Seven Reason To Prefer Stone

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And—while other homeowners may lose time, money, and sleep fighting termites, rodents, and wet or dry rot—you can sit behind your near—impenetrable stone walls and relax . . . even decades after your neighbors have lost their battles with the relentless gnawers, borers, and decomposers that attack wooden dwellings.

REASON NUMBER FOUR

Stone is attractive and maintenance-free. Natural stone comes in so many shapes, sizes, colors, and textures that the final appearance of a rock house is limited only by the builder's imagination, daring, and methodical effort. While our house was constructed rather simply to save time, money, and labor . . . we've seen veritable castles of colorful stonework all over the country.

Another great advantage of "rock living" is that—once your stone house is complete—you can totally forget further maintenance: There'll be no need to repaint, no expensive siding to install, no weather—warped boards to repair, no woodpecker holes . . . just the same beautiful, colorful stone year after year.

REASON NUMBER FIVE

Stone can be a superior insulator. With the ongoing energy crunch, a lot of folk might object to dense stone because it's not considered a good insulative material. But—at least in moderate climates—rock walls will actually help keep you comfortable . . . as they slowly heat during the day, then radiate warmth through much of a cool evening. The nightchilled walls will also cool the structure's interior well into the following day.

In extreme heat or cold, of course, it pays to have some form of additional insulation, but such weatherproofing would be needed in a house built of most any other wall material, as well. And, if you carefully seal all cracks around doors and windows, you can bet no wayward draft will penetrate that foot—thick mass of stone and concrete!

REASON NUMBER SIX

Stone is conventionally acceptable...While there are relatively few stone houses around, their long and successful history assures them a general respectability, which—unfortunately—is not as readily given to more offbeat forms of shelter. We'd be among the last folks to advocate being conventional in your selection of a home just to avoid a little bigoted criticism, but there are some definite personal, practical, and economic benefits to social acceptance . . . including the ease with which you're likely to get local code clearance to build your house in the first place!

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