Building
Philosophy
The Apple Corps Guide to the Well-Built House by Jim
Locke; Houghton-Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass.; 267 pages;
$9.95, paperback.
At other times I found Locke to be
literally in error and even
maddeningly unsupportive of his own
convictions. For instance, he
describes concrete as "porous," when
if properly mixed and cured, the stuff
is almost watertight. He faults
"construction films" (e.g., Tyvek) for
being "heavy" when a 10-foot roll can
easily be carried with one hand. And
what does he mean when he says
extruded polystyrene insulating board
costs "$600 per square inch of
thickness?"
Locke says the Apple Corps uses
crossbridging between joists to
"increase the solidity of the
structure"—seeming unaware that
tests have shown that bridging or
blocking contribute little