so-called self-closing
faucets or bibbs has not been entirely satisfactory, since, with high
pressure, the packing very quickly wears out. Similarly, experience with
those faucets that open and shut by a single turn of a handle shows that
frequent renewals of packing are necessary. The simplest, most reliable,
and the easiest faucets to repair are those in which the valve is
screwed down onto the valve seat, which is a plane, and where the
water-tightness is made by the insertion of a rubber or leather washer
that can always be cut out with a knife from a piece of old belting or
harness. The faucets may be nickeled or left plain brass, and the
advantage of the added expense of nickel is in the appearance alone. If
the faucets themselves are nickel, then the piping also should be
nickel; that is, brass nickel-plated. Galvanized iron piping and brass
faucets do not, to be sure, have the same satisfactory appearance as
highly finished nickeled faucets, but the one is quite as serviceable as
the other.

_Kitchen sinks._

In providing a sink for the kitchen, choice lies between plain iron and
enameled iron. For special work, sinks have been made of galvanized
iron, of copper, slate, soapstone, and of real porcelain. There is
hardly any limit to the cost of a porcelain sink, and while an enameled
iron sink with fittings costs from $30 to $60, a cast-iron sink of the
same size will cost only $3 or $4. A good quality of white enameled iron
sink, of size suitable for a kitchen, with white enameled back and a
drainboard on the side, costing $30, is very attractive as an ornament,
but it serves no more useful purpose than a $3 sink and a fifty-cent
drainboard. Figure 58 shows an enameled iron sink, containing sink,
drainboard, and back all in one piece. This is pure white, and when
fitted with nickel faucets makes a very attractive fitting.

_Laundry tubs._

If running water is to be put in a house, stationary tubs for the
laundry, into which water runs by a faucet and which can be emptied by
pulling a plug, are certainly worth their cost over movable wooden tubs
in the labor saved. Stationary tubs may be made of wood, of enameled
iron, or of slate.

[Illustration: FIG. 58.--Enameled iron sink.]

Wooden tubs are not as desirable as the others because in the course of
time they absorb a certain amount of organic matter and have a
persistent odor. They are, however, very inexpensive, a man of ordinary
ability being able to