Garden Floor Construction

Garden Floor Construction

A typical brownstone is about 20 feet wide and 50 or 60 feet deep plus a garden in the back and a small area in front. The layout of a brownstone is as follows:
Garden floor. This was where the kitchen, laundry, pantry and servants' area was.
Parlor floor which housed the formal rooms, in this case library, dining room and parlor.
Second floor: Master bedroom, lady's parlor, dressing room and bathroom
Third floor: Children's bedrooms, nanny's room, nursery and bathroom
Fourth floor: Servants quarters, workroom, storage and bathroom

The garden floor which is half below grade in the front and opens to the garden in the back.The entrance is under the stoop.

Here's a picture of the early phase of the garden floor.

 followed by each room in a more completed state:

The floor of the laundry is actual slate from http://www.miniaturebricks.com/. To keep the rows straight and the spaces between the slates even I made a jig from tongue depressors.

Once they were installed I grouted and sealed with diluted PVA glue as recommended by the folks at http://www.miniaturebricks.com/. However, this changed the appearance from natural slate to looking more like vinyl. If I did this again, I would leave them unsealed.