Part 17 (1/2)

In addition to that, it must be remembered that the cost ofThis will be apparent from an analysis of the itee which that cost bears to the total cost

Cottages erected 1912 (see, 772 ft super, (parlour, kitchen, scullery and three bedrooms, coal and WC):

Per House

No Item Actual Cost Per cent of Total Cost

1 Sundries 8 266 2 Foundations16 528 3 External and party walls (_a_) 77 2541 Windows and doors (_b_) 23 759 4 Internal partitions 36 1188 5 Ground floor 18 594 6 Upper floor 22 726 7 Roof and rain-water goods 34 122 8 Chis, water supply and drainage 19 627 10 Staircases 11 363 11 Fittings 6 198 ---- Total 300

These facts help to clarify the proble -room, parlour, scullery, three bedroo cubic contents of about 11,500 ft, would co that there is only an average transport of fifty e, which is taking it at a very low average In each cottage the weight of the brickwork represents about 42 per cent of the total weight It is, therefore, apparent that every effort should be made to lessen the transit ofIf, on the other hand, local reat economy effected Even if this utilitarian consideration were not so i all possible use of local reat from other points of view It would sti and, in addition to retaining the traditions of the district, give greater hope of retaining and es

It is scarcely necessary to sues that may fairly be expected to flow fro a solution for the housing difficulty First and fore in transport A casual reader e will vanish with the end of the war, but that is not so in reality Any one who has travelled in Francesuch nahareat deal of our rolling stock was sent over to France, and at the best will not be available here for a long time to come Even the ordinary work of upkeep and repair has necessarily been neglected owing to the scarcity of men and other causes incidental to war-time Transport difficulties are bound to last for a very considerable period after the peace settlement, and it would not be at all advisable to delay the construction of houses so long The returned soldiers willcould be i abroad than to learn that there is not sufficient housing accoe in which they lived before the war, and to which they hoped to return on its conclusion

[Headnote: Cost per Foot Cube]

III

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF _COUNTRY LIFE_, JULY 27th, 1918

”Shortly before the war I had occasion to dees at Clovelly for the reconstruction of the New Inn I was so h by no means first-class samples of cob work) that I collected some facts and notes on the subject from different parts of the county of Devon Where bye-laws have been adopted, cob is no longer being used It is difficult, therefore, to give an accurate coation I did arrive at the following results for North Devon and Scotland The prices were in 1913, and in both cases for a five-roo four to be built at the sa any special work necessary to procure supply, and o)

Cost per foot cube Cost per foot cube cob at 2 ft 6 in 11 in hollow brick

thick

North Devon 6d 5?d

Scotland 6d 6d

These prices assu for the difficulty of getting at least one experienced cob-worker to instruct the unskilled men Since 1913 the cost of brick has risen so much that cob would now be much cheaper, probably as much as 1d or 1d foot cube in both cases, and this is likely to be the case for many years Suitable material exists in many parts of the country If reed straw cannot be had, other reinforcements can be used

I have seen various materials in use, of which heather was perhaps the best and most easily procured I can endorse fros, and the affection of Devon people for theive all that a house should--protection from heat in summer and cold in winter For the contrast, visit the new Garden City at Rosyth Many of the houses are attractive, but their thin brick walls, tile and slate hanging are not suitable to the north and east coasts

Ask the opinion of the occupants of these new houses Many of them are Devon born and bred, and imported from the dockyards of the three towns

They nearly all co comment on modern construction”

IV

PISe TESTS

(_With acknowledgeh the courtesy of Messrs Alban Richards & Co we are able to publish the results of certain very instructive tests that have been carried out on Pise during the past winter Messrs Richard's experience and Report bring out two points with especial clearness, (1) That Pise work, though not impossible under winter conditions, is not ordinarily desirable unless so the earth be resorted to (2) That the strength of Pise increases with surprising rapidity as the work dries out It should be reood Pise soil, such for instance as the redapproaching them, the results would have been even better, as the Report points out:--

”In conjunction with Mr Willia ourselves as to the practicability of _pise de terre_ for house construction In order to obtain e ht term the minimum or 'worst' tests, we decided to erect walls for this purpose in the winter This we have done for the last threeis a short description of the tests we have14 ft long, 9 ft high and 18 in thick, spaced 20 ft apart, with short return ends to each wall

Wall plates were placed centrally along the top of each wall, on which were placed 9 in by 3 in wood joists, at 16 in centres, across the 20 ft span In order to obtain the minimum results we allowed the shutters to remain until the test was ready to be applied, so that walls did not have an opportunity of drying or hardening This condition was thought necessary, as it is quite reasonable to expect that if _pise de terre_ cottages are erected, considerable weightis struck We then proceeded to test the walls to destruction The floor space provided for by the joists referred to above radually

The load applied totalled 16 tons, which is equivalent of 168 lbs

per super foot of floor space, under which the wall collapsed, which, in our opinion, provides a factor of safety of three to the nore floor would have to bear

”We are convinced that very much better results can be obtained in this method of construction alls which were first dried before the load was applied Further experiments are to be made to procure further data on this subject In addition to the above tests, we have submitted to the National Physical Laboratory, blockspurposes, and the following are the results which have been obtained:--