Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/545

 1869.] Descriptions. 439 not only of fasteners, but of handles by which these moulding boxes may be worked with facility. Boards, smoothed on the upper side, should be laid upon sleepers on the ground, and set far enough apart, to admit of a passage be- tween them. These boards should be not less than ah inch and a half thick, to prevent " buckling." They should be lightly strewed with sand, so that the material may not adhere to them. The moulding boxes and drying boards being now ready, we will speak of the material The clay should be very aluminous, in order to have it plastic ; but it should not be too rich. To obvi- ate such a state, it is only necessary to add sand. Some mix in an inferior earth, but sand is decidedly better ; and if, in wetting, a bushel of lime be added to every thirty gallons of water, it will add materially to the strength of the brick. The clay being ploughed up, and the surface sods taken off, oxen, or horses, should be turned in, and made to trample and work up the whole ; it being suffi- ciently saturated from time to time with the lime-water. Straw, rushes, or any convenient binding material is now to be cut into lengths of, say ten inches, and thickly strewed over the muck or material, and then thoroughly worked or trodden in, by the animals. When the composition is fairly mixed, so that it is ready for the moulds, the boxes, already described, are to be filled to overflowing with the material, and well rammed down, with square rammers, as compactly as possible. They are filled up flush again, then rammed ; and so on — until the top of the box is reached. They are then to have their surfaces evened off by wooden scrapers, moved firmly along the top of each box, and the surplus thrown back into the work- ing bed. In a short time, these newly moulded bricks will be shrunk suffi- ciently to permit the boxes being re- moved, which is done by carefully rais- ing them up. And here it would be M r ell to suggest the previous wetting and sand- ing of the insides of the boxes, so as to admit of their being easily removed. The new bricks may now be left to dry, and bake in the sun, for not less than four daj's ; care being taken to pro- tect them from occasional showers of rain. This may be effected by means of a portable shed, which might be in the form of a light frame, covered with tarred paper, kept in rolls, ready for use. The moulding boxes may now be re- filled, on other boards, and the same course pursued as before ; and so on, until all the required bricks are moulded. Each brick being sixteen inches long, and six inches thick, it is very easy to calculate the number wanted to build any given amount of work. The baking process being now com- plete on one side, the bricks are to be carefully turned over, and left to the finishing strokes of the sun. The foundation walls of the cottages should be of stone, or well-burnt brick, but better of the former : the whole set on a footing-course of concrete, six inches thick. These foundations should be carried up above ground, say eighteen inches, and be covered with cement, to prevent damp rising into the walls. The whole being leveled off, the super- structure may be commenced, and the adobes, or sun-dried bricks, laid in regu- lar courses, carrying out the plans and elevations here given. The joints may be of ordinary mortar. They should be carefully pointed, if the front is to be simply white-washed ; but, if the inten- tion be to rough-coat them with gravel and lime, and plaster or rough cast, it would be well to leave the joints rough, filling them with the coating material. The rough-cast may have some sienna, dissolved with glue or size, in hot water, thus giving it a tint. There are many other tints which can be given, but of these, and their proportions, we propose to speak on some other occasion.