January 12, 1918





RECORD  AND  GUIDE





41





ary streets. By virtue of this extension
t is only reasonable to presuppose that
property values, that have so long been
iormant, where not actually declining,
»vill enhance and return to their former
solidarity. The prediction has been
nade that they should substantially
increase.

Transportation problems of Greater
New York are increasing at a_ more
rapid rate than the municipality is able
to dispose of them by providing addi¬
tional facilities for the travelng public.
[The population of the city is rapidly in-
'creasing and a new transit artery is no
Isooner opened to the public than its
ifacilJties are taxed to the limit and
seemingly without relieving the lines
that formerly carried the burden. This
proves conclusively that the city officials
and the Public Service Commission still
have a monumental task ahead of them
in solving the difficult problerns pre¬
sented by the transportation situation
and that every facility must be utilized
and no effort spared to hasten the
construction and completion of the pro¬
jected extensions that are called for by
the city's comprehensive rapid transit
plan.

Favors  City  Record.

Editor of the Record and Guide:

As I have not seen any answer to Mr.
Ramsay*s letter, appearing in your issue
of December 29, I take the liberty of
drawing attention to the distinct advan¬
tages of the annual publication in the
City Record of the final assessed real
estate valuations, even though neces¬
sarily published after the opportunity to
protest or effectively to point out in¬
equalities for correction has passed. The
greatest value for such a publication
mtghc be attained if upon the opening of
the books on October 1, the tentative
valuations then first made public could
be at once printed in ample time for cir¬
culation prior to the expiration of the
time for filing objections, but as this
date is now fixed for November 15, the
intervening time is insufficient for that
purpose.

On the other hand the publication of
the final assessed valuations (fixed on
the February 1 following) which evi¬
dently goes to press at once and is avail¬
able for distribution early in May (not
August as Mr. Ramsay mistakenly states)
just at the time that the rank and file of
taxpayers are getting ready to pay their
May tax bills, and become interested in
a comparison of the amount of their as¬
sessed valuations as compared with
neighbors and contiguous or related sec¬
tions, enables them to protest to the as¬
sessors then engaged in fixing the fol¬
lowing year's valuations, and thus pre¬
vent the continuance of any assessments
which may be unfair.

I fully agree with Mr. Ramsay that it
would be better to leave out the names
of the alleged owners entirely, and if this
be done the printed copy might well find
room for the much more important item
of "dimensions of building" which is now
emitted.                                       B. D. E.





Conservation  of  Coal.

Editor of the Record and Guide:

I note the Government Coal Admin¬
istration is advising consumers how to
save coal. This advice, if it could be
readily applied, would to some extent
conserve fuel used for domestic pur¬
poses if these instructions were prac¬
tical or comprehensible to the average
mind. I note, however, the public is
advised to consult experts when in
doubt of its own initiative to supply
some measure of economy in the con¬
sumption of fuel.

For the past ten years more attention
has been given to economic heating of
buildings of every kind thaii for twenty
years prior to that time when fuel was
comparatively reasonable in cost to the
gradually but continuallv increasing
price up to date. But habits of waste
have become so fixed thav opinions of
experts have only received attention
from those who have been looking for¬
ward  to  a   still   higher   cost  and   those





about  to  install  new  heating  apparatus
and  not all  of the  latter.

Heating is a science that has received
much attention and thought by those en¬
gaged in the profession or business of
installing heating apparatus designed to
be healthful as well as a utility of com¬
fort. Much progress has been ma'de
that has resulted in both directions.

There are many systems in use, but
the most primitive as well as the most
economical is a stove set in the room or
rooms to be warmed. The temperature
of the stove may be raised to almost any
degree from 90 to 500 decrees Fahren¬
heit, a scope far beyond any other effi¬
cient heating medium. The stove heats
the air of the room or rooms to any
comfortable degree to suit the occu¬
pants. It also consumes the air of these
rooms to create combustion in the fire
chamber to such an extent that a higher
degree of temperature is necessary to
comfort than any other medium of heat¬
ing except the gas or oil stove or radi¬
ators that consume a very large pro¬
portion of the 27 per cent, of oxygen
contained in the air, as without oxygen
no combustion can take place and no
heat can be generated. Life cannot long
survive in a tightly closed room warmed
by a coal, gas or oil heater, the fuel of
which will only burn while enough
oxygen remains to continue combustion.
The person or persons remaining in the
room who also consume oxygen would
unconsciously drop to sleep and die of
asphyxiation, so that much caution
should be used in the use of stoves, gas
or oil heaters.

Probably the most wasteful heating
apparatus is the hot air furnace that
takes its air supply or heatinsr medium
direct from outside the building to be
warmed. This air at outdoor tempera¬
ture is passed over the heating surface
of the furnace into the rooms to be
warmed to a comfortable temperature of
about 65 to 70 degrees. A lower tern-
perature is comfortable if the air is
moistened by placing a vessel of water
in contact with the heating surface
which has the effect of restoring some
degree of humidity to the air after it has
passed over the hot surface of the fur¬
nace. This would also apply to heating
apparatus located in the rooms using
coal, gas or oil fuel.

A great saving could be made by cir¬
culating the air within the house by
closing the cold or fresh air intake to
the furnace and cutting an opening in
the outer jacket of the furn'ice near the
base. This opening should be equal in
area to the cold air intake. Then cut a
register opening in the floor above the
furnace so that the air from the rooms
may find its way to the opening at the
base of the furnace by gravity: opening
cellar door leading to the furnace in cel¬
lar from the upper portion of the house
will do as well.

Indirect steam heat, which Is also very
extravagant in the consumption of fuel,
may be treated in the same manner as
the hot air furnace by closing- the cold
air supply from the encased indirect
radiators in the cellar and drawing the
air down from the rooms above.

The low pressure steam heating ap¬
paratus with radiators located in the
rooms, when carefully installed and man¬
aged, is probably the most economical
for large buildings such as office. Ioft,
factory and apartment. Hot water beat¬
ing with direct radiators located in the
rooms is probably the most economical
for house heatine. This method must
also receive careful attention in detail
of construction and firine. Care should
also be used in closing the valves on hot
water radiators to avoid leaving the
rooms without heat in zero weather. If
the water in the radiator shoi'M ft-^eze
miif-h damage miorht be done the house
and furniture.

Lender the law reqrulatintr the vent-la-
tion of school bnildino^s. larc?e onantit'es
of fuel mtist be burned to ra'se the tem¬
perature of the air taken direct f^^^m out¬
side to a comfort->hle depree. TI-"* cost
for fuel to vent'late school bn'lHincrs
prohablv evceerlq the co<;t of heat-np^ t^e
buiMintrs bv d'^ect rad'a*'on. Tn verv
cold   weather,   but   few,   if  any,   of   the







This department is intended to be of serv¬
ice lo all inierested in the real estate market,
whether as broker, agent or property owner.
The readers of the Record and Guide are in¬
vited to send in questions on matters per¬
taining to real esiaie, building and builaing
management, though legnl questions will not
be answered in this column. Questions should
be stated as fully but as briefly as possible
so as to allow intelligent answers. Arrange¬
ments have been made through which the
questions will be answered by a Committee
of the Real Estate Board, including 1 le
following

E. A. Tredwell, real estate broker.

Frederick   D.   Kalley,  real  estate broker.

Rob-rt R.  Rainey, real estate broker.

B.  E. Martin.                              ,    .,,

William   D-ius-las   Ki'na^rick,  builder.

H. H. Murdock, architect.





Question No. 2^7.—What clauses should be in¬
corporated in leases of manufacturing loft
buildintis to protect owners in regard to locked
doors and niuht -^"d Sunday work, as covered
by the Labor Law?                                 A. V. T.

Answer No. 297.—Section 94 of the
Labor Law provides * * * "Except
as in this article otherwise provided,
the person or persons, company or cor¬
poration conducting or operating a
factory whether as owner or lessee of
the whole or of a part of the building
in which the same is situated or other¬
wise, shall be responsible for the observ¬
ance and punishable for the non-ob¬
servance of the provisions of this article,
anything in any lease or agreement to
the contrary notwithstanding." The con¬
cluding clause of the provision answers
the foregoing question in my opinion.
The relief desired may be accomplished
only by appropriate legislation.

modern school buildinirs are equ'pped
with sufficient direct heating surface to
warm the class rooms adequately if the
indirect heating used for ventilation were
shut ofiF.

The prime factor of combustion in any
heat generator is oxygen to feed the fire.
This is often overlooked entirely. A con¬
siderable volume of air is absolutely nec¬
essary, the volume of course depending
on the area of the grate and the amount
of fuel required to raise the tempera¬
ture of the building to be warmed. An
air supply direct from the outside to the
underside of the grate with a proper
damper for regulation is tlie surest way
to get proper air supply for conihnst-on.
A good draft is also very essential to
every type of heat generator. The large
sizes of coal require less draft than the
stnall sizes and burn more rapidly. By
covering a fire of large coal with pea or
chestnut at night and in moderate
weather a considerable saving will he
made in the total quantitv burned. The
small size of coal is more liable to con¬
tain a greater numb'^r of heat units per
pound than the large size. This is es¬
pecially true at this time when owing to
the demand less care can be given to
sorting at the mines.

I am of the opinion that it will be
necessarv, if present conditions continue,
to establish an education of conservation
in fuel before much progress is made
in the direction of economy.

A. J. O'NEILL, M. E.





Brooklyn  Board   Increases   Rates.

Following the recent action of the
Real Estate Board of New York in in^
creasing real estate brokerage rates in
Manhattan the Brokerage Board of
Real Estate Brokers this week an¬
nounced the following rates for the
Borough   of  Brooklyn;

Sales 21/2 per cent, instead of 1 per
cent. The rate for country property
will remain at 5 per cent., while the
commission for rentals will take an up¬
ward stride. For the first year the
rate will be 3 per cent, instead of 2;/<,
and for the second year 2]/2 per cent.
instead of 1 per cent., and 2j4 for tlie
third year instead of 1 per cent., and 1
per  cent,   for  each   adclitional   year.

For the management of property,
such as collecting rent, care of repairs.
etc., the rate will remain at 5 per cent.





BICCORD   AND   GUIOG   IS   IN   ITS   FiFTHRTH   VEAU   OP   CONTIN^OVS    rUULICATiON,