Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar71910newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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May, 1910 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 203 the final s^Yeep glosses over the surface and closes only the tops of the fissures. We have pretty well saturated our building with mois- ture by this time in spite of the building paper. The wood- work will swell and later shrink. The sun will open the little hieiden fissures, moisture will travel in; later it may freeze and we have a damaged wall. It would be well to wait a year and let most of this inevitable cracking and set- tling take place. The cracks can then be cut out and filled with cement and a final finishing coat applied. There is only one cement finish that really withstands the weather. That is the old-fashioned splash dash coat. The materials are pure cement, preferably a white or non-staining variety, mixed with water to form a paste, and stirred into this, clean small grit or pebbles the size of buck- wheat. This is splashed onto the wall with a blunt paddle and left as it falls. If a spot Is left bare here and there by a slide, it can be covered later. Cement without sand has no capillarv voids. Water will not travel from the wet to the thing that a trained plasterer has in mind is the appearance of the surface, and tons of cement and many dollars' worth of wages are being wasted by his misguided efforts. This narrows the cement building to apparently one fin- ish and does not offer an alluring variety that aims to please every taste. This may not be a vital matter, because the beauty and variety of cement surfaces are in its simple masses and proportions, in its value as a contrast to foliage and flowers and in its play of lights and shadows from over- hanging trees. The soffits of overhanging eaves may be painted in the most brilliant colors, yet by reason of intercepting rafters be only evident to the eye by the reflected lights on the wall below. The reflections from a brick pavement or red tiled bal- cony floor will tinge a whole wall. It seems hardly worth while to worry over much about the ultimate texture of a building or even over fine points in its color so long as it is a natural color and thoroughly characteristic of a good ma-
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Fig. 9—Tlie windows and doors of the living-room are built on a line with each other dry spaces and leave a stain. Such trifling incidents as the workmen stopping to shift the scaffold or for luncheon are not commemorated everlastingly by unsightly streaks and stains on the wall. Pure cement when it dries is checked with minute hair cracks. The pebbles tend to prevent this, but as the cracks are merely superficial, a coat of cement wash put on with a brush will fill them. This slap dash method has been used for centuries in England and Scotland on masonry buildings. It will shed water and stand hard usage. It will stick to glass or brick or glazed tile. It is the only practical application for solid concrete walls. No mechanical key is required. When it lands on a surface it drives out the air film and is held by suction until it sets. It is the only kind of cement stucco that is really essential and you will observe that the plasterer with his trowel plays no part in its application. It is better tc» keep the plasterer entirely away from any outdoor job and employ a good stone mason to do the work. The only terial. Time will then bring it into the scheme of things. The illustration (Fig. 14) of the garage, by Charles A. Piatt, Architect, shows in the basement of the dwelling one solution of a very modern problem. The dignified entrance gate frames a vista of gable end and distance. We cannot seriously find fault if the owner prefers an entrance for his motor in the foreground to a bed of hardy perennials. The cellar wall of this building is of solid concrete. The hint of the forms or board marks still showing on the wall are not unpleasant to the eye. The surfaces are picked with a chisel or brush hammer instead of being plas- tered. When a concrete wall is well made there is no better method of finishing the surface than that of brush hammer- ing or picking with a sharp-pointed chisel. A ^-ariety of color tones may be obtained by the selection of the stone used in the mixing of the concrete. The tool removes the surface mortar and reveals the color of the freshly broken stone. The illustrations shown in Fig. 8 of a house built for Mr.

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