HIGH SPEED HOUSES

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 57, 1 December 1926, Page 17

HIGH SPEED HOUSES

Britain has set up a new record by building a two-story house of six rooms on a site at Westminster in three days and a half. Begun on a Wednesday, it was ready to receive its tenants by the end of the week. Here is the interesting story of how it was done. The job was started on a perfectly :bare site in the City of Westminster iat five one Wednesday morning, and ■at eight the same day the first story was completed. By Thursday night ■ the moulding for the second story had been begun, and doors, windows and other fittings on the ground floor had been finished.

Friday night saw the completion of the second story, and on Saturday afternopn all inside work had been dope and the roof was in position. Moreover, apart from the. designer himself and .one other skilled man, who operated a concrete mixing and pouring machine, the work was carried to a successful conclusion with the aid .qf .unskilled labour. Previous to this accomplishment the speed record for building a house of similar type was held by the United •States, where, with skilled labour, construction was completed in sevqn and a half days. How is it done ? Whflt is the secret? Concrete and an ingenious metal framework provides the answe.r.

A concrete foundation is put dowm in the usual way, but on this solid base is erected a metal framework which, ■by means of clips and pins, can be added -to and extended in any direction, and w'hich can >be built up in such a way as to leave space for windows and other necessary apertures. Into this metal framework is poured a concreite mixture composed of fout parts of coke breeze, two parts of sand and one of cement. For this purpose a .machine ,is used which is capable of mixing from -thirty-five to forty tons of concrete per hour. The thickness .of these concrete walls is .six (inches, but their wjdth can be altered where required t b.v an adjustment .of .the .framework. jn ,ttie case .of .the. .floors ,a concrete composed of clean shingle ballast, reinforced .by .half-inch tnefal bars, is used instead of coke breeze.

The outside of the house .is rougheast with a material described as “liquid stone, 1 ” which is applied with : a brush and guaranteed waterproof. The ■construction of >the .chimneys is also cleverlv contrived. Circular pipes lined •with fireclay ate placed in nosition and concrete is .ppurefl round .them. The rooms on the ground floor corp-: ■.prise a .narjour lift, by 9ft., a living room 13|ft. by lift., and a kitchen ■9}ft. by 9ft., together with a pantry and a .gopl cellar, the latter supk two feet .into the ground and capable of . holding one and a .half .tqps of ,coal. The .size ..of .the rooms is not -fixed, but cap be varied to suit requirements. On the upper floor there are three bedrooms and a .batliroqui corresponding in size to tlie rooms below, while, in addition, there ,is p wide landing capable of holding a chest of drawers, cupboards, -trunks, or boxes, and the other lumber which accumulates in ; eyery (household. The windows are made of the special metnl held in wooden frames, while broadwise through the doors run three meta! rods to prevent shrinkage of the ■wood. The roof is almost flat-topped, but with sufficient inclination to allow of drainage. Unskilled labour .is ployedThe completed house is a tribute to British brains ,und ,British-enthusiasm, : for, wfl'le Jt must be admitted -that the 'record building >time pf three and ,a half dava was onlv accomplished by working two shifts totalling .nineteen .hours per ,day, the United .-States’ time of seven and a half days was achieved bv three shifts working continuously (throughput the entire day. The constructors of the .British model claim that the shell of one of their houses .can be built ,bv four unskilled

workmen, working a normal eight-hour day, in twelve days. Moreover, it is stated that one hundred of these concrete houses can be constructed by equivalent labour in the same time as is required for five brick houses. According to “Answers,” which supplies the foregoing particulars, a house of the type described can be sold for £3OO, whereas the equivalent in bricks and mortar is in the neighbourhood of £BOO That means that -tlie economic rent of the concrete house is rather less than 10s. a week, while the rent of the normally built one must be more than twice that amount. Nor does the new type seem in any way inferior to the old; it is the kind of house that no one need feel ashamed of .owning.