Portable Gift Houses from Canada to Belgium and France

Progress, Volume XI, Issue 10, 1 June 1916, Page 644

Portable Gift Houses from Canada to Belgium and France

The following is a brief description of the plans of a wooden portable house, fifty of which the Canadian Timber Products Association purpose donating to the devastated portions of France and Belgium. The figures show the plan, elevations, and an isometric perspective of the design chosen. The houses are built of timber, using a roofing material such as tar paper, asphalted paper, or ready roofing, with an interior trim, if desired, of Beaver

a 2-in. x 11-in. plank, which is notched to receive the uprights. The roof is built in two halves; each half is made of a 3-in x 4-in. tie-beam framed and notched to the main rafter and to the 2-in. x 3-in. -kingpost. The rafters are made of 3 x 6-in. material framed to the tie-beam and half-kingpost. The roof, similar to the sides, is put on in panels the same width as the side panels, made of 1-in. tongued boards nailed to cross-pieces. The door is 7-ft. by 1-in. by 2-ft. 9-in. built of l|-in. material with one flush panel, and prepared to receive eight panels of glass. The three windows are 5-ft. by 2-ft. made of l|-in. material with two sashes prepared to receive

Portable Gift Houses from Canada to France and Belgium

board. The structure is 15-ft. 10-ins. by 19-ft. 11ins. plan dimensions, approximately 14-ft. high, contains three rooms, with a uniform height of story of 8-ft., and has three windows and a door. The front room, or hall, is 9-ft. 6-ins. by 15-ft. 5-ins., while ihc other two rooms, which, may be used as bedrooms, are both 7-ft. 7-ins. by 9-ft. 6-ins. inside dimensions. The front elevation contains a door and a window, and the rear elevation is similar but for a window in place of the door. . Both side elevations are of similar design, each being built, of six ft. 3-in. panels grooved ready to fit one another and to receive the top and bottom rails. The floor is made of 1-in tongued and grooved boards, dressed on the wearing surface, laid in six sections each 3-ft. 2-ins. wide, nailed to five 2xß joists. These joists rest on 2-in. x 3-in. blocks nailed to a base girt composed of a 2-in. x 10-in. plank 15-ft. 10-ins. long, spiked to

four panes of glass. A detailed bill of quantities of the material necessary for this portable house has been drawn up. It is proposed to have the makers mark each piece with a distinct sign or letter, tie all similar pieces together, for the sake of order and method in shipping, and to secure thorough, easy, and rapid assembling by inexperienced hands. It is roughly estimated that these houses may be produced at an actual cost of £3O.

"I took it as in the nature of things. I did not see the oddncss of solvent, decent people living in habitations so clearly neither designed nor adapted for their needs, so wasteful of labour and so devoid of beauty. It is only now that I find myself thinking of the essential absurdity of an intelligent community living in such makeshift homes. It strikes me as the next thing to wearing second-hand clothes." —H. G. Wells in "Tono Bungay."