The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

First Aid For The Ailing Houses

A new development is that of applying laminated plastic sheets to walls of the home. This plastic is available in many different wood grains, random patterns, plain colors, and special effects. The sheets are only about 1/16 inch thick, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long. They are applied with special-contact bond adhesive (see section on Adhesives).

Another exceedingly interesting effect is quality plastic wall tile. These are durable, washable, and are available in more than 400 colors—a color selection which permits a wide range of decorating color schemes and designs.

Quality plastic wall tile is easy to install, and requires no particular skill. One great advantage is that there will be no worry about cracks developing as a result of settling of the house.

Still another splendid development is striated plastic wall paneling. It is available in strips 1 foot wide, 8 feet long, easily applied with mastic, and made in a wide variety of colors and color combinations. It is easy to cut to any desired length, and specially made trims are available for inside corners, outside corners and ceiling edges The colors will not fade, because they go "clear through," instead of being merely a surface finish. Walls covered with this paneling are as easy to clean as china.

SOUNDPROOFING A ROOM

Sound passing through a ceiling or a wall can be checked by lining the ceiling with stiff insulating sheers set on 1-inch furring strips nailed to the plaster, and also by blowing rock wool into the spaces between the ceiling and the floor above. These treatments can be applied also to walls.

Sound can pass from one part of a building to another by the framework. When the structure of the building is favorable to this, there is no complete remedy.

A basement room is particularly likely to be noisy because of the reflection of sound waves by the hard surfaces of ceiling and walls. To check this, walls and ceiling can be covered with materials on the market that absorb sound waves. These can be had in large sheets or smaller blocks to be attached to the surfaces by nailing or with cement. Thick fabric hangings will have the same efFect. This treatment, in absorbing sound waves created within a room, will prevent their passage; in applying it to a playroom, a music room, or other, in any part of a house, disturbance to outside will be prevented. Sound-absorbent (acoustical) tile is available for ceilings, as are many other types of soundproofing materials used so widely in radio and TV studios.