CHAPTER XXX
THE QUIET HOUSE
The entrance to a house is like the tonic chord of a sonata. It gives you the key, the introduction to the atmosphere of the home. You really get an impression of a home immediately upon entering the hallway. It is also true that on entering a house you are lured or repelled by the sounds in it, whether from the house itself or the people living there. If you are greeted by loud voices, slamming doors, creaking stairs, there is immediately the impression that this particular home is not well ordered and that the people in it are not at peace. But if you are at once enveloped by quiet and loveliness, a feeling of peace is suggested and involuntarily we expect to meet a charming family.
The good architect always gives the builder a set of plans that should make a satisfactory house, but, as an eminent architect recently said, “It seems to be the aim of most builders to change every detail of the architect’s plan.” So it is a wise idea to watch the construction of your home so that when the house is actually built you will find it not only attractive to look at but so well constructed in every detail that there are no complaints to make as to leaks or noise or cold. If a house is built of good materials, is well planned, is well put together, a sense of peace is usually the result. In order to accomplish this, every detail of the house must be considered, the windows and the doors, the stairs and floors.
Due to the high cost of building, heavy masonry is not always used in the division of rooms and the separating of stairs from rooms. Where a slight partition only is required, there are on the market to-day asbestos, felt, and composition “boards” which render excellent service, and are often fireproof and sound-proof.
To shut away a nursery, these light weight, sound-proof partitions are admirable. They not only leave a nursery perfectly quiet at night, shut away from all the disturbances of the house, but during the daytime they keep the family from hearing the play, the romping, or the unhappy times in the nursery. Of course, the arrangement of rooms, such as the relation of the nursery and kitchen to other parts of the house, has much to do with the peace of the home. The service end of the house should, so far as possible, be shut away by halls and doors, from too close communication with the living part of the house. Think of this when you are planning your home.
All uncovered floors are noisy no matter how well they are laid or how nicely they are finished. Of whatever your floor is made it should be well constructed, over an adequate sub-floor; if of wood, it should be put down so compactly that there is never a sound from it. But when it comes to quiet you must have the carpets or rugs. Bare floor never produces it, under any conditions.
Metal weather strips! So important are they in relation to comfort and peace in the house that they should really be included in the specifications for the building of a home. Besides keeping out wintry blasts, they contribute much to a quiet atmosphere. In the first place, they help to keep the din of the street from indoors; also when they are applied to the interior of doors, the noise from one room doesn’t easily reach another. Windows that carry weather strips slide up and down easily. And a good word can be said of the weather-stripped door. A door with this silencer about it closes quietly and surely; even if one is in a hurry, the door does not show it. Another device for lessening the sound of doors shutting is a piston noise retarder. It has an air cushion which is attached to the frame of the door and the piston is fixed to the door. This keeps the door from slamming. Screen doors, which are of no use unless they shut quite tightly, should be fitted with this device. Children will bless it and so will the servants in the house. All these things should be considered both as to price and comfort when you are planning your house, so that when you first begin to live in it you find peace and quiet, instead of a succession of irritating worries.
A small device but one not to be regarded lightly, is a set of rubber or glass furniture protectors which, when affixed to the legs of any piece of furniture, make it possible to move it about without noise and without any especial effort. These protectors also save the floor and keep the carpets from being worn and torn. They are easily attached and not expensive.
The “silence cloth” on the dining table, whether made of cloth or asbestos, is another means of lessening disturbing sounds in a house.
And in some homes I have known it to be a rule that all the servants must wear rubber heels. This not only lessens the noise in the house, but it mitigates, to a very great extent, the weariness felt by busy maids who are on their feet practically all day long.
A great deal of the clattering sound in a kitchen can be avoided by lining the cutlery drawers with felt, so that when silver and knives are put away the clashing of pieces together is avoided. Pantry dresser drawers should be lined in the same way. This lining felt can easily be installed by pasting or tacking, and it is not expensive.
A place for everything and everything in its place is an especially good idea in connection with the pots and pans in a kitchen. Much of the annoying sound from this source can be obviated by hanging the utensils, because most of the sound is due to the falling together of pots and pans as they are piled on top of each other when being put away on the shelves after use.
One of the chief offenders against the charm of the home in the matter of noise is cheaply constructed plumbing. This is not only unsanitary, but at times deeply embarrassing. Good plumbing is an absolute essential in the well-constructed house. Nothing will betray your economy so promptly as plumbing that is not of good materials and well placed. It is necessary to get all your fixtures from the most reputable dealer, and have the best workman put them in, and then you will save money in the long run and charm and peace will envelop the plumbing side of life.
The bathtub with a water inlet so fixed that there is only a little noise for a few seconds or none at all is a point of perfection that manufacturers are making every effort to attain. Perhaps the nearest to it is a device hung very low in the tub so that after the first few inches of water the faucet is covered, and the noise from the inflowing water is smothered.
People who will not endure the slightest rattle or creaking in an automobile will live for months with a squeaking, leaking faucet. A slight adjustment will usually remedy the difficulty; sometimes only a washer is needed. And even an entirely new faucet is not a purchase with very serious consequences.
As yet no way has been found to modify the noise of the telephone without lessening its effectiveness. The telephone is rung to catch your attention and if you muffle the bell too completely you are liable to lose an important call. If you have a very noisy telephone bell in an apartment where every sound is heard, you can muffle it slightly with a little pad of absorbent cotton. This is an especially good thing to try where the sound of the bell disturbs an invalid or little children.
Rugs are a delightful way to reduce noise in the hall. A long runner that goes the whole length of the hall and about half its width will keep your hall quiet for your own house and prevent its disturbing your neighbors. Of course, in a house where the hall is large and capacious, the surface is much more interesting covered with groups of rugs; a runner spoils its interest and a carpet is less intriguing.
Quiet is one of the most difficult things to find these days in the city, and also one of the most essential things for one’s work and happiness and health. There is only one way to acquire it in the modern home and that is to look after every detail of your house at the very beginning.
After all, the things that make for quiet are in the main little things. Yet it takes thought, some experience and a good deal of attention to detail at the beginning of making a home, to insure in it that pervasive charm which must have for its foundation quiet throughout the house.
##