BUILT LIKE A DISH

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 10, 13 January 1933, Page 9

BUILT LIKE A DISH

A PORCELAIN HOUSE

It stands in Cleveland, Ohio, and its dishiness resides in the fact that it is sheathed with real porcelain, like the Nanking pagoda that was smashed by the Tai Ping rebels. People who live in glass houses might worry about stones, remarks the writer of a descriptive article in "Popular Mechanics, 15 but the owner.of a porcelain-house has no such fear, nor most of the other things that bother the average homeowner. We read: ' "To prove this, there has been erected in Cleveland the first porcelain-steel house in the worlds. It may become a monument to a new era in home-buildi-ng, one which disproves the statement that 'it's-not the first'cost, it's the upkeep.' V ■ . ; .-." .-■...; • The framework of the house is of structural steel, and the .writer affords information about the porcelain exterior: ■ .'"..".'". '' The outside walls and roof are covered with porcelain-steel shingles1 recently developed. "The porcelain layer, baked, to the steel base, is practically everlasting. It is easily kept clean, and -requires no periodical reflnishing. The coating covers both surfaces and edges of the shingles. ; . ■ :, :.■..■'.■ "Any colour within the range of por-. celain making can be. produced.. The1 pioneer house at Cleveland has walls of a shade of buff sandstone, with a threefoot green strip about the base, and green at the top, beneath the coping. The roof is in, three" shades of "brown. t "The shingles each have about six by. six inches of exposed porcelain surface. They are backed by a layer of asphalt-felt Toofing, which extends upward for about nine inches. The shingles, which come in thirty-six inch units, are attached directly to the steelsheathed insulation layer by means of ordinary nails passing through the asphalt felt and through the holes in the metal. The asphalt felt forms an additional insulating and waterproofing layer beneath the outer-wall covering. Side-wall shingles, have barbs bent so that they hook beneath the asphalt strip of the layer below. This holds the lower edges snugly against the wall. The roof shingles, have no barbs. "Tests havo indicated that the por-celain-steel material will withstand any degree of heat or cold that may be encountered, and that the porcelain surface is not easily damaged. A .22 calibre rifle bullet, fired into a shingle from a, distance of ten feet, broke the enamel from a circle less than an inch in diameter, and this only where the steel base was bent inward by the force., of the impact. "By employing porcelain on all exterior surfaces, the builders believe that they have created a residence that has unusual durability. It may prove to be the pioneer 'hundred-year house' of to-morrow. "Although the pioneer house at Cleveland cost about 15,000 dollars, refinement of the methods of construction will lower this amount considerably. Shingles and other parts, being made in the factory, can be turned out by massproduction methods, with resulting savings. "Originators of the porcelain shingles believe that one of the biggest Holds for them is in the reconditioning of old structures. A house that shows its age and yesterday's style can have its appearance changed completely and permanently by the application of porcelain shingles directly to the weatherboarding and old roof base."