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First.—That a strong frame of red
pine, matai, or black birch should be
erected with posts ten inch by ten inch,
passing through the centre of the build-
ing, having short girders to carry the first
floor, tenoned into them, and their ends
tenoned to receive a beam, on which the
collars of the rafters could be notched.
The ground plate should be eleven inch
by seven inch, and bands of iron two and
a half inch by half inch, fixed four
feet apart, and nine inches from the
studs, and extending all round the
building; thus, for a building seventeen
feet high it would take five of these horizon-
tal bands, at the same time vertical bars of
two and a half inch by half inch iron, should
be fixed, having five-eighth of an inch bolts
passing through them at their intersec-
tions with the horizontal bands. These
bolts would also pass through every third
stud, and be screwed up with nuts and
washers from the inside; a casing of 9in.
brickwork might then be built outside the
wooden frame, at the same time inserting
and nailing pieces of zinc, 6in. wide, on
the edge outside each stud, which would
prevent contact between the timbers and
the brickwork, thereby preserving the former
from decay. The outside might be ce-
mented, and consequently the ironwork
would be hidden from view.
The top plates may be strengthened
by diagonal iron ties, and the first floor
by timber ones, let in flush with the
upper edge of the joists.
When a new wing or part of a build-
ing is to be added to an old erection, it
ought to be as strongly connected with
it, as though it had originally been one
building: the want of this precau-
tion may be seen in more than one place.
Plastering externally has generally failed,
and has received general condemna-
tion. Internal plastering has been found
to stand, except where the frame-work
has given from deficient bracing or
shrinking; if the side or end framing of
a house but move half an inch from the
position in which it was fixed when plas-
tered, the keys become injured or broken.
The same result is produced in external
plastering, and also by the plaster being
soaked by heavy rains, which causes the
laths to swell and break the key, at the
same time rotting the laths and timbers.
If a building is constructed of strong and
seasoned timber, well braced and exter-
nally boarded with inch boards, and then
battened with Totara battens, lathed with
Totara laths, and plastered with good
stone lime, in the autumn; winter, or
spring, and then in the summer painted
four coats in oil, and every summer after-
terwards two coats in oil—plastering will
have been fairly tried; and if it do not
stand after this, let it be abandoned.
Mr. Clifford in the wing he built some
four years ago to a great extent complied
with those conditions, and neither the
weather or earthquake has injured the
plastering or cornice internally or exter-
nally.
To plaster a building externally with-
out painting it, is money thrown away.
The upper surface of all external plas-
ter cornices, should be covered with
lead, wood, (totara) or slate, in such
way as to form the upper covering mem-
ber of the ordinary cornice moulding,
(cyma recta) so that in case of shrink-
ing or swelling of the wood, the cornice
will not be forced away at its upper part;
if slate is the covering, it may be worked
in cement with the uppermost member.
The bracing of a building is one of
its most important details: braces let
into studs the general size, 4 x 1½ ins.,
are not recommended, solid braces are
much superior to these, as can be easily
proved, for in 6 in. framing the brace
would measure about 6 x 4in. A sec-
tion of this represents an area of 24 in.,
but a let-in-brace of 4 x 1½ ins., gives a
sectional area of 6 in. only, it is; therefore
four times weaker than a solid brace is.
The defect in a solid brace is, that by
cutting the studs in two, the building is
weakened laterally, to a certain extent this
is correct; but the main use of a brace is
to hold a building in its place in a direc-
tion parallel with the line of itself, if in a shake
a building is inclined at an angle of 22
degrees, the braces have then to retain
the building in its proper form, but for
these braces the building would be dis-
located in all its parts, or it would assume
the form of a rhombus, as Mr.
Watkin’s old shop did.
To make a let-in-brace as strong as a
solid one, and avoid weakening a
building laterally, the following is recom-
mended: the studs should be 7 in. wide,
and the braces 8 x 1½ ins. let in flush,
one on each side of the framing, and op-
posite each other, these two braces form-
ing a double brace, and measuring each
8 x 1½ ins., together represent a sec-
tional area of 24 inches, being thereby
the strength of a solid brace 6 x 4 ins.,
and leaving 4 ins. in width, in the cen-
tre of each stud. In shop fronts it is