From the magazine Concrete. January, 1915

SATISFACTORY CONCRETE FLOORS AND HOW FINISHED

By Mr. (Homer) Laughlin, Jr.

To give you accurately my experience in living in a house with concrete floors, it will perhaps be well to go back a little way and relate my experiences which led to the adoption of a concrete floor for a residence.

The Homer Laughlin Building, which I own, was built in 1898 and was the fifth building in the United States, and the first building west of Chicago, to use concrete floors. These were concrete floors placed on a steel skeleton. At the time the building was opened I had grave doubts of its success, because every prospective tenant brought up the subject of the floors. Either they themselves were affected by rheumatism or they had someone in their office who had rheumatism, or they were quite sure that living in an office with concrete floors would be detrimental to their health. The common remark was that they could feel the chill of the concrete go through them the minute their shoes touched the floor. Although the prejudice was gradually overcome, it was at least five years, when concrete floors in office buildings had become more general, before the attention of the public was attracted to other features and away from the concrete floors, and I may safely say that it has been at least three years since I have heard a single person mention the subject.

When I was about to erect my home and decide on the subject of floors, my father, who had been a strong advocate of concrete floors in office buildings, advised me against their use in a residence. Careful inquiry developed that he himself was not opposed to the floors, but was satisfied that my friends and others would interpose all the objections to their use in a residence that we had formerly gone through in our office building, and so I decided to put wooden floors downstairs for the benefit of my friends, and concrete floors upstairs for the use of my family; but finally we worked up one excuse after another for leaving the wood floors out of certain downstairs rooms, and finally they were left out altogether.

My floors are of a warm brown tone and come up on the side walls about 6" and flush with the plaster, to form what would otherwise be a baseboard. Downstairs they are decorated with a palette-knife and look somewhat like carved leather. After the "carving" had been done, an artist worked various colors of the rainbow into the decoration, and then they were all varnished and waxed so that keeping them in order is similar to the polishing of wood floors, but the polishing is required much less frequently.

Upstairs we use velvet carpets of double width and plain colors, sewed together to form a mat or rug, but without a border, and extending within 6" or 8" of the side walls all the way around. We find that no nailing strips or other means of fastening are necessary, since the carpet lies perfectly flat and is sufficiently large so that it will not move about.

Downstairs we use Oriental rugs entirely, and a curious feature in this respect is that moths will not hatch on the under side of a rug in contact with concrete, where they do hatch when it is in contact with wood. This applies to the under side of the rug only, because it is not impossible for them to hatch within the rug itself.

Now, the common impression is that a concrete floor will make the room cold, but this impression is reached by people who have gone into rooms with concrete floors where there was no carpet on the floor and because at the moment they were critical of concrete, but if one will go into a bare room where hard wood floors have been used they will get exactly the same effect. The addition of carpets and tapestries decreases the number of square feet where the air of the room comes into contact directly with the floor or side walls.

There is also an impression that concrete floors are damp. They are damp for the first two months after being laid, and on this account should not be varnished or waxed, but after this period they are as dry as wooden floors. I have made accurate tests with hygrometers, to determine this point.

The concrete floor is to me most satisfactory because it is free from cracks in which dust accumulates and ascends every time the floor is flexed by stepping on it. There is never a squeak or other noise produced by the rubbing of one board of the interior floor on another. With carpet on the floors they are absolutely noiseless, and one cannot detect a person walking on an upper floor when he is in the room below, provided, of course, that there is a carpet on the floor above.

The concrete floor makes a much handsomer setting and background for Oriental rugs than wooden floors, and one can do away with the unsightly baseboard, which always collects dust. Then there is none of the trouble of warping and straining which comes with the use of wooden floors.

Above all else, the house is fireproof when properly built in other respects, and one can leave home with the assurance that neither property of any considerable value nor lives will be destroyed in the event of fire. I feel that my pictures, rugs and porcelains are as safe in my house as in a vault at the bank, barring the possibility of theft, which is rather remote.

From Concrete Magazine. May, 1918,

Early in the history of concrete construction, Colonel Aiken, U.S. Army, devised a system of casting the walls of buildings in a horizontal position and raising them with special equipment. Numerous buildings were erected, notably at army posts, but the system was not widely used. In the construction of a concrete house at Hollywood, Cal., the walls were pre-cast in a horizontal position and raised by motor-driven jacks. The house was designed by Irving J. Gill and erected under his supervision.

After the foundation for the house had set, the floor slab was laid and on this jacks for the erection of the walls were placed, which are well shown by Figs. 3 and 7. Twelve feet of floor space was required in which to place the jacks, on which tilting tables, built of 2" x 6" rough planks were laid over steel walking beams. The number of jacks used and the spacing of them depended on the weight and size of the wall to be supported.

Door and window openings were laid out, the metal jambs set in place and the remaining surface of the wall form covered with hollow tile spaced for reinforced concrete beams to give proper stiffness; twisted steel rods were then placed vertically and horizontally, and the wall was ready to be poured. Concrete was wheeled up an incline, dumped, leveled off and allowed to set.

The upper surface (the outside of the wall) was finished in its tilted position before being raised.

The power for erection was obtained from a 5 h.p. gasoline engine and transmitted to the jacks by a shaft through their pedestals. A worm gear mechanism extended all jacks at exactly the same rate.

From hour to 2 hours was required to raise each wall, the time depending on the weight, shape and position of the wall.

Horizontal rods left projecting from the ends of the walls were bound together after two adjacent walls had been raised to an upright position. A form 2" wide was built up the entire height of the wall, and into this concrete was poured, producing a concrete and hollow tile steel reinforced with twisted steel bars.

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

Roof joists are held in place by anchors, for which provision had been made in the concrete wall, and 1" by 6" sheathing covered by a gravel composition was used for the roofing. Interior partitions are of metal lath on wood studding, and the rough concrete slab has been covered by a finish coat reinforced with wire cloth.

Special metal door and window frames were used, manufactured from No. 22 galvanized iron bent to shape and provided with perforated flanges, through which the concrete forms a key. The plastering finishes flush to the corners of the frames, which act as a corner bead for both exterior and interior wall surfaces. Each side of the frame is bent from one piece of metal so there is no danger from cracks.

Sanitation and fireproofing are the features of the finish, as well as the structural details. There are no moldings or panels on the doors, simply plain slab surfaces easily cleaned or dusted, while the absence of baseboards, ceiling, plate rails, door and window casings and picture molding makes the house as nearly dirt proof as is possible.

The experience gained in the construction indicates that it has possibilities for economy that will recommend its more extended use.

From Concrete magazine. April, 1914.

ECONOMY AND SIMPLICITY IN CONCRETE HOUSE BUILDING

By Reed Robinson (probable pseudonym for Eloise Roorbach).

The essence of art is simplicity. Only the true artist can afford to be simple, direct and unadorned in his creative work. Art production consists mainly in the elimination of the non-essential.

American architecture is a curious thing, since it is not distinctive as such. Indeed, the phrase "American architecture" is almost an anomaly, since to a considerable extent it is bound to conventionality. Irving J. Gill, San Diego, Cal., is an American architect who has no use for conventionality. His architectural creations are practical art, distinctive and individual. He has boldly and broadly forsaken conventional architecture.

Mr. Gill's specialty is the creation and erection of habitable homes. For a quarter of a century he has devoted his talents to designing and building beautiful homes in sunny southern California. And his work has been pronouncedly individual. It has been artistic and utilitarian.

Mr. Gill has deliberately limited himself to the cube, the hemisphere, the rectangle and to segments of circles in developing a style of architecture which is not only unique, but beautiful and practical as well, in its simplicity. Possibly this is the American architecture looked for as distinctive of the country, yet found generally only in towering skyscrapers.

The plain surface, unbroken by cornice or window ledge, the severe arch without column as support and a rectangular skyline, relieved only here and there by the curve of an hemispherical dome, or the graceful and casual figures of a growing vine, are the contours and surfaces used exclusively in the Gill designs.

Another feature which Mr. Gill makes a distinctive point in his work on residences, is the effect of reflected colors upon a white or neutrally tinted, unbroken surface. To the discerning observer of color the plain white surface is composed of delicate and changing hues which takes tones from the greens of the lawn or tree, the blue of the sky and the multiple shades of the varied flowers. The splashing warmth of crimson from a geranium bed, together with the varied lighting of morning or afternoon, clear or cloudy weather, produce effects upon these walls that are a delight to the eye.

This idea of reflected color is employed by Mr. Gill not only in connection with the outside walls, but in planning the lighting of interior rooms. The walls are designed with surfaces as flat and unbroken as possible. They are finished in a plaster surface slightly roughened. The ceiling is tinted a neutral shade. The side walls are tinted likewise, though the color is a shade deeper than that of the ceiling. The result of this treatment is such that ceiling and walls take on the hue of the dominant color note in the furnishings. This makes the rooms especially delightful to the eye and extremely restful for the occupant in the matter of light and color. This idea is characteristic of every Gill house.

From the standpoint of the owner it is eminently satisfactory to note that a Gill house is much cheaper than that of most others. The comparatively low cost of the Gill houses is largely due to the fact that concrete is the only material used and Mr. Gill's ideas of simplicity of line in architecture make the very most out of the material concrete. It is such use of concrete (that) has been able to produce handsome and distinctive residences. By the use of concrete Gill structures are built at a lower cost than corresponding construction could be done with wood or other material.

In a general way Mr. Gill figures concrete in house construction at approximately 30 cts. Per cu. Ft. in place (1914). He figures the walls at 10% of the building cost.

In a typical Gill house wood forms were used for the entire construction--walls, floors, stairs and roof. The first floor and garden walls are 12" thick and second story walls 8" thick, with 3/4" twisted rods for reinforcing 1 1/2" from bottom of slabs. The concrete stair slab is 4" thick in net section and reinforced with 3/4" twisted rods laid full length of the stairs at the sides of the stair. The roof is 6" slab reinforced with Hy-Rib. The walls are reinforced with Elwood wire fencing, 4" triangular mesh, placed 1 1/2" from outer surface. In general a 1:8:5 mix of cement, sand and gravel was used. It is Mr. Gill's policy, however, to change the mix from time to time, depending upon tests of sample concrete from the materials available. Concrete was conveyed in wheelbarrows.

After the removal of the forms, the outer wall surface was smooth stuccoed with a heavy coat of a mixture of 1 part cement to 1 part sand, with a 5% admixture of hydrated lime.

A special feature is that interior woodwork is finished flush with the walls in every part of the house. All doors, whether leading from room to room or into cupboards and closets, are built without panels and set flush with the casings, which, in turn, are flush with the walls. This feature makes a practically dust-proof house and eliminates a distressing item of housework. Not only that, it makes the rooms more sanitary.

Drainboards and backs of sinks are of magnesite. The magnesite slabs are finished flush with the walls. Corners where they meet the sink are rounded, eliminating cracks in which grease or dirt may collect and doing away with exposed wood to become sour and decay from constant wetting. Bathtubs are boxed, then covered with magnesite up to the porcelain tub edge and finished with rounded corners. Bathroom floors are of magnesite with all angles rounded. This construction in the bathroom renders it easy to keep clean and wholesome. In fact, there are no cracks, corners or crevices, projections or sharp edges in the entire structure.

The use of concrete in carrying out these ideas in house construction makes them practical because concrete as a building material is inexpensive, adaptable, reliable and lasting. Through the use of concrete Mr. Gill attains these effects at a saving of time, cost and labor, and with the certainty of satisfactory results.

 From The San Diego Union. February 22, 1914.

AIKEN TILTED WALL PROCESS USED FIRST TIME IN SAN DIEGO

Wall With Chimney and Arched Doorways Built on Ground and Half Way Raised to Position Intact. Time and Labor Cost in Concrete-Tile Wall Building Cut in Half by Modern System of Handling Material and Raising Structural Walls.

Architect Irving J. Gill, Progressive Architect, Employs New Method of Concrete and Tile Wall Construction in Erecting Walls of Building Donated by Miss Ellen Scripps To La Jolla Woman's Club and Clubhouse.

Building a concrete and tile wall with all ornamentation, chimney, windows and doors therein while the wall is flat on the ground beside the building site, and then raising the wall into the position it will occupy in the building as completed, seems at first glance an almost impossible thing ­certainly a highly impracticable and expensive manner of constructing walls.

But the walls of the clubhouse donated by Miss Scripps is being built in just that way. The accompanying photograph shows the completed wall half way into position on the east side of the structure which will be the clubhouse when completed.

This wall is 90 feet long, 18 feet high and 16 inches thick. From the photograph it will seen the arched doorways, together with a chimney 27 feet high, have all been built into the wall on the ground and then raised with the wall as integral parts thereof.

The architect of the La Jolla Woman's clubhouse is Irving J. Gill, famous for his unique methods of concrete construction. The manner of erecting this wall is known as the Aiken tilted wall process. The clubhouse building at La Jolla is the first instance of this method of construction in Southern California.

The process is as follows:
Steel fingers supported by multiple screw telescope jacks are first laid on the ground in perfect alignment. Over these fingers a "stuff" flooring of wood is laid. On this the tile are then laid like so many bricks. Between each perpendicular line of tiling two inches space is left. All windows and doors are placed in frame as desired, as well as any other outside construction.

Over this is spread a wire mesh. Then the concrete is poured and tamped down to the thickness desired. Then it takes but a few days for the concrete to dry out completely.

The work is done on the inside of the building to be erected. A gasoline motor supplies the power at La Jolla and when this is applied to a universal shaft, and the jacks begin to work, the wall goes up into position as one unit, complete on the exterior.

This method of construction does away with building forms and tearing the forms away after the ten days required to dry out the poured concrete, which building regulations require for drying on perpendicular pouring construction.

At the corners of walls are built angle forms of wood into which is poured concrete after the walls are in position. In the end of each wall are projections in the form [of] iron tying rods. These are joined at the corners before the final pouring so that the completed job gives an entire reinforced wall of concrete lined with hollow tile.

In this construction, joist anchors, window and door frames, electric light conduits, etc., are laid with the tiling so that the wall when raised is complete down to the last detail.

On the pictured wall of the La Jolla Woman's clubhouse 10 steel fingers and 20 jacks are used. Each finger worked on a hollow joint. These joints were in such perfect alignment, insuring a perfectly true wall, that it was possible to look through the 10 hollow joints, of an inch inside measurement, and see daylight through them from end to end, showing mathematical precision.

When the wall is in place, it is grouted at the foot. This is practically the same as setting a huge brick in concrete.

No skilled labor was required in laying the wall or pouring the concrete. The actual figures show that about half the time and one quarter the labor cost is saved by the Aiken tilted wall process of concrete wall construction over the usual method of building forms and pouring the concrete from the top of the forms.

While this method of wall-building from concrete and hollow tiling is new to San Diego, the La Jolla clubhouse being the first instance of the use of the process in San Diego, the method is widely employed elsewhere. It is used by the United States government exclusively in the erection of the concrete structures which the government is erecting extensively in the Philippine Islands.