Como (CO) C&S Scale House

[misterv]

Hi All,

We are building a full size replica of the Como scale house that was once just west of the hotel.  The scale house will be as sited as closely as possible to where the original was, onsite at Como.

Bob Schoppe of the DSPPHS was able to provide the attached ICC notes from 1918 for the structure, which is listed as #38 in the notes, which I have attached.

I am working to translate as much of these scratchings as I can into human readable form, and have made some headway.

Can anyone help out with these mysteries:

line 1: circle-p, "circle-p out"
line 4: O.G. - are they talking about some kind of shape milled on the battens or what? (I think B&B stands for board and batten siding)
line 3: "8" proj. s. cld + circle-p" <- what??
line 4: "girt + p." at end of line

Amazing to have these notes, what a cool glimpse into the distant past.

Special thanks to Bob/DSPPHS.

Thanks,
Craig V.

[Alex Hois]

Craig,
Here are some guesses:
"Circle-P in.+out." = painted inside and outside?
"8" proj. s. cld"   = 8 inch projection, sheet? cladded?

Alex

[Todd Hackett]

>line 1: circle-p, "circle-p out"
I'm pretty sure that the "circle-P" means Painted, so this would be painted on the outside.

>line 4: O.G. - are they talking about some kind of shape milled on the battens or what? (I think B&B stands for board and batten siding)
I think this is "1' O-C B&B on 2-2x4 girt + p" which could mean one foot on center board and batten, with the boards and battens attached to two 2x4 girts (horizontal members in wall construction). I'm not sure the +p would mean.

>line 3: "8" proj. s. cld + circle-p" <- what??
I think this is 8" projection, but I'm not sure if it refers to the eaves projecting past the wall, or if they are talking about the exposure on the shingles. I think the "s. cld" may mean steel clad, which could mean a layer of sheet steel roofing (corrugated?) over the shingles, although I don't think steel was in common use on roofs during that period - more likely to use tin-plated iron. It also might say "old" indicating condition. The P in the circle means painted, which could be referring to the steel, the shingles, or both. It was common practice in the 19th and early 20th centuries to use cut shingles (as opposed to shakes, which are split instead of cut), and paint them with red lead or green paint.

You might benefit by reaching out to Rick Steele. I think he may have some explanatory material for the ICC notes from his visits to the National Archives researching these.
Keep in mind that these are just field notes taken by the ICC to estimate value of property, rather than to document details that would be needed to recreate or model the structures, so while they are probably the only source of period information, they probably weren't too concerned with accuracy and likely omitted a lot of details that we would like to see.

[Chris Walker]

OG = Ogee  as in the edge shape cut by a router or shavetool, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogee
+p may mean the building tarpaper, at least that is my take on it.

[Jeff Young]

Dimmler uses "cc" for center-to-center (rather than "oc" for on-center).  Not sure how much sense ogee makes on board & batten, though.  (Lapped boards, or even T&G sure).

At some point I had to throw up my hands on Dimmler's notes of Jefferson.

[Todd Hackett]

Jeff Young wrote

...Not sure how much sense ogee makes on board & batten, though...

I've seen board and batten siding with with ogee edges on the battens, so it makes sense.

[Ken Martin]

Here are a couple pictures of battens with ogee edges from an 1880's depot (non C&S).
Ken Martin



side view

[GRUMPY]

The plan of the Supts office @ Como shows those kind of battens also from info taken in Idaho Springs section house
shows they were 1"x2 1/2"

[Jeff Ramsey]

According to the abbreviation key "OG" stands for "on grade".

[Jeff Young]

Awesome stuff, Jeff!

So what does on grade board & batten mean?  Just that the siding goes down over the timber foundation?

[Jim Courtney]

In the building trades, to what does "vitreous" refer?  Is it a noun or an adjective?

In medicine, "vitreous" refers to the clear, gelatinous fluid that fills the inside of your eyeball . . .

[Todd Hackett]

Jim Courtney wrote

In the building trades, to what does "vitreous" refer?  Is it a noun or an adjective?...

It's an adjective meaning glass or glass-like (from Latin Vitrum meaning "glass") - basically a non-crystalline amorphous solid. It can refer to glass itself or something resembling it, such as vitreous enamel or vitreous china (which has a fused protective glaze resembling glass). I suspect the abbreviation in this case probably refers to vitreous china used in sinks or toilets to distinguish them from metal basins. The medical use of the term probably derives from the glass-like appearance of the substances.

[Jeff Ramsey]

Sometimes referred to vitreous sewer pipe or clay pipe that has been kiln fired.