CAST-IRON HOUSES.

Thames Star, Volume LIX, Issue 16623, 20 October 1925, Page 4

CAST-IRON HOUSES.

NEW TYPE APPROVED. The British Ministry of Health have giVen approval to houses the outer walls of which are constructed of standard cast-iron plates, erected on. a system devised by a Sheffield firm. These Thorncliifo type cast-iron houses are eligible for the subsidy under the Rousing Acts of 1823 and 1924. The outer walls are rough cast with a heavy layer of concrete. A patented method of jointing is employed between the flanges. The division walls and chimney breasts are built of brickwork bonded into the cast-iron shell.. The internal walls to the ground-floor rooms and bedrooms are formed of wood toothing covered with asbestos cement sheets; The roof is covered with tiles. The windows are wood casements securely bolted to the cast-iron plates, while with the exception of the scullery and larder the floors are made of wood.

Unlike some of the new systems, definite prices are quoted for erection within a 50-mile radius of the Thorncliffe Ironworks, near Sheffield, but are exclusive of the cost of foundations, drains, fencing and footpaths, which obviously depend upon the nature of the site. For a house containing, on the ground floor, a livingroom measuring nearly 18ft. by 14ft. 3in., a kitchen, larder, coalplace and porch, and, on the first floor, three bedrooms, a bathroom and a landing, containing in all 875 superficial feet floor surface, the price is £435 each, delivered and erected in quantities of not less than six. The feature of the system is the extreme rapidity of erection. A specimen nair have been erected in 30 working hours in Sheffield, and are now available for inspection. Castiron shells of houses, complete with windows and outside doors, are also quoted on similar conditions at £l5O per house for a parlour house with three bedrooms.