CAST IRON HOUSES

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 121, 25 February 1926, Page 7

CAST IRON HOUSES

FIVE ROOMS FOR £425. The “ Daily Mail” gives the following details Qf iron houses:— Messrs Newton, Chambers and Co., w'ho have made iron for over 130 years, made sketches in 1912 with a view to manufacturing houses out of cast-iron on the same lines as the tanks that they made to contain water and chemical liquids. Last year Mr T. V. Miles, a director, decided to encourage further experiments, and a pair of houses were built. The system has received the sanction of the Ministry for Health for a 40 year loan. Some 11 tons of pig iron are used for each house. The blocks are moulded in the foundry. The east-iron plates are joined together in the walls by bolts through the flanges between which there is a wood-packing strip used for securing the internal linings. The outer walls are faced with a special cement rough-cast, and the roofs are tiled. The specimen houses contain a living room measuring 17ft 104 in by lift llin, a kitchen lift 3-lin by 9ft Sin, a larger 7ft llin by 6ft Sin, a coal place 6ft Sin by 2ft Sin, and on the first floor throe bedrooms and a bathroom. The walls are 9ft high. • They are being delivered arid erected within a radius of 50 miles, complete with internal fittings, fireplaces, bath, w.c., wash-basin, and hot "water system, at £425. The increased cost quoted for erecting such a house at Brighton recently was £lO. Arrangements have been made to supply these houses complete, to erect them and finish them for occupation. All the houses arc built under building trade conditions. The price, of course, excludes the provision of foundations and drains. At the firm’s works there are castiron tanks that were made over 100 years ago, have been out in the open exposed to the weather, are unprotected by paint, and are still in use. It is claimed that cast-iron houses will be similarly resistant.