Redwood Block Floors

Unless one is able to furnish an improved article for the same price, or as good a one for a lower price than that now in use, one has no reason for producing or marketing any product. The Manufacturers of Redwood are taking this text as the basis of their activities, and this is unquestionably an important factor in the healthy condition of the Redwood market today.

The Redwood people are constantly looking for new markets for their product, but they are searching out these markets in plabes where Redwood can do better work than the product already in use, or any other product economically available. The various. distinctive features of Redwood make it peculiarly adaptable lor many specialty uses, and furnish the Redr,vood salesman with a real mission, a service to the consuming public; he is able to be a helping hand to the builder and to the industrialist; his song is not "Gimme" but "Let me help you."

This sounds too good to be true, especially to those lumber dealers who have been wont to entertain the writer as well as other Redwood order takers, or as lve are pleased to style ourselves, salesmen, but nevertheless it is true; we can serve the public, and we are beginning to do it. For instance. how manv lumbermen are familiar with a block floor, especially a- Redwood block floor? Not many! and yet this field, thus far only scratched, holds unlimited possibilities as a market.

The Redwood block floor is recommended principally for warehouse and factories, because it is an established fact that it is without an equal in this field. At double its cost it would still be economical as compared with any existing flooring material. It makes traction easy, which is a great feature in factories where merchandise is moved on hand trucks. It will not wear out because the wear is on the end of the grain. It is noiseless because it is a cushion, yet it doesn't affect acoustics. It is durable because it is Redwood; it stays put because it is Redwood and because it is built up of small units, arid it is a cushion under the feet of the workman, affording him comfort and increasing his efficiency thereby. Years of research and experiment have shown the most desirable size and length of block from the viewpoint of service as well as economic manufacture. Experiment and experience have developed the most efficient cushion and binder agents, until now the manufacturing and installing of a Redwood block floor is an exact science, and when done by those people who specialize in it, produces a floor unsurpassed, even unequalled, for dirrability, wearing qualities, and comfort for the worker who must stand and walk on it.

Experience has shown, however, that the blocks must be properly manufactured and cured, and properly installed, in order to get even fair results. The early ventures along this line being quite disastrous as the blocks were merely pieces of wood cut to length, with no thought of perfect square butting, selection of stock or moisture content, and they were sold to anyone who thought he could lay a floor. The natural result was imperfect floors, uneven, loose, and dirty, and while they were not entirely unsatisfactory, they did not constitute very good sales examples for further exploitation. We learn by our mistakes, however, and with a block which was impervious to decay and .moisture, and so tough of fibre as to defy wear, it was not long before the pioneer mills had the secret of producing the proper sort of block. Meanwhile other men were learning how to install the floors, and when cooperation between the two agencies was obtained, perfect floors resulted. Now, to the end that an improved article be sold, and that the consumer be assured of the best job possible, and that each job constitute an advertisement for the product, the mills market their blocks through experienced installing contractors, and discourage promiscuous sales of loose blocks.

The Pacific Redwood Floor Co. and the Redwood Block Floor Co., both of San Francisco, are the leading block floor contractors on the Pacific Coast. Their floors can be found almost anywhere in California, wherever a tough, shock resisting, and wear proof floor is- required. The floors in Sears Roebuck's new mail order store in Los Angeles are the most notable job to date, at least in point of size, having required about two million feet of lumber. Other floors may be found in Ferry Post Office, San Francibco; Galileo High School gymnasium, San Francisco; Westinghouse , E,lectric Co. factory, Oakland; Goodyear Tire Co. plant, Los Angeles; American Can Co. plants in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose and San Francisco; Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. plant in Oakland; Key System shops in Emeryville; Southern Pacific warehouses in Bakersfield; Chevrolet Motor Co. plant, Oakland; Pacific Gas & Electric Co. plant, Oakland; General Electric Co. plant, Oakland; and many other similar buildings, all Redwood.

The Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation have what is probably the oldest block floor in the west. It is built of Redwood blocks. Although this floor was laid in the days when paving blocks were embryonic and nothing at all had been learned of their proper installation, it has been in service for over thirty years and is as good as ever. In fact, continuous use has matted down the blocks until they form a jointless cushion over the floor. On one occasion a ship propellor weighing several tons, dropped from a height of about eight feet, doing no other damage than to dent the floor. Imagine the result on a concrete floor, and the effect on the propellor in such a case.

The Goodyear Tire Co. had a lairly old Redwood floor in their Los Angeles plant. It was improperly laid of imperfectly manufactured blocks. They shrank and came loose, so that dirt worked between them and down under them until the;r resembled a cobble paved street, being noisy under trucks and making traction diffi'cult. However, they refuse to wear out, so the owners, having a maintenance crew at work all the time anywby, periodically take them up and clean the floor and relay them loose. Their new addition had Redwood blocks, properly laid, on the ground floor, and they proved so satisfactory that when their latest addition was built, they broke all their precedents and specified Redwood blocks on every floor.

The American Can Co. give their floors very hard use. They load tons of sheet metal tin on hand trucks to be moved about their plant. That they have been satisfied with Redwood block floors is proved by the fact that they are specified in all their new plants.

The Sears Roebuck building, nine stories high, just completed, has Redwood block floors in the basement and on eight of the nine floors. The basement floor is a 4x6 block finished with black surface, the seven upper floors which comprise the mail order department, have 4x6 blocks with a red filler finish, which shows the blocks in their natural color and pattern. The second floor which is devoted to offices, has a 3x4 block, sanded, filled, shellaced and waxed, and is a thing of beauty. This floor has a distinction of pa_ttern, and a novelty of color effects unobtainable in any other way. The color varies from light cherry to dark mahogany, and the grain variety is unlimited.

The Steinway Piano Company used this type of floor in their magnificent show room on Fifth Avenui, New York, which is recommendation enough. These people are the master woodworkers of the world, and would hardly jeopardize their position with a floor that lacked beauty, and they showed business acumen in combining utility wiih appearance, __-Primarily block floors are designed for heavy duty. Where the blocks require creosoting, they are limited io industrial use. But Redwood furnishes a block which needs no creosote, and so eliminates the undesirable odor which ties the ordinary block floor to the plebian factory and warehouse. It furnishes a block which is as clean and sweet as when it came from the tree, one which needs no more surface finish than ordinary flooring, one which makes a resilient floor, a silent floor, and a beautiful floor. These floors are true aristocrats, and are at home in stately mansions, magnificent show rooms, great gymnasiuirrs, as well as in foundries, shops, warehouses and factories.