September 1969

10 PROBLEMS THE BUILDING INDUSTRY MUST FACE UP TO

The latest rise in interest rates can be expected to perpetuate the housing shortage we already have.

ROOM CONCEPTS

Set aside from normal household traffic, the master bedroom suite emphasizes complete privacy and relaxation. Here is a place parents can call their own.

IT'S A BETTER BATHROOM--AND IT'S ABOUT TIME

Few of the recent improvements in plumbing fixtures could be considered radical or startling. They simply provide greater utility and comfort.

A FEW IMPORTANT THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS

The big revolution in building is in the use of non-wood products. As manufactured housing makes greater inroads in the industry, non-wood products, both decorative and structural, will be an ever more important part of the whole picture.

IS A HOME STILL A GOOD INVESTMENT?

Lately, when you pick up the paper, it's not surprising to find a change in the money market-- usually one disappointing to prospective home buyers.

PROPER LAND PLANNING Will We Learn How At Last?

The most difficult decisions facing a community developer revolve around what he must do to turn raw land into a residential area. And this is no small task. Look around your own neighborhood. Did the original planner exercise all available skill and knowledge to make it everything that it could have been? Probably not. Well, where did he go wrong?

THE BUILDING INDUSTRY NEEDS A NEW APPROACH TO PRODUCT DESIGN!

Things are finally starting to happen in product design. Some of them owe their existence to men like Bob Green, design manager for Johns-Manville, the world's largest producer of building products. Green came to J-M five years ago from Armstrong. ...

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE NEW BUILDING IDEAS OF A FEW YEARS BACK?

Ever hear of the Lustron house, the Ingersoll utility core? Remember the all-plastic Monsanto House of Tomorrow which a team of wreckers could barely dent? Or the handsome Alside house which buyers clamored for but could not buy?

PRECUT LUMBER

Imagine your next house-- almost, but not quite, your dream house. The budget won't quite cover the extra bedroom. Or maybe it's a swimming pool you'll have to leave out. Now imagine a house with your "extra" included-- and at no extra cost. This could happen very easily if your next house were built with precut lumber, or in any of several other ways that employ the factory approach to home building.

PANELIZED WALLS

Panelized walls carry precutting one step farther. The pieces are "precut" exactly to size, but instead of being trucked away to the site for assembly, they are preassembled into large sections in the factory. The principle is the same: the more of a house you can build in the factory, the less you have to build at the site. You save time.

UNITIZED CONSTRUCTION

Precutting and panelizing-- major advances in themselves-- are only intermediate steps toward the ultimate in manufactured housing: unitized construction or total manufacturing. Translation: the entire house goes together in the factory and arrives at the site whole. In actual practice, because of highway restrictions, only very small homes leave the factory in one piece; most are shipped in sections called components or modules.

THE NEW TOWN: A PROVING GROUND FOR BOLD NEW IDEAS

What's so new about "New Towns"? Wasn't a big suburban development like Levittown new in its time? Or what about such bedroom communities as Oakbrook, Illinois? Or retirement cities in Florida and the Southwest? The difference: a New Town is totally planned and (at least in theory) a completely self-contained, self-reliant community.

A NEW KIND OF TOTAL HOUSE

It's a new design, planned to be built in a factory using one of the new systems you've read about-- and it represents an entirely new concept for home ownership. A prototype is now slated for a pilot project in the New Town of Jonathan (see page 70). It represents a combined effort by developers and a natural gas company with a research institute and a group of manufacturers assisting.

A NEW APPROACH TO THE EXPANDABLE HOUSE!

Do you have a house that was just right when you bought it, but it seems to be closing in on you now? Join the club. It is true that a family's needs usually grow far beyond its original projections. Rather than contending with a progression of costly moves, wouldn't it be nice to own a house that stayed in step with your family?

THESE HOUSES SET A STYLE STANDARD FOR THE '70s

The 1970s ought to see the best-looking houses this country has ever produced-- especially if Better Homes and Gardens families pitch in to encourage good design. Eighteen houses on these four pages verify the point-- each is the result of skillful "design thinking."

INDIVIDUALITY WILL FLOURISH IN STANDARD HOUSES

Actually, a standard builder's house is still the best value for your money in most localities. But this is where the dilemma starts. What happens to the cost when you want a few changes made? Or, if the builder himself offers variations on a basic model, which of the various choices truly accommodate your family's way of life and which are superficial and silly?

ARE TOWN HOUSES BACK TO STAY?

For most people, the principal appeal of town-house living is that it combines the best advantages of both home ownership and apartment dwelling. Your best guarantee of getting all these advantages is to select a town house which has been designed and built with meticulous care. The "quality range" in today's town houses is just as broad as in single-family dwellings-- and sometimes it's even broader.

SIX MEN WHO SHARE OUR CONCERN ABOUT THE PROBLEMS IN HOUSING TODAY

The enormity of the building problem this country faces is pointed up by the fact that we built fewer houses in the 1960s than during the 1950s. During the past ten years, government has seemed to be more concerned with political aspects of housing, and less with meeting the vital social need.

ARE KITCHENS OLD HAT?

It is old hat to think of kitchens in such dated terms as "work triangle" or "Ushape"-- or to view this room as a stereotype layout of upper-lower storage cabinets, a jumble of major and small appliances-- and the same old laboratory counters hooking it all together.

HOW TO WRAP FOOD FOR YOUR FREEZER

Much of the success you have with your home freezer or freezer section of your refrigerator depends on how you package, wrap, and seal foods. They must be protected against the dry, cold air so they won't develop off-flavors, and lose color, moisture, and nutritive value. To greatly reduce your day-to-day work load, follow these helpful food-storage basics.

BOUQUET IN BLUES

DO YOU MISS ANYTHING UGLY HERE?

Have you ever driven into a new subdivision and thought, "There's something nice about this area, but I can't put my finger on it?" What probably impressed you was nothing special that was there, but something that wasn't-- a skyful of wires and flocks of TV antennas hovering over the houses.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT TRAVEL CLUBS

What is a travel club? It's like many clubs you may already belong to-- Kiwanis, theater clubs, key clubs-- groups of people with common interests. Here, of course, that interest is travel, and the clubs provide their members trip-planning assistance and good travel buys.

LUNCH BOX TIPS

Tacking a lunch-box meal that's ... high in food value and fun eat is a challenge facing my homemakers today. If you're responsible for ... lunches, you'll want to ... these helpful suggestions.

MAKE WAY FOR MORE CARS

The best time to think about parking is when you locate your garage. Then you can add that extra spot any time you wish.

CONDOMINIUMS ARE HERE TO STAY

The Latin roots of "condominium" mean "common ownership," and that's the key to understanding this concept. Today's condominium is a form of cooperative ownership of a residence. Each buyer purchases a proportionate share of the common areas-- land, walls, hallways, and facilities-- and owns outright one particular unit of space. It's like owning your home within the framework of a high-rise, a town house, some cluster houses, or some garden apartments.

A GREAT GARAGE DOES MORE THAN STORE CARS

Planning a new garage? Don't settle for the standard 20x20-foot box. If you add just three feet in width and 13 feet in length, you will gain a handy workshop area plus space for wheeled tools and equipment. In addition, your car doors can be opened wide enough for easy entries and exits while leaving space in front and back of the cars.

GOOD NEWS FOR MEN

Fasten most anything to anything with this electric glue gun. It features a trigger feed control, notched positive-feed cartridges, three controlled heat settings, an on-off switch, and a manually operated open-close nozzle control valve.

WILL YOU PLAN FOR THE FUTURE IN YOUR NEXT HOUSE?

As you plan, prepare for coming family needs and the innovations of tomorrow. If your building budget won't allow the full treatment now, certain provisions for the future can be managed very inexpensively during construction.

HOW YOU CAN WASH AWAY OLD PAINT!

... chemical paint strippers make the homeowner's ... job a snap. It' you're ... to follow the instructions, ... can literally wash three to ... layers of paint-- 25 years' ... off your house. ... scraping, no sanding, just ... it off. Here are a few hints help you do a perfect job the ... time.

SHOPPING EDITOR'S CHOICE

Discover the fun and convenience of shopping by mail! You can order with complete confidence any of the items shown: each company will refund your money if you're not delighted.

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Surveying our place for the big fall cleanup, I realize that one major difference separates Man and the pack rat. Though both of them are great hoarders, no pack rat alive could fill an entire garage in the single summer the job took me.