I read Ruth Ferreira's (Letters. March 6) solution to mouldy houses. Keep the windows open. As when she was a child the house she lived in she claimed would be a mouldy house in today's view.
I had the privilege of helping my grandfather, a builder, in school holidays in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Wellington, the capital of damp houses in that era.
One day we were replacing the rotten boards of a house in Island Bay and after we had ripped the weatherboards off, he said to me "Do you see how all the horizontal frames are narrower than the vertical frames and how the bottom is not filled in?"
He went on to say "that before the war, houses were built to let any water that got in find an easy way out without soaking into the inside walls." He also said, "that when radiata pine became the standard after the war, timber mills stopped making a narrower horizontal 2 x 4 and what happens with those houses is water gets in and can't find an easy way out, so it soaks into the inside pinex or gib-board walls and grows mould".
Since the mid-40s, our houses have been built to keep water out rather than let water find its own way out.
What I noticed in Wellington was that houses built before World War II were drier and smelled fresher than those built after the war.
And in Wellington, it is too cold and windy to leave windows open for long.
Warren Portsmouth
Rotorua
Kuggelijn debate
It was refreshing to read Anthony Lipanovic'sview (Letters, February 26) taking issue with Lizzy Marvelly's emotional opinion on New Zealand Cricket.
An American contrast to this was Martha Stewart who was guilty of securities fraud and obstruction of justice. After serving a prison term she was in some high profile television series that were supported by advertisers, viewers and media bosses. By comparison, Scott Kuggelijn was found not guilty and has not sought media attention, yet Marvelly seems to think he should be treated as if he had been convicted, and criticises his employer for continuing to employ him.
To paraphrase one of Marvelly's statements, being presented with a media platform to present your views to a wide audience should be a privilege and that privilege should require a higher standard of journalism. (Abridged)
D A McPherson
Rotorua
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