Part 13 (1/2)

Chalk in all these forms, if fairly dealt with and reasonably protected from the weather, is a most amenable and satisfactory material to build with

The last-named method particularly see critics of the unconventional, as it assuredly does those who inhabit the cottages so constructed

The several systees that follow

_Chalk Coe on West Down, Chilbolton, soists have brought to light undeniable fragments of chalk ”Daub,” with the wattleupon theh it is a pretty refutation to those who regard any building led,” and it should also serve to hearten the doubters and the tist us who seek historic sanction for any departure fro practice

_Composition and Uses_--In the Andover district Chalk Compost or ”Chalk Mud,” as it is called locally, is prepared and used as follows:

The chalk is dug out in the autu the winter In the spring building starts, and the weathered chalk is spread all around the outside of the walls Straw is sprinkled on it and it is then well trodden, usually by the workers, but sometimes by horses Sometimes chopped straw is added, sometimes unchopped straw is sprinkled on The quality of the walls depends very largely on the preparation--that is, in getting the ht consistency--and the old hands know by experience when it is ready

The compost is lifted on the wall by a fork and another man stands on the wall and treads it in It is then chopped down straight with a spade Some of the naked walls at Andover show traces of the courses, which are usually soht

Where a course has to be left unfinished it should be ended with a diagonal ramp so as to splice in with the work that follows

Some of the old builders seem to have been somewhat catholic in their conceptions as to what constituted ”chalk,” and vague patches of earth, loose flints and other stray substances not infrequently th

As a general rule, the finer the chalk the stronger and loether by aas dense ain a mortar-mill would probably reduce all the chalk to an amorphous powder, which would not be desirable, and in any case suchby ras does not appear to have been practised in the past, though there is nothing against theout

The drying of each course takes several days, depending on the weather

A course is usually laid right round the building It ht in case of rain, and when it is hard another course is laid on, and so on till co the summer and autumn, and when the moisture has dried out, to render the exterior

Where brickwork is used with chalk coenerally bonded in in the ordinary way, but block-bonding the depth of a chalk course is a better way of doing it

The exterior corners of chalk buildings are the vulnerable points, and these should therefore be well rounded off

_Ti seems to have been done to prevent ork built in to the coh in ly In any neork, however, proper ventilated air-spaces should be contrived or the timber ends treated with some preservative

The door andfrae pieces of wood built in across the thickness of wall, and other ork is fixed to wood blocks built in in a similar way

Picture-rails should be provided in all rooms, as chalk walls are apt to flake and chip if nails are driven into the is carried down over these some form of key must of course be provided to hold it

[Headnote: Winter Work Barred]

_Frost_--Neork er of collapse, and winter work is barred out for this reason

_Repairs_--Chalk compost walls are not easily repaired in that enerally used, well bonded in

_Chih there would see carried up in chalk, especially if clay pipe linings were used