Evening star., 1937-09-18
BY DOROTHY DUCAS AND
ELIZABETH GORDON.

v YHAT DO you suppose would
n I happen to your living room
" " door il it we're slammed
$4,000 times with all the
force OF a half-ton slamming machine,
then thrown into deep vat Of water
to soak for seven days? There prob
ably vohld be little left Of 1t. unless
II happened to be OF modern construc-
ton. designed to take abuse to the nth
degree
There are doors upon which this
test Is made willingly and proudly
by the manufacturers themselves, so
co vinced are they that their doors
ran take it, And these doors. sur
prisingly enough, are the type known
~ flush"
Now ''fiush" doors. made with one
smooth expanse OF wood surface on
either face. rather than IN panels
Of various sizes. have always been
the more expensive sort of doors
But the people who make the slam
ma BILE. soakable door OF which we
write have discovered a way to con-
struct flush doors at cost COM
parable TO the panel type They
do II using a frame of white pine
around q core of insulating board
Insulating board does not expand
and contract. as any wood will. In
fact, the core and frame construction
has only one-sixth as much cross
grained wood in it as the usual door
Wood expands 10 times as much
across the grain a. with the grain.
Once the outer surface OF birch.
Or any special-order wood YOU want
is applied, the inner grid becomes
completely sealed against dirt. mois-
ture and vermin. The outside. Also
has less tendency to swell or shrink.
because 1t has only a very thin
veneer OF wood. The thinner the
exposed surface. the less energy it
exerts. causing twisting and wsrping.
To be absolutely impervious to mois-
ture, however, the makers of this
nush door suggest the use OF special
composition for the exposed surfaces.
Made OF two Inert ma teIials. asbestos
nbers and cement. they have practi-
cslly no tendency 10 warp or buckle.
Even when saturated with water. this
material will expand only three-sixty-
fourths OF an inch in SO inches The
special composition is non -co,obust-
ible as we'll
The doors surfaced with special
composition come factory primed with
an aluminium undercoat, an ideal base
for paint. lacquer OF enamel. SO YOU
automatically can eliminate the sppli-
cation OF one coat OF paint
Flush doors, either painted or An
ished in natural wood. are very beauti-
1ui, either in period design or straight
Forward modern. They are especially
attractive In contrast TO walls papered
with busy patterns and. of course
they are The only thing in rooms where
one wants TO preserve the simplicity
OF wood veneered walls.
Iney cost. with wood faces. about
the same as panel doors in the same
woods. and one man can fit. hang
and apply the hardware at the rate
of one an hour, because of the lieht
weight and the pine edges which
make for easy hitting. With composi-
hon faces. the cost is slightly higher
snd the installation takes somewhat
longer
want 10 see them9 Wen tell Won
where you can. II you write and ask
us.
ET after that old devil rust before
he destroys parts OF your house
vnere YOU might most FREQUENTLY
forget 10 look for him We refer. of
course. to the metal parts on the
OUTSIDE. cutters. downspouts. nashinQs
We have found a product made
~ pure asphalt. graphite and long
boerec asbestos which comes in form
easily applied by the home owner to
CUTTERS and so forth with a small
sized roofing brush. The application
~sterproofs the surface for three or
-four years. so II you take a Saturday
afternoon on In the near future and
give some attention 10 these usuallv
overlooked parts OF your house you will
nave reason 10 congratulate yourself
Tor some time TO come.
Gel into your oldest clothes and
ehmo up and have a look at the