Solid, Solid as a Rock!

Earlier this year I had the great pleasure of traveling to China with my wife and visiting her parents. It's always fascinating to go to countries so much older than ours and so rich with history; you always learn something new.

Years ago while in Rome I recall noticing the rock walls were held together with what was obviously concrete and commented to my friend that the wall must have been repaired since modern methods of construction were used. That's when I discovered I was an idiot, and concrete was first formulated in that region.

So now all these years later I'm sitting in a home in China admiring the quality of the interior work. The ceiling was very ornate and appeared to have been done by someone with serious woodworking skills. That's when my wife said the word "cement", to which I of course said "what". She said "its cement" and I asked what is cement? She then explained that the whole house is cement, and of course (still being an idiot) I had to say "it's not possible".

Naturally I had to begin the process of poking and knocking on everything in sight, and low and behold, she was right (again). The whole house from top to bottom was solid concrete. All walls (interior and exterior), the ceiling, and even the roof! I'm still baffled by the whole process, and even more baffled as to why in a country where so many homes fall down in hurricanes or burn up by fires hopping from roof to roof, we don't utilize this incredible process. I have noticed that in some States companies are trying to get such a trend started and I'm curious if anyone out there has toured such a home in the U.S.