HOUSE WITHOUT NAILS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27415, 30 July 1954, Page 6

HOUSE WITHOUT NAILS

NEW CONSTRUCTION METHODS ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES CLAIMED "The Press" Special Service ROTORUA, July 29. At Lynmore, In the Rotorua county, a two-storey house of 1500 square feet has been three-quarters completed in five days, or 150 manhours, excluding work on the foundations. The style is new, and Rotorua is the first New Zealand centre in which it has been tried. Two Dutchmen, Messrs J. van Grouw, an architect, and J. J. van Loghem, have come to this timber area to launch what they say is a cheap, solid and essentially fast method of house construction. The system is a precut tongue-and-groove one, on the log-cabin style of Norway. The machinery to cut the snug-fitting eight-inch by two-inch planks is also of Norwegian origin. The interlocking principle is shown in the internal partitioning and in the joists, which dovetail into the external wall. There are no studs, no lining, and no nails from floor to roof.

The weight of the walls and the roof will tighten the joints on all horizontal planks. Three months is the estimated settling time. As well as being draught and ver-min-roof, the construction is said to allow for internal condensation. A special oil treatment of the planks prevents moisture absorption during building. Installed in the house will be a combination tub, shower, handbasin and baby’s bath unit—another Scandinavian idea.

For a 1000-square-foot house the man-hours, inclusive of work on the foundations, are said to be 350, as against the average New Zealand tally of 1338 hours recently quoted by Mr R. H. Davis, president of the Master Builders’ Federation. Messrs van Grouw and van Loghem, who have a factory hope to export their new houses. They use Douglas fir which, they say, has more strength than the Scandinavian pines. The two men, who met in Holland before their first visit to New Zealand three years ago. had a sample house built in a day for the Waikato Winter Show. They plan to produce five houses a week and to specialise in the 1000-square-foot family house.