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CONCRETE CONSTRUCTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS:

8th June 1920, Page 20
8th June 1920
Page 20
Page 20, 8th June 1920 — CONCRETE CONSTRUCTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS:
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How This Popular Building Material is Being Improved as Regards its Resistance to Penetration by Water, 011 and Grease.

THE USE of reinforced concrete in building construction is rapidly increasing, and almost all new structures, even if they are not vholly built with this material, contain a considerable.quantity of concrete.

The use of concrete presents many advantages, but it also has certain dis

advantages. Amongst the latter are liability to the percolation of water, oil, ind grease, and the production of dust on its surface when called upon to bear much traffic. The entbance of water into reinforced concrete is dangerous, as it gradually rusts the reinforced steel and weakens the whole fabric. . The penetration of oil and grease is not so important in this respect, but it may cause Much inconvenience ifi certain casts. Where concrete tanks are employed leakage through the walls of the tanks may be is source Of considerable trouble, and in storage 'battery rooms, where acid is likely to be spilt on the floor, it is very important to have floors which are acidresisting.

In, this connection a very interesting system for waterproofing, rendering dustless, and increasing the wearing capacity of concrete has recently been introduced into this country by the Adamite Co., LW.. Regent House, Regent Street, London, W. 1. The material employed in this system is known 'as Anti-Hydro. It is a clear liquid which is mixed with the water for gauging the concrete. It -chemically combines with the cement, fllling the voids between the particles with a special cement solution which crystallizes at the same time as the cement, and forms a hard, insoluble

silicate. • Anti-Hydro is a liquid produced some 022

15 years ago by some investigators in America, who discovered a process -whereby they could neutralize calcium chloride by a process whiCh introduces carbon comt ouilds. The action of calciu,m chloride on cement will carry water through the mass for its proper hydration, but the action of calcium rihionde cracks the conerete and ruins any steel embedded in it. AntiLllydro, however, when added to concrete in the proportion of one part to ten parts of water has the effect, without retarding e_a

the setting, of rendenng the concrete impervious to gas, oil, grease, odours, etc., and also prevents the concrete from being cracked by frost.

Tests have proved that the strength of concrete treated with this liquid is considerably greater than that of concre e not so treated. In addition, it increases the strength of a floor at the age of three days' to the strength normally attained in a month, and the-ultimate strength by from 10 to 20 per cent.

The process may be applied either to the concrete mass or to a. waterproof criating for ordinary concrete or other material. Floor topping,s in concrete treated in this manner should have a thickness of not less than 1 in., schist wall coatings Must be at least in. in thickness. • Concrete tanks may be waterproofed either through the mass of the concrete, or by lining the tank with a f in. plaster coating crt one part cement and two parts sand, gauged with a solution_of one part Anti-Hydro and 10 parts water.. If the waits and floor of a tank average more than 14 ins, in thickness, the cost for labour and material for applying this plaster coat will be less than the cost of

treating the whOle mass with the pre paration.

It -mist he understood that the process is not new. It has been used successfully for 15 years in America by some of the largest companies, including the Standard Oil Co., the Vacuum Oil 0o,, the Pierce-Arrow Motor Co., etc., and it was used successfully in the construction of the huge retaining wall built during the construction of Selfridge and Co.'s premises in .Oxford Street. For the floors of garages it should prove of particular advantage, and also wherever much surface wear is likely to Occur. At one large factory in America, thousands of heavy steel barrels„ each of which has two iron hoops 1 in. wide, have been rolled constantly over a concrete floor for 16 years 'without any siga of deterioration in this floor, and in one of the largest motor clubs in New York a magnificent ballroom with a fine ceiling built in 1904 is situated on the third floor, and immediately above this is a garage where cars are constantly running about, and are being washed and greased',• with the result that the floor is usually running with water and oil. On one occasion, owing to the bursting of a • water pipe, the floor was flooded to a depth of 6 ins., but, in spite of this, tho ceiling of the ballroom underneath has never been damped, and is in as good a condition now as it was at the time of its conitruction. Both these floors have a 1 in. topping Of concrete treated with Anti-Hydro. Where ordinary reinforced concrete is in contact -with. sea-water, the latter quickly permeates the concrete and attacks the steel reinforcement.; this can be totally prevented by utilizing Anti. Elydrd.

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