INFORMATION BUREAU TECHNICAL SERVICES THEN AND NOW
By Walt Pruter & Dick Gorman
For more than fifty years, and as long as there has been a labor agreement between the Contractors Association and the Unions with which their employees were affiliated, certain funds for trade promotion have been part of the labor agreements.
The Association in those days was known as the Southern California Plastering Contractors Association. The unions involved at the time were the Operative Plasterers' and Cement Finishers' International (OPCMI) and the Wood Wire and Metal Lath International (WWMLI), which later merged with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBCJA).
Trade promotion programs are not exclusive to the wall and ceiling industry. Both the Brick and Block masonry industry, Ceramic Tile, Sheet Metal, Concrete, Wood, Plumbing and Electrical Contractors maintain active programs to promote work for their trades. Back in the late 1940's and early 50's the thrust of the lath and plaster program was to inhibit the growing use of gypsum wallboard (drywall) construction in the exploding Southern California residential market. It's theme "Knock on the Wall", which touted the manyattributes of genuine lath and plaster, was well advertised on TV, radio, on billboards and in published media, under the direction of the LATTA ADVERTISING agency in Glendale, California.
The Southern California Plastering Institute was a radio sponsor of the California Angels baseball team, and the evening rush hour news on station KNX was another outlet for the "knock on the Wall" message. Sunday newspapers regularly carried full-page advertisements on new residential tracts, which were built with plaster on the interior as well as the exterior. The developer and the Southern California Plastering Institute jointly paid for the advertisements.
As the use of drywall for interior finishes continued to replace plaster in residential construction, in spite of the advertising efforts, several of the ASSOCIATION'S larger commercial contractors urged that more of the lath and plaster promotion be directed toward the design community and the commercial general contractors. Several of these firms had individuals in their organizations who regularly consulted with architects on projects being designed. These firms included the BOLSTER CO., A.D. HOPPE CO., THE CARROL DUNCAN CO., and L.A. LATHING (known as PIERCE ENTERPRISES today). At their urging, Bill Latta, the agency head employed Walt Pruter, who had a degree in architecture and had been with the U.S. GYPSUM CO. for several years, to establish the PLASTERING INFORMATION BUREAU (PIB).
The mission of the PIB was to expand markets for types of construction typically pursued by Association members. This usually meant converting masonry and concrete projects to be clad with portland cement plaster. The program also emphasized the benefits of interior gypsum plaster for sound control and fire resistance in institutional projects.
Steel stud framing was relatively unknown in Southern California forty years ago. Most of the metal studs used for interior partitions were of the welded wire type, manufactured by USG National Gypsum and Soule Steel. Penmetal and INRYCO (Inland Steel) manufactured cold-formed channel studs but they weren't widely used. When the "C"Stud was developed by Kaiser Gypsum CO., they became popular and increased the use of all types of cold-formed steel studs for interior partitions to be lathed and plastered or covered with drywall and exterior walls to be clad with portland cement plaster (stucco).
Several organizations had approached Pruter to represent them in dealings with the international Conference of Building Officials (ICBO), including the Hollow Metal Door Manufacturers, the Metal Lath Steel Framing Manufacturers Association, the Perlite Institute and REDCO Permalite.
J.R. "Dick" Gorman, also a graduate of an architectural school, and technical representative for a major gypsum manufacturer, was asked to take over the reins of the PLASTER INFORMATION BUREAU when Pruter resigned to operate his own business, which by now included directing the METAL LATHING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION, INC. Gorman and Pruter agreed that gaining the confidence and respect of architects and engineers was based on being a dependable source of accurate and unbiased technical information on work done by this industry. Education of architects and aspiring architects and being there when they needed you has been the basis on which this industry's trade promotion program has been conducted.
Technical seminars conducted in architects' offices, at architectural schools and in the INFORMATION BUREAU offices on Los Feliz Blvd. have been most effective in reaching the largest audiences with least effort. More often than not, the Bureau putting on the seminar provided light lunches.
Active participation in construction related associations such as the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), American Institute of Architects (AIA). Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) and its various chapters has expanded the sphere of influence of the Bureau representatives.
Since there weren't publications other than the DATA GUIDE AND REFERENCE SPECIFICATIONS, which was developed by the Technical Committee Of the California Lath and Plaster Contractors Association (CLPCA), and the Western Conference of Lathing and Plastering Institutes, Inc. (WCLPI), the Bureaus provided architects with industry publications. The WCLPI is a collection of Institutes and Bureaus located primarily in the west, which every few months convened to discuss issues facing the wall and ceiling industry. They typically scheduled one of their meetings concurrent with the CLPCA annual meeting and trade show. Since there is no longer a state association, the remaining members of WCLPI meet only about once a year. The WCLPI members include the PLASTER INFORMATION BUREAU, the INFORMATION BUREAU FOR DRYWALL, LATH AND PLASTER (both now part of WWCCA), the LATH AND PLASTER INSTITUTE OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, the NORTHWEST PLASTER BUREAU and the SACRAMENTO PLASTER BUREAU.
The DATA GUIDE AND REFERENCE SPECIFICATIONS and publications from the PORTLAND CEMENT ASSOCIATION, the GYPSUM ASSOCIATION, the METAL LATH/STEEL FRAMING ASSOCIATION, CSI, ASTM and UBC sections were bound in three ring binders and about three thousand were distributed by the local bureaus. Keeping track of all these binders and maintaining them current became an impossible task.
Pruter suggested that the CLPCA fund the development of a hard bound manual containing all these publications, Sam Jaffe, the owner of BUILDING NEWS, INC., publisher of the building codes, Clay Johnson, Head of CLPCA, and Pruter developed the first edition of the PLASTER, METAL FRAMING SYSTEMS, LATH MANUAL in 1978. This provided in one document all the major references and specifications an architect or contractor would need to evaluate lath and plaster construction.
An updated edition was assembled in 1982 with the assistance of Jim Rose.Director of the SCPCA and Dick Forman, Director of the Plastering Information Bureau. This document received a national award from the CSI at their annual convention that year. The Current edition, published in 1988 by McGraw-Hill, under the editorial guidance of J. R. Gorman, Sam Jaffe, Jim Rose and Walt Pruter, resulted in more than 10,000 copies being placed in architectural firms across the country. The vast majority of the Southern California presentations were made by the PLASTER INFORMATION BUREAU.
Because the National Bureau for Lath and Plaster and its parent organization, the ASSOCIATION OF WALL AND CEILING CONTRACTORS INTERNATIONAL (AWCI) were doing nothing to educate and promote with Federal agencies construction done by the union Wall and Ceiling Contractors, several concerned bureaus organized the INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LATH & PLASTER (IILP).
The organizers of IILP were the California State Association (CLPCA), Plaster Information Bureau, Information Bureau for Drywall, Lath & Plaster, the Chicago Plastering Institute, the Minnesota Lath and Plaster Bureau, the Northern California Plaster Bureau, and the St. Louis Lath and Plaster Bureau. Because there were so many Veterans hospitals being designed at the time and because both the Army and Navy had major construction programs, members of IILP contacted these agencies in Washington, D.C., as well as the GSA and HUD/FHA. As a result of these visits, most of these agencies still solicit input on specifications and submittals for specific projects from IILP members. This has enabled us to get steel stud framing, veneer plaster and stucco curtain walls in California VA hospitals in La Jolla, Loma Linda, and Sawtelle and in the Minneapolis, Minnesota facility.
The largest organization in the world dedicated to the standardization and refinement of construction specifications is the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI). Both Gorman and Pruter have been active in the Los Angeles and Orange Counties chapters. The CSI convenes an annual meeting and building products show in various parts of the country. This year it was in Los Angeles and IILP used the Association's display. In the past twenty-five years that IILP has been representing the wall and ceiling industry in this show, we have sometimes built an exhibit with materials installed by our industry and built in the exhibit area with the aid of a local union subcontractor or apprentices.
Funding for operation of IILP has come from the Bureaus who are members, the Contractor Associations who subsidize the bureaus, and with minor contributions from the Lathers, Plasterers and Drywall Carpenters International Unions. A couple major lath and plaster manufacturers have also provided financial support over the years because they recognize that IILP is the only organization promoting lath and plaster on a national basis.
The CSI also holds regional and local product shows, as does the American Construction Inspectors Association (ACIA), the Producers' Council and various ICBO chapters at which tabletop displays are more suitable and the Bureaus regularly participate. They have also put on full-scale demonstrations of veneer plaster construction, Steel stud framing and proper lathing at architectural schools and at monthly meetings of the aforementioned organizations.
It has become increasingly common for architects who we have assisted with detailing and specification preparation to request our attendance at pre-job meetings and to make regular visits to projects under construction to assure them that their specs and details are being followed.
The advantage of these conferences is to get agreement as to what the intended work is to look like. The Subcontractor knows what input the Bureaus rep has contributed and if there is disagreement, this the time to clarify it.
Too frequently; however, some of the Association's contractors only call on the Bureau Technical Representative to present only their point of view and excuse questionable workmanship. In other words, they expect the trade promotion representative to be a "hired gun."
As of this date the technical representatives from the INFORMATION BUREAUS enjoy reputations as being knowledgeable, unbiased and concerned with producing projects without problems. Architects who have requested the Bureau representatives to visit a project and offer opinions usually accept their judgement, even if it is critical of the design. They must be allowed discretion.
This should be the direction that the Association's promotional efforts continue to go.
