Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-21
TILE OR CONCRETE?
CAPT. SEWELL REPLIES TO NIB.
FITZPATRICK's ANSWER.
Weight Small Factor in Good Build
ing; Cost More I'M
portant
To the Editor CT The Evening Star:

1t seems hardly worth while to answer
at any length Mr.. Fitzpatrick's letter pub
lished in your issue of Friday evening. 1t
is a futile thing to handy contrary opinions
on technical subjects in the daily press.
However, the writer would like to say a
few things
1t might be possible to make cinder con-
crete that is a poorer fire resister than
wood but 1t would be very hard. One
would have to put himself to considerable
and put them together in the worst possible
way.
The main trouble with concrete c5nstruc-
lions that have been unsatisfactory in the
past has been that the building departments
have not yet framed regulations specifying
how they shall be designed The principles
underlying the design of reinforced concrete
and the quality of the materials used are
sufficiently we'll understood now for the
building departments to issue definite regu-
lations upon the subject AS soon as they
do. disastrous collapses of reinforced con-
crete floors will be at an end. If reckless
builders were left equally free with the use
of steel and hollow tiles, we should have
just as many catastrophes in those ma
terials as there have been in reinforced
concrete. AS a matter of fact, great
many of the collapses that have occurred
can be explained on perfectly reasonable
grounds, and had steel and tile floors been
subjected to equivalent tests they would
have failed also. In the writer's opinion
this Is notably true in the case of the floor
that failed under test at Trenton a few
days ago. The writer knows of no case on
record where a steel and hollow tile floor
has been so severely tested over so large an
area this concrete floor. His opinion Is
that any steel am. hollow tile construction
tested over so large an area and with so
severe a load might be expected to fail even
more disastrously than did the concrete
floor in question.
The Printing Office Floors.
The. writer did not use reinforced con-
crete for the bulk of the floor work at the
government printing office, nor did he use
hollow tiles. The form of construction used
was, in his opinion, better than either. AS
a matter of fact. however. there was about
$4,000 worth of reinforced concrete Of
varying spans put into this building, out
not a single hollow tile. Please under
stand the writer Is not disposed to con-
denim hollow tile in its proper place: 1t Is
exceedingly useful and is a very good form
of freproofing especially for moderate
priced work. He does claim, however that
cinder concrete, gravel concrete, concrete
made of broken bricks and concrete made
of broken stone can all be properly design
ed and reinforced so as to be just as safe
as steel and tile under both load and fire.
They will probably. some of them, oe a
little heavier. but will cost less. Weight
is a small objection in the majority Of
cases Cost is more important.
There is a considerable difference of opin-
ION as to the amount of inspection required
to secure good concrete work. Mr. Fitz-
patrick evidently is among those who think
it is more difficult to inspect than tile
work. The writer after doing great deal
of both kinds of work, both by days labor
and by contract, is decidedly of the opDn-
site opinion. 1t is merely a question os
proper organization and methods and con-
crete will take care of itself and produce
a good result in spite of ignorance and
yiciousness on the part of workmen.
A Prediction.
Finally, the writer will venture the pre-
diction that concrete will ultimately win
the victory even for long spans, not be-
cause it is better, but because it will ulti-
mately furnish the same strength and fire
protection for less money than steel and
hollow tile.
In conclusion the writer would like to
renew the statement of his opinion that
any of the reinforced concrece floor con-
structicns in apartment houses here in
Washington which have endured the tests
to which they are inevitably subjected in
the completion of the building are much
better than wood; most of then probably
just as good even as very good hollow tiles
The people who live in these apartment
houses need not lose any sleep over Mr..
Fitzpa tricks characterization Of them as
fire traps The building inspector prob
ably has more accurate information con-
corning the qualities of cinder concrete
than has Mr.. Fitzpatrick; ut least, one
would so infer from reading the two
articles written by the two men.
JOHN STEPHEN oEyyELI.,
CAPTAIN. Corps of E,n2inaarS