4. Housewives' satisfaction with Daylight in the rooms of the house

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4. Housewives' satisfaction with Daylight in the rooms of the house

4.1 This question is similar to the question asked in “The Lighting of Dwellings” Inquiry made for the Lighting Committee of the Building Research Board of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but whereas the previous question was asked without reference to the relationship between the area of window and the floor area, this question took these factors into account. The form of the question was the same as that used before and asked “How well can you see by daylight in the Sitting Room, Main Living Room, etc.,?” whereas in the previous question a specific activity was referred to and this question was general. The answers, show fairly close correspondence. It should be borne in mind, however, that “ The Lighting of Dwellings” inquiry was made in October 1942 and the inquiry into Windows in February 1944.

TABLE 26

The proportions of Housewives saying they can See well, All Right or Badly in different rooms of the house

	Scullery		Kitchen		Kitchen Living Room		Main Living Room		Sitting Room		Bedroom		Bathroom
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Well		45		56		50		62		73		63		59
All right		33		24		31		21		16		20		19
Badly		10		8		14		4		2		3		7
No answer		12		12		6		13		9		14		15
All Rooms	343	100	425	100	441	100	399	100	597	100	879	100	415	100

These results may be compared with the results of the previous inquiry which are as follows:-

TABLE 27

		Activities of Scullery, Kitchen, Kitchen L.R.			Activities of Sitting Room or Parlour
The proportion of Housewives who say they can see	Washing up	Preparing food	Cooking	Reading or Sewing	Reading or Sewing
	%	%	%	%	%
Well	67	63	60	62	70
All right	28	31	30	31	27
Badly	5	6	10	7	3

4.2 A Comparison between the ability of Housewives to see in rooms which have a different proportion of window area to floor area

TABLE 28

Scullery							Kitchen
	Up to 14%		15 - 24%		25% and over		Up to 14%		15 - 24%		25% and over
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Well		46		43		46		45		67		-
All right		29		34		34		34		16		-
Badly		12		8		9		12		3		-
No answer		13		15		11		9		14		-
All rooms	119	100	110	100	114	100	146	100	180	100	98	-
							Unclassified 1

TABLE 29

Kitchen Living Room							Main Living Room
	Up to 14%		15 - 24%		25% and over		Up to 14%		15 - 24%		25% and over
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Well		44		52		53		44		69		73
All right		33		32		26		40		15		11
Badly		18		10		14		7		1		3
No answer		5		6		7		9		15		13
All rooms	169	100	167	100	103	100	124	100	164	100	110	100
Unclassified 2							Unclassified 1

TABLE 30

Sitting Room

	Up to 14%		15 - 24%		25% and over
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Well		58		74		78
All right		28		15		10
Badly		7		1		2
No answer		7		10		10
All rooms	113	100	223	100	225	100
Unclassified 6

TABLE 31

Bedroom							Bathroom
	Up to 14%		15 - 24%		25% and over		Up to 14%		15 - 24%		25% and over
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Well		54		66		71		61		64		51
All right		28		14		17		19		19		20
Badly		3		3		3		4		7		7
No answer		15		17		9		15		10		22
All rooms	329	100	356	100	186	100	119	100	150	100	142	100
Unclassified 8							Unclassified 4

TABLE 32

Summary of the ability of Housewives to see in Sitting Rooms, Main Living Rooms and Kitchen Living Rooms which have a different proportion of window area to floor area

	Up to 14%		15 - 24%		25 - 34%		35% and over
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Well		48		66		69		75
All right		33		20		15		13
Badly		12		4		4		3
No answer		7		10		12		9
All Rooms	406	100	554	100	301	100	167	100
Unclassified 9

4. 3 The Proportions of Housewives who say they can see Well, All right or Badly in rooms with different numbers of windows

TABLE 33

	Main Living Room				Sitting Room				Bedroom
	1 window		2 or 3 Windows		1 window		2 or 3 Windows		1 window		2 or 3 Windows
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Well		56		-		72		78		61		76
All right		25		-		16		12		22		10
Badly		5		-		2		2		3		3
No answer		14		-		10		8		15		11
All rooms	301	100	98	-	494	100	103	100	756	100	123	100

TABLE 34

Summary of the proportions of Housewives who say they can see Well All right or Badly in Sitting Rooms, Main Living Rooms and Kitchen Living Rooms with different numbers of windows

	1 window		2 or 3 Windows
	No.	%	No.	%
Well		60		74
All right		23		15
Badly		7		3
No answer		10		7
All rooms	1175	100	262	100

In the case of the Kitchen Living Room, the Kitchen and Scullery there were not sufficient cases with two or more windows to make a comparison possible, so a second summary has been prepared of the Kitchen Living Room, Kitchen and Scullery. There were no cases of bathrooms with more than one window.

TABLE 35

Summary of the proportions of Housewives who say they can see Well. All right or Badly in Kitchen Living Rooms, Kitchens and Sculleries with different numbers of windows

	1 window		2 or 3 Windows
	No.	%	No.	%
Well		50		56
All right		29		25
Badly		10		16
No answer		11		4
All rooms	1076	100	133	100

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