The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-15
BUILDING cHEAp HOMES.

There have been frequent references of late to Edison's plans for rapid house-bniiding. and some recent conn ments by contemporary will not be uninteresting. According to that pa- per Mr. Edison says that by his con crete process a house that would cost ten thousand dollars to build Of stone can be built for twelve hundred: and that six room house can be done from start to finish of construction in less than fortnight. That sounds like a fairy tale. but much less SO than once did the forecasting of light secured by the turn of . key Mir. Edison has gone far enough with the experiments to announce that 1t is possible to make house. foundation. walls. inside and outside finish, roof. porches. bath tubs. laundry tubs. all of reinforced con crete; that no plaster finish is neces- sary. and only the doors. windows and frames to be of wood. Earlier in his investigation he thought 1t possible to run the concrete for the walls into solid mass by means of moids. This detail he has abandoned. The house, he finds, will have to be built of blocks; but the blocks are molded on the spot. For the plan he has evolved. for a house twenty-five by thirty feet. with eight foot front porch and three foot back steps. containing six rooms and bath. the division of labor is some- thing like this: Four days to set up the molds. six hours to pour in the con- crete. four days for the. concrete to harden. and four days to remove the molds. The concrete builder will be put to a preliminary expense of fifteen thousand dollars for plant, and an- other twenty-five thousand dollars for the cast iron molds to be used In con struction. But with the possibility of rushing up houses in couple of weeks. the enterprising builder ought to be willing to risk the outlay--if the Edison scheme proves as practical as most of his other inventions.
 The above remarks describe pretty plainly the designs and estimates of the man who may fairly be ciassed as protector of this scheme of building a house while you wait" as the say ing is: and if 1t proves as successful in practice as 1t is claimed 1t will work something of Q revolution in building. Mir. Edison. as is well known, is some- times bit nighty in his estimates of what can be done, but it Is equally we'll known that he has accomplished some real wonders in the inventive line. and this will not be one of the least im- portsnt. by any means. if 1t turns out as promised.
 That the time has come when there must be some method of building houses which will be both cheap and substantial ought to be evident to all. Wood for that purpose is scarce and expensive. and continually becoming more so. and much Of that material that can be obtained is of a class that has no lasting qualities. In the large cities especially the poor people. and even those of moderate means. cannot own their homes because of the high prices of good building materials, even If they were able to purchase building sites.
 Economy of construction and stabiii- ty and endurance are the qualities needed. To those accustomed to the cheap wooden houses of the past-and of the present in some sections-a house at twelve hundred dollars doesn't seem cheap. but when we consider that 1t can be built in two weeks. and that if it is made of good concrete and prop erly built 1t will doubtless be as last ing as stone or the best brick struc- lures. it must be admitted that twelve hundred dollars is a remarkably cheap building, if constructed with six rooms and other conveniencss as projected. Tn short. If the promises of MT. Edi- son shall be made good this house. building plan will be far from the least of his additions to human knowl. edge. While cheapness is not always consideration to be desired, if noth. ing else is gained. 1t is quite different when durability goes with it.