Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2023 with funding from Columbia University Libraries https ://archive.org/details/bishopricstuccoo00mast BISHOPRIC STUCCO -OR PL el BOARD Built On the Wisdom of Ages q A modern combination of materials and principles — that ages of actual use have proven the most efficient in building construction The Mastic Wall Board & Roofing Co. Cincinnati, Ohio HE DOVETAILED LATH j STUCCO-OR PLASTER NO METAL TO RUST AND BREAK AWAY FROM ITS FASTENINGS NOTE—How the Stucco-Cement or Plaster is Locked in by the Dovetail Lath. NOTE—The Heavy Coating of Asphalt Mastic—non- porous; non-conductor of heat or cold. Dampness cannot penetrate a perfect ‘‘Sound-Deadener”’. Two Part One Beginning with page fowr— the composition and construction of Bishopric Stucco Board — its advantages, economy — how applied to old buildings as well as new —its superiority over other back- grounds for Stucco, Cement or Plaster, and our Guarantee. Part Two Beginning with page eleven — “Objections” to Bishopric Stucco Board anticipated and answered in detail. Part Three Beginning with page savteen — directions for applying Bishopric Stucco or Plaster Board, comparative facts and figures on costs, speci- fications for Stucco, and how window and door frames should be made to make watertight jobs. Part Four Beginning with page twenty — report of tests of Bishopric Stucco Board made by H. W. T. Collins, Mech. Engr., of the University of Cincinnati. Part Five Beginning with page twenty-siw — reproductions from photographs of buildings constructed with Bishopric Stucco Board, and testi- monials from owners and builders. Part Six Beginning with page seven—takes up in detail the weight, and style of package. Part Seven Beginning with page forty-siv—takes up in detail the construction, uses and merits of Bishopric Sheathing. Three By Way of Introduction ITH economists, the world over, ringing the changes in discussion on the vital 24 question of the high cost of living, the yy building world has witnessed the cheer- ful spectacle of building costs chopped right in two. Bishopric Stucco or Plaster Board has revolutionized old-time building methods and made possible the saving of 25% of old-time building costs. Modern homes can be finished in plaster, cement or stucco for just 25% less the old contract price for the work before the Bishopric idea came to lighten the burden of building and increase the value of the work. Bishopric Stucco Board is not an experiment. It is nothing more than a modern, patented combina- tion of materials and principles that have been in constant and successful use by master builders for ages. Bishopric Stucco Board itself has stood the practical test of use for years and it has always “stood up” and always made | i good — giving permanence to }BiRb 4 plaster and cement walls that will not disintegrate and pre- vents cracking, making most 23% effective insulation. vuvoe Four A Secret of the Pyramids The dovetail locked joint in Bishopric Stucco Board holds the ? stucco “for keeps,” and in the Pyramids and many buildings of the ancients which have defied time, the same unequaled plan of dove- tailing is found. The lath used in this Stucco Board are thoroughly treated with creosote, or furnished plain without creosote treatment —the preservative adopted by wisest corporations in insuring the greatest possible life of lumber, railroad ties, telegraph poles, etc. By the very same token and for the very same reason, nothing ever dedicated to modern building needs will hold its own in comparison with Bishopric Stucco Board as a material that will withstand the severest weather conditions. Bishopric Stucco Board is proof against moisture and vermin. Asphalt, successfully adapted by the an- =~ cient Egyptians to preserve their mummies, is now used in the form of toughened Asphalt Mastic between the lath and the fibreboard backing. It is this combination of centuries- old, time-tested, efficiency-proven materials and principles, “Built on the Wisdom of Ages,” that make Bishopric Stucco or Plaster Board absolutely reliable and dependable. Saves 25% | on Building Material Choose the Bishopric System of Building and: you will save at least 25% in cost of building materials, because it makes un- necessary the use of lumber and building paper, saves cement and gives you absolute protection against all future troubles so common to ordinary plaster or stucco work. Many of the best known archi- tects, engineers and builders—men who KNOW, and are recognized experts in their line—agree that Bishopric Stucco Board, is the zdeal Five background for stucco, cement or plaster. They specify it and use it in the modest cottage, the artistic bungalow, the pretentious apart- ment building and the modern factory. It is also popularly adapted for inside walls as a background for plaster. Bishopric Stucco or Plaster Board means much in better work for less money and enables you to BUILD ONCE AND FOR ALL, giving work that is put there to STAY. Old Houses Changed to New Scores of house owners have taken their old frame buildings and quickly and at very low cost transformed them into modern, up-to-the minute structures. The plan is an appealing one. It is sim- ple, easy and very little money 1s re- quired. All that is necessary is to nail Bishopric Stucco or Plaster Board over weather boarding, or other finish, and apply Stucco. In this way you can, without the aid of Aladdin’s Lamp, enjoy the greatest satisfaction and get rid of con- tinuous painting and repairs. Things YOU Should Know Here are some MIGHTY GOOD THINGS TO KNOW. This should be called a platform of Bishopric performance. You can bank on every statement, and more than that, every square foot of Bishopric Stucco Board is sold under our absolute guarantee or money back if not as represented. Laths are so keyed that they LOCK the plaster in, on and up forever. Plaster, stucco, cement, concrete, simply cannot loosen, and Sia fall out. The material is “locked in” for keeps. The thick layer of Asphalt Mastic in which the laths are imbedded under great pressure, is wind, weather and vermin proof and fire- resisting. Back of the asphalt is the groundwork for the wonderful, in- genious construction—an extra heavy layer of fibre board which affords further protection against weather and other conditions. Easy to Get Easy to Apply Bishopric Stucco Board comes in 25-foot lengths, four feet wide, suitable for studding at standard centers. All you have to do is to nail Bishopric Stucco Board to bare studding and the walls are ready to cement. Plaster or stucco. One man can do a “master job” and put on Stucco Board faster than cement plasterers can follow. Hand-saw, hammer and nails are all you need to apply it. You save the big difference in cost of labor. There is no waste of either material or time. Every foot of Bishopric Stucco Board is utilized. You do not have to pay for window and door spaces. These little “rake-offs” of old-time methods are cut off and saved to you. When you order 1,000 square feet of Bishopric Stucco Board you can cover 1,000 square feet of wall. Bishopric Stucco or Plaster Board creosoted, weighs 1,000 lbs. to 1,000 sq. ft. Bishopric Stucco or Plaster not creosoted, weighs 900 lbs. to 1,000 sq. ft. Bishopric Stucco Board is ship- ped in rolls containing one sheet STYLE OF SHIPPING PACKAGE. 25 ft. long, 4 ft. wide (100 sq. ft.) Seven The Superiority of Bishopric Stucco Board Bishopric Stucco or Plaster Board will take and hold ANY OUTER material. It is far superior to cement blocks, so hard to dry and pro- ductive of a damp, unhealthy atmosphere within the house. And here’s a big saving point to remember: A very thin con- crete wall over Bishopric Stucco Board keeps the house warm in winter and cool in summer. The Passing of Metal Laths Bishopric Stucco Board far outranks in practicability metal laths, which rust, break and are the cause of so much cracking in some stucco or cement houses. For those who know, from the big expense and unsatisfactory service, the days of metal laths are over and they have gone into the discard with other things which have been surpassed by later and better inventions. It is absolutely impossible—as many building ex- perts testify—to secure a good stucco job with a light, flimsy background, such as metal lath. Wood Lath makes a rigid back- ground, hence it can not sag. The “key” in Bishopric Lath holds cement and plaster as nothing else can. There are no good reasons why metal lath should have the preference over Bishopric Stucco Board, which stays stiff and grips the cement as nothing else can, forming a permanently solid back- Hight ground. There is absolutely no “cost of upkeep” as in old-style backgrounds which sag, spring and crack, costing a lot of money for repairs as time goes on. Costly Handicaps of Metal Lath Metal lath, for example, means big repair bills. This is a leat from the Book of Experience. They rust, break, pull loose and crack the walls. Very little of the flimsy background is really nailed fast to its supports. Occasional nails or staples are all that hold the cement walls to the studding. Once broken by the weight of the walls and these loose metal backgrounds sag under the strain. Cracks follow quickly. Once cracking starts it travels fast and far. One never knows where it will end. The expense for repairs is con- siderable. Good judgment would choose a permanent background like Bishopric Stucco Board rather than one liable to suffer from the ravages of rust. Easy-to-Understand Finance Nine You don’t have to be a Master of High Finance to figure out this saving problem. The first cost of metal lath is greater than that of Bishopric Stucco Board. To get rigid walls you must use one- third to one-half more cement, if you choose metal lath. In other words, if you want to double the cost of your stucco work and get unsatisfactory results, use metal lath; but if a first-class, permanent stucco job is what you want at 25% less cost, be certain that you use nothing but Bishopric Stucco Board. There is absolutely no metal in Bishopric Stucco or Plaster Board, hence, it can not rust. Its lath are nailed to the studding and have 1,000% more holding power than metal lath as commonly applied for stucco work. Bishopric Stucco Board Advantages Handling “Objectors” with the Gloves of Truth. Bishopric Stucco or Plaster Board has made such tremendous inroads upon old-time methods of building that echoes of the “Hammer Chorus” of the “By-Gones” and the “Passing-Ons”’ have been heard in the building world. In the face of insidious and invidious comparisons, the Bishopric idea continues to meet with cheerful, emphatic indorsement from the brains of the building pro- fession—the architects who stake their own reputation upon Bish- opric Stucco Board as a material that has been tried and not found wanting. Assaults from the metal lath makers are to be expected. They are fighting a losing fight with all the argument against them. President Allison Bishopric of The Mastic Wall Board and Roofing Company, has harvested a crop of the insinuations of the “antis” and offers a broadside which has silenced the batteries of those who have unsuccessfully tried to block the wheels of progress of an institution which has backed its own faith with great works which has made it possible for thousands to build and build well at just 25% of the old cost, while hewing closely to the successful build- ing experience of mankind all through the ages. You may find in these fourteen articles convincing evidence in rebuttal, an answer to any “objection” you may have heard. A Few ‘“‘Objections’’ Anticipated 1. “Heat Expansion Will Buckle It” The fact is that it is proof against this condition which metal lath is not. Wood will shrink, not expand, under heat. If it shrinks, no harm is done, for the shrinkage is infinitestimal and will not lessen the hold of the dove-tail on the clinch. Each shrinkage will be on the separate individual lath and will not affect the sheet. The lath, of course, will not be affected lengthwise. The asphalt and card backing is sufficiently elastic to take up all expansion by the thickening of the backing. The cement coating will expand about half an inch to fifty feet and an increase or decrease of one ten-thousandth of an inch in thickness of the backing will account for that amount of expansion. Thus, the backing being elastic, will overcome all expansion easily. These figures cover a variation in temperature ranging from six below to one hundred and thirty degrees above zero. 2. “Dampness Will Expand the Wooden Strips and Crack the Stucco” Hleven The lath strips are made of a resinous wood, which resists moisture, and if there is any actual expansion as well as a theoretical one, it is not greater than the movement of the cement mixture in its chemical action when the mixture is properly made and applied. There is positively no greater tendency to crack when setting than on metal lath, and actual experience shows that there is none whatever on the stucco when used on stucco board, if the work is properly done. It should be remembered that a richer mixture than three to one is too rich for preparation of waterproofing compounds, and the surface will have a tendency to crack. A leaner mixture than three to one has too much sand for proper filling of the tiny spaces with cement and compounds, and is not sufficiently strong for permanency. The cement mixture cannot properly perform its chemical readjustments in dry and windy weather before it will set, unless the surface is sprayed; if this is done there will be no cracks of any kind and if the stucco is waterproofed in its first and second coats there can be no expansion of the lath strips and no after-cracking. At 802 Parker Street, Newark, N. J., the stucco, after setting and months of drying, was kept reeking wet for about three weeks to test this point, and the result was that there was not a single weakness of any kind developed. Ordinary weather would never give it such a severe test as this. This building was waterproofed with two pounds hydrotite to each one hundred pounds of cement on about three- fourths of the building, and with a seven to ten per cent of hydrate of lime for the balance as a water proofer. Actual tests showed one hundred per cent of satisfactory results in each case. The third and fourth coats (both dash) were one to one mixture with no waterproofing On this job there was a saving of forty-five per cent of material as compared with a wire-cloth job at 74 Hillside Avenue, Orange, N. J., done by the same mason a few weeks before. Cracks have developed in the latter job, but not in the former. No dampness from leaky windows and leaky gutters can reach the lath strips, as they are protected with an absolutely waterproof sheet of asphalt mastic. 3. “The Weight of the Stucco Will Tear Off the Lath” No, it will NOT, if the lath are properly nailed, a nail being used to each lath at every point where it crosses a stud, or four nails to each lath where used over sheathing. A house recently stuccoed on wire-cloth in Maplewood, N. J., has recently had the sad experience of having the stucco fall, due to too few staples being used, and rarely are more than one staple used to each square foot. With four nails in each lath strip, this stucco board will last for generations. Stucco weighs from ten to fifteen pounds per surface foot, and it should be supported with the nailing obtained in Stucco Board, not the few scattering staples generally used. Then, again, for a nail to break it must be a clean shearing process, as it must break between the lath and stud where there is no space, while the staple usually holds the lath somewhat extended from its bearings. 4. “The Lath Strips Will Dry Rot” Some say this who have seen stucco houses have their sheathing and frames rot away in a few years. As the asphalt mastic will prevent dampness reaching the frames, no dampness can get at the lath strips from inside, and if the stucco is waterproofed as above, no dampness can strike it from without. Moreover, imbedded between the asphalt mastic and the cement, completely shut away from the air, there can be no air action and consequently no rot. In the everglades of Florida, are logs lying in the water that have been there for centuries ; remove them and expose them to the air and they will rot as other wood. Houses are painted to keep away the air. Boards properly painted on both sides have been known to last for centuries. Enterprising farmers have for years imbedded their fence posts in waterproof concrete footing to make them permanent. These lath strips imbedded between the asphalt and cement will outlive the house itself. The metal lath of the cheaper grades will rust to powder in from three to five years, and the better grades in comparatively shorter periods. In some of the seashore towns owners have used common lath recently in the hope of getting away from metal lath troubles. 5. “The Building Rocking In the Wind Will Tear the Backing Board” This is distinctly untrue. A settlement of three sixty-fourths of an inch will crack the walls seriously if the settlement occurs during a period of twenty-four hours. Storms rarely crack the walls of a house, except real tornadoes. This shows that rocking is really vibration, as otherwise the walls would equal a central settlement of three sixty-fourths of an inch, and that is only about one one-hundred- and-twenty-eighth of an inch to a four-foot piece of wall board. The wall board is sufficiently elastic to accommodate a motion of one thirty-second of an inch at each edge or a total of one-sixteenth of an inch; hence, it is four times safe. Another view is that the wall board is more elastic than plastering and as plastering stands ordinary storms the wall boards will still better stand them. Twelve 6G. “The Clinch Will Break Off” Oliver Wendell Holmes in his “Wonderful One Hoss Chaise,” that ran a hundred years to a day, had every point just as strong as another; there was no weak point. If you use good material and put it on thick enough the outside wall will be strong enough; then if there is a weakness, it will be that the clinch is not wide enough, for the dovetail groove will not allow the stucco to get away, the nails will not allow the wooden strips to get away, the waterproofing will not allow the strips to rot, the mastic will protect from the inside, the liberal nailing will not allow the weight of the stucco to give any trouble, and thus the only weak- ness can be cured by making the clinch wide enough. When plastering is broken away it is the clinch that fails. Look at an old plastered wall being torn down, and see the clinch stay between the lath after the plastering has fallen, and it will be clear to you that the weakness was the clinch not being wide enough. It could not be on the ordinary lath, because the pressure of the trowel would have pushed all the mortar through the wall if the lathe had been wide enough apart. On the stucco board there is a mastic background, and the mortar will not pass through, thus the space can be made any amount desired, and the board is supplied with wide openings, which is as strong as the strongest other parts. ~