HOME BUILT IN SPARE TIME BY TIMARU MAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 April 1948, Page 8

HOME BUILT IN SPARE TIME BY TIMARU MAN

Eighteen months ago a Timaru builder began work on a five-roomed concrete block house. Although it will be approximately a year yet before the job is completed, this man contemplates his work with real pride, states the Timaru Herald. The reason is that, with the exception of the tiled roofing, the plumbing and electrical reticulation, the whole job is being done in his spare time—week-ends and evenings—for the price of the material only. The net saving will be more than one-third of the cost ol the house if built by contract. This enterprising builder is Mr A. A. McLaggan, of Church Street. For nearly 12 years he has lived in an 80-year-'old wooden cottage standing on "the section. Neither he nor his wife were particularly comfortable in the ramshackle, borer-infested relic, and 18 months ago Mr McLaggan decided that, in the interests of domestic concord if for no other reason, he ought to provide a more substantial home. Concrete Blocks He therefore began to spend his savings in laying by a stock of cement, sand and shingle. Making his own moulds out of wood he proceeded with the manufacture of concrete blocks and, when he had a good supply in hand, he set about the more comprehensive task of laying the foundations of a five-roomed house. Meanwhile Mrs McLaggan, his daughter and he were still living, in the old wooden residence. Covering the same ground on which the new house was to stand, he demolished half of the wooden house to make way for the first portion of the new one. He then proceeded to build. At one stage, a few months ago, half of the new house was built to roof level while half of the old house was still standing. When two rooms and the bathroom were floored and walled in, the family “moved in.” Mr McLaggan built a temporary roof underneath the ceiling joints, sufficient to keep out the rain while he consolidated his gains, so to speak, and proceeded to build the remaining rooms. Last Christmas the family were able to entertain guests in their partially built new home, which now has a tiled roof, all its flooring and some of the ceilings and walls lined. From now on Mr McLaggan’s task comprises interior finishing, plastering and the erection of the living room chimney. Wife Inconvenienced Mrs McLaggan is as proud of their new house as the builder is himself. “I have had to put up with a lot of inconvenience,” she told a reported, “but it has been worth it. At one stage when my husband had dismantled the kitchen of the old house (before the new stove was installed) I had to do the cooking outside. I made all my jam then.” During building operations, there has been surprisingly little discord in this family. The truth is that all three of them have a healthy sense of humour. In their topsy-turvy mode of living, which is likely to continue for months yet, they see something to smile at. And then for the man, woman and child there is that exhilarating idea of something attempted, something done.