House and Garden 
Stucco and 
Pebble 
Dashing 
VIEW OF A COTTAGE BUILT IN THE SUBURBS OF NEW Y 
Sullivan W. Jones, Architect 
Built of cinder concrete mixed in the proportion of 7 to I 
and their lavish use of it. 1 he drawing and 
photograph of an old Roman construction, on page 
236, which is standing to-day with unimpaired 
strength, fully illustrates and confirms the point in 
question; and it is only one of many similar 
examples. 
In the use, too, of stucco or pebhle Hashed 
work, an admixture of cement is es¬ 
sential, as permanence canno the as¬ 
sured by any other means. Stucco is the name 
usually given to mortar when it is applied to the out¬ 
side of a wall and spread over the surface of the wall 
either as a means of protection from weather, or for 
decorative effect, or both. When pebbles are thrown 
or dashed against the wall while 
the mortar is still soft they are 
held in place as the mortar hard¬ 
ens, and the resulting effect is 
known as pebble dashed work. 
This use of mortar is one of 
the severest tests of its excellence 
and durability to which it can he 
subjected, as its widespread sur¬ 
face and relative thinness weak¬ 
en its resistance while subjected 
to the full force of storm and 
frost. Under such circumstances 
it is of the highest importance 
that cement should he added in 
large quantities, and that the 
mortar should have a strong 
hold or clinch upon its supports, 
wire I his support was 
cloth formerly supplied by 
ordinary wooden laths laid as 
is customary for inside plaster¬ 
ing, but a modern improvement 
consists in the use of what is 
known as wire cloth, stretched 
between supports on the wall, 
in the meshes of which the mor¬ 
tar finds a secure hold. 
The above remarks apply 
primarily to the way in which 
stucco or pebble dashing is ap¬ 
plied to the outside of a frame 
huildmg, as it is more usual to 
apply the material directly to 
the surface of a brick or stone 
wall; but I am inclined to think 
from my observation of the re¬ 
sults that the wire cloth method 
is advantageous even for ma¬ 
sonry structures. 
Concrete may be 
shortly explained by 
saying that it is mortar to which 
small stones have been added. 
The purpose of this addition is to convert the mortar 
from a simple binding material to one which can be 
used as a substitute for masonry itself. Or, to put it 
in another way, it enables us to build a wall of any de¬ 
sired height, breadth or length even to a mighty dam 
two hundred feet high, (the severest possible test) out 
of stones not larger than one or two inches in their 
greatest dimension. Thus the largest building op¬ 
erations can be effected by the utilization of what, so 
far as the small stones are concerned, is almost waste 
material. Indeed the growing use of concrete is the 
best possible illustration of what was previously said 
about the relative value, in a wall, of the mortar 
and the stones or bricks. 
ORK FOR $7,400 
Cement Age 
Concrete 
'i *■ 
;• ^ t, ' 
.VHnll 
GROUND FLOOR PLAN OF THE $7,400 CONCRETE COTTAGE SHOWN ABOVE 
Sullivan W. Jones, Architect Cement Age 
238 
