HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 
i 9 i i . 
15 
One form of fireproof floor construction. The terra cotta 
blocks are held up by a temporary support, with spaces 
between the rows. In these are laid reinforcing bars, 
over which is poured concrete. The finished floor on 
top of this may be of tile or of wood 
The interior of a hollow terra cotta 
house, showing a concrete arch 
resting on the block partition 
tically. There is a greater 
strength in -the blocks laid 
this way than if the open¬ 
ings are horizontal. With' 
this size there is no special 
corner block required, as 
there is a natural bond 
formed four inches in 
width. In addition to these 
simple hollow terra cotta blocks, there are several patterns made 
under various patents under which the idea has been to gain 
greater solidity and strength by different methods of interlocking 
the adjacent tiles. 
At the window and door openings, special sizes are needed to 
bring the wall out to an even 
edge, and an additional im¬ 
provement in the forms made 
for this purpose is a projecting 
lip which covers the outside 
edge of the window-box and 
prevents dampness from work¬ 
ing through at the point be¬ 
tween the woodwork and the 
terra cotta wall. For the lin¬ 
tels, it has been a common 
practice until recently to sup¬ 
port the ordinary blocks on an 
iron beam or in some other 
convenient way. Now, how¬ 
ever, a special form of flat arch 
is made, and this is self - sup¬ 
porting. The sills of the win¬ 
dows and doors are formed by 
laying 4 x 12 x 12 inch tiles 
flatwise, with a small inclina¬ 
tion to shed water. These are 
finished with cement. 
One of the diagrams repro¬ 
duced herewith shows the 
methods of running pipes and 
electrical wires in the walls. 
It is only for the four-inch soil 
pipe — the drain pipe of the 
plumbing system — that a pro¬ 
jection from the wall surface 
is necessary. This is usually 
run in a corner and covered by 
wire lath and plaster to a square 
- edge. The smaller pipes are 
Ready for the roof, which, in this 
case, is to be of terra cotta blocks 
held by steel angle beams 
A Long Island house where half-timber work and brick paneling 
lend color to the stucco walls. Aymar Embury, II., architect 
Where the design will permit a flat roof, this is made fireproof at a 
lower cost than a sloping one 
easily run through the ver¬ 
tical openings of the blocks, 
which are chipped away 
where necessary for that 
purpose. 
■ Another common ques¬ 
tion that the home-builder 
asks is this: “Is is neces¬ 
sary or advisable to have 
fireproof floors and a fireproof roof in addition to the walls?” 
The answer depends upon the individual needs and also upon 
the willingness on the part of the owner to devote an additional 
amount to the cost of the building for the sake of additional pro¬ 
tection. The fireproof floor is desirable where the contents of 
a house are unusually valuable 
and where they need the fullest 
protection. The man, for ex¬ 
ample, who has a valuable col¬ 
lection of paintings would be 
willing to pay the additional 
cost of fireproof floors, and 
perhaps even of a fireproof 
roof, in order to reduce the 
danger of loss to the mini¬ 
mum. 
Ordinarily, however, the own¬ 
er of the moderate size home will 
be content with wooden floors 
on wooden joists, depending 
upon the fireproof character of 
the walls to prevent any seri¬ 
ous damage from fire. These 
floor joists rest with a four-inch 
bearing on the top of a course 
of the wall blocks and are pro¬ 
tected on the outside by a four- 
inch tile facing. The details 
of construction where wooden 
roof rafters are used is shown- 
in the. diagram on page 12. 
Where it is.found advisable tq- 
have.ythe floors ' strictly fire¬ 
proof, the common method is 
to build a temporary support 
on which are laid the tiles with 
the openings horizontal, and 
with four-inch spaces between . 
the rows (see the center illu$- 
- (Continued on page -56) . 
