The Importance of Cement and Its Products in H ouse Building 
Making [ () understand the pe- 
Concrete .. , r 1 
cuhar value of con¬ 
crete let us consider a simple case. 
If we make a wooden box without 
a top and fill it with a mixture of 
cement mortar and small stones, 
in the course of a day or two we 
may knock away the box and 
have a solid block of stone. The 
mixture went into the box wet, 
plastic and disintegrated and 
comes out, though not yet quite 
dry, hard, solid, and monolithic. 
This peculiar quality of concrete, 
whereby it may be made in frag¬ 
ments and piecemeal so to speak, 
but hardens into a solid mass, gives 
it a field of application which is 
limited only by the wishes of the 
user. Let us see what use may 
he made of it in building a house. 
In order that the house may stand upon a secure 
footing the lowest course of the wall is made wider 
than the wall above, and large stones are laid in a 
trench which has been dug to receive them below the 
level of the general cellar bottom. On these stones 
the wall is built, and the value of the footing course 
is practically destroyed if the stones composing it are 
not long enough to fill the trench completely from one 
side to the other. It is often impossible to meet this 
condition, and in such cases concrete offers a ready 
and economical substitute. It is mixed on a board 
platform, wheeled in barrows to the trenches, tipped 
in, rammed down, and left to harden. In twenty- 
four hours the wall may be started, and continued 
SECOND FLOOR PLAN OF THE #7,400 CONCRETE COTTAGE. 
Sullivan W. Jones, Architect Cement Age 
GARDEN VIEW OF THE #7,400 CONCRETE COTTAGE. Cement Age. 
Sullivan W. Jones, Architect 
without interruption to completion. Even where 
large stones may be had, concrete is often preferred 
by architects on account of its dependability. The 
usual formula for a concrete mixture is one part of 
concrete, three parts of sand, and five of small broken 
stone or gravel. This makes a concrete strong 
enough to stand the severest tests, yet it may readily 
be seen that the expense of the cement is inconsider¬ 
able. Concrete should be mixed as follows: 
I he cement and sand are first mixed dry, being 
turned over several times to ensure a thorough mixing, 
water is then added from a hose with a rose sprinkler 
attached to prevent the washing away of the cement, 
the stone or gravel is then added to the mortar, the 
mixture being thoroughly turned over at least three 
times to ensure the coating of each 
piece of stone with the mortar. 
This being done, the mixture is 
carried away to the trenches and 
deposited, as above described. 
But concrete has in the past few 
years come into its own, as its pos¬ 
sibilities have been recognized, until 
it is quite capable of replacing 
most, if not all of the more usual 
building materials. As an illus¬ 
tration, it is sufficient to quote, in 
addition to the dam above noticed, 
an office building of eighteen 
storeys which has been built en¬ 
tirely of concrete. 
I he building of a house 
entirely of concrete, 
walls, partitions, floors and roof, is 
a simple matter. The walls are 
built very much as we made the 
concrete block in the wooden 
box. Boards are erected at o 
Concrete 
Houses 
239 
