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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1976)
for petri idredtt'oJr Texas A&M University , iuate students spent the sum- . t e . r on a quest that may save " ll1 ‘ erican homeowners some rns ®" 8,000,000 per year, in Wortti K four, working out of A&M’s orld^iartment of geology, took a ;-up truck, a car, and a mobile •weverito travel 15,000 miles in 12 to armies studying expanding clay soils >vill tn'm cause $2.3 billion dollars of ^e bft’mge annually. HutdiS icto This is twice that due to the total ensiontly loss from earthquakes, hur- ges, tornadoes and floods,” said Agnciltv advisor Dr. Christopher Jrvict hewson who periodically joined theaMteani s expedition, ravel pB as its fliis survey, conducted with the >y an p of many cooperative citizens rof. \ flocal government officials, may is p; lit in the ability to successfully ■t damage and provide ways to ■nically minimize it,” he ex- ' told Jt. j, " Ha study soil expansion THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1976 The project, financed by the Na tional Science Foundation, took Mark Dobson of Houston, Joe Wat son of Hammond, La., Larry Dyke of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Brian Powers of Beeville to four cities in diverse parts of Texas. San Antonio, Amarillo, Beaumont and Waco were the test sites where we inspected 458 homes and took over 800 core samples to do basic engineering tests on the soil,” said graduate student Larry Dyke. “These tests allow for classification of the soil and allow us to determine the shrink-well potential.” All this had to be correlated with the dates the home foundations were put down, building permits is sued, along with maps, plats and other essential information that would have been impossible with out the cooperation of all the city councils,” he said. The difficulties occur because the soil under the center of the founda tion is protected from rapid changes in moisture caused by the weather,” Dyke said. “Wetting will cause ex pansion that will tend to lift the edges of the house. Similarly, dry ing will cause contraction, allowing the edges to sag.” The foundation and walls will crack because they were not de signed to withstand these uneven loadings,” Dyke explained. “Sam pling soil near already damaged homes will allow a determination of soil swelling properties to be made.” Correlating these properties, along with the age and shape of the house, topography, vegetation, cli mate and others, to the damage we measured in the foundations and outside walls may provide an an swer to our questions,” he said. To give some idea of the forces exerted, these soils can apply pres sure up to 30,000 pounds per square foot,” Dyke added. “This is equiva lent to an ocean depth of 500 feet. ” Many city and professional en gineers, along with real estate pro fessionals, were extremely helpful in locating these damaged sites,” Dr. Mathewson said. “If you think about it, we were almost asking them to expose their dirty laundry. They had to release their misery and problems in order for us to get the data to predict risks in the fu ture.” The team managed to comlete 10 per cent of the tests on the soil sam ples in the field by utilizing the facilities of the mobile laboratory. It comes equipped with water and electricity which allowed them to carry out the soil classification and simple earth materials tests. The lab also had drafting tables and desks to handle map and paper work. Everything worked and stayed within budget,” Dr. Mathewson said. “I guess what is really unusual is that nothing went wrong. Our great impression of the project was the sincere interest and candor with which we were received and aided by the townspeople where we worked.” waitiiJ o use t| eat pump is efficient system C s costs for oil, gas and electricity JTq tinue to rise, more Texans are " ling to a device which has been l und for 40 years — the heat em v ue Young, research associate i the Texas Real Estate Research ^iter (TRERC) at Texas A&M ■rsity, explained that a heat Univi 88 does more than just heat, the heat pump is both a heating 3rsof®oling system, she said. “It rieet ives its name from the fact that Ten principal function is to move fle, i b either into or out of a home or xas / ding. lost important, heat pumps use electricity more efficiently and eco nomically, Young said, noting that energy studies show the heat pump operates twice as efficiently as con ventional electric resistance heat ing. A recent comparison showed that the heat pump system used 47 per cent of the kilowatt hour re quired by conventional heating in Dallas and only 43 per cent of the kilowatt hour required in Houston. “The heat pump is like a conven tional air conditioner, except it works in reverse,” Young said. "During cold weather, it extracts hot air from the outside and pumps the natural heat inside. This can be done even when the temperature is below freezing. ” On warm days, heat is removed from the indoor air and a heat- transfer fluid carries it to the out door unit where it is expelled. "The heat pump is a heater and air conditioner all in one,” added the research associate. “All the owner has to do is set the thermo stat. The heat pump automatically switches direction of the air flow in order to keep the desired tempera ture level. The heating is even, there is no sudden influx of air and the unit produces no fumes, smoke or soot.” Young said the initial cost of a heat pump is from $300 to $600. Al though this is more than typical electric furnaces or straight resis tance heating, it is less expensive to operate and the added cost is usu ally recaptured in less than five years, she said. “The heat pump is particularly suited to Texas,” she said. “Homeowners in colder climates benefit less from the efficiency of the heat pump because they must resort to supplemental heat. This is not required in most areas of Texas.” Young stressed that while the ef ficiency of the electric heat pump is a prime feature of the device, local utility rates determine the actual cost of operation. If gas rates rise, the heat pump is less expensive. On the other hand, if electricity goes up, the operating costs of the pump rise. “Homeowners are becoming in creasingly concerned about utility bills,” Young said. “It has been pre dicted the price of gas will rise even more rapidly than electricity in the future. While electricity rates have been tied closely to gas prices, this is likely to change as more lignite- and nuclear-powered generators* replace gas-fired plants.” “Furthermore,” she concluded, “it has been predicted that in the near future, the heat pump will cap ture up to half the market. ” TEES gets center Construction has begun on an of fice and classroom building at the Texas Engineering Extension Serv ice’s West Texas Regional Training Center. Groundbreaking ceremonies for the $100,000 facility were held Wednesday bi Floydada. “The construction of this building is an important step in our efforts to better serve the people of West Texas. We feel that this is just the beginning of a long and successful relationship between this area and the Texas Engineering Extension Service,” said Bradley. An estimated 200 persons per week will be trained at the new cen ter, scheduled for completion in early December. APARTMENT PLACEMENT SERVICE 3200 South College 823-7506 Reserve your apartment now for the Summer or Fall Semester before the prices increase. We Will Show You a Wide Selection of Apartments in the B-CS Area. OUR SERVICES FREE TO YOU Cyrthia Jensen 779-2047 Murray Sebesta 693-8950 Jenny Pitts 846-1924 J. Glenn - Broker SAVE A PIECE OF HISTORY TEXAS A&M OFFICIAL CENTENNIAL MEDALLION A unique collectors item entirely hand cast in solid bronze by the master foundrymen of OmaMetal Castings. 20 separate hand operations go into the creation of each bronze medallion. This remarkable hand crafting gives each medallion a distinctive character of its own with no two exactly (dike. Each is a unique work of art. LIMITED - NUMBERED EDITION On December 31st the pattern will be destroyed and the official Texas A&M Centennial Medallion will never be offered again. To further insure the exclusiveness of this edition each medallion has a serial number hand stamped' in the background. This is a once in a lifetime gift, that will last a life time. A piece of history for as little as $9.95. Texas A&M Centennial Medallions are available in a wide variety of mountings at Advanced Business Equipment, Aggieland Flower and Gift Shop, News Office Supply, TAMU Bookstore, in the Memorial Student Center, University Bookstore, at Northgate, OmaMetal Casting,TFest By-Pass at Carson. RAflf RV POPULAR DEMAND BANK VAULT BINGO ALL NEW GAME! ALL NEW PRIZES! WIN UP TO *1,000 ALL GAME PIECES PRODUCED FOR OUR "BANK VAULT BINGO" PROGRAM NO. 475 HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED AND THAT PROGRAM HAS OFFICIALLY TERMINATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH F.T.C HEGUALATIONS. ALL PRIZE WINNING GAME PIECES FOR PROGRAM NO. 475 MUST BE PRESENTED FOR PAYMENT BY AUGUST 17. 1976. AND NONE WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR PAYMENf AFTER THAT DATE. COPYRIGHT 1976 C. W. JEFFERY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED POPSICLES FRUIT DRINKS 46 0Z.^ CAN W M QUART PEPSI COLA GALLON CLOROX HEAVY LB BEEF BONELESS CHUCK ROAST^ e 98' q RO U Nl D BEEF A rr. R .°.^■ !?.”. | y i .°, f ?^ lbs. ^98* CROWN ROAST RIB CHOPS SILVER LABEL BUDGET BEEFCALF SILVER LABEL BUDGET BEEF FAMILY PACK CALF SWEET GENUINE PECOS CANTALOUPES 2700 S. TEXAS AVE. COLLEGE STATION Page 7