HOLLOW HOUSE-WALLS.
fTo ME EDITOR OP THE SPECTATOR.") fear you have been misled by Mr. Thackeray Turner in Handicrafts and Reconstruction with regard to the
practice of building hollow walls to houses. It is not' an " abominable practice," but a very desirable one. Mr. Turner is evidently not aware of the pores* of brickwork and plaster, or of the ease with which ventilating openings and gratings can be built in the top and bottom of hollow walk although from experience this is not always really necessary. The prac- tice of building hollow walls has extended southwards from the damp and cold districts of the North. In the stone districts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, with no desire to save materials, it has been for generations the practice to build walls of stone facings and brick backing, with an air space of some two to two and a half inches between them. A house so built is cooler in summer and warmer in winter. If any damp gets through the outer facing it penetrates no further than the outer-wall skin, and the inner-wall skin is always dry and warm. An air space is one of the best non-conductors of heat and cold. Speaking with thirty yearn' experience as an expert adviser on housing and engineering construction matters to various municipalities, I do not hesitate to say that Mr. Turner has unreasonably maligned a very desirable method of construe-
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