Please describe the method of building houses with concrete walls. What should be used to make the concrete, and in what proportions? Will common lime answer, or must Portland cement or water lime be used? The former comes high here.
Wm. M. Fisk.
Answer.—For the foundation, especially in sandy or wet soils, it is best to use water lime, or a mixture of Portland cement or water lime and quick lime in the proportions of two shovelfuls of the former and one of quick lime putty to fourteen of fine gravel (or fine and coarse mixed) and one of coarse sand. Above the ground or embankment use quick lime in the proportions of one shovelful of lime putty to six or eight of gravel sand. The proportions depend on the strength of the lime, which varies according to the quality of the stone from which it is made. Slake the quick lime into putty ready for use, mix it partially with the gravel, and only add the water lime at the last moment before filling the barrow or hod. For the foundation dig a ditch of the proper size and dump the concrete into it. Cover it and give it a couple of days to set and harden before starting the upper walls. Take fence boards for mold boards; make clamps of three-quarter inch strips, tapering from two inches to one and one-half inches, so as to drive out of the wall easily before the concrete is hard; bore a half-inch hole in each and two inches further apart than the thickness of the wall, and make half-inch pegs four inches long for these holes. Set one tier of these molds on top of the foundation all around, resting on clamps at distances of five to six feet, and with as many clamps on upper edge to gauge the molds. Now shovel or dump in the fresh concrete as fast as you can mix it. If the weather is fine you can set a second tier of molds on top of the first, twenty-four hours, or even eight hours, after the first were filled, and fill in at the same rate as before, provided you leave the first molds undisturbed. As soon as the second tier is filled, draw the pegs from the taper ends of the lowest tier of clamps and drive them out. Remove the lower set of mold boards and begin a third tier at once. Leave the holes left by clamps, for the air to circulate through. A foot wall for first story and ten-inch above that, with eight-inch for partitions, will make a good strong building. The outside should have a coat of plaster made of medium fine sand, mixed with equal portions of quick lime and water lime; and this plaster should be marked out, before it becomes fully hardened, into blocks, to resemble stonework. As concrete houses, like brick ones, are apt to be damp if plastered directly on the walls, it is best to run in small blocks or strips sixteen inches from center to center, on top of every third or fourth course, before filling the molds with concrete, keep these flush with the inside of walls. Nail inch strips to these blocks to serve for scantling, and lath and plaster over this “furring,” as it is called, and you will have dry walls. Have window and door frames ready to build in as you go; securing them by blocks nailed to jambs, around which pack the concrete to hold them firm. Level up the course of concrete when you reach the height for the first joists, and lay an inch board four inches wide on concrete to rest joists on. Have ends of joists that enter wall cut beveling, so that in case the inside of building burns the joists will drop without prying the walls down. Set joists, leveling them carefully, and go on building wall as before. A concrete house built in this way is as substantial as brick.
LAS VEGAS HOT SPRINGS.
Batavia, Iowa.
Are the hot springs of Las Vegas, N. M., beneficial in cases of chronic rheumatism? How far are they from Chicago, and what is the route to them? Also, kindly state the fare.
E. C.
Answer.—The Las Vegas hot springs are reputed to be highly beneficial in cases of chronic and inflammatory rheumatism; particularly in the latter. They are situated on the New Mexico line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, 770 miles from Kansas City, which makes them 1,259 miles from Chicago, via the Chicago and Alton. The regular fare from Chicago to Kansas City is $14.90; from Kansas City or Atchison to Las Vegas and return it is $42.80. It is claimed also that these springs are of great benefit to patients suffering with blood-poisons, paralysis, dyspepsia, and nervous diseases. In the mountain streams the fishing is good, and game is plenty in neighboring localities. From this point to Santa Fe, sixty-five miles, the railroad runs through one of the most interesting portions of this continent, historically considered; a region filled with the wonderful ruins of the old Aztec civilization, the birthplace of the Montezumas.