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CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION

METHODS AND COST

BY

HALBERT P. GILLETTE

_M. Am. Soc. C. E.; M. Am. Inst. M. E._

_Managing Editor, Engineering-Contracting_

AND

CHARLES S. HILL, C. E.

_Associate Editor, Engineering-Contracting_

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO

THE MYRON C. CLARK PUBLISHING CO.

1908


COPYRIGHT. 1908

BY

THE MYRON C. CLARK PUBLISHING CO.


Transcriber's note:

For Text: A word surrounded by a cedilla such as ~this~ signifies that
the word is bolded in the text. A word surrounded by underscores like
_this_ signifies the word is italics in the text. The italic and bold
markup for single italized letters (such as variables in equations) and
"foreign" abbreviations are deleted for easier reading.

For numbers and equations: Parentheses have been added to clarify
fractions. Underscores before bracketed numbers in equations denote a
subscript. Superscripts are designated with a caret and brackets, e.g.
11.1^{3} is 11.1 to the third power. Greek letters in equations are
translated to their English version.

Minor typos have been corrected.




PREFACE.


How best to perform construction work and what it will cost for
materials, labor, plant and general expenses are matters of vital
interest to engineers and contractors. This book is a treatise on the
methods and cost of concrete construction. No attempt has been made to
present the subject of cement testing which is already covered by Mr. W.
Purves Taylor's excellent book, nor to discuss the physical properties
of cements and concrete, as they are discussed by Falk and by Sabin, nor
to consider reinforced concrete design as do Turneaure and Maurer or
Buel and Hill, nor to present a general treatise on cements, mortars and
concrete construction like that of Reid or of Taylor and Thompson. On
the contrary, the authors have handled the subject of concrete
construction solely from the viewpoint of the builder of concrete
structures. By doing this they have been able to crowd a great amount of
detailed information on methods and costs of concrete construction into
a volume of moderate size.

Though the special information contained in the book is of most
particular assistance to the contractor or engineer engaged in the
actual work of making and placing concrete, it is believed that it will
also prove highly useful to the designing engineer and to the architect.
It seems plain that no designer of concrete structures can be a really
good designer without having a profound knowledge of methods of
construction and of detailed costs. This book, it is believed, gives
these methods and cost data in greater number and more thoroughly
analyzed than they can be found elsewhere in engineering literature.

The costs and other facts contained in the book have been collected from
a multitude of sources, from the engineering journals, from the
transactions of the engineering societies, from Government Reports and
from the personal records of the authors and of other engineers and
contractors. It is but fair to say that the great bulk of the matter
contained in the book, though portions of it have appeared previously
in other forms in the authors' contributions to the technical press, was
collected and worked up originally by the authors. Where this has not
been the case the original data have been added to and re-analyzed by
the authors. Under these circumstances it has been impracticable to give
specific credit in the pages of the book to every source from which the
authors have drawn aid. They wish here to acknowledge, therefore, the
help secured from many engineers and contractors, from the volumes of
Engineering News, Engineering Record and Engineering-Contracting, and
from the Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the
proceedings and papers of various other civil engineering societies and
organizations of concrete workers. The work done by these journals and
societies in gathering and publishing information on concrete
construction is of great and enduring value and deserves full
acknowledgment.

In answer to any possible inquiry as to the relative parts of the work
done by the two authors in preparing this book, they will answer that it
has been truly the labor of both in every part.

                                                  H. P. G.
                                                  C. S. H.
     Chicago, Ill., April 15, 1908.




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


                                                                  PAGE

CHAPTER I.--METHODS AND COST OF SELECTING AND PREPARING
MATERIALS FOR CONCRETE.                                              1

~Cement:~ Portland Cement--Natural Cement--Slag Cement--Size and Weight of
Barrels of Cement--Specifications and Testing. ~Sand:~ Properties of Good
Sand--Cost of Sand--Washing Sand; Washing with Hose; Washing with Sand
Ejectors; Washing with Tank Washers. ~Aggregates:~ Broken
Stone--Gravel--Slag and Cinders--Balanced Aggregate--Size of
Aggregate--Cost of Aggregate--Screened and Crusher Run Stone for
Concrete--Quarrying and Crushing Stone--Screening and Washing Gravel.


CHAPTER II.--THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PROPORTIONING CONCRETE.         25

~Voids:~ Voids in Sand; Effect of Mixture--Effect of Size of Grains--Voids
in Broken Stone and Gravel; Effect of Method of Loading; Test
Determinations; Specific Gravity; Effect of Hauling--Theory of the
Quantity of Cement in Mortar; Tables of Quantities in Mortar--Tables of
Quantities in Concrete--Percentage of Water in Concrete--Methods of
Measuring and Weighing; Automatic Measuring Devices.


CHAPTER III.--METHODS AND COSTS OF MAKING AND PLACING
CONCRETE BY HAND.                                                   45

Loading into Stock Piles--Loading from Stock Piles--Transporting
Materials to Mixing Boards--Mixing--Loading and Hauling Mixed
Concrete--Dumping, Spreading and Ramming--Cost of
Superintendence--Summary of Costs.


CHAPTER IV.--METHODS AND COST OF MAKING AND PLACING
CONCRETE BY MACHINE.                                                61

Introduction--Conveying and Hoisting Devices--Unloading with Grab
Buckets--Inclines--Trestle and Car Plants--Cableways--Belt
Conveyors--Chutes--Methods of Charging Mixers--Charging by Gravity from
Overhead Bins; Charging with Wheelbarrows; Charging with Cars; Charging
by Shoveling; Charging with Derricks--Types of Mixers; Batch Mixers;
Chicago Improved Cube Tilting Mixer, Ransome Non-Tilting Mixer, Smith
Tilting Mixer; Continuous Mixers; Eureka Automatic Feed Mixer; Gravity
Mixers; Gilbreth Trough Mixer, Hains Gravity Mixer--Output of
Mixers--Mixer Efficiency.


CHAPTER V.--METHODS AND COST OF DEPOSITING CONCRETE
UNDER WATER AND OF SUBAQUEOUS GROUTING.                             86

Introduction--Depositing in Closed Buckets; O'Rourke Bucket; Cyclopean
Bucket; Steubner Bucket--Depositing in Bags--Depositing Through a
Tremie; Charlestown Bridge; Arch Bridge Piers, France; Nussdorf Lock,
Vienna--Grouting Submerged Stone; Tests of H. F. White; Hermitage
Breakwater.


CHAPTER VI.--METHODS AND COST OF MAKING AND USING RUBBLE
AND ASPHALTIC CONCRETE.                                             98

Introduction--Rubble Concrete: Chattahoochee River Dam; Barossa
Dam, South Australia; other Rubble Concrete Dams, Boonton Dam,
Spier Falls Dam, Hemet Dam, Small Reservoir Dam, Boyd's Corner
Dam; Abutment for Railway Bridge; English Data, Tharsis & Calamas
Ry., Bridge Piers, Nova Scotia--Asphalt Concrete; <DW72> Paving for
Earth Dam; Base for Mill Floor.


CHAPTER VII.--METHODS AND COST OF LAYING CONCRETE IN
FREEZING WEATHER.                                                  112

Introduction--Lowering the Freezing Point of the Mixing Water; Common
Salt (Sodium Chloride):--Freezing Temperature Chart--Heating Concrete
Materials; Portable Heaters; Heating in Stationary Bins; Other Examples
of Heating Methods, Power Plant, Billings, Mont., Wachusett Dam,
Huronian Power Co. Dam, Arch Bridge, Piano, Ill., Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy R. R. Work, Heating in Water Tank--Covering and Housing the Work;
Method of Housing in Dam, Chaudiere Falls, Quebec; Method of Housing in
Building Work.


CHAPTER VIII.--METHODS AND COST OF FINISHING CONCRETE
SURFACES                                                          124

Imperfectly Made Forms--Imperfect Mixing and
Placing--Efflorescence--Spaded and Troweled Finishes--Plaster and Stucco
Finish--Mortar and Cement Facing--Special Facing Mixtures for Minimizing
Form Marks--Washes--Finishing by Scrubbing and Washing--Finishing by
Etching with Acid--Tooling Concrete Surfaces--Gravel or Pebble Surface
Finish-- Facing.


CHAPTER IX.--METHODS AND COST OF FORM CONSTRUCTION                136

Introduction--Effect of Design on Form Work--Kind of Lumber--Finish and
Dimensions of Lumber--Computation of Forms--Design and
Construction--Unit Construction of Forms--Lubrication of
Forms--Falsework and Bracing--Time for and Method of Removing
Forms--Estimating and Cost of Form Work.


CHAPTER X.--METHODS AND COST OF CONCRETE PILE AND PIER
CONSTRUCTION                                                      151

Introduction--Molding Piles in Place; Method of Constructing Raymond
Piles; Method of Constructing Simplex Piles; Method of Constructing
Piles with Enlarged Footings; Method of Constructing Piles
by the Compressol System; Method of Constructing Piers in Caissons--Molding
Piles for Driving--Driving Molded Piles: Method and Cost
of Molding and Jetting Piles for an Ocean Pier; Method of Molding
and Jetting Square Piles for a Building Foundation; Method of Molding
and Jetting Corrugated Piles for a Building Foundation; Method of
Molding and Driving Round Piles; Molding and Driving Square Piles
for a Building Foundation; Method of Molding and Driving Octagonal
Piles--Method and Cost of Making Reinforced Piles by Rolling.


CHAPTER XI.--METHODS AND COST OF HEAVY CONCRETE WORK
IN FORTIFICATIONS, LOCKS, DAMS, BREAKWATERS AND
PIERS                                                             184

Introduction--Fortification Work: Gun Emplacement, Staten Island, N. Y.,
Mortar Battery Platform, Tampa Bay, Fla., Emplacement for Battery, Tampa
Bay, Fla.; U. S. Fortification Work--Lock Walls, Cascades Canal--Locks,
Coosa River, Alabama--Lock Walls, Illinois & Mississippi Canal--Hand
Mixing and Placing Canal Lock Foundations--Breakwater at Marquette,
Mich.--Breakwater, Buffalo, N. Y.--Breakwater, Port Col