April, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 15 
~I 
The Use of Concrete in the Building of the Small Country House 
By Benjamin A. 
Say ONCRETE, the favored building material 
of the Romans, is now in widespread use 
for modern engineering works, especially 
when combined with properly incorporated 
steel rods, making reinforced concrete. We 
see it to-day all about us, but scarcely 
realize its rapid adoption in everyday life. 
Following its extensive use for bridges, dams, factories and 
sidewalks, it is now becoming a popular building material 
for homes. Several large country houses have been built of 
reinforced concrete, com- 
plete from cellar to and in- 
cluding roof, floors and 
partitions, and have been 
lived in for a term of 
years to the owners’ en- 
tire satisfaction. This 
proof of its value from the 
artistic and economical 
points of view for large 
houses immediately raises 
the question as to whether 
it is available for the small 
suburban or country 
house. It is, and increas- 
ingly so. But instead of 
using the houses already 
built throughout of rein- 
forced concrete for en- 
thusiastic and far-sighted 
owners to illustrate what 
may be done, and explain- 
ing how they might be 
modified to suit the con- 
ditions imposed upon the 
designer of a small house, 
the purpose of this article 
is to begin at the other 
end, showing the general 
tendency among the 
most progressive archi- 
tects toward the use of 
concrete—in various 
forms and varying quan- 
tities, to be sure—and 
toward the general ap- 
pearance and lines of 
construction that are natural to reinforced concrete. The 
value of concrete and its derivative stucco is fully demon- 
strated by the attractive appearance and practical advantages 
of these houses. 
In order to take up the subject intelligibly it is well to 
begin with a few words on the nature and relation of the 
materials treated and the unavoidable technical terms. Port- 
land cement is an artificial product made by mixing, burning 
and grinding proper proportions of lime rock and clay rock, 
the result being a gray powder which has the peculiar prop- 
erty of hardening, when water is added, into the consistency 
and appearance of natural stone. It is sold in the market 
in bags of about one hundred pounds each and in wooden 
barrels of four hundred pounds. There are many excellent 
brands of Portland cement made at different factories dif- 
fering slightly except in color. There is no benefit and some 
1—The porch of Mrs. Julia E. White, of Montclair, New Jersey 
shows a Spanish influence 
Howes, C. E. 
practical disadvantages in using clear or neat cement; it is 
the practise to mix cement with sand to make mortar, and 
with sand and broken stone or gravel to make concrete. 
The underlying rule is to use such a proportion of cement as 
will fill the voids or interstices between the grains of sand in 
making mortar, and in making concrete to use such a pro- 
portion of mortar to the broken stone or gravel as will fill its 
voids. Mortar is used for laying brick, stone, for finishing 
smoothly concrete surfaces, and for plastering where ex- 
posed to the weather. In this position it is commonly called, 
in this country, stucco, al- 
though technically stucco 
is a particular kind of 
plaster designed to be 
worked into elaborate 
forms resembling  stone- 
work. Uhistexte mio & 
plaster of cement mortar 
should not be confused 
with interior plastering, 
which is usually of lime 
and sand or plaster of 
Paris. We may term 
cement mortar an _artt- 
ficial sandstone, as _ con- 
crete is an artificial con- 
glomerate stone, their 
great advantage being 
that we may work the 
artificial stones while 
plastic. Where a mass of 
material like a step or a 
wall is required, we follow 
nature’s operation by 
making a conglomerate 
stone. 
The various manufac- 
turers of Portland cement 
issue pamphlets describ- 
ing in detail the proper 
proportions and mixing 
of mortar and concrete 
for various works. A 
common proportion is one 
part of cement by volume 
to three parts of sand, 
while concrete usually 
takes the “‘one-three-five mix,’’ meaning one part of cement, 
three parts of sand and five of gravel or broken stone. The 
process is to thoroughly mix the dry sand and cement, add 
water until plastic, but not “sloppy”; if concrete is being 
made the dry sand and cement is spread on top of five 
volumes of stone, and the whole turned over three or four 
times with shovels, water being added during the second 
turning to bring the mass to such a condition of softness 
that when it settles into place some water will rise to the 
top, in other words, to the consistency of a soft mud pie. 
The readers of AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS are 
probably familiar with the method of placing concrete— 
between wooden walls or forms, which are removed when 
the mass hardens. Reinforced concrete refers to the placing 
of small steel rods in the forms before the concrete is poured 
in. The tight grasp of these rods by the crystallizing mass 
