CONCRETE COTTAGES AND FLOORS.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 October 1922, Page 3

CONCRETE COTTAGES AND FLOORS.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —It has just come to my notice that some remarks appearing in your paper a few days ago would make anyone hesitate very considerably before adopting concrete for floors, and might even prejudice the use of concrete at all for house building. You speak of an employer who built six cottages, the concrete floors of which failed, and had to be replaced with wood. I have built houses in Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, and in Taranaki with concrete floors, which have been perfectly satisfactory for many years, and I hold letters from the owners to that effect. I have a cottage in which is a concrete floor three feet below the level of the ground outside. This floor is only three inches thick, and is laid directly on the ground, yet it is, and has been for years, perfectly dry, so that boots, books, etc., can be left lying on it during the winter time and show no signs of damp, a fairly conclusive test. ls concrete and concrete, as also there are ways of making and laying this material. Experience and the desire to make a good job are needed, as well as reasonably good materials, the latter being obtainable in most places, the former not so common. There is a lot of prejudice against concrete floors, and even against concrete for walls of houses in this country, but that will quickly pass away as the material becomes better known. In twenty years it will be almost universal as a building -material for all classes of work. Concrete is fire-proof, rot-proof, dust and draught- | proof; it is and can be made perfectly { dry in any situation where a house ought to be. Floors of concrete have all the above qualities, and if stained and varnished they are as easy to clean as linoleum, never require scrubbing, make carpets wear longer, and make the rooms of a house warmer than if wood were used. As there is leakage of cold air between boards a room with a wood floor -s more difficult to warm. Wood floors also cost more than concrete in the first place, and are not so permanent. Concrete is not perhaps pleasant to stand on for long when quite bare, but it is seldom that any floor is left with nothing on it. Carpets, cocoanut matting, or sea-grass mats are suitable for various rooms. If any of your readers will write to -me I will describe how a. good and cheap concrete floor should be laid.—l am. etc., ,T. W. CHAPMAN-TAYLOR. Inglewood, October 2, 1922.