HOME BUILDING

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 57, 4 September 1943, Page 8

HOME BUILDING

USE OF PLASTICS

POST-WAR PROSPECT

The big housing programme ahead of' New ' Zealand, apart from national and development work, and the possibilities in new methods of construction, such as pre-fabrication and the use of plastics, were referred to by the Minister of Works (Mr. Semple) in an interview today. The Minister gave an insight into the investigations at present being carried out and envisaged the possibility of houses being stamped out of plastic wood. "In America," said Mr. Semple, "one firm advertises 'Press a button and get a house.' We may not be able to do that, but when the housing construction programme is resumed after the war it will produce results that will make our pre-war effort look small m comparison." . . After the war, said the Minister, New Zealand must work to a plan which would be broad enough to include the nation, detailed enough to cover all its subdivisions, bold enough to inspire respect, and realistic enough to produce action. There was a growing realisation of this fundamental post-war need.; and the first step to meet it had been taken m the passing of thei Ministry of Works Act. That Act provided the necessary machinery to enable them to start planning, .and housing was one of the most important things' that had to Joe planned. Over 20 000 families wanted homes today, and it was estimated that 100,000 new houses would have to toe erected between, now and 1957 to meet the needs of those people requiring homes In addition,■ at least 40,000. of thThouses already built would require replacement. . A MIGHTY TASK. "There is a mighty task in front of us so far as housing .alone is concerned, let alone the national^and devSopmental work," said the, Minister. "My officers are impressed, but not awed, with the magnitude of the task and are well advanced in.their plans' to meet it. Every avenue is being explored, and two of these-the erection of prefabricated houses and the use of plastics as applied to building construction—merit attention. _ "Prefabrication involves the use ol ordinary materials, but caters for the low-income group by cutting construction costs through mass production, mass purchasing power, .^standardisation. Houses are built generally of conventional frame construction in small enough panels to be, easily moved and quickly assembled, but can also be built-in concrete slabs. Variation in appearance is obtained oy minor changes in the arrangement of windows, floor plans, and entrance details In America by extreme methods of prefabrication four-roomed houses for farm workers have been produced on a mass scale for as low as £180-each. Such houses, of course, would not be suitable for New Zealand conditions, but nevertheless serve the purpose of showing what this method of construction can do in speed of erection and costs. The field of prefabrication is being explored so far as the erection of State houses is concerned and already experiments have been made in construction ,of homes, both in wooden frame style and m concrete slabs. FUTURE OF PLASTICS. - "It is in the use of. plastics, however that unthought-of possibilities present themselves. Nobody knows -all there is to be known about modern synthetic plastics. Architects admit that almost anything can be done with them, but they don't quite know yet how to go about it. Plastics xan be employed as a substitute for other materials like glass, copper, aluminium, steel, wood, and stone, but it is m combination with other materials/that they will gain their greatest usefulness. Today with the chemical ingredients of plastics at the top ol the critical list,■'manufacturers are far removed' from the building field, but when restrictions are lifted a i lot ot them are gc/ig td make a bee-line for the gigantic construction market now taking form. * SAMPLE PLASTIC HOUSES. j "I have had a proposition put to me by four highly qualified young men for the erection of houses in plastic wood, utilising the principles that are used today in • the • manufacture of aeroplanes and using only 1\ tons of timber pulp as against the 37£ tons of timber used in building an average house today. The cost per home for a 'plant'in full production would be onehalf of today's cost,. and our timber resources would go five times as far. The system they propose—and .it has been proved—would use all the timber in a tree, except the leaves and ■the bark. It would resist' moisture and heat, be borer-proof, and prac-. tically everlasting. In time to»come houses could be stamped out of this material just as motor-car bodies are stamped out todays We are keeping the closest watch on the development of plastics, and I hope the day is not far distant when it will'be possible to erect a plastic house in each of the four cities so that we can see how they stand up to New Zealand conditions." "

Mr. Semple added, that one of the younger most promising engineers 6i his department, Mr. H. L. Hume, who was granted a travelling scholarship by the Rockefeller Foundation, went to America to add to his engineering knowledge, and was at present attached to the Ministry of Supply's organisation there. Part of his duties consisted of gathering all the most advanced ideas and practices in connection with plastics, so that, New Zealand could get the latest information and his critical opinion on them when he returned to the. Dominion in the near future.