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786 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
(Continuedfront page 783)
Now as to materials.
Wood is the cheapest material and is
permissible if the local ordinance will
sanction. Always about a garage, however,
there is the highly volatile and
highly inflammable liquid, gasoline.
Fire-proof materials always are most
satisfactory for this reason. Concrete,
stucco, brick, or cement plaster on
metal lath, according to your purse or
inclination, will prove eventually to be
much better.
The location of the structure will depend,
of course, upon the amount of
ground space you have at your disposal,
accessibility to the driveway, and the
position of any other building that may
be on the property. Of course, the
factor of convenience to the door of your
dwelling must never be overlooked.
This always is of prime importance.
Whether you actually put the materials
together with your own hands or
employ men for the purpose, whether or
not you use your own plans and ideas
or those of an architect or contractor,
one thing you can always insist upon,
and that is that you get sufficient lighting.
Two skylights of good dimensions
are advisable. Then, too, you should
have three windows on each side and two
in each the back and the front. And
by the same token it is the poorest sort
of penny-wisdom to be chary of artificial
lighting equipment. Have your garage
ablaze at night with electric lights as
though you were about to hold a ball or
reception.
Ventilation is one of those points that
too infrequently receive the right amount
of attention. Heavy gases sink low. and
for that reason, ventilation should be
provided, not only in the roof or high
up on the walls for the exit of warm
foul air, but close to the floor as well for
the escape of the fumes of gasoline and
oils.
The heating plant, whether it be connected
with your dwelling or especially
provided, should be generously efficient.
It certainly does not contribute to the
health or comfort of the owner to enter
a damp chilly garage. Neither does it
add to the running qualities of your
motor to let it repose in a frosty atmosphere.
This is one of the mistakes commonly
made in otherwise well-constructed
and well-maintained private
garages. Of course, it goes almost without
saying that there should be no open
flame in the garage.
So much for the character of the
structure itself. Now, as to working
equipment proper. You will find it very
desirable to be able to lift the car off the
floor. A stout beam should therefore be
built in overhead. Iron or wood can be
used for this. Block and tackle can be
rigged to hoist the car for lifting the
body from the chassis or for taking out
the engine, and for other similar tasks.
Many auto owners do not think a turntable
desirable but prefer a pit. A pit,
however, is unsatisfactory in numerous
ways. The car may slip into it; and
besides, the pit offers an opportunity for
the accumulation of gasoline, which,
becoming vaporized, may ignite. This
last possibility is really serious, for it is
a rare garage, indeed, which is never
entered by a careless smoker.
In the absence of a turntable, the floor
should incline gently toward the center
to the outlet which always is provided
for draining off the gasoline and other
oils that inevitably drip from the car.
The outlet should be equipped with a
safety trap to keep gasoline from flowing '
into the sewer. A concrete or cement
floor will prove to be the best.
The gasoline and oil tanks should
never be in the building. These must
be built underground, outside. The connecting
pipe will terminate at the faucet
in the garage.
As has been previously stated, when
the autoist undertakes the responsibility
of maintaining his own garage, he must
remember that he becomes at the same
time a workman. He must see to it that
he has adequate work benches, lockers
for his working clothes, and chests or
cupboard for his tools, waste, and supplies.