1. What is the best test with stone for different people?
As good walls are a primary demand in all buildings and houses, it follows that the consideration of the quality of materials of which they are composed, as well as the manner in which the conjunction or adhesion of parts can be most thoroughly effected is a matter of great importance.
Stone is a natural production, and it is adapted to the requirements of building with little preparation. We may speak of the relative value of different kinds of stone. Experience seems to be the best test; although the science of chemistry may be sufficient for the geologist, the architect is better satisfied with the proofs of time.
2. What is the dampness of stone caused by?
The principal objection that has been urged against stone houses is that they are always damp. This is true, as they are usually constructed without any attention to the possibility of preventing this fruitful source of calamity. Stone walls having their foundations in damp soil will inevitably be damp from capillary attraction, common lime mortar forming no impediment to the upward passage of moisture into the main wall of the house which as a consequence will seldom be quite dry.
The most effectual remedy for this is to build the underground portion of the walls with mortar made of Rosendale or any similar cement. The interior rooms of a house in which the plaster is laid immediately on the stone walls must always be more or less damp. All stone is to some degree pervious to water, and therefore transmits the dampness. The inner surface of the wall, maintaining nearly the same temperature as the outer, condenses, extracts the moisture from the atmosphere of the rooms. Two methods are offered for the prevention of this, both depending on the intervention of a hollow space for the circulation of air. The first is to firr-off the plastering with vertical wall strips; the second, to form a hollow wall by building up a single thickness of brick on the inside, and connecting it with the stone wall in the course of erection.
3. What kind of structure has granite got?
Granite, according to geology the primary rock, exists in great abundance in the USA, and has already been employed to a great extent for building purposes. In the USA the best specimens of granite for public buildings are from the quarries of Quincy and Fall River, Mass.; but there are qualities of lighter cast, and therefore better adapted to country architecture, found in various parts of the country.
Granite is recommended for foundations preferably to all other kinds of stone. It may be known by its granular structure, from which it takes its name. Its component parts are quartz, mica, and feldspar, distinctly or confusedly blended together. It is very easily worked into the rougher kinds of masonry, but does not admit fine polish or finely-cut mouldings. It may be employed in country homes approaching the rustic character.
4. What properties are characteristic of the Nova Scotia sandstone?
Sandstone. The absorbent nature of sandstone and the liability to suffer from the effect of heat and cold has rendered its durability some doubt; but we can point to numerous examples where it has stood the test of climate for years, and from present appearances may stand for generations.
The light-brown sandstone of Connecticut and New Jersey, the soft, light-gray stone of Cincinnati, and the warmer-tinted stone of Mount Joliet, Ill., take the first rank as valuable and agreeable materials for country house building. All these have an excellent effect in combination with surrounding verdure, they are easily wrought and exhibit to the best advantage the execution of ornament. The stone imported from Nova Scotia has been extensively used in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and aside from its delightful shade of color, is recommended as a durable material. Nothing could be more suitable for the refined architecture of a suburban villa than sandstone.
5. Is limestone always white?
Limestone. Limestones of Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Missouri are the best known, and they are all extensively employed in building in their respective localities. Where the color approximates light-bluish gray, as it does in the Pennsylvania specimens, the effect is very pleasing; but the others are so white as to be objectionable for country buildings and houses, unless the mass of the building is kept hidden in foliage.
Read the text 4. Natural building
a) Read it without a dictionary. Guess the meaning of the unknown words.
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