16.4 Прочитай и письменно переведи текст interior finishes of residential buildings:

Interior finishes and space-division systems define the living spaces within residential buildings with a range of both natural and synthetic materials. The most widely used wall finish is gypsum board, a prefabricated form of traditional wet plaster. Wet gypsum plaster is cast between paper facings to form large panels that are nailed to light timber or metal frameworks. The joints between the panels are filled with a hard-setting resin compound, giving a smooth seamless surface that has considerable fire resistance. Gypsum board forms the substrate to which a number of other materials, including thin wood-veneered plywood and vinyl fabrics, can be applied with adhesives. In wet areas such as kitchens and bathrooms, water-resistant gypsum board is used, sometimes with the addition of adhesive-applied ceramic tile.

Doors in residential buildings are usually of the hollow, core type, with thin veneers of wood glued over a honey-comb paper core and solid wood edge strips: door frames are typically made of machined timber shapes. Plastic laminates bonded to particleboard are extensively used for built-in cabinets and countertops. The most common floor finish is carpeting, most of which is now made of synthetic fibres, displacing the traditional wool and cotton. It can be easily maintained and its soft visual and tactile texture as well as its sound-absorbing qualities make it attractive for residential use. Hardwoods — primarily oak, birch, and maple — are also used for floors, both in the traditional narrow planks nailed to plywood decks and as prefabricated parquet elements which are applied with adhesives. In wet or hard-use areas vinyl-composition tiles or ceramic tiles are used.

16.5 Ответь на вопросы:

1. What do interior finishes define?

2. What is the most widely used wall finish?

3. How is wet gypsum plaster cast?

4. What areas is gypsum board used in?

5. What are the finishes of doors?

6. Where are plastic laminates used?

7. What finishes are used for floors?

16.6 Прочитай и письменно переведи текст plaster slabs:

For partitions and ceilings, plaster slabs are now in general use when work has to be finished quickly. For ceilings they require simply to be nailed to the joists, the joints being made with plaster, and the whole finished with a thin setting coat. In some cases, with fireproof floors, for instance, the slabs are hung up with wire hangers so as to allow a space of several inches between the soffit of the concrete floor and the ceiling. For partitions the slabs frequently have the edges tongued and grooved to form a better connection; often, too, they are holed through vertically, so that, when grouted in with semi-fluid plaster, the whole partition is bound together, as it were, with plaster dowels. Where very great strength is required the work may be reinforced by small iron rods through the slabs. This forms a very strong and rigid partition which is at the same time fire-resisting and of lightweight, and when finished measures only from two to four inches (102 mm) thick.

The slabs may be obtained either with a keyed surface, which requires finishing with a setting coat when the partition or ceiling is in position, or a smooth finished face, which may be papered or painted immediately the joints have been carefully made. Partitions are also formed with one or other of the forms of metal lathing fixed to iron uprights and plastered on both sides. So strong is the result that partitions of this class only two or three inches (76 mm) thick were used for temporary cells for prisoners at Newgate Gaol during the rebuilding of the new sessions house in the Old Bailey in London.