THE INVASION OF CONCRETE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 302, 17 December 1908, Page 4

THE INVASION OF CONCRETE

lis THE -UTTLE WOOUEX HUT" TO GO? Writes the Wellington Post: Will wood be able to creak " irony of fate " if the death sentence on the ''little wooden hut" is rumbled by the Hutt in its trek from the mountains to the sea? This ii n time when men hope for much from concrete, plain or reinforced with iron. The combination material is becoming popular for use in buildings designed to resist earthquake shocks. Auckland has experimented with it, to take the place of wooden piles for wharves. Auckland, however, is not yet absolutely sure whether to rejoice or not about the matter.

In the meantime, simple concrete, specially treated, is being used by a firm in Petone for making dwelling-places for folk who cannot afford to pay exorbitant rates. The Hutt river is for ever bringing down 'Countless tons of shingle from the uplands. Very considerately, the river leaves this rubble for men to pick up, and it is this material which is the basis of the compost that has gone to make ten houses since the builders started work last April. HOW XT IS DONE. ■ After it is mixed in a revolving box, the concrete, is transferred to moulds. There it is subjected to great pressure, and comes out in (blocks, with double air spaces. The plant is capable of a daily output of a thousand blocks, each equivalent to fourteen ordinary clay bricks. The material can be fashioii'd to any design. The manufacturers claim that they can reproduce in concrete any reasonable thing that is set down on paper. The strength of the substance is evident from the fact that a newly-made block withstood a pressure of 10001b, to the square inch. ADVANTAGES. With this new style of building a cross-section of a wall show* ccmcrct \ air, concrete. Practically, a wall is a concrete sandwich, with air as the "meat." H is claimed that the pressure of this air between the inner and outer walls ensures a dwelling-place cool in summer and warm in winter. The aim is to reduce the use of wood to a minimum and thus secure a 'healthy building where the risk of damage by fire is so small that the insurance rate is a quarter of the average tariff for wood. It is submitted that a fire which starts in one room, can he restricted to that apartment. THE COST. At present, a concrete house, capubi • of defying the tooth of time, can lie set up at a figure not more than 20 to 2."> per cent in advance of the price of one of the jerry-built wooden houses (of similar size), which are believed to be too plentiful in Welliugtoa and its environs, and the builders of the ten houses mentioned say that the cost of a concrete structure is no dearer than a well-built wooden one. They are cii.tlident that when work, with improved machinery . is progressing on a large scale the quotation for concrete will be considerably lower than it is for wood.