HEARTH AND HOME

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19928, 15 May 1930, 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 be accepted. NOTES. The newest structure for Courtenay place, Wellington, is a four-storey concreto building that is being erected on the site of the shop recently occupied by Air B. Smith. It is simpler to build in reinforced concrete than to destroy. Workmen lhave been busy demolishing the last .part of the old Nimmo building in Willis street, Wellington, for the past (ten days, and arc still "arguing" with the embedded steel of that solidlybuilt structure. . Cabinet has approved of the erection of a new post offico at Mount Albert, Auckland. Provision has also bpen made for additional accommodat on at the Papatoetoe post office, and i irther extensions to the telephone c:;ble equipment at the Waiuku and pjipakura exchanges. fin the digging for foundations of thjo now boiler house in the Dunedin rtbspital grounds the Love Construction Company has opened a flow of what looks like good water that is of considerable volume, necessitating pumping all day. It is a pity that 'n the existing scarcity of water several thousand gallons should be going to waste daily, but the builders cannot help it. Another of the well-known old residences of Kent terrace, Wellington, is how in the hands of the housebreliker. This is the two-storeyed house next to the De Luxe Theatre, whifch was built by the late Mr Gordon, formerly of the Mines Department, and in more recent years oc- ■ upifcd by Mr Alan Anderson, and the late Mr It. Tingey. It is to be reduced by a block of business premises.

Lower Hutt still continues to record unique building progress. The Mayor, Sir A. F. Roberts, remarked at the last meeting of the Borough Council that it was very satisfactory to see the progress maintained. During \pril, 51 building permits were issued to thq. value of £30,875 10s, as against 54 to a value of £27,447 in April. 1929. Of the 51 buildings, 22 were of woed, representing a total value of £22,130.

The Westland Timber Workers Union has dispatched the following telegram to the Prime Minister:— "Nearly two hundred mill workers are out of work, and hundreds are only working four days weekly. If the Government doe* not do something rgently to prevent importation oi foreign timbers, more thaii 500 men on the West Coast alone will be added to the unemployed before the end oi the month. Will your Government act immediately to prevent thisr*

The large two-storey building erected in brick recently aS motor showrooms and garage for Messrs Schaef, in Mackay street, Greymouth, has already proved inadequate for the business, and work is now in progress upon an extension, which will increase the present length of the building by 40 feet, to a total length of 154 feet, with a width of 40 feet. The extension will also be in brick, with a concrete floor, and will further improve an already fine garage. The work is being carried out by Mr E. Ellery and his staff.

A moderate building construction wave in these islands may be said at present to have receded from Auckland, which is rather overbuilt. The crest of the wave has just passed Wellington, which is marking time in city buildings, though busy in cheap wooden houses, and is approachng Christchurch, which has the biggest building programme for years. Next in turn should be Dunedin, and wo can hope that its presence here will be the envy of many North Islanders, who mav at present rest complacently, on their years of plenty.—"Evening Star," Dunedin.

Work is to bo commenced immediately on the rebuilding of the Ashley Bank Hotel, which was destroyed by fire last November. The proprietor, Mr Walter Ford, has accepted the tender of Messrs Keir and Thompson (Bangiora), and the house will be of the latest Spanish design, with every modern convenience, and electrically heated throughout. Built on the ground floor with sixteen main rooms, it will be one of the most up-to-dato country hotels in Canterbury. During the past five months the business has been carried on in a temporary building, and the erection of the new hotel will fill a much-felt want and greatly enhance the appearance of the township.

The considerable progress made in building operations at Johnsonville during the year ended March 31st, 1930, is made evident from the following figures supplied by the Johnsonville ' Town Board. Permits issued during the year for building amounted to £22,267, made up of 23 residences of a value of £20,970, a building for business valued at £I2OO, and a brick kiln valued at £l5O. Additions and alterations to 24 premises represented £1690, making a total of £23,957. This figure is over £7OOO greater than the previous year's total, which was £16,835.

The ceremony of officially opening the new courthouse at Papakura was performed by the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. E. A. Ransom. The gathering was a large one, including residents of the Papakura district, visitors, and the children of the Papakura school. The chairman of the Papakura Town Board, Mr James McCall, presided, and made reference to the fact that the old courthouse had served the district for about 50 years, and had become quite inadequate. The new courthouse is of wood, with roof of Marseilles tiles. It comprises a courtroom of moderate dimensions, witnesses' room, clerk's office, and magistrate's room. It is of ornate design and presents a pleasing appearance.

Two oddities in building present themselves 'on opposite corners in . Featherston street, Wellington. The first is found in the exterior walls . in lath and plaster of the building for so long occupied by Messrs Brandon and Hislop, solicitors, now being demolished to make way for a business block more in keeping with the position and the value of the land. The fact that lath and plaster walls can endure Wellington's weather for over half a century with-

UNFATHOMABLE MUD. BUILDERS' DISCOVERY. IS IT EARTHQUAKE FAULT ? When the foundations for the first part of the Majestic Hotel in Wellington were being probed for under the dust of the old Albert Hotel it was discovered that in some spots there was no solid bottom to be got, and only a thick glutinous blue-grey mud met the efforts of the excavators along the Willis street line of the building. After going down for over 20 feet, and then probing, there was still no indication of solid earth, in which case the builders had to resort to the driving of many piles, and to the sinking of great blocks of concrete deep in the ground, relying for their stability in the earth on their area and the "cling" of the surrounding mud. It was anticipated then that such conditions would be found to exist on thq corner of Willis street and Boulcott street, where a part of the old building was left up till a week ago for use as a bar. This has proved to be the case. While in some of the excavations made only a few yards back from Willis street the ground has been found to consist of solid clay, the deep trenches made along Willis street frontage have revealed nothing but fathomless blue mud. The level of this deposit of mud is now about six feet from the surface, hilt its depth is unknown. The great edifice which is to crown this site will therefore have to depend on "cling" or floating foundations. Some of the blocks of concrete are 10ft by 6ft, and others Oft square, along the Willis street edge, but of course the greater part of the structure will be upon the solid, and, as the whole is knitted together with steel, no fears are entertained of any structural troublo in the future. The interesting feature of the disclosure lies in the fact that it is a rediscovery of what has always been regarded as the line of Wellington's earthquake fault, for it is on record that" at the time of the great earthquake in 1855 a crack developed in Willis street, between the Albert and Duke of Edinburgh Hotels, which spewed up a certain amount of blue mud, but ultimately closed again. It seems most probable that this same vein or seam of blue mud is part of the old fault, which is believed to have extended in an oblique line north cast to and under the waters of the harbour. NEARING COMPLETION. M.E.D. ADDITIONS. The additions to the Municipal Electricity Department's office and showroom building, at the corner of Manchester and Armagh streets, should be out of the contractor's hands shortly. The new portion is on the Manchester street frontage. Included in the upper floor is a room in which the City Council's Electricity Committee will hold its meetings. On this floor also is provided a room in which will be located the various office machines —adding, ledger-posting, and addressograph apparatus amongst them. It has been found that the combined noise caused by these machines has the effect of disturbing other members of the clerical staff, hence the decision to segregate them. Additional accommodation for stores has been provided. On the ground floor a new demonstration room is one of the principal features. Improved lavatory accommodation has been provided in the new portion of the building. out much apparent loss of strength is excellent testimony to a style of building now defunct. The other curiosity in building construction is the base of the premises occupied by Messrs Gualter and Co., which is not of brick, stone, wood or concrete, but is of moulded cast-iron. These premises were the municipal offices in the days when vessels lay at anchor whore the Town Hall now stands, but when that edifice was constructed nearly thirty years ago the corporation deserted the Brandon street premises. To cope with the large increase in production for the export trade, the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company, .Limited, has let a contract for the erection of a five-storey cool store adjoining the company's present store at King's Wharf. The new building will have a capacity of 150,000 boxes of butter, or its equivalent in fruit or cheese. It will be connected with the present store, and will run back to the power station. The work of construction, which will be carried out by the Fletcher Construction Company, Limited, will be commenced in two weeks, and it is expected to be finished by the end of the year, but not in time to deal with the heaviest rush of the coming-season. If necessary the company will push on the work, but it is not likely that the necessity will arise, as if the King's Wharf accommodation is overtaxed, the company will bring into use its works at Horotiu and Southdown for the storage of dairy produce, a step which has been found necessary in the past.

A reduction in membership from 165 to 154 is noted in the annual report of the Eeal Estate Institute, of Auckland. The executive considers the decrease is in no sense due to a lessening of interest in the institute, but is merely a temporary feature due to the quiet state of business during the past year. Several of the institute's original members had retired from business. The finances were described as being in a healthy condition. There was a surplus of £7O, bringing the accumulated fund to £2610. In addition, the beneviolence fund stood at £634. "All town applications for licenses have been carefully considered, and reports forwarded for consideration by the magistrates," adds the report. "In this connexion the functions of the executive have been extended, as most of the country Courts now submit applications to the executive for report. As a result of action by the institute, several agents have been fined for carrying on business without being in possession of licenses, and one agent had his license cancelled." The executive has nominated Mr T. Mclndoe to be president for the ensuing year, and Messrs S. E. Bennett and H. G. C. Ernest to be vice-presi-dents. The retiring president is Mr W. J. Potter.

TODAY'S PROBLEMS. HEATING AND VENTILATING. DESIGN OF EQUIPMENT. Like every other branch of engineering, states the London "Daily Telegraph," that of heating and ventilating is being developed rapidly, and, as a cynic has put it, it is being burdened somewhat by inventions. Manufactured products are now obtainable which are claimed to meet every need, but the use of some of these must be carefully considered and their respective advantages and disadvantages weighed before they are adopted. The engineering for all the mechanical and electrical equipment in a building must be governed by the specific requirements of each project, and, as Mr J. A. Sutherland wrote recently, no general description of theso requirements can be given to meet all cases. Briefly, it may be said that there are three main considerations which govern the essentials in the design of all equipment, which are as follows: We have to consider the uses to which the building will be put and also the time and purpose of these uses, as well as the personnel of the staff that will bo employed therein. The effect of the use of the building, whether it be office, factory, school, hospital, hotel, or block of flats, will certainly be to bring about modifications either in design or in heating and ventilating equipment, as one of the essentials, from the point of view both of efficiency and of economy, is that the plant should be operating to advantage all tho time the building is occupied and capable of being shut down promptly and without waste as soon as it is not required. Official Requirements. In the next place all official requirements of the local authorities, the insurance people, and the suppliers of power have to be complied with, all factory or other legislation dealing with the type of building has to be considered, and any other permanent or even possible temporary requirements have to be taken into account. The third point on which emphasis must be placed is that the site conditions, which govern consideration of the services for the various utilities to be installed in the building, must be used to full advantage. During a recent discussion of this subject it was pointed out that many engineers failed to realise that site conditions might necessitate great differences between the heating and ventilating systems in two otherwise similar buildings, merely through local conditions rendering it necessary in one to install appliances to get rid of nuisances from neighbouring buildings which were not met with in the other. It is a rule that engineers, in considering site conditions for any project, should study the locations for the sewers, the service for electrical energy, gas, water, telephones, etc., and also the need, if any, for Bteam supply. There are projects that require a study of smoko stack conditions for the building, and also for the adjoining buildings, and the subject of locations for fan outlets or intakes needs a good deal of thought, and always at the back of the engineer's mind should be the possibility that at some time or other any or all of the services installed may need extending. The selection of the type of heating system and the design of the units to use is governed to some extent by the size of the boiler plant that is installed to provide power or hot water, as the case may be. In this commercial age few engineers would dream of allowing equipment to go into a building which would be so high in first cost as to render it impossible for the building to yield sufficient revenue to pay for interest, upkeep, and overhead expenses on the plant over and above that required for ordinary purposes. Intensive Ventilation. The problems connected wtih the ventilation of modern buildings are so diversified that a discission of them, except generally and briefly, is far from easy. An authority has said that whilst ventilation should invariably meet legal requirements, it is seldom sufficient to stop there; many buildings designed for special purposes require in practice more ventilation than the law directs. Fortunately for intensive ventilation there are many appliances, all more or less suitable, on the market; it is when dealing with buildings in which the requirements are not so great that the trouble arises, according to a leading architect. At the same time there, are obtainable many types of air-washing and cooling devices, of air filters, of appliances for electrical purification with ozone, and of heaters for conditioning air properly for ventilation purposes, and most of' these can be obtained in sizes suitable for any class of building.

So far as heating is concerned, no matter what the type of system or of heating units may be, the problems are: Distribution of the steam, if steam be used; removal of air to allow quick and efficient use of the steam; the return of condensation in the most efficient way to the source of supply; and sizing, designing, and locating the various heating units in the most efficient and economical way. Actually the piping systems, as effected by the structural and architectural conditions, head-room etc., have a great deal to do with the selection of the best type of heating and the methods adopted for ventilating in a great many proposed buildings. CHRISTCHURCH CLUB. ADDITIONS AND REPAIRS. Messrs Packer and Jones have in hand alterations and additions to the staff quarters of the Christchurch Club at the corner of Worcester street and Latimer square. These involve a great deal of work on the sewerage system. A new stewards' wing is being constructed. The permit for this work is the only one issued for the inner area of the City in the past week, involving a substantial expenditure. Mr N. McGillivray is making alterations to the shop at 239 High street, formerly occupied by Hulberts, mercers. The Waimain County Council is experiencing a lull in building activity in the area under its control.

STAIRCASES. METHODS OP TREATMENT. "In small houses the tendency is to tuck the staircase away in a corner out of sight, and to utilise the space that it would occupy for some other purpose, generally to give additional floor area to a hall or lounge. The tendency, indeed, is to simplify the staircase in every way. and to reduce it to a mere adjunct of utility," states an English writer. "Nevertheless, with correct treatment, the staircase in even the most unpretentious of cottages can be made an interesting feature; and this, 1 think, should always be aimed at. It is. of course, a matter of planning and design. Just lately I visited a house that is quite charming in its elevation and arrangement ot rooms, and particularly in the vistas that are to be obtained at different points from both doors and windows. But the staircase, which is of quite ordinary form, is brought down into the hall in full view of the* front door in such a manner that the stairs almost seem to be a continuation of the door step. This treatment gives an impression oi crudity at the very entrance, which rather tends to detract from an otherwise delightfully-planned house. "The staircase with a solid balustrade formed of concrete, surmounted by a wooden handrail, is one of the latest developments. in the building or the labour, saving house. In such a staircase there are no interstices in which dust can collect, and the constant rubbing of the handrail by-those passing up and down the stairs is, in itself, almost sufficient to dispense with the housemaid's attentions in this respect. "In a hall with a staircase of this kind which I saw recently, the walls are distempered in a cream colour, and the woodwork, including the stairs, skirting, and doors are painted 6tone colour, the whole effect being brigno and cheerful. "In its variety of material, methods of construction, and decorative treatment, the modern staircase shows unfailing interest, and often considerable beauty. At no time has the range of types been greater than it is to-day, for, in addition to the period styles of the seventeenth and eighteenth . centuries, there are almost inexhaustible possibilities in the evolution of a new stvle of domestic architecture suggested through the inherent qualities of modern materials, and the conditions imposed by modern methods of construction "This does nri mean, however, that the old-world style of house, with half* timbered walls and ceiling and Jacobean oak staircase, is ever likelv to lose its charm. Indeed, some of tne new staircases in the Tudor style which I havo seen recentlv have been among the most delightful in all my experience. The other day. for example, 1 saw an oak staircase which, in common with the oaken beams m the ceiling and other details in various rooms, had been brought down to a pleasing silver grey tone by liming. To harmonise with this silver grey background a blue stair carpet was used. This staircase hai been placed in an • nner hall, so as to be out of sight of the front door —an arrangement always to be secured where possible. "The bungalow has eliminated the staircase altogether: but it is gratifying to reflect that, although much of the glory of the stairwav has departed, careful thought is still being given to its treatment in the better class houses of two or more stories, and that there are still among us designers who are not unmindful of the traditions of past centuries."