ours,
however, a very pleasing appearance can be given by the employment of
simple glazed brickwork, and at a very moderate cost.

The flooring in cheap baths is admirably formed by simple unglazed tile
pavement over concrete. A slight roughness is very agreeable to the
feet. Glazed tiles are inadmissible, as they become too hot for the
naked feet; and if the slightest moisture come upon them they are
rendered dangerously slippery. In elaborate baths, marble, and marble
mosaics may be used, but the surface must not be too smooth. In
providing floorings, the greatest care should be taken to avoid anything
liable to become slippery to the tread.

Floors of ordinary-sized baths, where the soil is reliable, may be of 6
in. of concrete, with mosaics or tiles laid in cement. The benches for
reclining and shampooing must be built up from this with half-brick
risers and glazed fronts, having weathered marble slabs with rounded
nosings, as illustrated at Fig. 3.

The ceilings of the fire and heat-proof floors, which, when there are
other apartments above, _must_ be provided over the hot rooms, may be of
plaster. But the heat at the ceiling level is very great, and the
plaster here rapidly darkens and blackens, and in this state looks
anything but attractive in a place where the mere suspicion of
uncleanliness is nauseating. If employed (and this remark also applies
to plaster on walls), it should be used in the simplest manner possible,
without the slightest attempt at modelling the surface. Enamelled iron
may be used, with effect, for ceilings. The little laconicum is best
covered with a flat vault, the soffit being of glazed bricks, and the
springing being brought down below the main ceiling level.

Fire-proof floors over hot rooms may be of any design that is also
heat-proof. The main point is to have a sufficient thickness of
concrete, and the iron joists and cross girders well buried therein.
Ordinary floors may be rendered heat-proof by partially filling the
space between ceiling and floorboards with sawdust or sheets of
slag-wool laid on boarding nailed to fillets on the joists. The sawdust
should be filled up to the top of the joists; over this a layer of thick
felt, and the boarding above. This, however, is only a makeshift when
compared with a solid floor of concrete.

When the hot rooms are in a basement in the open, they may be
top-lighted, and the ceiling above need not be a heavy fire-proof
construction. A su