CONCRETE HOUSES

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 July 1939, Page 8

CONCRETE HOUSES

BIG SCHEME IN SCOTLAND. New Zealanders —especially those who are still waiting fcr" houses—should be interested in a. home-build-ing scheme of thel Scottish Special Areas Housing Association. Its programme provides for the construction of 3000 houses) hi poured, concrete. One type of house <wd.ll have poured walls! of cellular concrete. The walls will be Sin thick and consist of one part of cement to eight parts of either whin chips, clinker, or foamed slag. The outer walls; will be finished with a skimming coat of cement, and on the inside with lime plaster. This method of construction, has been 1 used in various parts- of the country in the last ten or twelve years, and also, in Holland, and has' proved- on/ the whole satisfactory.

Another type will have poured cavity walls of dense concrete, The outer walls are of two skins three inches thick with a: 3in, cavity, and consist of one part cement, twci parts graded' sand, and four parts whin chips. The outer walls are covered on the outside with cement plaster or rough-cast, and on the inside with. lime plaster. Where the walls are of dense concrete it is necessary to have a certain amount of metal reinforcement, not for structural strength, but to guard l against expansion! and' shrinkage cracking. Apart from the outer walls and l partitions, the construction of "the house is siriiilar to that of an ordinary: brick house.

The use of shuttering on both forms of construction is necessary, and of course adds to the cost of the house. The method bl’ shuttering' has- been evolved by an export employed by the association, and consists of a combination of wood posts or uprights, and metal panels arranged in' such a manner that the panels can be removed within twenty-four hours of the pouring of the walls. The shuttering is designed in standard lengths, so that any rectangular building can be erected provided the 1 dimensions of walls are multiples of four inches, and the same set of shutters will do for many variations of plans.

The -shuttering is erected in. three stages: (1) From the foundation to tlie ground floor; (2) from the ground floor to the first floor; and (3) from the first floor to the wallhead.

The partition walls, chimney breasts, etc., are also, of course, erected in poured concrete, and the whole block of building in each of the three stages is poured in' on one day.