[Greenbuilding] Circa 1766 (terra cotta) roof shingles

[John Salmen]

He was just moaning about how things used to be built to endure (like in
greek times or the old days of rome). Some drywallers still shove offcuts in
the wall cavities...

 

From: Greenbuilding [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org]
On Behalf Of Alan Abrams
Sent: March-13-13 1:33 PM
To: archilogic at yahoo.ca; Green Building
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Circa 1766 (terra cotta) roof shingles

 

 

I think that I have a vague memory of Mr. Sloane talking about
brick-infilled half-timber structures (perhaps the very same of which Jake
speaks today) and I seem to recall something about the builders using the
brick for infill simply because it was a convenient place to dispose of
their garbage bricks. Wattle & daub would have been the traditional infill
but that'd be more labour-intensive than just chucking junk bricks and
mortar into the space.


Vitruvius describes at length various means of filling the core of masonry
walls.  He notes the failure of monuments with rubble filled cores because
"the mortar lost its strength, which has been sucked out of it by the
porousness of the rubble; and so the monuments are tumbling down and going
to pieces, with their joints loosened by the settling of the material that
bound them together..."

"To avoid such a disaster," Vitruvius prescribes inner wythes of coursed
masonry of "red dimension stone or burnt brick or lava" bound to the facings
with iron clamps and lead.  

"For thus his work, being no mere heap of materials but regularly laid in
courses, will be strong enough to last forever..."

Somewhere in his books he describes how buildings are assessed and insured,
based on the method of wall construction--can't find it now, but you can
look it up if you have time...

AA

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