K.y Plans for Pfywood Adaptations of NHF Houses

As their contribution to the current joint industry-government effort to better housing conditions on farms and in villages, plywood manufacturers have issued key plans to their adaptations of each of the eight basic designs prepared by the National Homes Foundation.

While the floor plans drawn by NHF architects were available to individuals or lumber dealers who rvrite to Douglas Fir Plyrvood Association at Tacoma, Wash. prepared to embody modern principles of house construction with emphasis on the important needs of rural and small town dwellers, the plywood versions are offered to show what the finished houses can be like r,vhen that material is used.

The campaign to bolster rural re-housing activities, undertaken this spring after a year's preparation by building material manufacturers and government agencies, now is under full steam. The National Homes Foundation, representing the manufacturers, has issued a booklet embodying floor plans of the eight designs with half of the houses for farmers and half for village residents.

At the same time the United States fnformation Service is distributing trvo folders as part of the program. One folder is a "Housing Road Map" telling how governmental agencies can help farmers and others to obtain a new home or modernize present buildings. The second folder lists services offered by bureaus concerned witlr better housing.

Here is a list of the eight basic floor plans of the NHF houses with brief facts offered by plyrvood manufacturers about the adaptations drawn for construction with the big panels.

Dining Room Optioncrl. Here is the plpvood vereioa of c soulhern lqrm houge ol live rooms lrom the basic Nclioncl Homea Foundcrtion design, The dining room is eo situcted thct it ccn be uged lor q third bedroom iI degired. Plywood eiding is cpplied verticclly wiih vee joinla ct pcnel edges cffording c surcrt ellect. The structure leqlures c low-pitch rool lor horizontcl lineg.

These condensed specifications give floor plans, elevations and details for constructing walls of plywood. They show drawings of proper joint treatments, tell the thicknesses of plywood to use and list procedures for painting, papering and staining interior .rvalls of plywood and for painting outside surfaces.

There is a lZ-page key plan for the plywood version of each of the four different southern and four northern houses offered by the National Homes Foundation to show rural and town residents what constitute convenient. livable homes. These abbreviated specifications do NOT represent working dra'rvings; complete specifications and material lists for the NHF houses are obtained through lumber dealers.

The leaflets embodying the plywood adaptations are

Dit Beyiasiili Grots Girculation Kilns

l. 2J7o to 5O/o more capacity due to solid edge-to-edge stacking.

2. Bcttcr qualiry drying on low tcmpcraturcs with a fasr rcvcrribic circulation.

3. Lowct sracking costs-just solid edge-to.edge stacking in the simplest form.

Farm }Iouses. Plan F-l. four rooms, one story; Plywood version is ranch-house style with a big front porch, siding is lapped to give horizontal lines. Plan F-2, five rooms, one story. A lorv pitch roof, overhanging eaves and modern rvindows identify the plyrvood adaptation.

Plan F-3, six rooms, story-and-a-half : The plyr,vood house from this design has three dormers in front; at back, the roof is kept above the rvindow height. Plan

F-4, seven rooms, two stories (largest in group) : Suggested plywood construction would include gambrel roof to increase usable space on the second floor. The architecture is Dutch colonial with lower floor windows spaced to accentuate the entrance.

Village Houses. Plan V-l, four rooms, one floor: With shingled exterior, the plywood adaptation is New England in appearance. Fir plywood is, of course, included for sheathing and interior walls. Bedrooms are at the back. Plan Y-2, six rooms, two stories: The basic plan includes one bedroom and bath downstairs. Plywood version has mansard roof to bring an outsanding house for its size.

Plan V-3, five rooms, two floors: "Compact but large in appearance," describes the floor plan. Plywood conception is strikingly modern and makes full use of structural value of the panels. A garage faces the street with sundeck on its roof. Plan V-4, two floors, six rooms: From the almost square basic plan, the plywood adaptation makes for a house distinct and dignified. Wide panels are applied hodzontally. Garage exterior has perpendicular panels with joints accentuated by a vee at panel edges.

Western Buifding Activity

Far Western building activity, as measured by building permits received from 97 Pacific Coast cities in June maintained a level substantially higher than that for June, 1940, according to the Western Monthly Building Survey prepared by H. R. Baker & Co.

Aggregate permits issued by these 97 cities in June, 1941, were valued at $38,945,231 as compared with $29,M7,467 for June, I94O, a gain of 347o, although fractionally lower than the $39,571,549 reported for the same cities for May, 1941.

fncreases over both May,1941, and June, 194O, were recorded in California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon.

Permits received from the twenty-five leading cities in the Pacific Coast area totaled $32,131 ,376 in June, 1941, as compared with $31,936,877 in the preceding month and $ZZ,852,489 in June, 1940.

Los Angeles continued in the first place with $9,307,365 for June, as compared with $8,611,734 and 95,561,098 respectively for May, 1941, and June, 194O. San Francisco was in second place, with a permit total of $3,479,068, as against $2,000,913 and $2,008,770 lor the trvo earlier months. Eight other cities, San Diego, Seattle, Denver, Oakland, Portland, Burbank, Sacramento and Long Beach, issued permits in excess of a million dollars.

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