706 THEORY OF ARCHITECTUIIE. Book II.

time, he proceeds till the whole is completed. The water applied to it has the effect ot
hardening tlie face of the stucco, wliicli, wlien finished, becomes as smooth as glass.
2245. From what has been said, the reader will perceive that mere laying or plastering
on laths, or rendering on walls, is the most common kind of work, and consists of one coat
only ; that adding to this a setting coat, it is brought to a better surface, and is two-coat
woik
;
and that three-coat work undergoes the intermediate process of floating, between
the rendering or pricking up and the setting.
2?45a. This plain plastered surface has received an improvement in a method of
stamping or incising it, while wet, the invention, in 1857, of Mr. Benj. Ferrey, architect.
''
It is well known that the external rough-casting on old timber houses was stamped or
wroiight in small devices, known l)y the term pargettiny
;
but it never assumed the import-
ance of extensive wall decorations. The plan now proposed is to impress the common stucco
with geometrical or other forins, and applied according to taste, either under string courses,
around arches, in spandrils, sofhtes, or in large masses of diapering
;
and texts may be im-
printed on tlie plaster instead of I.eing simply painted on the walls. If colour be desired,
it can be ell'ected by mixing the desired colour with the coat forming the groundwork, tliea
by laying the stencilled pattern against it, and filhng in the solid portions of tlie device
with the ordinary stucco or ))laster." The process does not pretend to do more than
enliven wall surfaces, but for this purpose it is very eflfective. Whippingham Church, in
the Isle of Wight, is decorated in this manner, with devices in different colours.
2246. Ceilings are stt in two different ways; the best work is where the setting coat is
composed of plaster and lime putty, commonly called gauge
atuff {2237 },
Common ceilings
are formed with plaster without hair, as in the finishing coat lor walls set for paper. The
deflection of^'jth of an inch for each foot in length is not injurious to ciilings; indeed, the
usual allowance for settlement is about twice that (juantity. Ceilings have been found to
settle about four times as much without causing cracks, and have been raised back again
without injury. (Barlow,
p. 179.)
2246a. In Dulilin, the designations in plasterers' work are different to those we have
named above. Work to ceilings is described as
"
Lath scratched, floated, and coated
,
while to walls it is described as
"
scr.itclied, floated, and coated
"
S/iiiiunlng, to plasterers
woik, is a very thin coat of white (i.e. lime) put on float work to snioothe.i it, and to leave
a clean face
;
coated is the term (or jjetler work of the same character.
22466. Hitcliin's
fireproof
plaster appeared about 1877
;
it is valued for its simplicity,
economy, and facility in working. The fihrous slab plastering is always dry and ready
for fixing. The slabs on a wire base protect ceilings, walls, and woodwork from lire.
Casings on wire base protect iron aa.J wood girder-, columns and such like. I'ugging
slabs are used for prevention of sound. Wilkinson and Co's fibrous pkuter slab-' are
intended for lining walls and ceilings, and for fixing under slating; also to partitions and
under floor-boards for deadening si.und.
2246c. Johnson's patent rolled
fireproof
wire lathing is now occasionally used as a substi-
tute for wood laths. It is a foundation for fire-resisting planter. His woven wire n ml iron
fireproof
partition wait is intended to supersede the ordinary stud and brick partitions, and
is applicable to roofs. Mttal laths, of tli'n sheet iron, by E<lwards's patent, are for use in
fire-resisting ceilings, partitions, and doors. Wirework, in ])lace of luthhig, for foriuing
ceilings and other plaster surfaces, jjatenied in 1841 by I^. Leconte, had been previously
adopted in the building of the Pantechnicon, near Bel;;rave Sijuare.
2246d. Nickson and Waddingliam have patented a slate groundfur
plaster, by using, in-
stead of laths, those slates which do nut turn out in the quarries sufficiently wide for sized
roofing slates ; an immense number of them being necessarily thrown aside daily, although
of the best quality. The slates are fixed
j
in. apart ; the piaster to be
^
in. thick, of well
haired stuff, which keys itself between the slates; they run from 12 to 7 in. long and
upwards. The system was worked about 1 862 at Manchester
2247. Pugging is plaster laid on boards, fitted in between the joists of a floor to prevent
the passage of sound between two stories, and is executed with a coarse stuff made of lime
and hay chopped into lengths of about 2 inches. Silicate cotton or slag wool, nailed in slabs
to the underside of the joists of a floor, or against the studs of a partition, acts as a non-
conductor of heat or cold
;
it is also fireproof, sound-proof, vermin-proof, and frost-prootl
One ton of it, one inch thick, covers 1,800 square feet. This material is now greatly
used; also for protecting exposed iron work. Asbestos millboard is another material
greatly employed for lining partitions, to deaden sound passing through ; as well as for
iireproof purposes.
2248. The following materials are required for 100 yards of render set; viz. 1^
hun-
dred of lime, 1 double load of river sand, and 4 bushels of hair
; for the labour, 1 plasterer
3 days, 1 labourer 3 days, 1 boy 3 days ; and upon this, 20 per cent, profit is usually
allowed. For ISO yards of lath plaster and set 1 load of laths, 10,000 nails,
2^
hundred
of lime, 1^
double load of river sand, 7 bushels of liair; for the labour, 1 plasterer