Vitruvius - 10 books of archtecture

[charlie-ia]

http://www.bostonleadershipbuilders.com/vitruvius/book01.htm

not too heavy going, though i havent read it all!

 

[Nemesis]

Well I think you should, and post us a summary of the important elements of the text.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Well I think you should, and post us a summary of the important elements of the text.

Here's a good bit for starters (actually the whole book is quite brilliant):

Chapter Five

Lime

1. Sand and its sources having been thus treated, next with regard to lime we must be careful that it is burned from a stone which, whether soft or hard, is in any case white. Lime made of close-grained stone of the harder sort will be good in structural parts; lime of porous stone, in stucco. After slaking it, mix your mortar, if using pitsand, in the proportions of three parts of sand to one of lime; if using river or sea-sand, mix two parts of sand with one of lime. These will be the right proportions for the composition of the mixture. Further, in using river or sea-sand, the addition of a third part composed of burnt brick, pounded up and sifted, will make your mortar of a better composition to use.

 

[Nemesis]

See - pozzolan...

Carry on.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

See - pozzolan...

Carry on.

well, that's in the next chapter, actually:

Chapter Six

Pozzalana

1. There is also a kind of powder which from natural causes produces astonishing results. It is found in the neighbourhood of Baiae and in the country belonging to the towns round about Mt. Vesuvius. This substance, when mixed with lime and rubble, not only lends strength to buildings of other kinds, but even when piers of it are constructed in the sea, they set hard under water. The reason for this seems to be that the soil on the slopes of the mountains in these neighbourhoods is hot and full of hot springs. This would not be so unless the mountains had beneath them huge fires of burning sulphur or alum or asphalt. So the fire and the heat of the flames, coming up hot from far within through the fissures, make the soil there light, and the tufa found there is spongy and free from moisture. Hence, when the three substances, all formed on a similar principle by the force of fire, are mixed together, the water suddenly taken in makes them cohere, and the moisture quickly hardens them so that they set into a mass which neither the waves nor the force of the water can dissolve.

A few chapters on he advocates the use of iron cramps to hold masonry together and it really goes downhill when starts on about the benefits of PVC-u windows :wink:

 

[Nemesis]

We use boiler ash. Maybe we should market it.

But the brick dust must have acted as a pozzolan as well as the volcanic ash.

Sad about the placcy windows though. Bet there's a chapter on chemical damproofing too.

 

[charlie-ia]

not found that yet, but a good bit on cavity walls, and how to tune your siege weapons.

youre not too idle to read it yourself nemesis?

 

[Nemesis]

Too busy.

Public inquiry to sort stuff out for.

(Yes I am aware of it...)

 

[charlie-ia]

sorry, was teasing. whatever else you do, i think us novices keep you busy enough. (thankyou)
I must be making progress though, Id never heard of the poor chap 6 months ago. just look what ive been missing!

 

[Nemesis]

Now if you want to know all about the history of cold storage...

There again, maybe not.

 

[charlie-ia]

maybe. dont know untill i try