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Show Good Construction Lowers Home Costs Look beyond the price tag when purchasing a home. Although attractively at-tractively priced, a house is a good buy only if its construction assures economical maintenance and operation. The important details de-tails can be ascertained by inspection in-spection at various stages of the building operations. With either a basement or crawl space, the center of the house should be supported by wood or steel columns or masonry piers topped with a steel girdej or heavy beam. Subflooring laid diagonally di-agonally provides greater strength, and joists should be braced at intervals in-tervals with X-shaped bridging. The roof should be of fire-resistant fire-resistant material, such as asphalt as-phalt shingles which protect most American homes and farm buildings. build-ings. Asphalt shingles are applied over a smooth, solid roof .deck. An asphalt saturated felt is nailed to the roof deck before the shingles shin-gles are applied. The most popular popu-lar asphalt shingle is the three-tab three-tab square-butt shingle. The three-in-one shingle, economical to apply, is designed for five-inch five-inch exposure to the weather. In areas where high winds are to be expected, use of a quick-setting cement to fasten down the tabs is recommended. Another sign of good constuc-tion constuc-tion is sheathing applied diagonally diagon-ally instead of horizontally. This gives the walls more strength and usually indicates the builder will be particular about other de- ; tails. Doors and windows should not stick or bind and stairs should be level and firm with no vibration vibra-tion under foot. |