Item of Interest July 23, 1932 Issue

Item of Interest

A beehive of activity presents itself to the observer on Norway Street opposite The Mother Church edifice, now that the concrete of the roof of "B" Section of the new Publishing House is being poured. Mounds of crushed stone of different grades and a large pile of cement in bags neatly arranged surround the group of laborers moving with precision at their tasks of feeding the proper proportions of sand, crushed stone, cement, and water to the concrete mixer. Six or eight barrows are quickly filled with crushed stone, and as the cement is emptied from the bags the empty bags are neatly piled at one side. Moving like clockwork, the men transfer the mixture to the large bucket which conveys it up the steel concrete tower, where from the top it is poured out into a long chute from which it flows into the forms.

Truck loads of both red and white brick are being delivered. A little farther toward Section "A" in the court which opens toward Norway Street to give greater space opposite the Church edifice, a chute from the roof brings down the discarded wood from the concrete forms, and half a dozen boys on the street near by are waiting with home-made carts to take the wood away for fuel. Farther up Norway Street are trucks of granite, each block in a separate wooden crate, the block properly numbered as an indication of its future place in the lower or base course of the outer stone facing to the building.

Inside the basement the process of waterproofing the concrete walls is progressing. First the hardened concrete is roughened by a special process called "bush-hammering," which gives it a surface to which the next coating will closely adhere. Then a coating of one half inch "Ironite" cement, rough finished, is applied, and in about two days the final skim coat of one half inch. This coating is surfaced by a steel trowel which "sings as it works." It would be possible with this medium and this trowel to make the exterior as smooth as glass, and the surface is made sufficiently smooth to present a nice finish needing only whitening. An enthusiastic representative of the contractor asked why not have such waterproofing on the basement walls of dwelling houses, now that basements are used for recreational purposes. This finish is guaranteed to be permanent, and moisture cannot penetrate it.

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