538 



THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



[September 



alone, and then, as a matter of course, con- 

 demned because they did not answer 1" 



And now I leave your readers to decide be- 

 tween Mr. Lawes and 



Yours, truly, 



J. Thorley, per e. m. f. 



New York, 1860. 



Concrete Houses. 



These houses, as our readers well know, 

 are built of a mortar made of lime, gravel, 

 and small stone or pebbles, laid up in one 

 mass between moulds of board, so as to form 

 one solid mass of concreted mortar when 

 dried. 



When a good foundation, unmovable by 

 frost or undisturbed by water, can be found, 

 these houses are very cheaply built, and in 

 some sections are becoming quite abundant. 

 We like, however, a new method of using 

 this concrete for houses, patented not loog 

 ago by Samuel T. Fowler, of Brooklyn, N. 

 Y. It is a combination of the wooden frame 

 and concrete. The frame may be a light one ; 

 it is erected, and then imbedded in the con- 

 crete by plastering it up on all sides. We 

 find an account of this mode of building in 

 the last number of Fowler's Life Illustrated, 

 from which we abridge the following. 



This improvement consists in the introduc- 

 tion of a frame work for holding the green 

 mortar to its place, and to afford convenient 

 and reliable hold for screws, with which to 

 fasten the moulding planks securely and ex- 

 actly in their places, plumb and level. This 

 is done by erecting a row of timbers, (com- 

 mon joist would do,) of appropriate size and 

 form in such manner as to secure them in 

 their places, and by fastening a rib to the 

 same on each side, at the top of each layer of 

 mortar, for the purpose of tying the wall to- 

 gether, that an opening may be made therein 

 by setting a short board or plank near the 

 centre, between the timbers, and about one 

 inch from the inner rib, and one or more 

 inches from the outer ones, reaching to within 

 two inches of the upright, and raising the 

 same at each laying of the mortar. 



The advantages of this plan are stated to 

 be the following: The openings and timber 

 in the wall answer as a cut-off to exclude the 

 passage through the wall of heat, cold, and 

 moisture, thereby securing the comfort of dry 

 rooms, cool in summer, and warm in winter, 

 without the expense of furring, lathing, and 

 plastering ; the openings also give ample fa- 

 cilities for ventilation and the distribution of 

 heat. This plan also renders the walls fire- 

 proof by perfectly encasing the wood in the 

 mortar, and by extending the same principle 

 to the over-head walls and roof, (as he pro- 

 poses to do,) they may also be rendered fire- 

 proof. 



The following additional particulars are 

 given by the writer : 



The combination of the frame-work with 

 the concrete body gives great strength, be- 

 cause the frame becomes to the concrete body 

 a universal tie, and the concrete a universal 

 brace to the frame. 



The frame- work also facilitates the work, 

 and gives security to the wall, by sustaining 

 not only the weights necessary in the prosecu- 

 tion of the work ; and the concrete protects 

 the wood by excluding it from the atmos- 

 phere. 



As this plan does away with the necessity 

 of furring, lathing, and plastering, to obtain 

 the comforts of a dry house, cool in summer, 

 and warm in winter, and as it also furnishes 

 the facilities for securely fastening the mould- 

 ing planks or plates in any desired position, 

 the walls may be cast with any desired finish, 

 outside and in, including the ceiling, simply 

 by the use of appropriate moulding plates, 

 and the proper management of the mortar. 



Thus a much harder and handsomer sur- 

 face may be obtained without the use of the 

 trowel than with it, and that of any devised 

 form you choose to make the moulding plates, 

 and to this may be added never-fading colours, 

 as taste may dictate, by using a proper min- 

 eral base with suitable metalic or mineral pig- 

 ment. 



The comparative cheapness of this plan is 

 very evident, as one half the mortar required 

 by the ordinary mode will, in this way, make 

 a wall twice as strong, while all the labour of 

 lathing and plastering is avoided ; the cost of 

 ornamentation is but a trifle in comparison 

 with the mode heretofore used, for, with suita- 

 ble moulding plates and frescoe painting, the 

 most beautiful effects can be produced. — Maine 

 Farmer. 



Remarks. — We have no faith in the fore- 

 going patent or plan of working concrete ; 

 our own experience having taught us a much 

 cheaper and better method. Instead of this 

 Dutch frame-work that Mr. Fowler proposes 

 to imbed in the wall, we put up similar stan- 

 dards, both outside and in, for our intended 

 wall, (usually using the joist and scantling in- 

 tended for subsequent finishing,) and far 

 enough apart to admit the curbing boards in- 

 side of them, and at the right distance apart 

 for the thickness of the walls ; thus we ob- 

 tain a much better support for our curbing 

 boards than when we have to screw or nail 

 them on to studs inside of them. Our mould- 

 boards are simply slipped up and down inside 

 of these standards, which of course must be 

 set by a line, both straight and plumb. Thus 

 when our walls are up, we take these studs, 

 or standards, away, and use them for rafters, 

 or ordinary partition studs, &c. &c, and the 

 mould-boards for sheeting the roof, and^ in 

 that way loose no lumber in the operation. 



