Part 2 (1/2)
_Glazing_ in the hot rooms requires care. The gla.s.s will expand considerably with the heat, and, what is more, if the furnace fire die out rapidly at any time, will contract and fracture. This difficulty, however, is the result of bad management, and does not concern the architect, unless, indeed, it be the result of improper fixing. Even moderate-sized sheets of gla.s.s should be carefully fixed in chamois leather with screwed beading, _putty_ being wholly inadmissible. The sheets of gla.s.s should not be of too large dimensions. Rolled gla.s.s will be found the cheapest in the end, as inferior qualities, where h.o.m.ogeneity of texture is wanting, will crack and split in all directions. Lead glazing should be altogether discarded.
No provision for draining the hot rooms is necessary, as they must, when in use, be kept free from moisture. The floor may, however, if thought desirable, be laid with an imperceptible fall the way the water would be swept when cleansing--viz. towards the lavatorium.
As the best position for a bather to a.s.sume in the sudatorium is one approaching to the horizontal, a bath cannot be considered complete unless a liberal number of marble-slabbed benches be provided. These should run round the solid walls, the risers of the benches being formed of brickwork--glazed, faced with tiles, or plastered--and white marble slabs set thereon. These slabs cannot be less than 24 in. wide, and must be of the ordinary seat height--not lower. In the risers must be provided a liberal number of ”hit-and-miss” ventilator gratings, the vitiated air finding its way from the s.p.a.ce beneath the slabs in the way designed, which may be into surrounding areas, into hollow walls, or into a flue or flues running the whole height of the building.
The air at the floor line and that at the ceiling level being of vastly different temperatures, it follows that an arrangement might be designed whereby the benches might be stepped in three or four rows, and, by ascending, the bather could select any temperature he might choose. Such an arrangement was often employed in the baths of the ancient Romans, and has been tried in modern inst.i.tutions; but it should be avoided. The expirations from the lungs and the exudations from the bodies of the bathers _fall_, and it therefore follows that all below the first tier would be breathing air polluted by those above them. The system, therefore, stands condemned.
As regards height, the sudorific chambers should not be too lofty, or they cannot, on the ordinary hot-air plan, be heated with due economy.
The vastness of the old Roman tepidarium would have been impracticable under this system; but with the heat radiating direct from the walls and the floors, there was no difficulty. It is far better to have a comparatively low chamber with a constant stream of freshly-heated air pa.s.sing through it, than a lofty one with a sluggish current. From 10 to 15 or 16 ft. may be taken as moderate extremes of height in a public bath. The small third hot room will be less lofty if the heating-chamber be placed under it; for by raising the floor of the laconic.u.m a few feet, so as to necessitate ascending to it by a few steps from the level of the tepidarium, one can more economically construct the furnace chamber.
This latter, which I have more particularly described and ill.u.s.trated in the chapter on heating and ventilation, should, if the system adopted be on the ordinary hot-air principle, be so placed that an abundant supply of fresh pure cold air can be obtained for the furnace, which, when heated, can be delivered into the hottest room above, not less than 5 ft. from the level of the floor of that chamber, and, also, where a smoke flue of ample section can be constructed. The heated air may be delivered through the gratings in the walls of the laconic.u.m, or a shaft of glazed brickwork, of rectangular section, may be constructed against the end wall and coped at the required level--5 ft. or more above the floor line. Should the exigencies of the site separate the furnace chamber from immediate connection with the hottest room, the heated air must be conducted from the former to the latter by means of a large shaft or shafts of glazed brickwork. Similar means may have to be employed to bring the cold air to the heating-chamber, and at the mouth of this shaft some provision must be made for filtering the air before it is brought into contact with the heating surfaces of the furnace.
Horizontal and inclined flues for conducting hot or cold air may be carried from point to point on rolled iron joists having tooled York slabs set thereon, the flues being constructed of 4-1/2 in. brickwork with glazed face internally, and covered with tooled York slabs.
Provision must be made, in such flues, for effective cleansing, by means of iron air-tight doors.
THE LAVATORIUM AND SHAMPOOING ROOM.
The lavatorium and shampooing room now engage our attention. In elaborate baths they may, for the sake of effect, be distinct apartments, while, where strict economy must be studied, they may be comprised in one room; and where, again, s.p.a.ce is extremely valuable, the plunge bath and douche may be also included. If the first arrangement be adopted, the shampooing room must be connected with the tepidarium, and the lavatorium placed next. Where the combination apartment is used, it will take the position of the shampooing room.
Practically, the combination arrangement is the best. It is putting the bather to needless and undesirable trouble to require him to move from one apartment to another during the was.h.i.+ng process.
The suite of was.h.i.+ng and shampooing rooms may be arranged in either one of the following ways, according to the pretensions and requirements of the establishment:--(1) A shampooing room, a lavatorium, a douche room, and a plunge bath chamber; (2) a combined shampooing and was.h.i.+ng room, and a combined douche and plunge bath chamber; (3) several small combined shampooing and was.h.i.+ng rooms, a douche room, and a plunge bath chamber; (4) an apartment comprising shampooing slabs, was.h.i.+ng basins, douche, &c., and a plunge bath.
A single shampooing room does not present a very complicated problem to the designer. The chief object to be borne in mind is that the shampooers require ”elbow-room,” and their patient in a convenient position to allow of their practising their art. As this is no light task--if properly performed--it becomes of urgent moment that the apartment should be no less perfectly ventilated than a sudorific chamber. In a vitiated atmosphere, no shampooer can work well for a prolonged period, and, moreover, pure air is as necessary for the bathers when in these places, as when they are in the hot rooms.
The shampooing benches may be similar in description and size to those in the hot rooms. A width of 2 ft. is an ample provision, since the shampooer can more conveniently work with the bather as near him as possible. The benches may be constructed in a similar manner to those before described. They must be arranged on plan so that the shampooer has ample room, whilst at the same time s.p.a.ce is not extravagantly wasted. The benches must be topped with white marble slabs. They may run round the wall, or be placed at right angles to them; or, again, if found more convenient, they may be altogether isolated. Similar means of ventilating the shampooing and was.h.i.+ng rooms as the hot rooms must be provided. The vitiated air must be extracted at the floor level, as the temperature here must be maintained considerably above that of respired air.
Movable wooden-framed marble-topped benches may be subst.i.tuted for those of a permanent type; but the plan has nothing to recommend it except lowness of cost.
The separate lavatorium need not be so large as its adjoining shampooing room, as here the bathers will not recline, but sit or stand before was.h.i.+ng-basins, to which must be conducted the flow pipes of hot water, and branches from the cold water supply pipe. These basins--which may be of glazed earthenware if solid marble cannot be afforded--should be large and capacious. Of water-fittings I shall speak under the head of ”Appliances.”
In a combined shampooing and was.h.i.+ng room the benches and basins will be required together. The basins may be fixed under a hole in the marble slabs, or affixed to the walls, as may be convenient. Whilst arranging the position of the benches with regard to the room, and the basins with regard to the benches, it will be as well to remember the postures that the bather a.s.sumes whilst being shampooed--viz. 1st, sitting; 2nd, on the back; 3rd, reverse. The basin must be so placed with respect to the slab that the shampooer may, without altering his position, take water from the basin with his handbowl, and pour it over the bather. A shampooer cannot well work with less than 5 ft. 6 in. between his slab and that of his adjoining fellow, when the slabs are at right angles to the wall and the adjoining shampooer is also working in the same s.p.a.ce between the two benches. Where the room is long and a row of benches are placed at right angles to the wall, the shampooers have each their separate s.p.a.ce to work in. Each one can then manage in 4 ft., and the slabs can be set out 6 ft. from centre to centre. Where the long sides of the slabs are against the walls and the basins are sunk into the slabs, there must be at least 7 ft. 6 in. from basin to basin. In the case of slabs at right angles to the walls, the basins are best placed between the slabs.
It is an excellent plan to provide a slight screen in one corner of the was.h.i.+ng room, behind which the entering bather may, if he chooses, have a warm spray from a large rose before proceeding to the hot rooms.
In ladies' baths it is well to provide private shampooing recesses by means of part.i.tions of sufficient height, which may be of wood and obscure gla.s.s. In this way any shampooing room may be rendered more private. Upright marble slabs will often be found useful in dividing the benches.
The walls and ceilings of the apartments now under consideration may, so long as there be a dado of glazed ware, be lined in the same way as the hot rooms. But as regards flooring, still more care is required to prevent slipperiness. The soap and water that will be plentifully spilt around, renders this precaution needful. Moreover, provision must be made for drainage.
The flooring may be of rough tile mosaic, or simple tiles. Marble is too slippery, and glazed tiles are wholly inadmissible. Marble mosaics, roughly set, may be employed. The fall to which the floor is laid must be determined by the position of the gullies.
The drainage system of a hot-air bath is a most important consideration.
In a place where the occupants are, literally, _breathing at every pore_, it is obvious that too much care cannot be taken to prevent all possible odours, and the slightest suspicion of an escape of deleterious sewer gases. The traps employed in the was.h.i.+ng rooms should be of the best possible design and material, and proof against the evil known as ”siphoning.” The gullies above them are best placed adjoining one of the ventilators in the walls, at the floor level, as then a current of air sweeps over them and up the extraction flues. It is not always that an opportunity is afforded to cut off the waste water from the drainage; where the bath rooms are above ground, however, this should be done if practicable. Where possible, an excellent plan is to construct a culvert under the bas.e.m.e.nt floor. In this the whole of the pipes can be placed--the soil-pipes, the lavatorium and plunge bath wastes, &c., and access gained to them by a manhole. By this means a cut-off could be effected between waste-pipes and the sewerage system. The culvert itself could be ventilated by connecting it with an extraction flue. This is all costly; but the builder of a Turkish bath will do well to be prepared to lay out a liberal sum to perfect the system of drainage of the establishment, and in the end, when the public have appreciated the attention bestowed, he will thank his architect for having impressed upon him the necessity for this extra expenditure.
THE DOUCHE ROOM.
The douche room should be a small chamber adjoining the lavatorium, and fitted with a circular needle bath with shower or douche above, and any other kind of spray bath that may be required. It should not be a dark, cold, uninviting hole. For this reason, and also because a corner is admirably adapted to receive an appliance of the shape of a needle bath, it is better, often, to fit it up in an angle of the lavatorium. But of these additions I shall have much to say anon, as one of the most important points about a bath is the arrangement of the water-fittings.
Needle baths will be found indicated, on the plans given in these pages, by an incompleted circle.
THE PLUNGE BATH.