Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/890

 8(iG COTTAGE, FARMj AND VILLA ARCIIlTECTUREv space above the arches may either be brouglit to a level, with bricks and cement ; or a flooring of ornamental tiles, or marble ; or a boarded floor on joists, or in panels without joists, may be formed over it. Where a roof is to be placed over the arches, their haunches may be brought to a level with brickwork ; and afterwards covered either with common cement, or, as in the case of the Pimlico Palace, with what is called Lord Stan- hope's composition. Tliis is composed of chalk, coal-tar, and sand ; and is laid on hot, and gauged to the thickness of five eighths of an inch with a templet made for that pur- pose. The composition is then smoothed with large heated flat irons ; and several coats of it are required. Over the last coat slates are bedded, while it is yet boiling hot. For details, see AlecJt. Mae;., vol. xviii. p. 339. 1790. To render the commonest Description of Houses fire-proof; or, at all events, greatly to diminish the risk from fire, two things are requisite ; first, to form all stair- cases of stone, or to have the skeleton of the staircase of ironwork, and the treads of the steps of stone ; and, secondly, to avoid having any hollow partitions or floors. A house having a stone or iron staircase, and having all the partitions either of four-inch brick- work, or of brick nogging, in whatever way it might be set on fire, could never be burnt down, if ordinary exertions were made to extinguish the flames ; and, at all events, could never endanger human life. One apartment might be set on fire, but before the flames could spread to that under it or over it, or to a staircase adjoining it, the fire might readily be put out. In a house so constructed, there would be no piece of timber that was not in close contact with mortar, at least on one side ; and all the strong pieces of timber, such as joists, rafters, quartering in partitions, &c., would be closely embedded in mortar on two sides. Where the partitions could not be made entirely of brick or brick nogging, the interstices might be filled up with a mortar prepared of clay with a small proportion of lime. The same material might be filled in between the joists, and, where it was desired to render the roof fire-proof, the rafters might be made of iron, or the space between wooden rafters might be filled in with this mortar. We are qware that one objection to this practice would be, the greater length of time that newly built houses would require to be rendered sufficiently dry for habitation, and also the risk of decay from dry rot when imperfectly seasoned timber was used ; it would also add something to the original cost. All these objections, however, may be considered of minor importance compared with the degree of security which would be thus obtained from accidents by fire. Where the expense of cast-iron girders is an objection, arches of brickwork may be formed, nine inches thick, and of a rise proportionate to the resistance of the walls against which they are made to abut. In the spandrils of these arches, walls may be carried up to such a height as to form, like the girders, abutments for lateral arches, which may be formed of pots, like those before mentioned. This would take the greater part of the thrust of the floor from the side walls, by reducing it nearly to a perpendicular pressure. Were the public fully alive to the importance of having their houses fire-proof, a plan of this sort would very soon be brought to perfection. The panels of all doors and window-shutters in a fire-proof house may be formed of sheet iron, which, kept well painted, would last many years ; and the astragals of the windows might be formed of wrought iron, or hollow brass or copper, like those used in hot- houses. 1 791. To render Houses already built comparatively fire-proof, all the interstices between the floors, in the partitions, and in the roof, where there was a ceiling formed to the rafters, might perhaps be filled in with earthy matter in a state of powder. This powder might be clay or loam mixed with a small proportion of Roman cement ; it might be injected into the vacuities, through small orifices, by some description of forcing-pump or bellows, which, while it forced in the powder, would permit the escape of the air; and, while this operation was going forward, steam might be injected at the same time, so as to mix with the powder, and be condensed by it ; by which means, the whole mass would be solidified with a minimum of moisture. In short, in rendering houses fire- proof, the next important object to using fire-proof materials is, that of having all the walls and partitions, and even the steps of wooden staircases, filled in with such materials as will render them in effect solid. On examining into the causes of the rapidity of the spread of the flames in London houses when on fire, it will almost invariably be found, that, whatever may have occasioned the fire to break out, the rapidity of its pro- gress has been in proportion to the greater or less extent of the lath and plaster par- titions, the hollow wooden floors, and the wooden staircases. Were the occupiers of houses sufficiently aware of the danger from lath and plaster partitions, especially when they enclose staircases, they would never occupy such houses, or, if they did, they would not give such rents for them, as they would for houses with brick- nogging partitions. It appears to us to be the duty either of the general or local government or police to see that no houses whatever are built without stone or iron staircases ; and that no partitions or floors are made hollow ; or, if they are, that