The Swiss chalet book; a minute analysis and reproduction of the ...

24
SWITZERLAND VISITED
and durability of the finished product.
for the construction of a good
First and most important
chalet the best wood is needed and
Switzerland is especially favored by Nature in this matter. Beyond
this, and in connection with it, the careful preparation and
dexterity of treatment which result only from long experience
are needed. The effect of the weather on insufficiently seasoned
timber is recognized to be of such importance that particular attention
is given to the matter of seasoning.
At this plant there is a saw-mill, woodworking room, parquetry
section and drying department, all equipped with the most
modern machinery, which was introduced following a heavy
fire in 1906. Among the many machines are band-saws, planers,
moulders and mortisers, and a combination groover, planer,
chamferer and moulder. In the drying rooms the wood for par-
quetry purposes
is treated for resistance to the effects of artificial
heating.
Among the characteristic details of construction are the groov-
ing of the wall-beams throughout their length, and boring them
for dowels, one to the meter; the walls are brick-lined, an air-
space being left to insure a constant temperature. The exterior
shell is coated on the inside with a hot mixture of Norway tar and
oil, which preserves the wood indefinitely.
For chalets of several
stories, the lower story is usually of masonry. The protection
of the external portions of the chalets from the weather is
insured by the great overhang of gable and eaves ;
these add, also,
greatly to the artistic effect. The century-old chalets of the mountains,
called "mazots," attest the great durability of this form of
construction.
For the price of a really good chalet, $400 per room is esti-
mated; they range in size from a dwelling of two rooms to a
hotel of thirty rooms. The firm mentioned has constructed a
great number of chalets not only in Switzerland, as the chalet stations
of the Geneva electric roads, the electric railroads of Gruyere,
but also in France, America and elsewhere.
The productions of another manufacturer, Spring Freres of
Geneva, are interestingly described in the "Revue Universelle."
In this article special attention is called to the adaptability of the
chalet to exposed situations and localities where the climate is
severe, on account of the inherent solidity of its construction ; evidences
of the chalet's great resistance and durability are to be seen
in the high mountain chalets still standing which date from the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and are inhabited to-day. They