HEARTH AND HOME

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19480, 29 November 1928, Page 4

HEARTH AND HOME

(By "Builder.") "Builder" invites contributions from readers on any matters of interest which they might like to propose. Correspondence on various subjects pertaining to building will also bj accepted. NOTES. Mr J. Matthews is building a brick factory at 10G Wordsworth street for Messrs Hutchison, Ltd. Tenders will be received at the Public Works Office, C'hristchurch, up to ■i p.m. on Tuesday, December 4th, for painting "A" Ward (Male) at Sunnysidc Mental Hospital. The Public Works Department is receiving tenders up to 4 p.m! on Tuesday, December 4th, for repairs and painting at the Piakaia Courthouse. Messrs Coomber ami Whitlow have in hand the building of a Sunday School in brick for" the Sydenham Methodist Church. Work lias been commenced by Mr W. Williamson on the construction of four shops in brick, in Colombo street, i near the intersection with Bealey avenue, for Mrs McKane. Tenders will be received by the secretary. Public Works Tenders Board, Wellington, up to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, December 11th- lor the erection of a Post Office in brick at Shirley. Tenders close at noon to-morrow with Mr A. H. Noall, secretary of the Hororata Racing Club, 183 Cashel street, Christchurch, for painting the grandstand and other buildings on the racecourse at Hororata The ground is being cleared in preparation for the foundations of the' large new garage which is to be erected at the corner of Peterborough, Victoria, and Durham streets for the Todd Motor Company. Mr "W. Williamson is the builder. Pitting of varnish takes the form of small pits or pin-holes in the varnish, and is sometimes caused by the under surface being greasy, but more usually by atmospheric air being mixed with „he varnish—a thing which not infrequently occurs when varnish has been violently shaken on the way to work. As soon as the defect appears the varnishing should be stopped until due time has been allowed for the varnish to settle, and let loose the air contained within. If the defect occurs without any shaking having taken place, it may be, due to the varnish having absorbed a certain amount of air when being filled into the tin.—"New Zealand Decorator." In selecting a genuine bristle brush, we are told to pull out a few of the centre hairs and hold them in a flame. If genuine, they will curl and act like burning hair, if otherwise they will burn into ashes. This will not always work, for the makers of bogus bristles have it down so fine that the false bristles will act in the same manner. The best way is to drop_ a few hairs on a, hot stove lid and notice the odour. There is nothing similar to the odour of burning hair or bristles. Feathers come the nearest, but there is still quite a difference. The surest way to get a good brush is to buy from a reputable dealer and pay what a good brush is worth. No matter how nice a brush looks, or how much the bristles have the appearance of being genuine, if too low a price is asked for a good brush, something is wrong. It is made either from poor*bristles or is filled. One of the most impressive features of the scheme for building Auckland's new railway station is the monumental set of plans prepared for the guidance of the builders and sub-contractors. The architects, Messrs Gummer and Ford, have prepared 80 large structural drawings for the extensive steelwork, as well as hundreds of more detailed drawings, acounting for every brick, every piece of glass and every rivet land bolt. The specifications and schedule of quantities resemble a small library. In general equipment and facilities for the comfort and convenience of passengers the new Auckland station will rank with the finest railway stations in the world. When the building is completed the Tisitor arriving travel-worn from Wellington will be able, without leaving the station, to enjoy a hot bath or an invigorating cold shower, a refreshing shave in the barber's shop, and an excellent breakfast in the dining-room. Leaving his 1 suitcase in the luggage room, he will start off to do business in the city fortified by the service and attention one usually associates with a first-class hotel. Six telephones, a telegraph office and a taxi-cab office will be found in the main building close to the. arrival and departure platforms. When purchasing their tickets, passengers, will find small brass racks conveniently placed for the reception of small bags and parcels. Hundreds of clocks m different parts of the station will be worked electrically and controlled from a small master clock in the stationmaster's office.—New Zealand "Decorator."

! BUILDERS' ALARM. CONCRETE THAT CAUSES RUST. The danger of the use of coal residues in concrete in contact with steel is emphasised by the findings of a joint committee, representative of the institutes responsible for practically the whole of the building industry in Great Britain (states the London v"Daily Mail" of October 9th). . So alarmed are the committee at the possible effect of the misture on structures in which it is at present used that they are immediately placing their decision before the responsible building authorities in an effort to secure a revision of the building by-laws. The summary of the committees report says:— . After very careful consideration tlie committee unanimously arrived at the conclusion that coal residues are m general unsatisfactory materials to use as aggregates. There are three primarv causes of defects. lii the first place concretes made from coal residues are liable to expansion on setting, or later expand through becoming wet from atmospheric or other conditions. The second cause of defects lies in the high permeability of concrete made from coal residues permitting the access of air and moisture to the steel, with consequent risk of corrosion. In the third place, the presence of sulphur compounds in the aggregate may, under conditions favourable to chemical action, lead to corrosion^ One contracting firm reported to the joint council that they had removed a steel joist from a breeze £ot at Whitechapel. E. It had been in the floor 20 years, and had almost been eaten >away by rust.

j NEW RECORDS. i | CANADA'S BUILDING BOOM. PROPERTY VALUES MOUNT. [ Canada, slates a special message to | the Xew York "Herald Tribune," from Toronto, ;.s iii the midst of an unprecedented building boom. Every province shares in an industrial expansiou which has caused the rush of new construction. In the larger centres an acute shortage of plasterers and carpenters exists. Toronto expects to double its building total of last year with a construction programme that by the end of December will total 00,000,000 dollars. Montreal has had to import workmen and steam shovels to keep pace with construction activities. Vancouver is growing so fast that it confidently expects to rival Toronto in a few years for the title of second city in the Dominion. All over the prairies there are signs that the industries of the east are moving to the west. Even in the maritimes, long slumbering by the sea, the revival of trade has brought revival of building. Stimulated by the largest crop ever reaped in the Dominion, construction activities are at feverish pitch to keep pace with the growth that bountiful money assures. The building boom is not a new thing. It has been coming for three years, each year gathering new momentum. It has'been a steady growth with no evidence of wild speculating. This year it will set a peak far in advance of anything in Canadian history, and indications are that next year it will continue to a higher level. The pessimism of post-war years which brought partial stagnation to industry and caused the exodus of many thousands to the United States has been dispelled. Expansion 'greater than that of the United States, it is felt, is now taking place in Canada. The exodus is over, the return of Canadians lias started. It is this more than anything else that has caused the acute housing shortage in Woodstock, London, Hamilton, Gait, and other Ontario cities. New Skyline for Toronto. The new era has already given to Toronto a new skyline. Bay street, the city's financial centre, wall be entirely rebuilt within three years. A dozen skyscrapers have gone up along this avenue within two years and as many are projected. Increased assessments, brought chiefly by new buildings and added land values, have added a third to the city's 'legal borrowing power. [ Construction is going so fast that a shortage of building material is feared. Steel mills arc hard pressed to turn out structural steel to supply the demand. Excavation for one Bay street building was delayed three weeks because not a single steam shovel was available. Smaller Ontario cities reflect conditions in the provincial capital. Hamilton already has more than doubled its building volume for last year and has work laid put for 1929 that will surpass this year. London downtown real estate has doubled in value in a few months. Windsor and adjoining towns, almost suburbs of Detroit, soon will combine to form the second city in Ontario. All western Ontario larger towns and cities have reported record population increases.

Expansion Felt in Quebec. ' To a less extent the same programme of expansion is under way in Quebec, Montreal already numbers more than a million population. Quebec, the ancient capital, is rushing a tremendous harbour development scheme and is planning new _ hotels to accommodate American tourists. • In the maritimes the complaint oi poverty and demand for secession from Confederation so insistent four years ago has faded. The people by the sea are feeling, though to a less extent, the same prosperity wave sweeping the rest of the Dominion. Perhaps the most spectacular change taking place in Canada is on the prairies. Industries, are invading what long has been a purely agricultural section. Saskatchewan, the granary of the world, soon will be the motor manufacturing centre of the West. Manitoba already has been industrialised to a great extent. Mineral Kesources Found. Further exploration of the northern stretches of the prairies has revealed undreamed of resources. It is now known that iron ore of commercial possibilities exists north of the Alberta coal fields. It is considered only a matter of time till the Turner Valley produces Canada's gasoline supply. The tar sand of the Athabaska awaits only transportation to become the asphalt substitute of the West if not the paving material of the whole Dominion. Clays of all descriptions found in Saskatchewan already are the basis of a growing ceramic industry. More and more the West is looking to the foothills of the Eockies for what is said to be the Dominion's finest building stone. The Hudson Bay railway will be a dream no longer. Another twelve months and this short cut to the markets of Europe may mean far-reaching changes on the prairies. A new outlet for grain, it may be a new outlet for Canadian manufacturers, and there are some who expect the Arctic route to create a new industrial area in the Dominion. If navigation of the straits /proves feasible for a long enough period, the cut in transportation ehargcs to Europe will not only affect Western Canada but Western United I States. Eailways are rushing branches into j undeveloped northern stretches. The Peace Eiver country, greatest unsettled i area of the Dominion, is on the eve of its long awaited development. The C.P.E. proposes to connect it directly , with the coast. All along the north lies the pre-Cani-brian shield —the same geological formation which has produced the nickel and copper riches of Sudbury and the gold of Porcupine. Copper to the value of millions is being mined in Manitoba. Saskatchewan is still in the prospecting stage. It is known that platinum exists, as well as copper,. gold, and silver. ' British Columbia mining has attracted new attention in the last year and has been one of the factors responsible for the huge growth in Vancouver. ' As a harbour Vancouver now rivals Montreal for leadership in Canada; as a city it confidently hopes to be the future metropolis of the Dominion. Vancouver's growth depends on Pacific expansion, which seems bound to come. Climatic conditions favour textile industries, and one British firm has moved its plant to British Columbia. j This, Vancouver claims, is but the start.

POLISHING. HINTS FOR THE HOME. Hand polishing is quite distinct from French polishing, and the best means of dealing with the question will be to give a brief description of each method. Hand polishing consists of gradually cutting down a well varnished surface with a range of abrasives. The abrasives used in succession range from a fairly fine grade of pumice powder to wheaten flour. The range might be as follows: Pumice, rottenstone, tripoli powder, tin oxide, and flour, finishing finally with the hand, from which the process gets the name, of hand polishing. It is essential that the varnished surface should be perfectly hard before any attempt is made at polishing. The abrasives are used in sweet oil, and must be used evenly and regularly over the surface. It will be obvious that the surface must be well filled and painted and liberally varnished if it is to be hand polished. Care must be taken not to disturb the continuity of the surface; hence the need for careful preparation. Hand polished work, if executed on a ground of good materials, is very durable, either for interior or exterior work, and will certainly outlast French polish. Quite recently I examined some interior work that was hand polished at least twentyfive years ago, and it is still quite presentable. French polishing is a process usually limited to application direct on the wood, and generally hard wood at that. The wood is levelled with fine glass paper and scrapers, and then oiled with linseed oil, to which sometimes a stain is added. • It is then filled with a wood filler. There are various methods of making this. Some prefer to use vegetable ingredients, such as cornflour, while others make silica the base of their fillers. Sometimes these fillers are coloured to match the wood. They are slightly bound with shellac goldsize and thinned with turpentine. The filler is well rubbed into the grain, so as to fill the pores of the wood, and the superfluous material removed when dry with glass paper. The work is then bodied up with French polish, applied with what is known as a "rubber. ' This is a cotton-wool pad soaked in polish and covered with a piece of clean rag, the surface of the pad being oiled with linseed oil or medical paraffin to prevent sticking. The pad is worked systematically over the surface in a kind of circular motion, the rag being removed and replaced from time to time as additions of polish are made. The polish should not be used too liberally on the pad, but should gradually squeezed 011 the s ]V' fac ® ] .j exerting some pressure. As the p dries very quickly, the rubber may peatedly traverse the same area . short intervals until a S°°d . * , built up. The work should then laid aside, however. The bodying p is followed by what ia known m reducing." Instead, of continuing to a polish to the rubber methylated sp is added, a very little at a time, a well distributed into the r . u kbf . time. The effect of this is that the surface receives a finer ' e^ e ) gradually assumes a high po • Throughout the whole process the ruO ber is kept slightly oiled, and must be kept on the move. It must never be allowed to attack the surface abruptly, and thus cause local clamngj-. reducing to a fine polish, should be laid aside for an ho _ and then may be -spirited off. IW* is really a matter of re ' l } oV | l i lpr a used as a lubricant for the ru . clean rag is damped «-jth ■ rapidlv moving it will seri J age the surface, but as the g

the pressure may be increased. T|u's process is repeated until the oil",varnishes, and the work should now present a high polish. Some polishers give a final rub with finest French chalk, which absorbs the last trace of grease. To my mind, there is no material equal to a simple solution of pure shellac in spirit for French polishing, but there are many recipes containing other gums, such as sandrach. French polishing need not necessarily be limited to the mere embellishment of wood Opaque grounds may be built up by adding fine pigments to the filler and bodying materials.—The "Craftsman." Sydney.

WAGES UNALTERED. AGREEMENT AT HOME. It has been decided to continue, without alteration for 1929, the agreement governing wages and conditions of building trade operatives throughout the country, states the London "Daily Telegraph." ~ The agreement was Entered into in 1926, after negotiations extending over two years, following the dispute of 1924. It provides for a sliding scale for wages, but, according to present indications, there will be little or no change in the existing rate for the ensuing twelve months. October Ist of each year is the date for tendering notice of a constitutional alteration to the agreement. Efforts have been made in some directions to alter the present arrangement in consequence of increased unemployment, mainly among the labourers, but the employers' and operatives' leaders have considered it wise to continue the agreement, and the result, it is believed, will be enhanced confidence in the organisations of both sides. Smaller matters relating to the grading of towns are still being considered in the locaiities, but these difficulties are being overcome, and only a fe'w of the original applications are now likely to come before the central committee of the joint council. The master plumbers' organisation is at variance over details of internal policy in the North-of England with the National Federation of Building Trade Employers. The plumbers are reported to have given notice to leave the joint council for the building trade, but there are now indications that the difficulties will be removed, and that the joint council will become stronger than ever.

Sir Enoch Hill, chairman of the National Association of Building Societies, speaking recently at the opening in Manchester of new premises for the Halifax Building Society, said the _ movement had captured the imagination and the confidence of the public, especially in recent years. It affected throughout the country more than 1,750,000 individuals as depositors and members, and they had gathered together through the societies £223,000,000. The assets of building societies increased last year bv over 20 per cent, to the extent of £22,000,000. Last year over £55,000,000 was lent upon mortgages, the average amount advanced being £337. There had not been in the whole history of the movement a time when building societies could not have paid 20s in the £. NOTICE! We specialise in distance removals. The specially-constructed weatherproof "Dennis" motor pantechnicons as u§ed by us provide the cheapest and best means of furniture transport. Packed by experts, your goods are insured against risks. The New Zealand Express Co., Ltd. —7