On this floor, rooms 1,2, and 3 of the floors above form one room, the partitions being absent that divide the rooms over, and only room 4 is separate for use as a boudoir.

The first item of the specification is, "The ceilings to be carefully washed, and every crack cut out and stopped, clere-colle and distemper them." Take the drawing-room or rooms first, measure the ceilings as before; they, by the description, require to have more care taken with them than those over. You will note this in your making good plastering, and add for the extra care required, both in cutting out cracks and distempering, when you price this item, so that the distempering, etc, may be added to the general body of that work, i.e. be carried to one cast in the abstract at the end of the measuring book. The next item of "The cornice to be washed, repaired, where chipped or broken, clerecolled, and distempered in three tints, the enrichments in two, and a stencil pattern in two colours to be put at ceiling line of cornice, with corners at each angle of the rooms."

The measurement of this is the same as before, noting the tints in the description you set down, and the sizes of the enrichments. This room, being an irregular one, requires looking at to see the clearest way to measure it. Turning to the plan, you will find, if you take the left hand wall through rooms 1 and 2, and the back wall through rooms 2 and 3, and add them together, twice them, and add for projections of chimney breasts, you have the "round" or girt of the entire walls, and then take the stencil pattern, say 3 in. wide, as no size is given. To measure this take the length of room less twice the width of cornice on ceiling.

Enter the waste thus: 36.6 25.6

------62

2

------124. 3

--------127

The 36.6 is the left hand wall, the 25.6 the back wall; these two are added together and twiced, and the 3 ft. is added for four sides of chimney breasts; there is the same amount of wall space in this L-shape room as there is on the four outer walls. If cornice is chipped or broken, add to M.G. plastering for repairing it. Presuming the cornice to be 12 in. on the ceiling, this will be 36.6 less 2 ft.; carry 34.6 to the "waste," then take the width 25.6 less 2 ft., and carry 23.6 to waste; add together as before, twice this total, and add for chimney breasts thus: 34.6 23.6

------58. 2

116. 3

-------119

The 3 ft. is for the four sides of chimney breast, and carry the total to the left hand.

119. 3" stencilg. on ceilg, ------ 2 tints.

Then take the corners, referring to the rough sketch you will find there are 14. These it is best to take separate, to show clearly where they are taken to.

6. Corners to do.

8. Do. (chy. bsts.)

The next item in the specification is "The ceiling flowers to be washed, cleaned out, and repaired where necessary, clerecolled, and distempered in three tints." Any repairing necessary you will add to the M.G. plastg.; if plenty of room is left between the several entries, as advised, this will allow of two or three such sums being added under the allowance for the first entry made; the washing out will have to be done with extra care; enter the size of flower as before and the number of tints. In a room as long as this it is usual to have two flowers, and underneath where the partitions are above there are generally beams to carry the weight over, and these are lathed, for they mostly come below the ceiling line, and plastered and finished with a panel, having an enriched moulding mitred round it, and having trusses of plaster at each end for architectural effect. This can be taken run, giving the girt, and describing it as follows (next to cornice): 2/ 2/ 14. Do. on pan. & margin

------ 2.6 girt wi. enrichd.

12. mog. (3 tints).

-----2/ 2/ 2 Do. on enrichd. trusses

18 X 9 X 5 (do.)

The 14' 0" is across the long room under partition dividing rooms 1 and 2 over, and the 12' o" under the partition dividing 2 and 3. The number 2 is for two narrow trusses, at each end of panelled soffitte, these being generally preferred, to one very wide one. The next item in the specification is "Strip the walls, repair them, prepare for and paper with paper of the value of 8s. per piece, exclusive of hanging, in panels as directed, the panels formed by borders of the value of 6d. per yard, exclusive of hanging, and hung on tinted distempered stiles returned top and bottom."

The description of "hanging in panels as directed" is very vague, and leaves it for you to provide enough to cover the probable work. If the specification were looked through before going into the work, and a mark placed against such items as this, information could be obtained from the architect before you start measuring, and time would be saved in the end, as well as the risk of not providing sufficient in your anxiety to obtain the work. Where there is an addition made by your inquiry, ask for the other builders to be apprised of it. These walls will have to be carefully washed, stripped, repaired, and prepared before the papering, etc, is commenced. Add the M.G. plastg. to the last, measure the walls as before, but for "strip and prep." and take the deductions. No width is given for the distempered stiles, etc.

Take them at 6 inches wide; the panels will have to vary in width, as one end is 12.0 another 14.0, and the chimney breasts cut up the longest wall into three, which would have to be divided again; the windows, the front and back; the doors, the centre one. Take the round of the room as before, and twice it for the top and bottom margins, deducting the doors, chimney-pieces, etc, and then add the stiles to suit the space. The 12.0 would be divided probably into two panels, the 11.6 the same, the 14.0 the same. Let us take the first of these to measure the paper required. From the height of the wall, from cornice to skirting, subtract the two 6 in. margins. Presume the walls measured as above to be 10.0 this will leave 9.0 as the height of the panel. Show this " on waste," and subtract three 6 in. stiles from the 12.0 width of room, leaving 10.6. This divided by 2, gives 5.3 for the width of each panel. Enter thus: 2/ 9.0 Pap. at 8/in pan.