The Washington times., 1920-07-03
SAY CONCRETE WILL
REDUCE HOME COST
New York Contractor Urges Use
of Concrete to Replace More
Costly Building Materials.

with a building experience start
ing back in 1891 and comprising the
building OF every type Of house
frame. stucco. brick, and stone-I be-
lieve that now, more than ever be-
fore, Is the time for builders and
contractors to specialize in concrete
houses" says +. +. Wilson. con-
tractor OF Rockville Center. l.. l.
Five years ago / realized that the
| concrete house most nearly meant
hre-proof. permanent low cost con-
struction. At that time low in cost
meant low in final cost, because con-
crete houses were higher in first cost
and 1t was necessary for the owner to
occupy his house for several years to
appreciate that 1t was costing him
practically nothing to maint ain. There
| were no costly repaintings. no re-
placements or repairs, insurance
costs were low or absent entirely.
To-day the concrete house is not
only low in final cost. but is low In
! first cost. Today to build OF concrete
means a very little greater outlay
than for frame or brick. The past
five years have seen great advances
| in the practical methods of concret e
| house construction. Today we have a
number OF excellent and ingenious
mold systems whereby steel molds
may be used over and over again
on hundreds OF houses. We have
small inexpensive mixers, hoists and
other equipments not thought of for
the house builders a few years ago.
All this means low cost and early
completion of the work.
| "But aside from these important
considerations the comparatively low
4, cost OF concrete construction today is
due to conditions in the labor and
material market. Lumber and brick
are extremely high priced and hard to
get, and the same Is true Of skilled
labor necessary for building brick or
frame walls.
/ "1n concrete construction, however,
practically all the labor except fore
men is unskilled. fairly easy to OBJ
tain, comparatively cheap and easily
replaced. The bulk of materials
sand and stone or pebbles-can usual
| ly be secured near at hand and at low
| cost. No delays are necessary in
waiting for materials.
"In some of my concrete houses the
! exterior walls are eight inches thick
from footing to roof, the interior
walls being OF concrete, varying in
thickness two inches in some closet
partitions to six inches. The floors
are REINFORCED concrete slabs six
inches thick. covered with hard
wood flooring nailed to two by
| two sleepers resting on the slabs.
"Even the stairways are OF con-
crete. with hardwood treads to match
flooring The window frames are the
| regular frames as used in brick walls,
! set in the forms and the concrete
poured around them. On the inside the
! rough casing was removed and thin
hardwood casing put in it's place.
"The concrete Is proportioned 1924
and the walls REINFORCED with half
inch diameter round steel rods placed
in the center Of the wall and spaced
twenty-four inches apart, both hori-
zontally and vertically. over all win
dow and door openings extra bars are
placed at IS degrees, so that no cracks
| can occur at the corners of the open
ings. The walls are finished with a
thin coat of Atlas white cement float
ed to a sand finish. Vines. shrubs
and flowers are the only ornaments
tion needed. The only painting re-
euired is for the window and door
trim, which needs going over say
once in two or three years at cost
not to exceed $50. Compare this with
a $3.50 painting cost for frame con
struction. That is a point which ap-
peals to every prospective house
owner.
The floor slabs, six inches in thick
ness, are REINFORCED with half-inch
round steet rods spaced nine inches
apart the short way and twenty-four
inches apart the long way Of the slab,
This floor slab forms such solid
foundation for the wood floor that 1t
Is simply impossible to hear anyone
walking on the floor overhead
welcome innovation for those accus
toned to the ordinary wood floor. The
roof Is of frame construction covered
with fire resistive roof covering
asbestos shingles.
1 have found that steel forms are
the best and cheapest in the end.
| AN important item in concrete
residence construction Is fixing on a
simple and inexpensive means OF
hoisting the concrete forms, etc. The
system must be easily moved and set
up, as II will be used for only n short
time on each job. with the proper
| equipment and an organized force q
story can be poured in one day. The
floor is then formed and pourd In the
same manner-the wall forms taken
off below and rest on wall lines of the
next story.
"For mixing and placing the con
| crete Il use SIX men IN all-one tore-
man and Ave unskilled laborers. Two
men feed and run the mixer, which Ia
Of the one-bag variety; one man runs
the hoist and two men are occupied
| In deposIting and spading the con.
crete. To sum up, the concrete house
provides a real home from the owner
one of beauty, satisfaction, economy
and low cost. With the owner real
izinR this II means more and more
new business for the contractor
building such houses"