BRICK ROADS. 19 
nary cream and for the second application it should be somewhat 
thicker. Mechanical mixers have also been satisfactorily used 
for mixing and spreading the grout, and where the amount of work 
to be done is sufficient to warrant such an initial outlay, they are 
usually economical. 
The pavement should be cleaned and thoroughly sprinkled as a 
preliminary to making the first application of grout, and it should 
be kept moist by gentle sprinkling while this application is being 
made. The grout should be swept into the joints immediately after 
it is removed from the boxes and spread upon the pavement. For 
this purpose a coarse rattan or fiber push broom should be used in 
the first application and a squeegee in the second application. The 
squeegee is usually made by clamping a piece of four-ply rubber 
belting or some other similar material, about 6 by 20 inches in size, 
between two pieces of board and attaching a suitable handle. The 
grout in the boxes should be continually stirred until the last of it 
is removed, otherwise a separation of the sand and cement will 
almost certainly occur. 
The first application should proceed sufficiently far in advance 
of the second for the grout of the first application to settle, but not 
to take its initial set before the second application is made. Usually 
both applications are made by the same crew of laborers. They 
simply turn back after having covered the allowable distance with 
the first application and, mixing the grout in the same boxes, bring 
up the second application. The second application of grout should 
completely fill the joints flush with the top of the brick. 
PROTECTING THE PAVEMENT. 
After the joints are filled as described above and the grout has 
taken its initial set, the entire surface should be covered to a depth 
of approximately 1 inch with sand or fine earth. This is done to 
protect the pavement from the weather and to keep it in a moist 
condition while the grout is hardening. If necessary, in order to 
keep the covering moist, it should be occasionally sprinkled for 
several days after it is spread. 
The covering should be permitted to remain on the surface for 
at least 10 days, and during this period the pavement should be kept 
entirely closed to traffic. If the weather is unfavorable, the length 
of time during which traffic is kept off the road should be increased, 
EXPANSION CUSHIONS. 
It has been customary in the past to provide both longitudinal and 
transverse bituminous expansion cushions in grout-filled brick pave- 
ments, but recent practice has demonstrated that the transverse 
