St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-08-22
CONCRETE WALLS.
How They Ought to Be Constructed-sug-
gestions by an Expert.


How They Ought to Be Constructed-sug-
gestions by an Expert
Many farmers are troubled, when in
tending or desiring to put cellar walls
under basement barns, to provide suttl-
Gent support for the building while the
wall is made. The building is sup
ported upon posts or blocks, and these
are in the way of a stone or brick wall.
They cannot be removed, and as there IS
a post or block at each corner, the most
important part of the wall is left poorly
finished and very weak. have just
given friend advice in such a case,
and as his is a common experience, 1t
may be useful to many of your readers.
The wall, in such case, is made OF con-
crete; half hydraulic cement and half
lime makes wall sufficiently strong for
any purpose, as the mortar so made IS
impenetrable by tenpenny nail, which
will bend and break before it can be
driven into it. This makes the wall
cost more than one-third less than If all
cement is used. The first thing to be
done is to level up the building upon a
row of four by four oak or chestnut
posts, and brace it firmly. Then the
standards and box plank are set, and
the wall built around these posts, en-
closing them completely. They will
never rot, if the precaution is taken to
set each one upon fiat stone, which
becomes a part of the wall. The cor
ners need particular attention, as these
will soon be bruised and broken if made
square and sharp, and left unprotected.
have finished the corner by putting in
tier of stone or brick; if of stone, finish
ing it with squared faces, and having
them lap in amongthe concrete to make
broken joints. With brick, I make
half-square corner by building in the
bricks which encloses the post
against the brick, and in the
concrete, and holds the brick
very firmly, leaving no corners to
be fractured. My friends barn
was fortY-eight by forty, and
wall eight feet high, built in this way,
cost him $88, a very small sum for a
basement of nearly 1000 square feet,
where space is most valuable. The Win
dow frames and door frames are built
into the wall, and in this case had
three-inch oak plank used, with anchor
bolts built into the wall, to hold the
frames firmly at the doors. have
found the door frames to work loose at
times and give way, when they ought
to be the strongest part of the structure.
In making concrete, the mixture is
very important. As hydraulic cement
sets and becomes hard very soon, and
is damaged if disturbed afterward, it is
best to mix only so much at once as can
be used before it will set; and to pre-
vent loss of time, the mixing should 60
on concurrently with the laying. The
mixing is done as follows, and much
time is saved by this method: The dry
cement is mixed with three times as
much dry sand, as evenly as possible.
Three barrels of sand are spread on a
large mixture platform, by twirling
the barrels around so as to scatter the
contents about three inches thick. The
cement is then scattered over it in the
same way, as evenly as may be. The
mass is then thrown to the centre in
conical heap, which is fattened, and
this is divided by throwing it again into
two heaps, one on each side of the first
one. These two heaps are then thrown
together, and the mixing is sufficiently
done. Five barrels of coarse broken
stone-large fiat ones are not broken,
but are used to build in the wall-for
each barrel of cement are put on to q
second mixing platform, for ease in
shoyelIng it, and the mass is wetted by
throwing water over it. This is a small
thing, but important, because it secures
the adhesion of the cement and the,
solidity of the concrete. Everything is
then ready to begin work. If lime is
used, this is already slaked in the usual
manner; the sand and cement are mixed
with it by means of hoes, water being
added to make rather thin mortar;
the wet stone is then worked in with
hoes, until every piece is coated with
cement, and the concete is placed in the
plank box and well rammed. If lime
is not used, the cement and sand are
mixed in a thinner mortar, as more
water is taken up than when lime is
used. Agricultural Engineer in Country
Gentleman.