HOUSES OF EARTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17594, 6 October 1920, Page 10

HOUSES OF EARTH.

7 Sirj—-Allow me to make known the -method -of building pise Borises". Now " that" 'the price "Of "building materials has *• reached" such an alarming level, I, think ; pise nooses .should, in * country districts or eyen in the prove quite satisfactory. What is pise construction ? It" is the direct utilisation of suitable local j material for house construction in such a form that manufacture as ordinarily nnder- * stood is simplified, and unnecessary ; trans- 5 port eliminated. There ;remain examples' * to-day sot efficient cottage and farm build'iugs 51 erected on this system. To pre- ; vent decay to *hia system of -bunding, all 'that is necessary is proper . foundations and --roofs which >to-day -can easily 'be proJ dded. A suitable material would be . almost aajfejearth containing air-amount of loam. Soil which cakes afte 5 ? a heavyrain, :or ;svhich, -ploughed or dug when dry, turns up in bard clods; is also suitable. Material ■-■> of ' a candy or clayey.} . naturet should be avoided. ~ All roots and " vegetation .should be . removed. . The ;..earth.4s .best used ,as it is dug, and, -if it : is^tc^j^d^j-should be brought to the cor- " re^asojst; conditioniby. watering it ,about * two 'ISays"befbr3 s "it" 'is d ' to 'be ' used. %It * -""" should be just moist enough to be .crumbly .and yet adhesive enough to retain the impression, ofttne fingers swhen pressed inibe hands. If too moist, -will stick to the rammer,an.d work squashy; if however, it is top airy it will work up loose. The earth should be spread in 4in. or sin. layers between movable timber casings, ,and each layer should be well rammed "with heavy wood or iron rammers. The - top of any layer which has become dry should be slightly moistened 'before the next layer is commenced. A suitable «thickness for the walls is 18 inches. The ; wood casings might be in 10ft. by 2ft. 6in. sections, :formed of :l£in. wood. Iron ■■> clips or small boltsj could provided for I attaching ; oae section to -another, also 'distance pieces,*and : :bolts running through -the wall to 'prevent' the" casings spreading. * ; The casings ark raised, as the work proceeds. It is -very -necessary that the '.walls should be protected from rain whilst ; they "are being ;bjrilfc. The following „points also require attention(l) Some • form of damp * coarse must be provided. (2) The wall should be finished with two or three coats oc whitewash or, even better, t<r. The walls could be rough ; cast— rough cast being well pushed .into the hard pise walls with a.flat board. .(3) .External aagles might be protected -by suitable wood fillets. (4) Door and window frames should be built in as the ".work proceeds. They could be secured to the walls by means of strong iron holdfasts about 15 or 18in. long, having one end nailed to the frame and the other turned up and built in. Four holdfasts to each frame should suffice. (5) The roofs should have eaves projecting about 2ft. 6in., so as to help to protect the walls from rain. They should have wide wail plates secured to the wall with bolts or ties, wood rafters and collar ties. The inside walls can be plastered and -papered if = desired. Pessimists say that ■ pise walls will soon be disintegrated. First they say the winter storms will beat against it and when it has becomfe saturated with wet, a sharp frost will come 'and there will be something like an explosion at the surface, which will cause great pieces of the earth to break off. To guard against this use three coats of some patent damp-proof mixture which will waterproof the walls. The rooms of pise houses are warm in winter and cool in summer. No frost can penetrate through eighteen inchs V>f rammed earth. It is a mistake to allow stones to be mixed with the earth, as it tends to make the walls rather pitted in places. They .do not weaken the wall materially, but it _ requires a rather extravagant use of tar. •Any new method or old method revived -has to fare natural doubts as to amount of maintenance which will be involved by its adoption and people will be chary of adopting the pise form of construction until they are satisfied that it will stand as well as the old cob—which is another name for pise—of the Devonshire villages. R.H.W., l)unedin.