THE READY-MADE HOME

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18760, 17 July 1935, Page 12

THE READY-MADE HOME

BUILT IN SIX WEEKS

FOOD AND ALL PTTTTNGS

U.S. DEVELOPMENT

XEW YORK, May 21

"The pro-fabricated, or ready-made, house is.here. Several of them arc already under construction in I lie vicinhy ul' New Vork I'ily. A large number ul' others will he built during the coming spring and summer. The importance <>f' this development makes it worth reporting in detail," says the New Republic. "The first 'company to offer , prefabricated houses on a large scale is American Houses, Incorporated, of Xew Yorlc City. It is just about to put on the market a series of houses of this type, continuing many radical departures from anything known before in this country," adds the Xew Republic. "A house will consist of panels of ceineiii and asbestos, formed under, tremendous pressure and bolted to a siee] frame. Roofs will lie flat unless Ihe purchaser wants to pay extra to have it needless gable attached to his house. The style of architecture thoroughly modern, with simple square lines and lilicr.nl use of sun decks; etc. . . '

"When operations are in full swing, in the near future, the procedure will be as follows: —The intending home owner will buy his Jot, and make liis. own arrangement's about sewers and connections of water, gas and electricity. Me will visit one of the offices of American Homes, Incorporated; select the type lie wishes, and sign his contract. ARRIVE ON TRUCK "Within a day or two, his house, will arrive complete, in one -mammoth truck, from one of the regional warehouses established, every 000 miles throughout the country. Two expert, house-assemblers will arrive with the truck, which, incidentally, is their home, and 'contains their living quarters; they will employ four or five local laborers in the vicinity, and will assemble the house, a process that is expected to take from two to four weeks. "These houses contain no base-, ments; under them will be excavations of only a few feet, with founds , lions deep enough to get below thr frost line. The panels which constitute the walls, and the interior part: lions, are bolted to the steel frame? No weight is supported by any interio wall, and, if desired, all interior pai 'itions could safely be removed am the house made into otic large room. WHEN Tire OWNER MOVES IN "The construction is so solid tha it is estimated it would withstand i hurricane of 120 miles an hour, o> snow piled on the roof to a depth o; Soft. At the end of a few weeks, tho new owner can move in, and wilr find everything provided to begin housekeeping, even to two days' food on the kitchen shelves. All necessary electrical appliances arc in place and ready to operate. "In some of their aspects, these houses arc. 'unlike anythling known before, certainly at anything like these modest prices. For example, they are all completely air-conditioned, with a. guarantee that both temperature and humidity will be controlled within one degree, winter and summer.

"The windows are of the casement type, set in the corner of the room to provide greater free wall space, and operated from within by a small crank. Screens for summer and storm windows for winter are attached from the inside, and the windows can lie opened with equal readiness whether the screens are in place or not. The floor is made of compressed fireproof 'hardwood, which ought to be almost indestructible; the flat roof is intended to he used as a terrace. .

"In order to economise on space, electric -clocks are built into the walls of several rooms, as are a radio and a cigarette lighter, set in the wall of the living-room. THE HEART OF THE HOUSE "The 'heart of this -house is the panel called the "moto-unit" into which is ibuilt all the operating machinery. One side of this panel is a .wall of the kitchen, including airconditioning equipment, electric refrigerator, hot-water heater, dish .01 clothes-washing machine, stove, kitchen cupboards, etc.; the other side forms the wall of the bathroom, to which are attached wash-basin, bathtub, shower and toilet. Much of the economy in manufacture is based .upon the fact that all this heavy machinery, is as-, • enibled at one point, and designed and built as one unit.

"The objections to housing of .this type are several—all fairly obvious. Some people will complain that that they do not want a house that looks like every other house down the street. . . . , „

SOME THINGS THAT MAY HAPPEN

". . . A more serious objection is that when people can drop houses all over the landscape on two -weeks' notice and, for that matter, can easily take a house apart and move it somewhere else, or can add and. subtract rooms at will, all in a few hours, the question of community planning and providing' the necessary municipal services becomes much more difficult.

"If this typo of house, foee.omes as successful as 'the shrewd gentlemen foehind it expect it to, there may foe important social consequences. Again, it these 'houses are turned out by the thousand, what is to become of workers in the building trades, who will no longer be necessary? "Speculation on. these, points must wait until we find out whether the public reception for ready-made houses is as large as the theorists have supposed."