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169
least one half the length of such offset measured from the rear
wall of the dwelling-house.
The Dwelling.—The matter of preventing the rising of
exhalations and damp from the site has been dealt with in part
under the heading of "Site.'' The Bye-laws under Sec. 16 of
the Metropolis Management and Building Acts Amendment Act,
1878, prescribe the rules as to the materials to be used in walls,
the provision of a damp course (at least six inches below the level
of the lowest floor), and the protection of walls, against which
the soil abuts, from the effects of percolation, &c. Sec. 70 of the
Act of 1894 prescribes that every habitable room, not being in
the roof, shall be at least 8 ft. 6 in. high in every part, and that a
room in the roof shall be at least 8 ft. high to the extent of at
least one half of its area. Every habitable room is to have window
provision, measured clear of the sash frames, equal to one-tenth
of the floor area of the room, and such window, or windows, must
open to at least one-twentieth of the floor space. In a room
lighted from the roof, the window opening must be at least onetwelfth
of the floor area and the efficient opening one-twentyfourth
of the floor area. If a lantern light be used, the portion
opening must be at least one-twentieth of the floor area. In any
room not lighted from the roof, the part of the window which
opens must reach to seven feet from the floor of the room. A
basement room,* whose floor is not bedded in concrete, must have
a space between the wooden floor and the soil sufficient to allow
of free ventilation. In the case-of tenements over stables, the
floor between the living rooms and the stable is to be so constructed
that no smell can penetrate it, and the staircase to the
upper parts of the stables, when to living rooms, are to be
separated off with a nine inch brick wall.
By Sec. 69 it is prescribed that the staircase of a tenementhouse
shall be ventilated upon every storey above the ground
storey by window or sky-light, to the external air.
The administration of the Act is entirely in the hands of
the London County Council.
* These rooms are specially dealt with under Sec. 96 of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891.