The Health Commission for the Winterswijk district has had its report on the Housing Survey in the municipality of Aalten printed. The survey covered 312 dwellings, all with three rooms or fewer: 49 with one room, 180 with two rooms and 83 with three rooms. Of these, 61 stood on sand roads, 19 on squares and 232 on streets. Only 95 of the dwellings stood on a separate plot.
All the dwellings had tiled roofing, mostly laid over straw. Seventeen had no outbuilding, such as a shed, stable, lean-to or storage space.
Drinking water came exclusively from groundwater, obtained from dug wells or driven wells. In many cases, a well or pump supplied several families. The public street pumps were also frequently used, even though they often contained water that was unfit for drinking. The greatest distance between a dwelling and its water supply was 95 metres. In general, the situation left much to be desired: only 22 dwellings had their own well or pump. The others had to share one.
The state of the privies was poor as well. An old barrel with a seat placed over it, often without any form of cover, frequently served as a privy, and no properly equipped privies were found. Only two dwellings had no privy at all, 14 shared one, and the remainder had access to a separate privy.
Household wastewater was discharged into the public street in most cases. The municipality had no cleansing service.