Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Bréquigny, Louis Georges Oudard Feudrix de" to "Bulgaria" / Volume 4, Part 3

by Various

Stone and brick, the principal materials in general construction, keep their places in combination by means of gravity. They may Stone. be merely packed together, but in general they are compacted by means of mortar or cement, so that although the main constituent materials are wholly incompressible, masses of either, or of both, combined in structures are compressible, until the setting medium has indurated to a like condition of hardness. That kind of stone is best fitted for the purposes of general construction which is least absorbent of moisture, and at the same time free to work. Absorbent stone exposed to the weather rapidly disintegrates, and for the most part non-absorbent stone is so hard that it cannot always be used with a due regard to economy. When, therefore, suitable stone of both qualities can be obtained, the harder stone can be exposed to the weather, or to the action which the softer stone cannot resist, and made to form the main body of the structure of the latter so protected. The hard and the soft should be made to bear alike, and should therefore be coursed and bonded together by the mason's art, whether the work be of stone wrought into blocks and gauged to thickness, or of rough dressed or otherwise unshaped rubble compacted with mortar.

Good bricks are less absorbent of moisture than any stone of the same degree of hardness, and are better non-conductors Bricks. of heat than stone. As the basis of a stable structure, brickwork is more to be relied upon than stone in the form of rubble, when the constituents bear the relation to one another last above referred to, the setting material being the same in both; because the brick by its shaped form seats itself truly, and produces by bonding a more perfectly combined mass, whilst the imperfectly shaped and variously sized stone as dressed rubble can neither bed nor bond truly, the inequalities of the form having to be compensated for with mortar, and the irregularity of size of the main constituent accounted for by the introduction of larger and smaller stones. The most perfect stability is to be obtained, nevertheless, from truly wrought and accurately seated and bonded blocks of stone, mortar being used to no greater extent than may be necessary to exclude wind and water and prevent the disintegrating action of these agents upon even the most durable stone. When water alone is to be dealt with, and especially when it is liable to act with force, mortar is necessary for securing to every block in the structure its own full weight, and the aid of every other collateral and superimposed stone, in order to resist the loosening effect which water in powerful action is bound to produce.

In the application of construction to any particular object, the nature of the object will naturally affect the character of Particular objects of construction. the constructions and the materials of which they are to be formed. Every piece of construction should be complete in itself, and independent as such of everything beyond it. A door or a gate serves its purpose by an application wholly foreign to itself, but it is a good and effective, or a bad and ineffective, piece of construction, independently of the posts to which it may be hung, whilst the wheel of a wheelbarrow, comprising felloes, spokes and axletree, is a piece of construction complete in itself, and independent as such of everything beyond it. An arch of masonry, however large it may be, is not necessarily a piece of construction complete in itself, for it would fall to pieces without abutments. Thus a bridge consisting of a series of arches, however extensive, may be but one piece of construction, no arch being complete in itself without the collateral arches in the series to serve as its abutments, and the whole series being dependent thereby upon

the ultimate abutments of the bridge, without which the structure would not stand. This illustration is not intended to apply to the older bridges with widely distended masses, which render each pier sufficient to abut the arches springing from it, but tend, in providing for a way over the river, to choke up the way by the river itself, or to compel the river either to throw down the structure or else to destroy its own banks.

Some soils are liable to change in form, expanding and contracting under meteorological influences; such are clays which Foundations. swell when wetted and shrink when dried. Concrete foundations are commonly interposed upon such soils to protect the building from derangement from this cause; or walls of the cheaper material, concrete, instead of the more expensive brick or stone structure, are brought up from a level sufficiently below the ordinary surface of the ground. When concrete is used to obviate the tendency of the soil to yield to pressure, expanse or extent of base is required, and the concrete being widely spread should therefore be deep or thick as a layer, only with reference to its own power of transmitting to the ground the weight of the wall to be built upon it, without breaking across or being crushed. But when concrete is used as a substitute for a wall, in carrying a wall down to a low level, it is in fact a wall in itself, wide only in proportion to its comparative weakness in the absence of manipulated bond in its construction, and encased by the soil within which it is placed. When a concrete wall is used in place of brick the London Building Act requires an extra thickness of one-third; on the question of reinforced concrete no regulations as to thickness have at present been made.

The foundation of a building of ordinary weight is for the most part sufficiently provided for by applying what are technically Footings to walls. termed "footings" to the walls. The reason for a footing is, that the wall obtains thereby a bearing upon a breadth of ground so much greater than its own width or thickness above the footing as to compensate for the difference between the power of resisting pressure of the wall, and of the ground or ultimate foundation upon which the wall is to rest. It will be clear from this that if a building is to be erected upon rock as hard as the main constituent of the walls theoretically no expanded footings will be necessary; if upon chalk, upon strong or upon weak gravel, upon sand or upon clay, the footing must be expanded with reference to the power of resistance of the structure to be used as a foundation; whilst in or upon made ground or other loose and badly combined or imperfectly resisting soil, a solid platform bearing evenly over the ground, and wide enough not to sink into it, becomes necessary under the constructed footing. For this purpose the easiest, the most familiar, and for most purposes the most effectual and durable is a layer of concrete.

The English government, when it has legislated upon building matters, has generally confined itself to making provision that the enclosing walls of buildings should be formed of incombustible materials. In provisions regarding the least thicknesses of such walls, these were generally determined with reference to the height and length of the building.

In the general and usual practice of developing land at the present day, the owner or freeholder of the land first consults an Procedure for an intended building. architect and states his intentions of building, the size of what he requires, what it is to be used for, if for trade how many hands he intends to employ, and the sub-buildings and departments, &c., that will be wanted. The architect gathers as much information as he can as to his client's requirements, and from this information prepares his sketches. This first step is usually done with rough sketches or outlines only, and when approved by the client as regards the planning and situation of rooms, &c., the architect prepares the plans, elevations, and sections on the lines of the approved rough sketches; at the same time he strictly observes the building acts, and makes every portion of the building comply with these acts as regards the thickness of walls, open spaces, light and air, distances from surrounding property, frontage lines, and a host of other points too numerous to mention, as far as he can interpret the meaning of the enactments. (The London and New York Building Acts are very extensive, with numerous amendments made as occasion requires.) An architect, whilst preparing the working drawings from the rough approved sketches, and endeavouring to conform with the Building Act requirements, often finds after consultation with the district surveyor, or the London County Council, or other local authorities, that the plans have to be altered; and when so altered the client may disapprove of them, and thus delay often occurs in settling them.

Another important point is that after the architect has obtained the consent of the building authorities, and also the approval of the client, then he may have to fight the adjoining owners with regard to ancient lights, or air space, or party walls. In the city of London these last difficulties often mean the suspension of the work for a long time, and a great loss to the client.

If the site is a large one, or the nature of the soil uncertain, trial holes should be sunk directly the sketch plans are approved. (See Foundations.)