 8"

2" x 6"

2" x 4"

1" x 6"

Sheathing Shelving Base mold Copper flashing

Entrance door with frame and trim Overhead door

Windows with frame and trim

1" x 3", 6.54'

Beveled siding, 2,444 board ft. Building paper, 2,000 sq. ft. Roofing material, 1,800 sq. ft. Insulation, 3,353 sq. ft. Wallboard, 4,873 sq. ft.

Quantity

Dimensions

16 ~ 18'

29 16'

57 14'

20 12'

18 14'

9 16'

** i

18' 24

22' 13

18' 14

16' 18

14' 84

20' 157

16' 3

20' 10

16' 6,160 board ft.

1" x 6" 250'

1" x 6" 522'

1" x 3" h-*00

>12"

Rough Openings

2 7' x 3'

1 7' x 2'9"

1 7'2" x 8'3"

3'3" x 5'0"

2 3'3" x 8'3"

2 4'9" x 3'3"

1 3'3" x 5'3"

.3'3" x 2'9"

10 3'3" x 4'0"

3'6" x 4'6"

1 3'6" x 2'9"

2 6'0" x 1'8"

1 4'3" x 6'0"

%" plywood, 2,424 sq. ft.

Linoleum, 2,424 sq. ft.

Nails: 6d, 45 lbs; 8d, 128 lbs; 8d finishing, 37 lbs; 10d.

70 lbs; 16d, 24 lbs

20d, 36 lbs; 4d, 104 lbs; bd, 18 lbs Interior doors, trim, jambs, stops, 12

Hinges: brass, 9, interior, 24-Mortice locks, 15 Louvers, 3 Gutters, 140'

Flight box stairs, 2

Paint: exterior, 12 gal.; water-thinned, 12 gal.; interior enamel, 214 gal. Common bricks, 1,885 Mortar, 1 cu. yd.

span class="font19" style="color:#000000;">2-ft. flue-tile 12" x 12", 12 Chimney thimble Clean-out door

Forced warm-air heating system Medicine cabinets, 2 Towel racks, 5

Soap dish and toothbrush holder, 2 Sanitary T: 4", 1; 4" with 2" tapping, 5; 2', 2; 114", 6 Y branch: 4", 2; 2", 1 Clean-out plug: 4", 1; 2", 1 Increaser 4"-2" reducer 4" closet bends, 3 Drain traps, 10

Elbows: 2", 1; 114", 7; ?4", 3; 14", 14 2" 14-bend Tees:    3; 14", 21

5' sections cast-iron soil pipe: 4", 10; 2", 3

Galvanized pipe: 2", 10'; l!4", 120';

30'; 14", 80'

Kitchen sink Laundry tubs, 2

Bathtubs with shower and fittings, 2

Lavatories with fittings, 3

Water closets with flush tank, 3

30-gal. hot-water heater

Ceiling fixtures, 13

Ceiling fixtures with pull chain, 3

Wall fixtures, 3

Outside fixture

Convenience outlets, 25

Special outlet

Single switches, 13

3-way switch

4" outlet boxes with plates, 16 214" switch boxes with plates, 40 Cable connectors and bushings, 190 Door bells and buttons, 2 Metal hangers, 16 Service head Sill plate

Grounding bushing Switch box Entrance cable, 16'

No. 14 2-wire, 500'

No. 12 wire, 75'

No. 6 wire, 25' d

Foundation Plan of the Suburban Home

Front Elevation of the Suburban Home

Rear Elevation of the Suburban Home

LEFT SIDE ELEVATION

6'-O' ;A'-O' , ‘2*-r , 10 to

Floor Plan of the Suburban Home: First Floor

Floor Plan of the Suburban Home: Second Floor

Front Framing Elevation of the Suburban Home

2*S RAFTERS

FINISH

CEILING

GRADE

Rear Framing Elevation of the Suburban Home

span class="font14" style="font-weight:bold;color:#000000;">First Floor Framing Plan of the Suburban Home

LONOITUDIMAL SECTION!

scale '/e%r

...

Continue reading at GLOSSARY of BUILDING TERMS - next chapter in this book, or go to book contents at BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• ARCHITECTURE & BUILDING COMPONENT ID - home
• ARCHITECTURE DICTIONARY of BUILDINGS & COMPONENTS
• ARCHITECTURAL STYLE & BUILDING AGE
• BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME
• CONSTRUCTION DICTIONARY
• GLOSSARY of BUILDING TERMS
• HOME CONSTRUCTION CATALOGS 1950
• KIT HOMES, Aladdin, Sears, Wards, Others

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