Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1916 — Economy In Fireproof Qualities. [ARTICLE]

Economy In Fireproof Qualities.

While fireproof qualities and permanence of materials are Items apparently increasing the cost of the new house, the home-builder will find in the end that economy lies in these qualities; and applying the old adage of the chain, hlsJiouse will be as lasting as its weakest part. Hence the ratio between the life of different materials should bo consid- - ered and permanence in the walls of a building should be duplicated in its foundations and roof. As for instance: a house of brick to be consistently permanent, requires concrete or stone foundation, and a slate roof. The depreciation of a housa of this type is said to be about 1 per cent a year, reckoning its life to be 100 years. But the permanency of materials is not restricted to brick alone, and that frame houses can be constructed to last 100 years, though not immune of course from the accident of fire, is typified in the numerous frame houses of historical interest standing in a state of' good preservation throughout the country. Among these are the old Cushing house at Higham, Mass., built in the early part of the eighteenth century; the Wadsworth house in Cambridge, built in 1728, and the Fairbanks house in Dedham, probably the oldest house in America, built about 1636. White pine was used extensively in these houses, which fact is testimony to the lasting qualities of that wood.