Garage in Houses

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 172, 24 July 1939, Page 2

Garage in Houses

To minimise danger from fumes likely to cause fire or poisoning, garages erected in future in Christchurch as part of the actual construction of a house will have to havo their walls and ceilings made of brick, stone, or concrete. The Christchurch City Council has decided to draft a by-law providing that where garages are incorporated in, or added to, houses the construction should be on those lines. The council’s housing and town planning committee recently sought the advice of the medical officer of health (Dr. T. Fletcher Telford) on the problem. He stated his opinion that garages attached to houses should be constructed of concrete, or if made of wood that the garage should be lined with impervious material thoroughly sealed at all joints. Dr. Telford also stated that every garage, connected to a houso or built separately, should have amplo ventilation. He attached an extract of an American publication from the Laboratory of Applied Physiology, Yale University, stating: “A rough estimate of the volume of carbon monoxide that an automobile may produce is one cubic foot (28 litres) a minute per 20 horse power. This is sufficient to render the atmosphere of a single car garage deadly within five minutes if the engine is run while the garage doors are closed.’ *