Masonry Magazine January 1966 Page. 12
BOB AND DONALD COOK
Dexter Johnston, left, long-time employee of Cook & Sons, shown using AIRO on a recent Memphis job. Dexter says, "AIRO about the smoothest mix I ever used. I like it."
What Cook & Sons say of All
Donald E. Cook, of Everett W. Cook & Sons, Memphis masonry contractors for twenty years, says, "About a year ago the Tiger people offered a demonstration of a new lime which they said was better and would save money on material costs. I was skeptical, but I let them put on their show, because we always like to know about new things in our business.
"Their demonstration worked fine. We were amazed at the amount of sand they used, but their test section went up fast and real easy. It looked good, and they convinced me it would more than meet the specs I was working to.
"So the next job I tried out AiRO. The job was a school auditorium with 90,000 brick. In the past, on a job of this kind we would have used one bag of portland and two bags of regular type S lime to carry 49 shovels of sand. By merely changing the lime to AIRO, we found we could carry more than 60 shovels, or about one fourth more sand! Compared to other masonry mortar mixes, this meant that AIRO saved us 20 percent in material costs alone. Besides the saving in material, we found AiF more workable, with smearing (and cleaning expense) very much reduced.
"An unexpected dividend of using AIRO was the almost complete elimination of retempering. We reduced this from an almost continuous operation to only once or twice a day, and the old, familiar watering can on every mortar board was gone. Our masons were able to spread the mortar for greater distances for more production. In eliminating the shakeup man, we realized savings up to 20 percent in mason tender labor.
"This building was finished five months ago. The owners are pleased with its good looks. Our costs were very good and we have been using AiRO on every job since. It does cost a little more per bag, but all our jobs are better work, with substantially higher profit margin.
"Believe me, if you don't give AiRO a try, you are losing out on the best thing that ever happened to the masonry business."