Inexpensive Methods of Fireproofing 
walls and ornamentation are made of con¬ 
crete. Part of the interior of the house is 
also fireproof construction, consisting of 
concrete slabs reinforced with expanded metal 
supported upon steel beams. 
Illustration 14 shows a concrete chapel in 
the Spanish Mission style, ornamented with 
marble mosaic. Phis building will be erected 
at Auriesville, N. Y., and ornamentation will 
be borrowed from Indian patterns. The 
Spanish Mission style lends itself particularly 
to this system of construction, and numerous 
examples of the style abound in this country. 
Partitions.—Partitions are either built of 
hollow terra-cotta or plaster blocks and plas¬ 
tered or made of solid plaster stiffened with 
metal lath braced with iron channels or angles. 
Figure 15 shows a partition built of hollow 
terra-cotta, and Figure 16, metal lath and plas¬ 
ter partitions, that shown at (a) being made 
of one thickness of lath, and that at (b) two 
thicknesses of lath filled in solid between. 
Roofs. —The usual method of construct¬ 
ing fireproof roof where structural steel is 
used is to make the roof of tee bars supported 
upon steel beams and fill in between the bars 
with terra-cotta book tile about 3 inches 
thick, as shown in Figure 17; on top of this 
a concrete filling can be placed in which are 
embedded wood sleepers to secure the tile 
or slate. Sometimes the tile or slate is nailed 
directly to the book tile, if the latter are 
made porous. 
Where lightness and cheapness are desired, 
a special form of tile is used which is made 
to set directly on angle or tee bars without any 
filling of terra-cotta. This is especially 
adapted to house construction. Figure 18 
shows the detail of this construction. 
Figure 19 shows a garage, the walls of 
which are built of terra-cotta block. The 
floor of the loft is the long span terra-cotta 
type shown in Figure 6. The roof is of 
tile supported upon tee bars as shown in 
Figure 18. This little house is a very good 
example of fireproofing. The exterior is 
plastered and pebble-dashed. 
Reinforced concrete roofs are constructed 
similar to reinforced concrete floors, hut of 
lighter construction. 
Stairs.— Fireproof stairs are constructed 
with steel horses, cast iron treads and risers, 
or marble, slate, or other similar material, 
secured to iron supports. The steel horses, 
if desired, can be fireproofed with terra-cotta 
blocks or concrete, also soffits of stairs can 
be likewise fireproofed. This method, 
however, makes the stairs bulky, and, for 
domestic work, would be too expensive. 
They can also be made of reinforced con¬ 
crete throughout, having a finished coat of 
cement for treads and risers, or covered 
with wood as shown in figure 20. Another 
method of finishing the treads and risers 
consists of coating the concrete with |-inch 
thickness of Magnesialith patent flooring 
or similar material, as shown in Figure 21. 
This makes a very good finish, and can be 
obtained in different colors. 
In building reinforced concrete stairs, it 
is not necessary to use horses, the whole 
flight being considered as an inclined beam, 
and reinforced with rods or metal fabric 
in the soffit. The soffit and outside string 
of the stairs can be plastered or ornamented 
as desired. 
Cost. —By comparison of the cost of fire¬ 
proof construction versus wood construction 
for dwelling-houses, it is found the additional 
cost for the former is not as great as has been 
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