Turkish Baths

ITS DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION. 35
rapidly darkens and blackens, and in this state looks
anything but attractive in a place
where the mere
uspicion of uncleanliness is nauseating. If employeds
(and this remark also applies to plaster on walls), it
should be used in the simplest manner possible, without
the slightest attempt at modelling
the surface.
Enamelled iron may be used, with effect, for ceilings.
The little laconicum is best covered with a flat vault,
the soffit being of glazed bricks, and the springing
being brought down below the main ceiling level
Fire-proof floors over hot rooms may be of any design
that is also heat-proof. The main point is to have a
sufficient thickness of concrete, and the iron joists
and cross girders well buried therein. Ordinary floors
may be rendered heat-proof by partially filling the
and floorboards with sawdust or
space between ceiling
sheets of slag-wool laid on boarding nailed to fillets on
the joists.
The sawdust should be filled
up to the top
of the joists ;
over this a layer of thick felt, and the
boarding above. This, however, is only a makeshift
when compared with a solid floor of concrete.
When the hot rooms are in a basement in the open,
they may be top-lighted, and the ceiling above need not
be a heavy fire-proof construction. A sufficient air
space, however, must be provided between the ceiling
and roof, to prevent irradiation of heat a remark that
applies also to anything in the shape
of a window in
the sudatorium. It must be double, or look into
an area covered with pavement lights. In the case of
a top-lighted room there must be a ceiling-light and a
skylight.
D 2