New-York tribune., 1921-04-24
By Harlow Lewis
OF Tucker & Leacis

In selecting the materials to be used
Gar the construction of the exterior
a,s,1s of house the architect is
cn;ded largely by two considerations
that Of appearance and that Of cost.
The characteristics Of the materials
which may be used for this purpose,
howeyer. are of interest to the owner.
There are four materials which are
IN common use in the vicinity of New
York for the construction of exterior
walIs-stone, brick, either common or
. face: hollow terra Gotta blocks, which
| are usually faced with stucco. and tim
! ber.
| The use Of cut stone is very rare in
medium priced houses. Rubble stone.
lhoweyer, is frequently used in locali-
I,;es where it is cheap. Where the lot
uron which the house is to be built is
IN rock formation, SO that the cellar
has to be excavated out of solid rock, q
sufficient quantity of stone may be OBJ
tsined to build at least the first story
walls. Under such circumstances q
,ubble stone wall IS cheap, and when
nroperly built looks we'll. The house
With rubble stone walls is apt to be
warmer in winter and cooler in summer
than the frame house. The owner
should remember, however, that the
nature of the material makes it more
difficult to make such wall either
waterproof or damp proof, and extra
precaution should be taken to see that
this is done. The inside surface of a
rubble stone wall should, of course,
always be furred before plastering.
Advantages of Brick Construction
Common brick is rarely left exposed
an the exterior face of a wall Walls
os common brick are usually faced
either with some special selected
brick or with stucco. If faced with
selected brick their main advantage
lies in the fact that once built there is
no cost of upkeep. In this respect they
are Of course, similar to rubble stone
walls. If faced with stucco the facing
will eventually crack and need repair
4 house with brick walls s inches
thick is about as impervious to heat
and cold as a well built frame house.
Brick walls. like stone walls, must be
especially carefully built to make them
weatherproof, and in places where they
are exposed to exceptionally heavy,
driving rains the extra expense of ap-
plying dampproof coating to the in
side face of the walls usually proves
to be good investment. Plastering
Snouiu never Ue dPpAIcu ulTeCtly 10 Jne
inside faces of brick walls, but should
be applied on lath carried by furring
strips. This not only is an additional
precaution against leakage, but is a
safeguard against dampness due to con-
densation.
Hollow terra Gotta blocks are being
used more and more frequently in
dwelling house construction, and make
an excellent wall when properly
handled. They are never left exposed,
but are always covered either with a
coating of stucco or with veneer of
brick. They are somewhat cheaper
than brick walls of the same thickness,
but when faced with stucco are open to
the same objection, namely, that soon
er or later the stucco will crack and
need repairing.
Frame Walls Are Durable
Timber or frame walls are probably
more often used in a moderate priced
dwelling house than any others, the
walls proper being composed of verti-
cal timbers, usually 2x4 or 2x6 in size,
and faced on their exterior surface
with variety of materials, the most
common of which are clapboards,
shingles, stucco and brick veneer.
If other builders would follow the