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Cfieap irtiele for Bnilding. 



, A comfortable dwelling is one of the 

 leading comforts of life. To obtain these 

 at the least possible expense, has always 

 been the study of architects and other scien- 

 tific men. In the west, we have a large 

 class of people who begin liie with little 

 means — ^perhaps more without means— and 

 Who seek, by industry, to secure the com- 

 forts of a Home in the shortest possible 

 time. In Illinois, before our railroad were 

 built, it was supposed that when we had 

 such facilities for obtaining pine lumber, we 

 should be able to build cheaply; but dwel- 

 lings now cost as much as they did fifteen 

 years ago. 



Mr. Willis H. Johnson, of this city, sup- 

 poses that he na« u^„ , discovery which 

 wdl greatly lessen the cost of building, and 

 for which he has procttea -t~^— .. td-^ 

 fearjwe cannot give all the particulars of his 

 process J— but they are mainly these. He 

 makes bricks out of the common prairie soil, 

 —dries them by the sun — ^puts them into 

 the wall, and immediately covers them with 

 a cement made of the same article by being 

 mixed with coal tar. The cemposition be- 

 comes at once as hard as stone, and impen- 

 etrable to water. We have seen some of 

 the composition some months old, which was 

 apparently harder than limestone. The coal 

 tar used in this outer cement was some five 

 per cent. A house, with walls of this ma- 

 terial, could be built very cheap. Mr. John- 

 son will put up one the present season. 



Our readers are familiar with the process 

 of making cement houses. The walls of 

 such cost not more than one-third of those 

 made of brick. But even in the building of 

 these houses there can be great improve- 

 ments, lessening materially the expense. 



Our attention was called to this subject 

 by an article in the Country Gentlemaa. 

 The statements made in that article, are so 

 reasonable, and we believe so just, that we 

 oflfer no apology for presenting them to our 

 readers, and we invite the attention of those 

 persons to them who desire to erect cheap 

 and comfortable houses. 



Eds. Countkt Gehtlemaw-^T wish to say 

 some words to your readers upon the best 



and cheapest material for building houses, 

 and the mode of use. I like the material 

 used and recommended by Fowler and others 

 — artificial stone walls, made of lime, sand, 

 and stones — that is, cobble stones, fragments 

 of brick, coal, cinders, fcc. But I object to 

 the usual method of using it in what are 

 called "grout" houses, cement honsts, &c. 

 It is sloppy and annoying work to build it 

 up in troughs, as is usually done. The fluid 

 runs down over the walls, and each layer 

 does not harden fast enough to build on, as 

 soon as is often wished. J^; - : 



I use the same material, and propose to 

 obviate these objections by a neater and 

 pleasanter mode of use, which shall be easier 

 and stronger work than the osoal mode. I 

 make my material into blocks of stone, and 

 build my house of these. Thu», make cheap- 

 ly soine 20 or 30 boxes, of sides only, with- 

 out top or bottom, of proper size, say two 

 feet long, one foot high, and 14 to 18 inches 

 wide. These are the dimensions of the 



smooth the tops, and go off. Next morning 

 lift off the boxes; let the blocks stand to 

 dry and harden; set the boxes in a new 

 place, and fill up as before. Do this under 

 a shed, or if out-dbors, cover over the blocks 

 during the first rains, and ^ey will soon 

 harden enough to use. In this way any 

 Irishman may, in twenty-five mornings, at 

 60 cents or less, each, hew out stone enough 

 for a large house. 



Then build your house, as any one would, 

 of stone. The blocks for first story may be 

 14 or 16 or 18 inches wide, and for second 

 story, 10 or 12, narrowing the mould boxes 

 by nailing a board or two inside, or sawing 

 the ends narrower. Walls so built are dry; 

 bat they may be made still more so, and 

 warmer if possible, and still cheaper, if any 

 one could wish it, by putting a wooden 

 cylinder or two irfto the mould-box, and 

 knocking it out after the box is lifted off, 

 thus making dead air in the wall. Besides 

 this, the wall is of course to furred and lath- 

 ed and plastered inside. Of course some 

 blocks are to be made solid, for corners and 

 ends of the walls. 



Given the dimensions of your house, and 

 one can easily calculate the number of blocks 

 needed, and any farmer's boy may make 

 them. 



In laying the wall, if, in order to bring a 

 flush wall for door or window, it should be 

 necessary to leave a few inches between 

 some blocks, the space may be easily filled 



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