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To the Square

Guest

2012/08/31 - 10:37am

I am reading through a history book (published 1977) about our town's history. I am trying to reword and use the information on a web page I am working on about the town's history. I came across this sentence about a log school house and don't know what "to the square" means. I thought it might mean ceiling height or roof peak height but I'm not sure. It may be a common building term that I am just not aware of. Can anyone shed a light on this for me? Here is the sentence:

"The newly erected hewn log school house measured 22 x 33 feet and about 12 feet to the square and was covered with shakes and clapboards."

Guest

2012/08/31 - 1:59pm

This is the measurement from the floor, up the wall, to where the roof begins. Often, in structures with ceilings, it is the height of the ceiling.

Robert

553 Posts

(Offline)

2012/08/31 - 4:17pm

Maybe there is no ceiling to speak of? In which case 'square' sounds like a way to distinguish the top of the walls from the roof top because moving up the corners won't be right angle.

Guest

2012/09/02 - 5:22pm

Thank you very much. That makes sense. Not that it matter much in my case, but does this refer to inside dimensions (floor to ceiling), outside dimensions (ground to roof or eaves), or either one?

Guest

2012/09/02 - 8:29pm

It's the height of the wall, from the foundation to the top of the wall. This is the same inside or out. In my earlier post I said that it is often the height of the ceiling but that is only when the ceiling is laid on top of the wall. There are other ways of construction that will put a ceiling lower than the wall or sometimes higher than the wall. Sometimes there is no ceiling at all. Then sometimes the floor is raised or lowered from the foundation. But the square is always from the foundation to the top of the wall.

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