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Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Structural
Investigation of
Historic Buildings
A Case Study Guide to Preservation
Technology for Buildings, Bridges,
Towers, and Mills
David C. Fischetti
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Contents
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
vii
Acknowledgments
15
CHAPTER 3
Simplified Engineering
21
CHAPTER 4
41
CHAPTER 5
57
CHAPTER 6
71
CHAPTER 7
91
CHAPTER 8
115
CHAPTER 9
123
139
149
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vi
Contents
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181
207
211
227
241
253
263
Index
271
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Introduction
n North America, our built environment of what is commonly referred to as
historic structures typically includes everything 50 years of age or older. These
structures are as diverse as Montezuma Castle, a cliff dwelling of mud and stone
constructed in Arizona about 1150 A.D., to Dorton Arena, the worlds first cablesupported roof system, built in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1952.
The purpose of this book is to help prepare consulting structural engineers
and others to deal with issues unique to historic structures. This book will also
explore the reasons why engineering practitioners tend to shy away from these
projects. Unfortunately, for liability concerns, and other reasons, few American
structural engineers have embraced a preservation philosophy that allows for
the continued use of our architectural and structural heritage. And yet, with the
possible exception of the absence of timber design in some programs, civil
engineering curricula in most North American universities should adequately
equip the graduate engineer with sufficient skills to address the varied challenges posed by evaluation and condition assessment through observation,
measurement, analysis, and testing.
The case studies in this book are not totally representative of the full array
of possible building types that may be encountered by the great majority of
structural engineers. As case studies, they represent the particular experience
encountered in one consulting structural engineers practice. The building
types may be somewhat skewed by my experience in timber design and my
geographic location, and specifically, the states where I am registered to practice engineering.
This book can serve as a text in preservation courses for students of many
disciplines. Whether the curriculum is history, architecture, art history, planning, engineering, construction management, or materials based, there is a
need for the students who are anticipating a preservation career to know what
to expect from their structural engineer team members or consultants. The
seasoned structural engineer will find information useful to projects involving
existing buildings to the extent that one may wish to obtain continuing education credits in the field to fulfill registration obligations, or obtain some certificate or advanced degree in historic preservation.
vii
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viii
Introduction
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Introduction
ix
text. Reservations in the evaluation of wrought iron, and the unknowns associated with determining the capacity of unreinforced historic masonry or archaic
concrete systems, are but a few of the issues leading to the wholesale destruction of potentially serviceable buildings and bridges. For example, not knowing
the effects on strength of slag inclusions in wrought iron has caused structural
engineers to automatically call for the replacement, with new steel, of all the
possibly perfectly serviceable wrought iron tension rods in many building trusses
and historic bridges.
This book will also raise some questions that will be of interest to the research
community. Historic structures provide an excellent laboratory to study aspects of
structural engineering, materials science, forensic engineering, and building design.
This book emphasizes a preservation philosophy that stresses achieving
structural safety using traditional materials, based on modern analysis, measurement, and testing techniques. It is not a compilation of available ASTM
tests or a documentation of various archaic structural systems. Lessons learned
in historic preservation make us better designers of new structures.
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Acknowledgments
y career has been influenced by many people who do not appear in these
case histories who need to be acknowledged. Some, such as Wm. C. Vick
and Tommy Vick of Wm. C. Vick Construction Co. in Raleigh, NC afforded me
the opportunity to work on projects with some of these same design issues.
Robert C. Browning, P.E. was an engineer interested, early on, on the work I was
doing.
My parents Rose and Constantine Fischetti, of course, encouraged me in
my career. My grandfather Luigi Rinaldi, Master Brickmason, gave me my first
job in construction. I graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School thirty
years after my father. The teachers at Brooklyn Tech, most with industrial or
construction experience, had a positive influence, particularly Angelo Amatelli,
Head of the Structural Course of study. My timber design experience began at
Koppers Company, Inc. in Pittsburgh in the Unit Structures Department of the
Forest Products Division. I would like to thank Harry C. Smith, P.E. and Einar
Orsett, P.E. for their guidance.
Over the years many people have typed the various manuscripts which
enabled this book to be published: Denise Bowles, Beckie Mitchem, Dolly
Foster, Lynn McBride, Tami Wahl, and Connie Harrison. Most important is
Gretchen Moog Tippett whose work was crucial in the final production of the
manuscript. I want to also acknowledge Jim Harper, my editor, and Nancy
Cintron, production editor, at Wiley.
This book would not be possible without the work of my daughter Stephanie
A. Fischetti who assembled the initial outline and proposal.
Most of all I would like to thank my wife Joyce and our family for all of
their love and support.
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FIGURE 6-7
Floors were replaced
in the Eagle Block
(ca. 1835) in similar
fashion to Watauga
Hall. (See page 87 for
discussion.)
FIGURE 7-10
Lateral bracing
consisting of timber
poles and framing was
installed on both sidewalls. (See Chapter 7
for discussion of
St. Helenas Church.)
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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FIGURE 7-19
All exterior surfaces
were renewed,
including the steeple.
(See Chapter 7 for discussion of St. Helenas
Church.)
FIGURE 8-4
The technology used is
common to the timber
period of original
construction. (See
Chapter 8 for discussion of Market Hall.)
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FIGURE 8-5
The iron work was
restored to its original
configuration and color.
(See Chapter 8 for
discussion of Market
Hall.)
FIGURE 8-6
This completed
building again houses
the Confederate
Museum. (See Chapter
8 for discussion of
Market Hall.)
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FIGURE 9-5
The log church has
a false chimney and
cupola. (See pages 131
to 134 for discussion
of the St. Philips Log
Church.)
FIGURE 9-16
The masonry wall
was supported by
the mini-piles. Steel
bands were used to
provide under-slung
support to the wall.
(See Chapter 9 for
discussion of St.
Philips Church.)
FIGURE 10-1
View of the
surrounding property
from the attic. (See
Chapter 10 for
discussion of James
Madisons Montpelier.)
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FIGURE 10-10
Arnold Graton (shown
here) temporarily
braced the chimney
prior to removing soil
and installing jacks.
(See Chapter 10
for discussion of
Montpelier.)
FIGURE 10-12
The chimney extension
provided duct access
into the vertical spaces
within the chimney.
(See Chapter 10
for discussion of
Montpelier.)
FIGURE 12-7
The Horton-DuBignon
House on Jekyll Island
(ca. 1738) is one
of the oldest tabby
structures in Georgia.
(See Chapter 12 for
discussion on Tabby.)
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FIGURE 15-3
The deteriorated
members in the Utica
Road Covered Bridge
were replaced in kind.
(See page 213 for
discussion.)
FIGURE 15-4
The Old Salem
Covered Bridge is a
modified Burr. A partial
arch is shown here
during construction.
(See Chapter 17 for
discussion.)
FIGURE 15-8
The Bunker Hill
Covered Bridge
with repairs almost
completed. (See
pages 219225 for
discussion.)
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FIGURE 16-3
The cable stayed
system allowed for an
orderly rehabilitation
of the roof structure.
(See Chapter 16 for
discussion of the
Cornish-Windsor
Bridge.)
FIGURE 16-8
The governors of both
New Hampshire and
Vermont attended the
dedication ceremony.
(See Chapter 16 for
discussion of the
Cornish-Windsor
Bridge.)
FIGURE 17-1
The acrylic
panels provided
a weathertight
sidewall closure.
(See Chapter 17 for
discussion of the Old
Salem Covered Bridge.)
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FIGURE 18-1
The aqueduct consists
of three equal spans of
66 feet. (See Chapter
18 for discussion of the
Tohickon Aqueduct.)
FIGURE 18-7
The completed
aqueduct won a
National Timber
Bridge Award in 2002.
(See Chapter 18 for
discussion of the
Tohickon Aqueduct.)
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CHAPTER
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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REHABILITATION GUIDELINES
All structural engineers should obtain a copy of The Secretary of the Interiors
Standards for Rehabilitation. Under these standards, rehabilitation means the
process of returning a property to a state of utility, through repair or alteration,
which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those
portions and features of the property that are significant to its historic, architectural, and cultural value. Minimum alteration of the building, its environment, and its distinguishing architectural qualities is required for a project to
qualify as a certified rehabilitation benefiting from the provisions of the tax
act. Archeological resources must be protected, as well as significant historical,
architectural, or cultural material. An understanding of the historical significance of a building must be obtained to enable the engineer to provide an
acceptable solution to a particular design problem while following the secretarys standards.
The guidelines for applying The Secretary of the Interiors Standards for
Rehabilitation recommend recognition of the special problems inherent in
the structural system of historic buildings, especially where there are visible
signs of cracking, deflection, or failure. In addition, stabilization and repair
of weakened structural members and systems when damaged or inadequate
are recommended. Historically important structural members are to be
replaced only when necessary.1
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with primitive methods and materials. Many historic structures were not
rigorously analyzed, but proportioned by the eye of an experienced builder or
simply built as was the custom.
If the engineer becomes involved in even a small portion of a historic preservation project, there must be adequate compensation for the assumed liability. The engineer must be completely satisfied that a structure meets the loading
requirements for its intended occupancy, as well as all external forces.
Structural evaluations usually include a determination of the ability of a
floor or roof system to support these service loads. An existing structure might
have to be monitored in order to obtain data for such an evaluation. Testing
programs may have to be designed to aid in determining the strength of component materials or complete assemblies. Methods may consist of destructive
or nondestructive testing of component materials or load tests of structural
members such as beams or assemblies such as trusses. It will likely be necessary to adapt current testing methods for field use on historic structures.
Accurate field measurements are essential in defining the structure and its
condition. Surveying methods have been successfully utilized in determining
the stiffness of deflected beams and trusses. A topographic plan of the floor
surface of a historic structure will yield a useful visual representation of an
irregular floor if the contour interval is small. Irregular floors in a historic
structure could be caused by movement in the supporting soils, timber decay
or shrinkage, or deflection of structural components. The ability to interpret
the response of a structure to background vibrations and induced vibrations
has made vibratory testing a valuable historic preservation tool. X-ray, liquid
penetrant, nuclear particle density meters, and ultrasonic techniques are being
used to evaluate various construction materials.
The correct interpretation of masonry cracks may yield accurate information regarding the location and amounts of settlement or thermal movement.
Monitoring such cracks is possible with telltales such as glass slides epoxied
to the wall surface on each side of a fissure. Even slight movement can be
detected by using such a strategy. Accurate monitoring of cracks is possible
with calibrated telltales accurate to within one millimeter and electronic strain
gauges.
Load testing a historic structure may be the only reasonable way to justify
conditions or materials that are difficult to analyze. In designing a load test, the
engineer must call for the application of realistic loads carefully applied.
Great care should be taken before applying twice the design live load, as
required by many building codes, to a historic structure. For timber structures it
may be unrealistic to apply full live load plus an increase for a period such as 24
or 48 hours, when the structure actually will never reach that service loading for
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Materials Research
FIGURE 1-1
This load test utilized
water to determine
the average stiffness
of a series of recycled
joists.
MATERIALS RESEARCH
Research may yield information useful in the evaluation, rehabilitation, or renovation of the historic structure. Original plans, construction photographs,
and written or oral accounts may provide clues to the original design or construction methodology. Old textbooks or materials handbooks may provide
design methods and design strengths of various materials.
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Mortar for face brick should match the original mortar in color, texture,
density, and porosity. It should have strength equal or less than that of the
original mortar. New mortar should have hardness equal to or less than that of
the original brick, as determined by testing. The color of mortar used for
repointing should be matched to the original by matching the color of original
aggregates and mortar components as closely as possible. An archeological
search may uncover ingredients of the original job mixed mortar, such as oyster
shells, in the soil strata at the site in the builders trench, which contains other
construction debris.
The density and strength of historic brick units are a function of their
position in the kiln and how well they were fired. Salmon brick, which are
lightly burned, were typically reserved for the center of a wall and the harder,
better burned, brick used as exterior face brick. Because of the extreme variations in their strength and durability, the use of salvaged brick should be
discouraged.
There are manufacturers who can match old brick very accurately and
several manufacturers who are making bricks by the old methods. These bricks
and a compatible lime mortar design mix are what is required to match the
brick masonry of historic buildings. Repointing brick masonry is a waterproofing procedure and not a solution for structural problems. The repointing
process is a critical procedure that should be done in carefully selected areas
with great care.4
Materials engineers should become familiar with the components of historic mortars, and in that light review the methods for sampling and testing of
masonry. The Brick Institute of America, Technical Notes on Brick Construction, no. 39A, reviews procedures for testing brick prisms.5 The standard
ASTM methods of tests for masonry assemblages are especially applicable to
the testing of historic masonry because of the possible variation in the mortar
and brick strengths. The performance of historic mortar and brick can be evaluated in this way, not as individual components, but as they would perform
together in the wall. Of course, obtaining suitable undisturbed samples for
testing can be a problem with fragile materials.
Once a replacement brick is selected and the original mortar approximated, prism testing of replacement masonry should yield information regarding allowable stresses that may be used in design. Mortar analysis and mix
design should be accompanied by strength tests that can be evaluated by a
materials testing engineer. There has been a tendency in the field of historic
preservation to select brick and mortar so that they merely look right when
placed alongside original masonry. The structural engineer can best determine
that strength characteristics of replacement masonry materials are as compatible
as the color and texture.
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FIGURE 1-2
The entrance gates
for Camden (Railroad)
Yards in Charleston,
South Carolina, were
restored and the stucco
was renewed.
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10
The past practice of excessively notching floor or roof joists into carrying
members must be reviewed by the structural engineer using the end-notched
beam formulae presented in various timber design manuals and textbooks.8
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11
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12
FIGURE 1-4
The presence of
field bolts provide
an opportunity to
dismantle a historic
bridge in the same way
it was assembled.
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References
13
CONCLUSION
As the movement towards the preservation, restoration, rehabilitation, and
adaptive reuse of historic structures expands, structural engineers will find
themselves playing an ever-increasing role. To be successful, they must apply
their engineering knowledge and skill in a sensitive manner providing a safe
environment while preserving the significant historic, architectural, and cultural value of historic structures and places.
REFERENCES
1. U.S. Department of the Interior, The Secretary of the Interiors Standards
for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings
(Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979).
2. The North Carolina Building Code Council and the North Carolina Department of Insurance, North Carolina State Building Code, vol. I (Raleigh:
The North Carolina Department of Insurance, 2006).
3. Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, Engineering Date Report, no.11,
Evaluation of Reinforcing Steel in Old Concrete Structures, (Chicago:
Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute: 1981).
4. Harley J. McKee, F. A. I. A., Introduction to Early American Masonry:
Stone, Brick, Mortar and Plaster, National Trust for Historic Preservation
and Columbia University, Washington Preservation Press, 1973.
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14
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CHAPTER
eeting the requirements of the building code is not the same as assuring the
public of a safe structure. Structural engineers have the training and experience to make the necessary judgments needed to keep a historic structure in
service when parameters appear to fall short of minimum code requirements.
TIMBER MISUNDERSTOOD
Timber is the primary structural component for most historic structures in the
United States and Canada. Although the structures might also include brick
and stone masonry, iron, steel, or concrete, timber is often the most misunderstood construction material of all. Part of the misunderstanding lies in our
educational system. Many structural engineers earn degrees in structural engineering without ever taking a course in timber design. It is unfortunate that in
North America, with our tremendous stock of timber-framed buildings and our
strong forest products industry, more structural engineering curricula do not
include at least introductory courses in timber design.
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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16
PRESERVATION PHILOSOPHY
It is hoped that by learning more about timber design, structural engineers will
develop a preservation philosophy that demands rigorous analysis in order to
justify doing nothing to a historic timber structure that has been performing
satisfactorily for many years. Buildings that analysis (and observation) clearly
indicate are unsafe would be reinforced in the most sensitive manner in an
attempt to retain as much historic fabric as possible. Buildings that require
extensive modification or reconstruction would be restored in a way that is in
keeping with the original construction if possible, while fulfilling safety requirements. Often, engineers are asked to evaluate framing members to determine
the capacity of an existing floor structure in a historic structure. This review
process differs considerably from design.
STRUCTURAL REVIEW
Members in the horizontal planesuch as floor sheathing, joists, purlins, and
beamsare stressed principally in bending. The resisting bending moment is a
measure of the strength of such an element. This measure, stiffness, and horizontal shear make up the three qualities that are normally checked during the
process of selection that we call design. Because timber is available in certain
standard lumber sizes, the designer selects from the available sizes, grades, and
species those that most economically meet the predetermined standards for
bending stress, deflection, and horizontal shear. When the engineer reviews the
capacity of an existing member, many parameters complicate the process of
selecting appropriate lumber. Size, span, and spacing of members are dictated
by the structure. It is the engineers task to determine the size, orientation,
species, grade, and end condition of all of the structural elements in a building
that already exists. Between the factors of limited availability of types of lumber,
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17
ENGINEERING JUDGMENT
Often, the structural engineer must pass judgment on a structure that has
endured far beyond what we consider to be a normal period of service. The
timbers of such a structure were not selected on the basis of modern engineering analysis. They certainly do not bear inspection marks attesting to their
grade and species.
It should be obvious to the engineer that a safe floor structure should not fail
in bending due to the actual loads imposed. But it is important to recognize that
excessive deflection, excessive vibration, or a lack of stiffness, should not automatically categorize a floor structure as unsafe. Strict deflection limitations
should be set for floors that support plaster ceilings in lieu of wood or tin ceilings, or no ceilings at all. But for comfort, the deflection limitation set in most
building codes for floors, no matter what the ceiling, is 1/360th of the span.
It must be said that overstressed structural members may also be perfectly
safe. It is important for the engineer to evaluate the basis for his conclusion regarding the safety of the structure. When making such an evaluation, the loads assumed
for design should be reconciled with the actual loads that will occur in service. The
design values that we assume are critical to the computed capacity of some floor
systems include factors of safety of 2.5 to 3.0. For structures such as mill buildings, average design values yield results that fall well above the minimum code
requirements for adaptive reuse occupancy, such as residential, office, or retail.
The actual distribution of loads in a structure, similar to live load reduction factors for tributary area, can account for the continued service for heavily
loaded members such as stair and fireplace headers, and summer beams that
may appear to the engineer to be grossly undersized. Many times, these members deflect more than is desirable for comfort.
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18
load. The duration of load was found to be as critical as the magnitude of the
load. Presumably, this sensitivity to the duration of load is a result of the natural composition of timber, which consists of a tightly bound bundle of cells that
tend to stretch or elongate with time. The larger and more constant the load,
the more stretching of fibers occurs. The effects of this creep can be seen in
many timber structures through excessive deflection. For short durations of
load, allowable design values are increased substantially.
Research into this time-versus-stress relationship is of paramount importance. Only through evaluating historic timber structures can we solve this
puzzle, which is complicated by cyclic loading, original moisture content, member size, span, species, grade, temperature, humidity, and magnitude of stress.
REPLACEMENT-IN-KIND
Often, replacement-in-kind is not economically feasible. More advances are
being made in the field of timber design than in any other area of structural
engineering. Recent products include laminated veneer lumber and numerous
other beam and joist substitutes. The most important benefits of these reconstituted wood products is the availability of long lengths, higher design values,
and greater stiffness. Preservationists and preservation engineers must determine the appropriateness of these materials to each case.
CASE HISTORIES
Presented here are several projects that required us to determine the load
capacity or safety of an existing floor structure. The Montague Building is discussed further in Chapter 6.
Walker Building
Sometime later, we reviewed the floor structure of the 1917 Walker Building at
the State Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire. Assuming a reasonable set of
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Conclusion
19
Montague Building
In 1985, at my direction, six floor joists from the 1903 Montague Building in
Raleigh, North Carolina, were tested to destruction. Of the five joists tested (of
six joists selected; one was found not suitable for testing), the average bending
stress at rupture was in excess of 5,000 psi. The average modulus of elasticity was
1,295,000 psi. These measures of strength and stiffness were used to evaluate the
capacity of the floor structure. To meet tenant loads for possible retail occupancy
in this speculative office building, I recommended that all of the existing floor
joists be reinforced. (The Montague Building is also discussed in Chapter 6).
Moorfields
At Moorfields, a 1792 house in Hillsborough, North Carolina, the excessive
deflection of a summer beam was evaluated by measuring offsets in the floor
surface above the beam. Based on field measurements and computer analysis,
I was convinced that the summer beam had failed. Indeed, when exposed to
view during construction by removing the ceiling plaster, the summer beam
contained a severe fracture consistent with a typical bending failure. The only
replacement beam available of sufficient stiffness and strength that would fit
between in the space between the floor sheathing and the ceiling was a steel
tube section approximately equal to the original timber beam in size.
CONCLUSION
Only through specialized knowledge and experience can structural engineers
make the necessary judgments needed to properly evaluate historic timber
structures. The engineer must be convinced that the structural model in the
computer is an accurate representation of actual conditions. Once that is clear,
the application of rigorous analysis, testing, and engineering judgment may be
necessary to explain why the historic timber structure in question has performed adequately for many years.
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CHAPTER
Simplified Engineering*
INTRODUCTION
he field of structural engineering has grown more complex as we begin the
twenty-first century. The profession of structural engineering evolved from
principles first developed in the 1840s by American pioneers such as Squire
Whipple (18041888) and Herman Haupt (18171905). These men were
among the first to publish engineering pamphlets and textbooks based on
rational mathematical or graphical analysis of simple structures. At that time,
the unparalleled growth of the railroads required that reliable methods of analysis be invented for bridge construction.
In the last few years, events and certain attitudes have combined to produce a highly complicated world for practicing engineers. Methods of analysis
have grown more complex. For many years, the fundamental principles necessary for the design of simple structures did not change. Now, advances in computer technology, applications, and usage, stronger materials, composite and
orthotropic materials, and plastic or load [resistance] factor design applications have changed the ways buildings and bridges are designed. Other requirements, such as continuing education, peer review, and changes in registration
laws are thrust upon the engineer in an effort to obtain more accountability.
* This paper was originally written for the Fall 1995 Lecture Series, Sponsored by The Structural
Group Boston Society of Civil Engineers, Section American Society of Civil Engineers.
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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22
Simplified Engineering
In order to be more productive and efficient in the areas that we can control,
engineers might consider the concept of simplified engineering.
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23
meets all of the requirements of the project. This can be a shortcut to a solution
based on sound engineering judgment, resulting in the appropriate effort
applied to various tasks.
Simplified engineering becomes a critical issue when it is practiced as a response
to unwieldy or difficult computer software. To use most structural software, the
designer requires a block of uninterrupted time. If this time is not available,
the designer may abandon the software in favor of a less accurate hand calculation.
In some cases simplification may actually yield more accurate final results. For
example, a plane frame analysis of a three-dimensional steeple structure may afford
the engineer an opportunity to get the feel of the structure when compared to a
three-dimensional analysis with its complicated coordinate system, which results in
reams of pages of output. The cost of increased accuracy in engineering calculations is a decreased sense and understanding, or feel for the numbersparticularly,
the results. It is reasonable to expect that the design engineer will have a sense of
an expected range of results prior to performing the calculations.
The computer industry lags far behind in the production of efficient userfriendly software for structural engineers. Although great advances have been
made in the development of faster general plane frame analysis programs with
more capacity, design programs for individual beam and column members are
often unwieldy. For example, some Composite Steel Beam Design programs
require two pages of printout for each beam analyzed. Traditionally, structural
engineers have batched tasks, analyzing all columns at one time, or all similarly loaded beams together. One 8 11 sheet of printout should be sufficient to display the output for 12 to 24 beams or columns. Anton Tedesko
pointed out in a recent issue of Civil Engineering magazine that computers
have not diminished the value of back-of-an-envelope calculations.6
Computer analyses are of great help when used in the proper context,
when modeling of the structure is correct, when the actual boundary conditions are taken into account and the output is examined and interpreted by an
experienced engineer. It is a misconception, however, that sophisticated computer analyses through greater accuracy will lead to better designs. The quality
of a design is not a function of the exactness of the calculations, and it is not
necessary to strive for great accuracy in a numerical analysis when the accuracy
of the assumption is not known.
Many of the calculations made today are not necessary. Sometimes calculations are produced because the analyst is fascinated with the program or is
taken in by the sheer beauty of the analysis. At other times, someone wants to
show how many pages of calculations have been produced; sometimes this is
done to impress a client.
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24
Simplified Engineering
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Engineers have simplified their work for many years through the use of
handbooks. Often the use of handbooks requires the engineer to interpolate
between tabulated values. In many cases a code mandated requirement will
govern the design. For example, in concrete, #4 reinforcing steel spaced 12
inches on center may be the minimum reinforcing recommended by the American
Concrete Institute for a specific application. A designer might make the minimum steel beam size a W10x14 to allow sufficient depth for clip angle connections with space for a minimum of two rows of bolts. The Underwriters
Laboratory might require a minimum composite beam size of W8x28 to obtain
a certain fire resistance rating. With minimum requirements in place, the design
effort is simplified by omitting the design of elements, which, by inspection,
exceed the minimum requirements for stiffness and strength.
The Hyatt-Regency walkway collapse in Kansas City and recent economic
forces have changed the way structural engineers work. Previously, the engineer of record had more back-up. Steel companies were then staffed with complete engineering departments. The steel companys engineers would review a
project prior to bidding and construction, adding their input to the estimating
and detailing efforts.
Now, with steel companies employing minimal engineering staffs consisting of contract drafters located at remote sites, the engineer of record does not
benefit from another pair of eyes looking at a project. The profession and the
steel industry have redefined the roles of the various parties. From connection
design to standard details, the steel fabricator assumes no responsibility.
Many fabricators do not check shop drawings prior to submittal, thus shifting
more of the burden onto the structural designer of record.
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Simplified Engineering
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Does the client care whether the columns in a building frame are to be
designed by computer considering bi-axial bending due to possible eccentricity, or merely selected from a handbook?
Discussion of simplified engineering with owners, clients, and non-engineering
professionals is risky. The decision of whether to simplify a portion of the analysis
should be left to the engineer of record. Discussion with nonengineering professionals of simplified engineering may lead them to think that engineering design
is simple or that it can be simplified. The clients natural conclusion would be that
they should expect a quick turnaround for a reduced fee.
Code of Design
Often, mandated code requirements force engineers to design beyond the limits
of good engineering judgment. For example, it may be obvious to the designer
that certain loading conditions will not be necessary because of the configuration, construction type, location, or occupancy of a building.
We have seen wind-, snow-, and seismic-mandated code requirements
increase in complexity in recent years. Wind load factors, snowdrift coefficients,
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Simplified Engineering
and seismic analysis methods have greatly increased the complexity of structural
design for the typical building. Supposedly, complicated and unwieldy loading
conditions are a result of more accurate scientific or engineering research. But,
at the same time, the coefficients provided in the current building codes often
result in less snow, wind, or seismic force being applied to a structure compared to what the previous codes would have required. Most practicing engineers, if given the choice, would opt for the simpler series of loads, knowing
full well that they might be conservative.
From a structural engineers standpoint, there should be provisions in the
code for alternate simple load provisions for wind, snow, and seismic design at
this time when fees for architectural and engineering services are shrinking, and
the expectations of our clients are rising. It is debatable whether the design
community is designing safer structures today because of the complicated snowdrift, wind loads, and seismic requirements than we did with the earlier codes.
Timber Design
Although wood is a very complicated building material, for 150 years it has
been simple to design. The 1991 National Design Specification for Wood Construction (NDS) changed what was for many years a simple column formula
into a more complex mathematical expressionan example of increased complexity in timber design. The previous design procedure shown in the 1985
edition of the Timber Construction Manual and earlier editions of the NDS
was recently revised to include a column-stability factor based on a procedure
proposed by A. Yline in 1956.
This method permits estimation of the buckling stress and the required
cross-sectional area for concentrically applied loads on straight columns in the
elastic and inelastic ranges. The column stability factor is a complicated equation. Bruce Pooley, director of technical services for the American Institute of
Timber Construction, admits, Calculating Cp is lengthy when done by hand,
but quickly computed with a programmable calculator, a computer spreadsheet, or any one of a number of software programs developed for wood
design. He indicated that the new design method was equation based, meaning that it was assumed that practicing engineers would program the equation
into their computers, thus reducing the pain of dealing with such a complicated set of mathematical expressions.7
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29
believe that now that we have computers, it does not matter how complicated
the math is. Programs are viewed as a black box, a sort of mixing bowl, where
the ingredients are placed without regard to the internal process but with complete confidence in the results.
To the practicing engineer, LRFD is an unwieldy method of design promoted by the academic community and various large engineering firms. Allowable stress design gives the designer real numbers for use in a simple world
where the design is either OK or no good. Working stress design is simple
and commonly understood. Stress is proportional to strain below the elastic
limit. Why would an engineer want to delve into that domain above which
elastic materials begin to yield? Ultimate strength design, which originated for
concrete in the 1956 and 1963 American Concrete Institute specifications,
required nearly a quarter of a century to replace working stress design.
Vibratory Analysis
Several years ago, the issue of floor vibration was considered by the North
Carolina State Building Code Council for incorporation into the building code.
This came at a time when the expectations of consumers were rising. In North
Carolina, complaints regarding excessive floor vibration in residential structures caused the Structural Committee of the Building Code Council in 1991
to consider making vibratory analysis part of the building code at roughly the
same time that the CABO code was being adopted.
At the time, some argued that the Building Code Committee should not
recommend that a vibratory analysis, by a professional engineer, be a required
part of the code because the vibratory response of a floor is independent of its
structural capacity. The vibratory response of a floor is difficult to quantify, and
requiring a vibratory analysis in the building code would lead to increased litigation for real or imagined problems that are not a measure of safety. A suggestion was made to simplify the problem by placing in the code minimum
depth-to-span recommendations that have been shown to minimize vibratory
problems. That advice was not implemented, and code mandated vibratory
analysis was avoided for the time being.
Seismic Design
In light of the earthquakes in Northridge, California, and Kobe, Japan, engineering researchers are rethinking the current approach to seismic design.
Research undertaken at the present time will result in almost immediate
changes in the building codes. Seismic design is a market to exploit. Grant
monies for studies and research is flowing from Washington in response to
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Simplified Engineering
major earthquake activity. Large design firms armed with grants can target
areas of the country susceptible to seismic activity and market their specialized
expertise, filling a void the local consultants may have discounted. Seismic
damage makes great television press. Municipal, hospital, school, and other
administrators cannot ignore the risks associated with a major earthquake. The
more complicated the analysis needs to be, the more important it is to hire
specialists to design seismic resistant foundations and buildings, and to determine how to modify the underlying soils or isolate the foundations of existing
buildings. Will the academic community and code officials recommend simple
methods of analysis that can be applied easily to new and existing buildings in
order to reduce the risk of damage during a seismic event? Probably not.
Several questions should be asked before we adopt complicated or excessive seismic requirements into our building codes. First, what is the risk of
injury, death, or property damage in the United States due to a seismic event?
Second, how much will seismic provisions add to the cost of rehabilitating or
adding to existing structures? Third, how much will a seismic analysis add to
the cost of engineering and architectural fees for new or existing structures?
Fourth, how many clients will be willing to pay extra for a seismic analysis?
History since 1750 indicates that in most of the United States, the risk of
death or property damage from a seismic event is extremely small. There are
many reasons for the low seismic mortality rate. Population density, construction methods and materials, geotechnical conditions, and climate are some of
the factors that affect the number of deaths that may occur as a result of a
seismic event. North American building codes and zoning ordinances limit
population density in our cities. Cultural factors tend to limit the number of
children living in single-family dwellings in North America.
Construction methods in North America tend to limit the risk of earthquake-related deaths. One of the methods worth mentioning involves the use
of mortar and unit masonry, which is far superior to the unit masonry used in
many less-developed countries today or in any country in the past. Joint reinforcing is included in most commercial masonry walls built in North America.
Many residential buildings in North America are framed with dimensional
lumber, which is light and strong. Except in certain regions, North American
builders tend to not roof buildings with heavy concrete or clay tile products.
Buildings constructed in North America today are required by building codes
to bear on properly proportioned footings resting on an adequate subgrade. In
many overpopulated parts of the world, housing is constructed on steep slopes
or filled in land not suited for agriculture or other activities. In American cities,
such as Charleston, Boston, and San Francisco, which are underlaid with soft
clays, pile, or caisson foundations are typically provided for large buildings.
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31
All of the existing buildings in North America are new when compared to
many of the buildings found in other parts of the world. But the most important single factor pertaining to absence of property damaged or deaths during
past seismic events is the absence of large seismic events.
The East Coast has, no doubt, experienced many earthquakes, although
the Appalachian mountain chain is one of the oldest, seismically inert ranges
in the world. Records dating from 1750 indicate that although 2,750,000
people have died as a result of earthquakes worldwide, the record in the United
States is very good and most states have not yet recorded a fatality.
State
# of major
earthquakes
Largest
number of
deaths in one
event
Alaska
131
10
667
1049
Idaho
Hawaii
173
234
California
Date
Total # of deaths
134
Massachusetts
Missouri
10
10
Montana
30
Nevada
Oregon
South Carolina
83
Dec. 4, 1993
Texas
Utah
Total
32
2
83
1544
The total number of deaths from earthquakes since 1750 in the United
States is 1544. The earthquake-related deaths in Hawaii were the result of tidal
waves. The 1886 earthquake in Charleston, South Carolina, is the only major
earthquake to be located on the East Coast. The deep layer of marl beneath
Charleston is one reason for the heavy damage. St. Philips and St. Michaels
Churches in Charleston, South Carolina, were both badly damaged. Although
the heavy steeples of both churches settled almost a foot, both buildings were
repaired and have continued in service since 1886. Similarly, they were repaired
after tornadoes and hurricanes such as Hugo in 1989. In the Winter 1990 issue
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Simplified Engineering
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33
stone cladding, large chimneys, and masonry parapets above a certain height
should be subject to seismic review in all cases.
Based on the limited risk of a seismic event in most of the United States, it
is in the best interest of the public, the construction industry, and architectural
and engineering professions, to limit the complexity of the seismic code and its
application to existing buildings.
When California and Hawaii are excluded, we have suffered a total of 261
deaths from earthquakes in 245 years. More structural engineers in the United
States will die from heart attacks due to stresscaused, in part, by an effort to
implement a complicated seismic codethan all of the earthquake victims
combined.
Legal Implications
The greatest legal implication of using simplified engineering methods is the
potential needed to defend our designs should they be challenged for whatever
reason. Unfortunately, modern-day structural engineering is so complex that it
is very easy for a sharp attorney armed with the testimony of expert witnesses
to prove negligence.
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Simplified Engineering
compressed, leaving the designers very little time to produce documents, let
alone time to cogitate and coordinate. The engineer of record has the ultimate
responsibility for the design. Sufficient time must be provided in the schedule
for a thorough final check and review of all the documents prior to bidding.
Third-Party Review
Simplified engineering can result in real problems in a project with third-party
review if the reviewer does not understand the methodology or does not agree that
the simplified model is sufficiently accurate to produce a correct result. Simplified
engineering can be a valuable tool for checking or verifying a design by others.
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Bridges
35
BRIDGES
Bridges are built using simplified engineering when components such as prestressed, precast concrete are selected from tables for short standard spans.
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Simplified Engineering
Of course, the tables are produced by the most rigorous analysis methods. This
type of simplified engineering is often used at the Type Study Phase of bridge
design as a tool for comparison of structure types and costs. Simplified engineering, however, is not likely to be used in the final design phase of a bridge.
The standard code for bridges published by the American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHO) has, like the building codes,
increased in complexity. One example of the increased complexity can be found
in the change of the distribution factor for wheel loadings on interior bridge
girders. The spacing factor of S/11 will soon be changed to a much more complex expression. Fortunately for the designer, computer programs can be used
for the calculation. However, the feel for the number becomes lost, if not
nonexistent.
ENGINEERING EDUCATION
In the 1960s, the computer became the modern tool for analysis, and many
practical courses disappeared from the structural engineering curriculum.
First, Surveying was eliminated. Then, Mechanical Drafting and Freehand
Drawing were combined into Graphic Analysis. Some design and drafting
courses were dropped from the curriculum in favor of basic computer programming. The Maxwell diagram, the string polygon, and Bows notation are
unknown to the younger generation of engineers. Yet, what simple but beautiful methods of analysis these were! Graphical analysis was so simple and
logical that many truss manufacturers employed drafters to do this work.
Pier Luigi Nervi remarked, I believe that graphical statics should play an
important role in this last educational phase, since its procedures give a direct
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CONCLUSION
It is now time to pause for a moment and study how structural engineering will
be practiced in the twenty-first century. The engineers of record must be
allowed some leeway to determine load criteria and methods of analysis, free
from third-party interference. We should demand the freedom to simplify our
work in order to satisfy our own requirements for structural safety while meeting increased client expectations of time, quality, and cost.
If we are not careful, practicing structural engineers will become mere
technicians designing structures with prepackaged software written by programmers, on the basis of methods and formulas developed by academics and
prescribed by code officials, in accordance with criteria set by architects who
have little to no knowledge of structure whatsoever. Now, it is not enough just
to do the design and bear the responsibility; we must also perform the analysis
in a prescribed manner to the satisfaction of others, all the while assuring them
of our continued professional development.
REFERENCES
1. Antonio M. Garcia, Computers, Creativity, and the Engineer, Civil Engineering, 63 (8) (August 1993): 6.
2. Percival White, The July Almanac, The Atlantic Monthly, 276 (1) (July
1995).
3. Ario Ceccotti, The Earthquake Performance Challenge, Wood Design
Focus, 1 (4) (Winter 1990).
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Bibliography
39
BIBLIOGRAPHY
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO), Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges, 15th ed. (Washington, D.C.: AASHTO, 1995).
American Concrete Institute (ACI), Building Code Requirements for Reinforced Concrete (Detroit: ACI, 1956 and 1965).
American Institute of Timber Construction (AITC), Timber Construction Manual, 3rd ed. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1985).
American Society of Civil Engineers, American Wooden Bridges, ASCE Historical Publication no. 4, 1976.
ASCE Standard: Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures
(ASCE 7-95). Public Ballot Draft Copy. ASCE Washington, D.C.
Conrad P Roberge and Glenn R. Bell, Regulated Structural Peer Review,
Civil Engineering Practice (Fall/Winter 1994).
Gerry Gilliam, Brazil, Movie by Embassy International Pictures, starring
Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Catherine Helmond, Terry Gilliam, MCA
produced. 1985.
Herman Haupt, Reminiscences of General Herman Haupt (July 1901).
Wright, John W. ed. The Universal Almanac. Kansas City: Andrews & McMeel
Publishing, 1995. pp. 566567.
National Forest Products Association (NFPA), National Design Specification
for Wood Construction (Washington, D.C.: NFPA, 1991), pp. 103104,
and 125.
National Forest Products Association, National Design Specifications for Wood
Construction, (Washington, D.C.: National Forest Products Association,
1991).
Squire Whipple, A Work on Bridge Building: Consisting of Two Essays (Utica,
NY: H. H. Curtiss, Printer, Devereux Block, 1847).
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CHAPTER
PRESERVATION PHILOSOPHY
proper preservation philosophy requires that repairs to timberframe structures respect the work of the original framer. Through observation, measurement, testing, and analysis the structural engineer must select and design a
repair that is appropriate to the task. It is often the structural engineer who
makes the decision to repair or replace. Sometimes that decision is a response
to the desires of the architect working in concert with the owner or a requirement of the contract, based on state or federal funds, or based on a particular
grant, or the necessity to obtain tax credits for historic preservation. How the
design is communicated to owner, architect, and general contractor often
determines whether a project is successful. It is important to persuade stakeholders that craftpersons with specific skills are required, as well as materials
that may not be readily available. Suggestions for temporary shoring and bracing, must be transmitted to those doing the work when such bracing has structural implications. Specific solutions involving traditional connections and
materials must be thoroughly detailed and specified.
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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SPECIALTY CONTRACTORS
We have caused various owners and general contractors to engage specialty
contractors and conservation professionals to accomplish tasks that are not
common in todays construction market. We have recommended manufacturers of handmade brick, restoration masons, timber framers, structural movers,
stone masons, specialty lumber suppliers, glued laminated timber manufacturers, foundries, preservation architects, testing laboratories, surveyors, historians, wood scientists, grant writers, marine contractors, specialists in ground
modification and the installation of mini or pipe pile foundations, and other
conservation professionals.
These days, many general contractors are uncomfortable with aspects of
projects that involve jacking, shoring, or underpinning. Often, the only answer
is to engage a specialty contractor to undertake this work. For many projects,
we have provided qualification-based specifications causing the general contractor to obtain the services of such contractors. Certainly, the standard specifications for shoring and bracing are applicable for projects involving patent
scaffolding used in the typical applications. In these cases, engineers working
for the scaffolding firms expect to receive from the engineer of record a tabulation of the loads to be supported by the patent scaffolding system. They are
very uncomfortable when approached for a project that involves jacking as
well as shoring, or the use of patent scaffolding in unusual ways, such as in a
condition that will require the system to be braced to resist lateral loads.
Although the engineer of record should not become responsible for means
and methods at the construction site, enough information must be provided in
the contract documents to describe the work in sufficient detail for it to be
accomplished. We have received pressure from owners, who should know better, such as state departments of transportation, to provide shoring and bracing
details in the structural drawings. In other cases, we decided to include
suggested information regarding shoring and bracing in the plans, with a
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Specialty Contractors
43
disclaimer stating that means and methods of construction, shoring and bracing
shall remain the responsibility of the general contractor and that the details
shown in the drawings are suggestions only. In several cases, we have specified
that the specialty contractor be a member of the International Association of
Structural Movers. Members of IASM are well versed in shoring, bracing, jacking, and cribbing and the effects on buildings and their components.
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44
Fortunately, we were able to convince the general contractor that the floor
could be separated from its supports, and the supporting conditions modified
in such a way, that with very little effort, the existing floor structure could be
reused. It helped that the crawl space had sufficient headroom and that the
perimeter-wall baseboards were easily removed prior to jacking the floor.
Incorporating the Sunday School annex into the sanctuary increased the
square footage by 75 percent. Existing floor joists that were embedded in
the pockets in the exterior brick wall had to be cut along the face of the wall so
that a double pressure-treated nailer could be inserted as support for the joists.
Joist hangers were supplied to reattach the joists to the nailer, which was bolted
to the brick masonry wall.
The structural aspects of this project included plans and specifications to
describe structural engineering requirements for the new chancel platform;
to design solutions to eliminate the step at the existing roll-down and sloping
the floor of the Sunday School annex; to design miscellaneous framing at a new
pipe organ as well as engineering tasks related to creating an opening in the
existing archway, to address raising the lintel above the arch and cutting
the second floor of the education wing; and to revise walls and openings at the
chancel wall/choir loft. To accommodate a new pipe organ, a Gothic archway
had to be created and the chancel platform enlarged. For all of this to work, the
discontinuity between the sanctuary and Sunday School annex had to be
removed.
At Trinity United Methodist Church, the local general contractor was able
to adjust the slope of the flat floor to match the main floor, once we explained
what we had in mind. Fortunately, very little input was required by us during
construction of this portion of the project. With the church located approximately 120 miles from our office, extensive jobsite observation and consultation would have been difficult.
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Specialty Contractors
45
because the interior wood-framed wall was less stiff than the opposite brick
masonry wall, all of the deflection occurred in the easterly direction. It was my
understanding that the church leaders, rather than soliciting a condition assessment from an architect or structural engineer, responded to the building inspector, who was concerned that the deflection was an indication of great weakness
in the superstructure that had to be repaired. The building inspector went so
far as to say that the building was unsafe. Apparently, rather than obtaining
second and third opinions, they decided to sell this fairly valuable property
consisting of the church sanctuary, fellowship hall, parking lots, and educational and administrative spaces. Faced with unknown expenses associated
with replacing of the roof system and reframing the choir wall, choir loft, and
narthex, they felt justified in selling, at below market value, the property to a
developer team consisting of several real estate investors.
We became involved when the developer, upon the recommendation of a
local architect, decided that we might be able to determine how to repair or
replace the roof system. Our initial contact was a phone call from one of the
investors. The following phone memo was in my in box:
Just bought a historic church in Chapel Hill wants you to look @ the extent
of the roof damage.
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floor of the sanctuary in one piece. Charlie Blake of Blake Moving Company
understood exactly what to do, and accomplished the task in short order.
So the adaptive reuse of this historic church facility into laboratory and
administrative office space required very little new material, although 1,096
days passed from the first contact to completed project, most of the construction involved things other than the structural aspects of the work. We were
able to certify the adjusted roof structure as structurally adequate and the
building retained its historic floor structure.
One interesting note occurred at the dedication of the new laboratory facility. The developer invited the church membership to attend the dedication.
Several of them were less than happy to see their old sanctuary in like-new
condition with the old millwork, flooring, and ceiling still intact. Apparently,
one of the investors described to them how little was required to fix their
former church sanctuary.
At the United Church of Chapel Hill, it was fortunate that we were contacted early enough in the process to recommend a solution, and in particular,
a specialty contractor capable of doing the job. In both of these cases, considerable historic fabric was retained, and money was saved for the owners by providing a unique solution to those capable of executing the design.
Tohickon Aqueduct
For the rehabilitation of the Tohickon Aqueduct in Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania,
we first designed the structure as a timber-frame Burr arch-truss system with
mechanically laminated two-hinged arches. Bill Collins and I consulted with Jan
Lewandowski to predetermine the constructability of the three span continuous timber system on site. As an aqueduct structure with an impervious liner,
because of possible condensation and splash issues on the underside, we specified the material to be pressure treated. The original structure, which carried
the Delaware Canal over Tohickon Creek, was a Town lattice truss. It was
replaced with a riveted iron truss, which collapsed in 1931. The replacement
steel and concrete aqueduct deteriorated to the point where it had to be
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replaced to maintain the viability of the canal. Bill Collins proposed that the
latest incarnation be built as a Town lattice structure, similar to the original.
For several reasons, I determined that a Burr arch structure would be preferable. We courted several timber-frame companies as possible bidders, including
Blue Ridge Timberwrights and Pocopson Industries. When the project bid,
neither of the two firms that we were counting on turned in a price. Apparently, construction of the three-span structure in the field, within the right-ofway of the canal, was problematic. This was the single issue we had wrestled
with during the initial stages of the design.
In a value engineering process, we converted the timber-frame arches to
glued laminated timber and deleted the saw-tooth splices resulting in three
identical simple spans that could be shop fabricated, preassembled, and shipped
to the site in sections.
From a philosophical standpoint, we deviated from the original system to
ensure a better structure and a longer service life. Although the Town lattice is
a tough system because of its redundancy, we concluded that a wet environment would cause shrink swell problems in the tightly pinned lattice connections. If the chords and lattice were to be treated, moisture content would also
be an issue for the pinned connections. From a maintenance standpoint, we
concluded that the Burr arch would allow easier replacement of primary elements. (See Chapter 18 for additional discussion of the Tohickon Aqueduct.)
Market Hall
The restoration of the 1841 Market Hall in Charleston, South Carolina,
required that the general contractor hire craftsmen with timber-frame skills.
MBM Construction of Charleston insisted that its carpenters were fully capable of executing the work described in the plans, in spite of its reluctance to
submit qualifications as required by the specifications. Eventually, we prevailed. It was necessary for us to obtain a list of timber framers willing to travel
to Charleston for the duration of the work. I played matchmaker between Mike
Goldberg and Peter Bull and MBM Construction. Within a few days of the
initiation of work, I received a phone call from the superintendent. He said,
more or less the following: Dave! You were right. These guys are fast. Our
carpenters would have not been able to do this. (See Chapter 8 for further
description of the Restoration of Market Hall.)
There is a tendency for general contractors to think that there is nothing
special or difficult about timber-frame work. It is precisely what cannot be easily seen that is critical to the structural engineer. Square and tight joints with
critical surfaces fully bearing are what the typical timber-frame demands. Trunnels and pins must be properly installed without damage to them or the
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49
Yates Mill
Both Jan Lewandowski and Arnold Graton worked on various stages of Yates
Mill (ca. 1778) in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a member of the Yates Mill
Associates, I did not have a contract for structural engineering plans and specifications. In an advisory role, I prevailed upon Yates Mill Associates to hire Jan
and Arnold for various portions of the work. When Hurricane Fran destroyed
the sawmill portion of Yates Mill, we were engaged by North Carolina State
University to design the repairs.
Again, we inserted prequalification language into the specifications. My preservation philosophy was enhanced while following Jans work around the mill as
he cut out deteriorated wood and inserted all sizes and shapes of inserts and
Dutchmen into posts and beams. At one, point I asked Jan about some notchedend cuts at some new floor joists that did not appear terribly good. He replied
that those end cuts looked that way because his crew was mimicking the work of
the original framer. I thought, of course! The original builder was a miller interested in grinding some corn as soon as possible. He was not a timberwright.
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50
FIGURE 4-1
Yates Mill required the
services of a timber
framer.
Connecticut Barn
One of our most satisfying projects was the reconstruction and expansion of a
barn in Connecticut. The client desired an indoor space sufficient in size to
accommodate basketball. Our solution was to span the large space with two
Town lattice trusses.
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51
FIGURE 4-2
The Barn was greatly
expanded by adding
two Town lattice
trusses parallel to the
ridge.
FIGURE 4-3
The 73-foot-long Town
lattice trusses provided
a clear span of almost
45 feet.
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52
Darrah Hall
After our experience at St. Michaels, we recommended Tommy Graham to
undertake the rehabilitation of Darrah Hall at Penn School (ca. 1882) on
St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Darrah Hall had totally collapsed due to an
unchecked long-term roof leak.
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FIGURE 4-4
Darrah Hall in St.
Helenas Island, South
Carolina, had totally
collapsed.
FIGURE 4-5
Darrah Hall was
restored using
90 percent of the
original material.
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54
Bloomsbury
We also recommended Tommy Graham to rehabilitate a pair of two story porch
columns at Bloomsbury in Camden, South Carolina. This home was the city
home of Sarah Chesnut (18131889) during the Civil War. Tommy transported
each column, in turn, to the shop where they were rehabilitated by segmental
infill while controlling the moisture content of the pie shaped Dutchmen inserts
and the solid timber cypress columns.
Montpelier
Recently, we provided design to Mesick, Cohen, Wilson, and Baker, Architects
of Albany, New York, for the restoration of James Madisons Montpelier in
Orange, Virginia. Although the array of craftsmen included several with timber-frame experience, most considered themselves furniture makers. Three
tasks required special know-how that generated uncertainty among the assembled crew. Again, we recommended Arnold Graton to underpin the 1750s
chimney, providing space for underground mechanical ducts to make a transition to the vertical space within the chimney. Also, leveling the floors required
some expertise with shoring that the staff was not prepared to undertake. With
a topographic map of the surface of the floors in hand, Arnold installed towers
of 6 7, by 4 foot long, spruce cribbing. Floors were leveled starting at the
attic floor, moving downward in stages, in one portion of the building at a time.
Montpelier consists of a central portion with wings added on both sides.
Between theses sections are masonry walls that served as the division between
the phases in the floor leveling effort. We also asked Arnold to provide a price
to rehabilitate a 12" 16" deteriorated first floor timber by routing out the
decayed wood in its core and replacing it by segmental infill with laminated
veneer lumber. The advantages of using laminated veneer lumber are similar to
glued laminated timber in that the timber possesses considerable strength and
the moisture content is strictly controlled. We also brought wood scientist Ron
Anthony to the project to do some investigative resistance drilling. His work in
the basement was critical in finding this deteriorated beam, which felt hard
to the touch and appeared to be sound. (See Chapter 10 for additional discussion of James Madisons Montpelier.)
PLAN STAMPING
You would think that the ideal project for a structural engineer is one that the
timber framer initiates. Unfortunately, most of timber framer work involves
the requirement that the shop drawings for new timber-frame buildings bear
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Plan Stamping
55
the seal of a professional engineer attesting to the design. In those cases, the
engineer is hired after the fact. In some cases, it is an afterthought, or seems to
be, or it was simply a requirement of the project from the beginning, but the
general contractor and timber-frame company chose to ignore it, hoping that it
would go away.
In these cases, it is important to provide the specialty structural engineer
with all of the project requirements. It is not sufficient to provide only the shop
drawings in the expectation that they will be sealed without much of a review.
Besides live loads, the structural engineer should be informed of the grade and
species of the wood and of any unusual conditions such as fragile finishes,
deflection requirements at large openings such as above-glass partitions, or
retractable folding doors, or unusually heavy roofing or flooring materials.
Standard practice should involve providing a full set of plans and specifications to the specialty structural engineer. Without complete information, the
structural engineer can review the design on the shop drawings based only on
what is provided. It is then the timber framer who is responsible for transmitting the project requirements. Structural engineers and timber framers alike
should be aware of stringent requirements place on specialty engineers by the
building code and the engineers board of registration in such states as Florida.
It is becoming increasingly more difficult to practice as a registered professional engineer in multiple states. Variations in the method of sealing a sheet
of drawings and what information must be provided are becoming more complicated. Many states require the engineers corporation to be registered as a
business entity and/or pay license. In Tennessee, it is not possible to hire an
engineer to seal shop or submittal drawings after the initiation of the project.
The board of registration has consistently interpreted this section of the
law to mean that a registrant is prohibited from sealing or stamping any document for which the registrant was not responsible for the original design. To
merely review and seal or stamp drawings is most commonly referred to as
plan stamping; the boards discipline for plan stamping ranges from a warning
or reprimand, to the imposition of civil penalties, to the suspension or revocation of a certificate of registration.
Ironically, it is often the large engineering firms that initiate specifications
requiring the timberframe or glued laminated timber manufacturer to produce
the final design, the design of connections, and an engineers seal on the shop
drawings. In many cases, calculations must be submitted for approval. Of
course, the board of registration members who are horrified at the thought of
plan stamping are usually principals of these same large firms.
So, in an era of globalization, the states are becoming more provincial in a
rigorous effort to eliminate plan stamping. Unfortunately, they dont recognize
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56
the timber engineer as a rare individual willing to review drawings for timber
structures serving the timber frame and glued laminated timber industries
where other engineers are not.
The best projects initiated by timber framers are the ones requiring the
engineer to exercise his skills in developing a design solution in the initial
stages. In the preliminary design effort, the engineer often can produce a
unique solution. This is a valuable service that provides the engineering
designer great satisfaction; it also may provide the timber framer with a competitive edge.
CONCLUSION
To ensure success of many of our projects, we have had to prevail upon the
owner, architect, contractor, and others in decision-making roles to engage
subcontractors and craftsmen with specific skills. Structural engineers must
take this proactive role to ensure that the work has the best chance to be completed in accordance with the engineers intent. In cases where this process was
derailed for one reason or another, the results were less than satisfactory. For
all concerned, it is best for the engineer to simply walk away from these projects
if contractual relationships will permit him to do so.
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CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
hrough specialized knowledge and experience, engineers can make the
judgments needed to properly evaluate historic timber structures.
The structural engineer may also be called on to utilize his or her skills to reinforce, rehabilitate, or restore historic structures.
This chapter will deal with timber as the primary structural component for
most historic structures in the United States and Canada. Although timber is
but one component of a historic structure, which may consist of brick and
stone masonry, iron, steel, or concrete; it often is the most misunderstood construction material of all.
The engineer must be convinced that the structural model is an accurate
representation of actual conditions. Once that is clear, the application of rigorous analysis, testing, and engineering judgment may be necessary to explain
why the historic structure in question has performed adequately for many
years.
Structural engineers must play an integral role in historic preservation
efforts. Although architects, planners, art historians, city officials, real estate
developers, investment bankers, politicians, and conservators have been in the
forefront of the preservation movement, it is the structural engineer who
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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58
FIGURE 5-1
Hurricane Fran
destroyed the sawmill
portion of Yates Mill
in Raleigh, North
Carolina.
possesses the knowledge and skills necessary to solve many of the problems
associated with renovation, restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of
historic structures. The structural engineer is best qualified to measure, monitor, analyze, and evaluate historic structures.
The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 eliminated an economic bias
in favor of new construction. Tax incentives for rehabilitating older buildings were simplified and substantially improved, especially in the case of
historic buildings. The tax act gave impetus to the historic preservation
movement. Structural engineers found themselves more involved in historic
preservation projects as owners and developers discovered the benefits of
the 1981 tax act.
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59
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60
The structural engineer evaluating the heavy timber frame of a historic structure should be intimately familiar with the causes and significance of checking
and the structural considerations. A familiarity with timber-grading rules and the
strength-reduction properties of various natural growth characteristics can be
obtained from The Wood Handbook of the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory.1
The structural engineer must review the past practice of excessively notching floor or roof joists into carrying members using the end-notched beam
formulae presented in various timber design manuals and textbooks. A joist
might be perfectly adequate in bending and deflection and be critical in horizontal shear at a notched support. This condition may be easily remedied by
installing custom-sized nailed joist hangers to transfer vertical forces from the
joist to the supporting member.
Checking is caused by the difference in the moisture content between the
inner and outer wood fibers of timber members. As timber dries from the fiber
saturations point (approximately 30 percent moisture content) to zero moisture content, it shrinks. As the outer wood fibers dry, large stresses form
between the inner and outer wood fibers. Checking is merely the separation of
the wood fibers that occur as shrinkage stresses are relieved. In general, shrinkage is greater in larger timbers than in small timbers of the same species and
greater in hardwoods than in softwoods.
Although season checks affect the horizontal shear strength in timber, the
design values for various grades and species have to be set up anticipating
season checking in excess of the grading limitations. Season checks at middepth of a beam near a support are important to shear strength. Compression
or tension members are normally not affected. In Japan, a common practice is
to cut a saw kerf, or artificial check, along the centerline of one face of a large
timber half the depth of the timber (to the pith) in order to relieve stresses due
to differential shrinkage before they cause checking.
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61
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62
FIGURE 5-2
At James Madisons
Montpelier, a simple
fork and loose tongue
connection provided
sufficient strength.
FIGURE 5-3
Simple scarf joints
were provided to
extend the ends of
the ceiling joists at
Montpelier.
order to install such connectors. Only in recent years has the design code recognized that long lines of connectors may result in unequal sharing of load due
to drilling and punching tolerances.
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Structural Evaluation
63
Connection of posts and beams in many buildings may contain mortise and
tenon joints of various configurations. Continuity in the frame may be accomplished with long tie beams with splines and pins.
Rafters may be tenoned into a ridge member, a supporting plate, a tie
beam, or a post. Joints, purlins, and beams may be connected to girders, rafters, beams, or trusses with mortise and tenon joists or housed or unhoused
dovetail joints.
STRUCTURAL EVALUATION
Engineers are most commonly asked to examine the timber frames of public
structures, such as courthouses, churches, and bridges. Although wall posts,
interior columns, sills, and plates are usually found adequate to their tasks according to modern engineering criteria, roof systems and trusses, bracing,
joists, and tension joinery, when quantitatively analyzed, often appear barely
able to carry their own dead load. Since most of the frames being examined
have been successfully carrying dead and live loads for a hundred years or
more, the conclusion that they will not work indicates that there may be something wrong with our analysis.
Accurate field measurements are essential in defining the structure and its
condition. Surveying methods have been successfully utilized in determining the
stiffness of deflected beams and trusses. A topographic plan of the floor surface
of a historic structure will yield a useful visual representation of an irregular
floor if the contour interval is small. Irregular floors in a historic structure could
be the result of movement in the supporting soils, timber decay or shrinkage, or
deflection of structural components. Obtain accurate measurements.
Apply some engineering judgment when standard procedures do not fit the
situation. For example, you might assume that the original wood in use in a
historic structure, unless inspection tells you otherwise, has design values that
are as high as possible for the species. The straight-grained timber from the
old-growth forest, with its small and scattered knots, was almost always much
better material than the samples that modern design values are based on. Keep
in mind that quality may be more important than species. Most of the great
railroad bridges built in the northeast in the nineteenth century were of white
pine, which is not favored for structural purposes today, but was favored then
because it was available in great quantity as clear and dense growth.
Structural evaluations usually include a determination of the ability of a
floor or roof system to support service loads. Monitoring of an existing structure
may be required in order to obtain data for such an evaluation. Testing programs
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64
ENGINEERING JUDGMENT
Members in the horizontal plane such as floor sheathing, joists, purlins, and
beams are stressed principally in bending. The resisting bending moment is a
measure of the strength of such and element. This, together with stiffness and
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Load Tests
65
horizontal shear, are the three qualities that are normally determined during
the process of selection we call design. Because timber is available in certain
standard lumber sizes, the designer selects from those available, the size, grade,
and species that most economically meets the preordained standards for bending stress, deflection, and horizontal shear.
When the engineer reviews the capacity of an existing member, many
parameters complicate this process. Size, span, and spacing of members are
dictated by the existing structure. It is the engineers task to determine the size,
orientation, species, grade, and end condition of all the structural elements in
a building that already exists. The freedom of choice afforded by design is
therefore reduced in the review process.
Often, the structural engineer must pass judgment on a structure that has
served far beyond what we consider to be a normal period of service. The timbers were not selected on the basis of modern engineering analysis. They certainly do not bear inspection marks attesting to their grade and specie.
It should be obvious to the engineer that a safe floor structure should not
fail in bending due to the actual loads imposed. But it is important to recognize
that excessive deflection, excessive vibration, or lack of stiffness, should not
automatically categorize a floor structure as unsafe.
Strict deflection limitations should be set, however, for floors that support
plaster ceilings in lieu of wood or tin ceilings, or no ceilings at all. But for comfort, the live load deflection limitation set in most building codes for floors, no
matter what the ceiling, is 1/360th of the span.
It must be said that overstressed structural members may also be perfectly
safe. It is, however, important to evaluate the basis for the conclusion. The
loads assumed for design should be reconciled with the actual loads that will
occur in service.
The design values that we assume are very critical to the computed capacity of some floor systems. For structures such as mill buildings, average design
values yield results that fall well above the minimum code requirements for an
adaptive reuse occupancy such as office or retail.
LOAD TESTS
Load testing a historic structure may be the only reasonable way to justify conditions or materials that are difficult to analyze. In designing a load test, the
engineer must call for the application of realistic loads carefully applied. Great
care should be taken before applying twice the design live load, as required by
many building codes, to a historic structure. For timber structures, it may be
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66
unrealistic to apply full live load plus an increase for a period such as 24 or 48
hours, when the structure actually will never reach that service loading for that
length of time.
Applying a known, safe load to a historic structure is an excellent method
to determine the stiffness characteristics of various materials. This is of special
value when evaluating timber structures. It is important to realize that because
of the variation in the strength characteristics of timber, a load test of one
member of a structure may not be indicative of the true capacity in other areas
of the building.
For any material, before a load test is undertaken, the engineer must be
certain that all lateral bracing and slenderness requirements are satisfied. A preliminary analysis must be performed to ensure that the structure will not be
loaded past the elastic limit or further to destruction. The application of strain
gages and other instrumentation is highly desirable in monitoring a load test.
Through the use of monitoring techniques, testing, measurements, observation, and structural calculations, an accurate interpretation of the structural
capability of a historic structure can be presented in a carefully written report.
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A Repair Philosophy
67
A REPAIR PHILOSOPHY
When repairing timber trusses it is better to reinforce than replace members or
connections. Epoxy has been used with success to fill and consolidate areas of
decayed wood. If it is necessary to replace individual members, it is important
to not modify the configuration of the existing truss unless the action of the
truss is easily understood.
In many timber structures it is not the members themselves which are
critical elements but rather the connections. Connections made with cut or
wrought nails are difficult to evaluate. Hardwood dowels, iron pins, cast iron
seats or keys, saw-tooth splices, scarf joints, mortise and tenon joints, shear
connectors, metal hangers, and anchors vary in capacity, depending on the
direction of the load with respect to the angle of the grain.
A review of the lateral bracing of historic roof trusses in many cases will
indicate that although the members and connections can withstand very high
forces, the mode of failure would be buckling of the truss at much lower stress
levels. The addition of appropriate bracing may be the only required repair.
Because of its availability, controlled moisture content, and known design
values, glued laminated timber should not be overlooked as a replacement for
large timber members. Pressure-treated wood should be specified as replacement material for timbers in contact with masonry or in an area susceptible to
moisture.
In reinforcing members or connections, the structural engineer must be
very familiar with the National Design Specification for Wood Construction of
the National Forest Products Association.2 Design values, edge distances, and
installation procedures are specified for shear plates, split rings, nails, screws,
lag screws, and bolts.
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68
REPLACEMENT-IN-KIND
Of course modern timber products should not automatically replace traditional timber framing and joinery. Replacement-in-kind of members with
mortise and tenon, dovetail, tongue and fork, slotted, or oak-pinned joint connection is a possibility that must be considered.
In recent years many designs for new post-and-beam frames have been
produced containing little or no metal connectors. Traditional technology is
available through timber framers located in many areas of the United States
and Canada.
Often, replacement-in-kind is not economically feasible. More advances
are being made in the field of timber design than any other area of structures.
Recent products include laminated veneer lumber and numerous other beam
and joist substitutes. The most important benefits of these reconstituted wood
products is the availability of long lengths, higher design values, and greater
stiffness.
Preservationists and preservation engineers must determine the appropriateness of these materials to each case.
PRESERVATION PHILOSOPHY
All structural engineers should obtain a copy of The Secretary of the Interiors
Standards for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. Under these standards, rehabilitation means the process of returning a property to a state of utility, through
repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while
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Summary
69
preserving those portions and features of the property which are significant to
its historic, architectural, and cultural value.3 Minimum alteration of the
building, its environment, and its distinguishing architectural qualities are required for a project to qualify as a certified rehabilitation benefiting from the
provisions of the tax act. Archeological resources must be protected, as well as
significant historical, architectural, or cultural material. An understanding of
the historical significance of a building must be obtained to enable the engineer
to provide an acceptable solution to a particular design problem while following the secretarys standards.3
The guidelines for applying the Interior Departments standards for rehabilitation recommend that the special problems inherent in the structural system of historic buildings, especially where there are visible signs of cracking,
deflection, or failure be recognized.3 Stabilization and repair of weakened
structural members and systems when damaged or inadequate are also recommended. Historically important structural members are to be replaced only
when necessary.3
The actual distribution of loads in a structure, similar to live load reduction factors for tributary area, can account for the continued service for heavily
loaded members such as stair and fireplace headers, and summer beams, which
may appear to the engineer to be grossly undersized. Many times, these members deflect beyond comfortable amounts.
These excesses are often dismissed because this house is old. The failure
rate of historic structures form sudden structural collapse is very small. Even
when deterioration due to decay or termites is accounted for, the sudden collapse of an old timber structure is rarely reported. The reports usually involve
accidents, such as collision of an automobile with a cast-iron column in the
storefront of a commercial structure.
SUMMARY
By learning more about timber design, engineers will develop a preservation
philosophy that demands rigorous analysis in order to justify doing nothing
to a historic timber structure that has been performing satisfactorily for many
years. Buildings that analysis, testing, and observation clearly indicate are unsafe should be reinforced in the most sensitive manner in an attempt to retain
as much historic fabric as possible. Buildings that require extensive modification or reconstruction should be treated in a way that is in keeping with the
original construction if possible, while fulfilling safety requirements.
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70
FIGURE 5-4
The sawmill portion of
Yates Mill was replaced
in kind, except that
positive anchorage of
the timber frame was
added.
REFERENCES
1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Forest Products Laboratory Handbook, no. 72. Wood Handbook. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1974.
2. National Forest Products Association, National Design Specification for
Wood Construction, Washington D.C.: National Forest Products Association, 1977).
3. U.S. Department of the Interior, The Secretary of the Interiors Standards
for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.
Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1979.
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CHAPTER
ver the years I have noticed, or maybe simply imagined, that there
appeared to be incredible leeway given by state preservation offices
regarding the acceptability of certain architectural and structural decisions
involving historic structures. As the structural consultant on many design
teams, it often appeared that the other guy, usually a developer with minimal
professional design input, was allowed to do certain things that our team was
not. Was it because our team, headed by a competent and conscientious architect, was able to deal with various requirements while the developer could
plead ignorance? Did the developer have more political pull, or was the success of his project more important for the community than ours? Most of the
controversies seem to involve architectural decisions such as whether to replace
or restore the windows.
Although I cannot present a situation where a controversy regarding a
similar issue occurred on two different projects, I can present two similar
projects with very different outcomes. The Montague Building and Watauga
Hall were both built in the early twentieth century with exterior load-bearing
brick masonry walls and an interior load-bearing structure of wood. The floors
of Watauga Hall consisted of 2 12 framing supported by load-bearing wood
studs. The Montague Building was not much different, with floors consisting
of 2 12 joists supported by a timber post and beam system.
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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73
FIGURE 6-1
The attic of Watauga
Hall was converted
into dormitory space
by raising the elevation
for the new roof
structure.
for Guidelines for Historic Preservation. As a design team, we did what was
necessary to stabilize the building and accommodate the needs of a modern
graduate student dormitory.
At Watauga Hall we demonstrated that historic timber-frame buildings
can be renovated using a cast-in-place two-way flat plate concrete floor system.
Historic timber-frame buildings can also be rehabilitated by reinforcing, with
steel, every undersized joist and beam if testing and analysis require this. The
service life of these two methods of construction can be vastly different, with
the former proving more satisfactory in the long run, and the latter barely
meeting current building codes in the short term. The challenge for structural
engineers is to advise owners, architects, and developers about the aspects of
each solution. Although the latter method will certainly not jeopardize the tax
credits so necessary in converting a historic structure into a serviceable
building, the resulting building may not be the best system for the building.
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74
WATAUGA HALL
Watauga Hall reflects much of the character and tradition of North Carolina
State University, as it is named for the Watauga Club. The Watauga Club was
a small but influential group of North Carolinians who were instrumental in
the establishment of the land grant agricultural and mechanical arts college
commonly known as State College, which is now North Carolina State
University.
Watauga Hall, originally constructed in 1896, was destroyed by fire during
Thanksgiving weekend in 1901. The existing Romanesque Revival building
was constructed in 1903 on the foundations of the original building. It is the
only survivor of several dormitory structures built in 1896 to serve an expanding student body. Watauga Hall functioned, at various times, as the kitchen
and dining hall, laundry, and office space for Campus Planning, Personnel, and
Information Services. It functioned as a dormitory until 1968. For its last years
of use as a dormitory, it provided the first housing on campus for women.
Watauga Hall remained empty, between 1968 and 1983, when renovation
began.
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Watauga Hall
75
FIGURE 6-2
Watauga Hall was a
wood-framed dormitory
building.
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76
The moisture content of the existing timber framing was measured in the
field with a Delmhorst J-1 moisture meter. The moisture content registered
5 percent or less in all areas. The total amount of shrinkage was calculated
assuming average 19 percent initial moisture content for the 66.0 inches cumulative depth of joists, beams, and girders for the full height of the building. The
total shrinkage across the grain for all these members computed to be 4.158
inches.
A 19 percent initial moisture content was assumed because of the tendency of large timbers to retain moisture for a long period of time. In fact, the
larger 10 10 timbers were probably installed close to a green state (30 percent moisture content). Obviously, the load-bearing timber structure shrank
while the exterior brick masonry bearing walls did not. The computed value
agreed closely with the 4.0 inches of settlement measured by a Registered Land
Surveyor on the fourth floor.
For Watauga Hall, samples of the timber framing were obtained with a
0.20-inch-diameter incremental boring tool. Laboratory tests consisting of
moisture content, unit weight, and specific gravity were performed on each
sample. The specific gravity values of the wood samples were somewhat erratic
because of the variations to the size of the specimens, which often broke or
crumbled when removed from the hollow auger of the incremental borer. The
use of an incremental borer proved less acceptable than merely obtaining larger
samples cut from the structure in noncritical locations. Typically, the incremental borer is a tool foresters use to obtain samples from living trees. Advancing
such a tool into dry wood is much more difficult and is not recommended.
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Watauga Hall
77
wythes of brick of the exterior wall was evaluated by testing in the field.
A calibrated hydraulic jack, anchored to the floor surface, was utilized to apply
incremental loads. The average pullout force of less than 600 pounds indicated
that satisfactory anchorage to the walls would require that the ties extend
through the walls to be fastened to large washers placed on the exterior face
of the building.
The steel columns were threaded through openings cut into the existing
floors and braced prior to placing reinforcing and concrete. The existing timber joists were also supported with additional shoring placed at mid-span locations. The steel columns were carried down to new isolated column footings in
the basement or crawl space.
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78
FIGURE 6-4
New steel columns
were set on new
isolated footings in the
crawl space/basement.
Almost the entire suspended floor load for the renovated structure was
supported by the steel columns, while the edge of the floor slab provided lateral bracing to the original exterior brick walls.
Replacing the existing floor system with a two-way flat-plate structure had
structural advantages in that a 6-inch-thick slab could easily support a 100 psf
live load with the spans anticipated. An important advantage was the three-hour
fire rating easily obtained between floors of the building to be used as a dormitory. The major construction advantage of this system is that once the columns,
which are spliced with a simple connection at each floor level, are erected and
braced, the other construction materials are easily fabricated and placed.
Concrete placed for the floor slab can take any shape contained within the
exterior walls without a lot of field measurements required to verify that fabricated components will actually fit into the space to be reframed.
The typical reinforcing in the floor system consisted of straight #4 bars.
Cast-in-place concrete was conveyed into the building by pumping. Construction was simple in the horizontal direction in that large prefabricated structural shapes, difficult to erect inside an existing building, were not required.
Although accurate steel column placement was required for the new structural
steel roof system to fit, perimeter dimensions between the columns and the
periphery of the building were not critical.
The most important advantage is that erection of a new structural system
within the brick envelope did not require the complete gutting of the building,
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Montague Building
79
MONTAGUE BUILDING
A few years later, and across town, the 1912, three-story Montague Building
was undergoing a $1.8 million renovation, the goal of which was to bring new
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80
life to a wood-framed office building that had been vacant for at least 15 years.
The Montague Building is on the National Register of Historic Places. Located
in the central business district of Raleigh, it had been the subject of several
architectural and engineering analyses during prior years because of the potential value of leasible office space in the rapidly growing Sunbelt city.
FIGURE 6-6
The south face of the
Montague Building
contained severely
deteriorated brick
masonry.
The three-story Montague Building was constructed in 1912. The first floor
was divided into six retail bays with storefronts on the north side. The upper two
floors were, for the most part, office space separated by a double-loaded central
corridor. Architectural features included tin ceilings in all areas except the basement. Glass sidewalk prisms allowed natural light into the basement area on
three sides of the building. The basement area extends to approximately 4 feet
beyond the outside face of the building below the glass prism grates. The glass
prisms on the north side had an unusual purple tint. The magnesium content of
the glass prisms reacted with the ultraviolet rays in the sunlight to provide the
purple color, according to information obtained from the Corning Glass Museum
in Corning, New York.
The builder of the Montague Building, Benjamin F. Montague, built in a
developing section of downtown Raleigh, near the new City Sanitary Farmers
Market and Tabernacle Baptist Church on Moore Square. It never reached its
potential as an income producing property because Mr. Montague could not
find enough satisfactory tenants.
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The upper floors of the Montague Building were used as office space until
the 1950s. The lower retail bays were in use until the mid-1960s. Insufficient
egress and the absence of a sprinkler system and a fire-rated floor system prevented the upper floors of the Montague Building from being used in more
recent times.
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After providing a detailed description of the new interior structural concrete flat-plate system that we proposed, we concluded our report with the
following:
Reinforcement of the very deficient structural system, in a building which has
been vacated for 15 to 20 years, is a difficult, risky and costly endeavor. With
no question, the existing structural system of the Montague Building should
be replaced.
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83
In the Montague Building, this same system of flat-plate concrete slabs and
steel columns could have been used to an advantage in that the original noteworthy tin ceilings could have been reinstalled at their proper elevations, close
to the existing window heads, while the space previously occupied by the flooring, subfloor, and joists could have accommodated mechanical ducts. In order
to accomplish this, the tin ceiling would be taken down, cleaned, paint primed,
stored, and then reinstalled on a ceiling framing system suspended from the
completed concrete floor structure above.
The original structural system for the Montague Building was a three-story
post and beam structure consisting of 8 8 timber columns, 8 10 beams,
and 2 12 timber joists, spaced at 12 inches on center. Considerable deterioration to the timber structural system was due to roof leaks and fire damage.
Although I recommended the flat-plate concrete structure with steel columns for the Montague Building, the developer argued that the replacement of
the existing structure would jeopardize the 25 percent tax credit incentive for
a certified rehabilitation.
The reinforcement of the existing structure of the Montague Building for
minimum office occupancy live loads required the reinforcement of every joist
and every floor beam. The floor beams were reinforced by applying steel side
angles to the outside face of each member with hardened annular threaded,
ring shank nails. Reinforcing the joists required the application of a composite
metal cover plate to the underside of all joists. The design of this reinforcing
was based on transformed section combining the wood joists with the steel
cover plate acting in tension. To ensure composite action, the installation of
the straps required the contractor to jack the joists above level and fasten the
straps to the underside of the joists in a sequential and symmetrical manner
starting from mid-span of the joists. The carpenters were less than happy, having to drive thousands of screws, overhead, into the underside of the joists
using 1980s-era (very heavy) screw guns. Two types of screws were tested at
the North Carolina State University Department of Wood and Paper Science
Laboratory to obtain reliable design values in shear for the threaded fasteners.
Thirteen assemblies were prepared using 14 gauge by 2-inch-long slotted hexhead screws. Twelve specimens were assembled with 14 gauge by 1 -inch
hexhead self-tapping screws. The specimens were fabricated by the general
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84
contractor under jobsite conditions using wood samples from the Montague
Building and then transported to the laboratory. The tapping screws were
selected based on test results and ease of installation.
GEOTECHNICAL EVALUATIONS
Testing of the existing building components prior to design was a part of the
structural assessment for both the Montague Building and Watauga Hall. Subsurface evaluation at each building included test (or observation) pits dug by
hand to establish footing depth and configuration, hand auger borings, and test
borings drilled with a truck mounted drill rig.
Geotechnical testing at Watauga Hall consisted of seven standard penetration test borings drilled to a depth of 25 feet, one hand-auger boring drilled in
the crawl space to a depth of 10 feet, and five test pits dug around the perimeter of the building.
With respect to underlying geology, both Watauga Hall and the Montague
Building are located in the Piedmont physiographic province of Wake County,
North Carolina. The in-place chemical weathering of the mica gneiss of the
parent bedrock has produced an upper mantel of residual soils with clayey soils
confined to the upper stratum.
For the Montague Building, a total of six hand-auger borings with dynamic
cone penetration tests ranging 2 to 8 feet in depth were made in the basement
area. Eight test pits were hand excavated to determine footing configuration,
elevation, dimensions, and soil consistence immediately below the footing
base. To the exterior of the building, a truck-mounted drill rig was used to
advance borings made in accordance with ASTM Specification D-1586 utilizing a hollow stem auger. Soil samples were obtained with a split-barrel sampler driven to a depth of 18 inches or to a blow count of 100 blows with a
100-pound hammer falling 30 inches. The standard penetration resistance N,
denoting the number of blows per foot, is an indication of the in-place density
strength and foundation support capacity. The soil samples were placed in
glass jars, sealed, transported, and visually classified in accordance with ASTM
D-2488.
In the basement, where access was prohibited to the truck-mounted drilling machine, hand augers were utilized. Handheld penetration testing was performed through the augured holes with a portable dynamic cone electrometer
which utilizes a 15-pound steel ring weight falling 20 inches on an E rod
slide guide. The blows for 1 -inch increments were recorded. These cone
resistance values were correlated to the standard penetration values to
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determine the stiffness of the underlying soils. At the time, the use of the
portable dynamic cone penetrometer had shown to be most reliable in four
geologic regions, including the sandy or clayey sandy micaceous silts of the
Piedmont geologic province of the southeastern United States.
In addition, relatively undisturbed soil samples were obtained by hydraulically forcing sections of 3-inch diameter, 16-gauge steel, thin wall, or Shelby
tube samplers into the soil at desired sampling levels. The samples were
removed in the laboratory by a hydraulically operated extrusion press, measured, sampled in accordance with ASTM D-1587, Standard Method for ThinWalled Tube Sampling of Soils. The tabulated laboratory test data for the
various soil samples included the percentage of natural moisture, Atterberg
limits, grain size analysis, the unified soil classification, and a cyclic shear stress
versus strain curve for one sample.
I requested that the Raleigh office of Froehling & Robertson, Inc. provide
materials testing and geotechnical exploration for both Watauga Hall and the
Montague Building. Included were geotechnical exploration as well as wood
and masonry materials testing. The geotechnical exploration consisted of borings, test pits, and laboratory analysis. The two geotechnical evaluations indicated that the Montague Building and Watauga Hall were both constructed on
underlying soils that were stiff, providing a bearing capacity of 3,000 psf. Both
sites were dry, with the water table located at an elevation of 30 feet or more
below grade
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86
The average modulus of elasticity of five samples tested was 1,395,600 psi
or approximately 7 percent less than the published modulus of elasticity used
for No. 2 southern pine at the time the tests were conducted.
TAX CREDITS
The potential loss of historic integrity and the subsequent loss of tax credits in
the latter stages of a project could prove disastrous to a developer. A structural
engineers report should represent a full exploration of options for structurally
reconstituting the building. In exercising professional judgment, the designers
should consult with the reviewing agency to determine the acceptability of the
various options as they relate to historically significant features.
The tax status of the Montague Building was retained because the reinforcement option was selected. It appears that if the preferred structural solution for the Montague Building had been a suspended two-way concrete floor
slab, the project would have been decertified and not eligible for preservation
tax incentives.
Although there is a need to develop methods of evaluating the probable
service life of structural solutions, we must also be able to identify the other
decision-making factors inherent in rehabilitating buildings.
Designers must walk a narrow path with regard to renovation options so as
to not cause the decertification of a historic property and the loss of tax credits.
They must deal sensitively with the feeling of the building so as not to destroy
the quality of the building that evokes an aesthetic or historic sense of a past
period of time. This feeling may depend on the presence of surviving physical
characteristics such as timber-framed floors or exposed roof trusses. Historic
authenticity can be lost through extensive replacement of historic material and
cannot be recaptured by reconstruction with new material in the rehabilitation.
The U.S. Department of Interior has issued interim guidelines for evaluating
deteriorated building in order to amplify previously published National Park
Service requirements and guidance for the Preservation Tax Incentives Program.
How will the serviceability of the reinforced Montague Building compare
with the restructured Watauga Hall? The steel and concrete structure within
Watauga Hall is a complete structural system supported by new column footings, while the three-story reinforced wood frame of the Montague Building is
supported on its original corbelled brick and rubble stone fill column footings
and exterior brick masonry walls.
The Montague Building is an example of a project in which the original structural system was reinforced in order to meet minimum design load requirements.
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87
I proposed a solution similar to the successful flat-plate system used for Watauga
Hall, but it was rejected by the owner. The State Historic Preservation officer did
not render a clear judgment with regard to the acceptability of the proposed concrete floor system. Although the general contractor preferred the flat-plate
approach, sufficiently accurate cost estimates of the two alternate systems were
not generated prior to construction.
Clearly, our preservation philosophies need to recognize the potential liability inherent in the difficult decisions made by design professionals such as
structural engineers. Aesthetics weighs heavily in the decision-making process
utilized by governmental agencies administering tax act preservation projects.
A solution that requires the designer to reinforce a marginal timber structure,
rather than replace the structure with a new system, involves additional risk to
the owner, designer, and contractor.
The structural engineer is responsible for the structural adequacy for
the renovated building through its service life no matter the solution. Reinforcing a structure requires utilization of existing materials, which may not
be reliable. The reinforcement of existing structures is more difficult, requiring innovative solutions. When the renovation of a building requires reinforcing of the existing structure, adequate testing of the existing materials is
critical.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible for the structural engineer to make
the best decision with regard to future serviceability and building safety. Constraints imposed by owners and lenders, eager to obtain tax credits, may sway
an engineer toward the solution of meeting minimum code requirements for
the short term. Success of an historic preservation project depends on many
related and unrelated factors. The engineering judgment of the structural engineer should be given considerable weight in making decisions that affect the
desired result.
Time will tell which solution was best. At the present time, Watauga Hall
is fully occupied, limiting space to graduate-level students based on an application process. The Montague Building now houses Caf Luna, several offices,
and a branch office of a large consulting engineering firm.
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FIGURE 6-7
Floors were replaced
in the Eagle Block
(ca. 1835) in similar
fashion to Watauga
Hall. (See color insert.)
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89
They have been applied with particular advantage to multi-story motel, hotel,
hospital, dormitory, and apartment buildings 1
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90
two channels to the outside face of the wall. We described how the steel and
concrete system could be used to pull the south wall into alignment so that the
existing reinforcing channels could be removed. When the contractor priced
this operation as an add alternate of $150,000, it was very quickly deleted
from the project by the developer as too costly.
In conclusion, the two-way flat-plate system provides a structural system
to accommodate the requirements of a modern building without the risk of
working within an open masonry shell requiring considerable temporary bracing. This structural system will satisfy all floor live-load and fire-separation
requirements. The existing timber roof and attic framing systems can remain in
place, as they did at the Eagle Block.
REFERENCE
1. Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute (CRSI). CRSI Design Handbook, 9th
ed. Schaumburg, IL: Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, 2002.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Froehling & Robertson, Inc., Subsurface Exploration & Materials Testing of
Watauga Hall, Report #RJ66-179, July 9, 1982.
Froehling & Robertson, Inc., Supplementary Report, Watauga Hall Renovation, July 23, 1982.
Froehling & Robertson, Inc., Geotechnical Exploration and Materials Testing
of the Montague Building, Report #RM66-079, February 11, 1985.
Froehling & Robertson, Inc., Tension Test, Restoration of the Montague
Building, Report #RN66-195, June 11, 1986.
United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Interagency
Resources and Reservation Assistance Divisions and Office of the Solicitor, Interim Guidance on Evaluating Damaged/Deteriorated Buildings in
Registered Historic Districts for Purposes of the Preservation Tax Incentives Program.
U.S. Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering
Material, (Washington, DC: USDA Agr. Handbk. 72, Rev. 1974).
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CHAPTER
The Restoration of
St. Helenas Church
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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FIGURE 7-1
The end of one
queenpost truss was
badly deteriorated.
Fore pointed out that tower work including repair of millwork, the bell
support frame, and miscellaneous bracing of several elements was also required.
Replacement of the Portland cement stucco at the base of exterior walls with
a lime based stucco was identified in the Fore report as a task sensitive to
seasonal changes in temperature. Stucco repairs required in areas affected by
structural repairs to the truss would be a part of the stucco portion of a large
construction contract anticipated by the vestry.
In 1997, we provided a more thorough structural evaluation of the masonry
and timber structure, including tabby foundations, balcony, framing, steeple, and
roof structure, based on information obtained on April 7 and 8, 1997. We also
included additional findings based on our inspection with George Fore in
August 1994 and our previous work in 1993 with regard to the roof trusses.
We described repairs that emphasized the use of traditional materials compatible with the original construction. In this way, the interaction of dissimilar
materials would not be an issue. We pointed out that the use of reinforced concrete, structural steel, and epoxy-reinforcing methods have all been shown to
result in less than perfect structural systems when combined with timber, brick
masonry, and lime-based stuccos and mortars. By utilizing traditional materials, a certain sensitivity is achieved that is more in the spirit of The Secretary of
the Interiors Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating
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Roof Trusses
93
DESCRIPTION
St. Helenas Episcopal Church is a building with a timber-framed roof, balcony,
and second-floor level supported on load-bearing brick masonry exterior
walls and interior timber columns. The main floor is framed with joists that
run across in the transverse direction. The major expansions to the original
1724 building was an 1817 reconstruction of the sanctuary in brick and a large
side balcony expansion in 1842, which included sidewalls, balconies, and a
new roof structure, resulting in a sanctuary plan approximately 66 feet square
with projections at each end for a narthex and sacristy. The steeple was rebuilt
in 1940. A steel structural system was added to the steeple at that time. The
underframing and platforms of the side balconies were reworked in 1969 to
accommodate air-conditioning ducts.
OBSERVATION
In August 1994 we measured a relative humidity of 72.3 percent and a temperature of 76.3F inside the church at the balcony level. The principle balcony beams
8 by 11 inches in size had a moisture content of 10 percent. We observed the framing of the bell tower and revisited the attic to observe the condition of the queenpost trusses. We observed the condition of the steel beam above the choir loft.
ROOF TRUSSES
The condition of the roof-framing system had not changed since our previous
inspection.
We concentrated our efforts in determining the condition of the exterior
load-bearing walls that supported the balconies and roof trusses. We verified
overall dimensions and wall thickness. It was determined that, based on marriage marks, the truss numbers ran from I to VI. Upon closer examination, it
appeared that the roof trusses had suffered some recent wind damage. Besides
the repairs to truss number IV, which had a deteriorated bottom chord, there
were other members and connections that deserved attention.
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FIGURE 7-2
At this time the roof
structure appeared
unchanged from our
previous visit.
BALCONIES
In August 1994, with Mr. B.J. Pinckney of the church, George Fore and I
opened the sidewall balcony framing for observation by removing some boards.
We were able to observe the condition of the bearing seat at the upper end of
the balcony framing beams.
The principal framing of the balconies consisted of sloped 8-inch by 11-inch
timbers that ran from the interior columns to the exterior wall where they rested
on a 10 - by 10 -inch sill plate supported and enveloped by the exterior wall.
The exterior sidewalls had deformed outward over time. The maximum movement was at the balcony sill beam level. George Fores report showed that the
maximum horizontal deformation of the wall was 2 58 inches on the north side
and 3 916 inches on the south side. A horizontal crack had formed that ran along
the full length of the sidewall, except at the ends where the masonry was tied
back into the corners of the building.
The great concern with regard to the adequacy of the balconies was based
on the deformation shown in George Fores report. Two disturbing possibilities
were put forward by others regarding this movement. First, the underlying
soils might be overstressed, allowing the sidewalls to settle and rotate about
the toe of the footing.
This appeared to be a possibility because of the settlement observed in the
floor joists and the door openings in endwalls, which had deformed into a
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Balconies
95
FIGURE 7-3
The balcony framing
was exposed for
additional examination.
FIGURE 7-4
The horizontal cracks
in the sidewalls had
been patched many
times.
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96
FIGURE 7-5
The sidewalls appeared
to have settled,
although diagonal
settlement cracks were
not visible.
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Balconies
97
FIGURE 7-6
The 10 10 sills
embedded in the
masonry sidewalls were
somewhat decayed.
One of the two balcony beams observed had a sloped bearing surface at
upper end rather than a horizontally cut seat. The stucco at the hinge in the
exterior wall had been patched several times. This indicated that the movement of the wall had been progressive over time.
In the computer, the north and south sidewalls were modeled as an integral part of the building cross-section. We utilized a low modulus of elasticity
of 350,000 psi for the brick masonry. Assumed allowable design values for the
masonry are as follows:
Compressive strength, 56 psi
Bearing, 100 psi
Shear, 9 psi
The 12-foot spacing of the building cross-section modeled in the computer
included one roof truss, a bay of balcony framing, and the masonry sidewalls
with window openings.
Overall building stability in the cross-section appeared tenuous, except for
the balcony acting as a deep horizontal beam fastened to the endwalls. In the
analysis we included the horizontal contribution of the balcony as a spring support based on the stiffness of the plywood sheathing on the balcony steps.
There was evidence that the balcony, with its considerable plywood sheathing,
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98
was performing well in that there was no cracking of the plaster ceiling under
the balcony. Of course, all of the lateral loads applied to the sidewalls needed
to be resolved through the balcony sheathing, roof sheathing, and ceiling framing into the endwalls of the nave.
I argued that through jacking, the exterior wall could be forced back into
alignment. In order to do this, both the balcony and roof loads would have to
be temporarily relieved and the sidewall temporarily braced. All mortar joints
that had opened over time and have been filled, in the vicinity of the fold,
would have to be raked out in order to reverse the alignment. The gap above
the balcony sill would have to be filled and the end of the balcony beam flat
cut, blocked, or tied in where the sloped bearing conditions exist. The balcony
sill beam would have to be replaced where deteriorated, with a dry timber that
would not shrink over time.
TOWER
The tower was rebuilt in 1940 in accordance with architectural drawings by
architect Albert Simmons of Charleston. The 1940 architectural tracings
(drawings) for the tower were stored in the Fireproof Building in Charleston in
flat files. The tower as built included wood siding on diagonal sheathing on
wood studs attached to a steel framing system.
FIGURE 7-7
The bell tower was
reframed in 1940 with
wood on a steel frame.
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99
The steel frame provided great rigidity to the steeple up to the transition
level where the framing changes to timber. The bell support system appeared to
be much older than the 1940s work. The new tower structure was apparently
designed to accommodate the geometry of the bell and its framing system.
The lantern and spire sections were framed in timber in a configuration
similar to St. Michaels in Charleston. The west side of the tower rested on two
cast-in-place concrete blocks supported by the original west wall. The east side
of the tower rested on a 30-inch-deep steel beam that spanned the masonry
opening between the narthex and the nave.
Critical to the bell tower were loading conditions that included northsouth wind, which would tend to place unbalanced loads onto the supporting
wall or the W30 beam. Wind in the east-west direction would impose the greatest total load on the 30-inch-deep steel beam.
In the computer analysis of the tower, we applied a 120 mph wind in accordance with ASCE-7, except that a shape factor of 0.8 was used for the spire and
lantern levels. The bell and bell frame were included as a 1,500-pound load.
The analysis was performed in the north-south and east-west directions.
The calculations indicated that the steel structure was rigid and that most
of the movement in the spire is a result of the open lantern level. Diagonal
sheathing was simulated in the timber-framed portion of the steeple to provide
a reasonable amount of rigidity. A theoretical deflection of 4 inches at the
top of the spire was calculated with these assumptions. The 30-inch-deep steel
beam, steel tower legs, and the steel cross-bracing appeared to be adequate in
size. Critical to the performance of the steeple in a 120 mph wind load was its
anchorage to the top of the outside wall and the anchorage of the 30-inch-deep
steel beam to the inside wall on either side of the choir loft. The 22,000 pounds
of resistance to hold the steeple legs down could be achieved by assuring that the
tie-down points contained a minimum of 150 cubic feet of concrete, or 225 cubic
feet of brick masonry. The bearing pressures at all support points were adequate
as long as each location has 240 square inches of contact against the brick. The
uplift capacity of the steeple could be enhanced by rebuilding the beam and
tower bearing points with a compatible but harder brick rather than concrete
and facilitating a tie that engages at least 225 cubic feet of masonry.
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100
lateral earth pressure and pressure from trees have pushed the wall out of
alignment. The wall contains settlement and temperature cracks, as well as
shear cracks at various locations. At the time of our inspection, mortar was
missing or deteriorated in areas, and bricks were deteriorated, broken, or missing. Unsuitable repairs with Portland cement mortar and stucco had been
made. We recommended that a tree survey that notes not only species, size,
condition, and location, but also location in regard to present or potential damage to the church wall or monuments be undertaken. This would require the
services of an architect, landscape architect, structural engineer, and materials
conservator working together. The condition of the garden wall varied greatly
along its length and required various types of repairs.
MASONRY
The masonry of the existing walls of the church consisted of a lime-based mortar
and oversized bricks. The bricks appeared to be of medium hardness and the mortar medium to soft. The interior plaster and exterior stucco served to provide a finish, while protecting the wall on the exterior from the weather. Historic walls with
plaster on the inside surface tend to provide better service than unplastered walls.
In an unplastered wall, mortar joints tend to deteriorate at a more rapid rate with
a loss of bond within the lime mortar causing the sand component to spill from
the joints. Obviously, even with deterioration of mortar joints in a plastered
wall, the sand component would be contained. Deterioration in a masonry wall
with a plaster finish will eventually be obvious, as the plaster will crack and separate from the face of the brick wall as the wall disintegrates. In contrast, at
St. Helenas we had a building in which the existing interior plaster was well bonded
to the brick walls except at a few notable locations. The service life of lime-based
mortar in historic walls is dependent on the structure remaining relatively dry. The
roof of St. Helenas had been well maintained, and the crawl space was dry. The soil
beneath St. Helenas consisted of well-drained light gray or brown sands and clayey
sands. In August 1995, S&ME, a geotechnical firm from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, reported that the water table was at 15 feet below the ground surface.
Historic lime-based masonry walls can be reinforced after construction by
installing pencil rod or all thread rods reinforcing into horizontal masonry joints
during deep repointing. In this manner, common thermal stress cracks can be
stitched back together at locations such as above the numerous window openings in St. Helenas. Such stitch reinforcing, although disruptive to walls covered with plaster or stucco, work well in repairing cracks in masonry walls that
have been troublesome for many years.
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Masonry
101
In the past, we have also applied metal lath to historic masonry walls as a
reinforcing procedure, which when plastered, acts to seal the mortar joints
from extremes in moisture and temperature. The wall over the Chancel arch at
St. Philips in Charleston was treated in this manner. Besides serving to structurally tie the wall together and bridge cracks, this system provides a tell-tale
system to indicate future movement in the wall. The inside faces of the interior
walls of one wing of the circa 1903 Kivett Hall at Campbell University, in
Buies Creek, North Carolina, were covered with metal lath and plaster in 1976.
During a recent inspection, no cracks were observed in these walls, which consisted of interior wythes of very soft brick and lime mortar.
The large cracks in the endwalls of the nave of St. Helenas Church resulted
from an inadequate masonry tie between sections of walls built at various times.
FIGURE 7-8
Very little bonding
connected walls built
at various times.
The large cracks beneath the 30-inch-deep steel beam were the result of
just such a discontinuity due to faulty construction. To properly tooth a wall
together requires that the original and new bricks match in size, that the addition courses with the original, and that sufficient skill and effort is expended to
ensure that as many of the original bricks are engaged by the new brickwork.
In the large crack that was exposed between the walls constructed at different times, only one tie brick was observed. The joint between wall sections
was quite wide, indicating that the tendency of the balconies to move outward
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102
could not be restrained across the joint. The wildly random coursing of the
brick in the two sections of wall could be corrected by reworking a sufficient
width of masonry to obtain coursing, or by stitching across the crack with joint
reinforcing.
The clay tile in the east and west gable walls of the attic obviously did not
course with previous brick masonry when used to rebuild gable ends blown
out by a storm.
FIGURE 7-9
The gable walls were
rebuilt in 1940 with
clay tile instead of
brick masonry.
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Subsurface Evaluation
103
TABBY
Tabby is an early cast-in-place construction material consisting of sand, lime
(from shells and wood ash), and water. The foundations of the 1842 addition to
St. Helenas consist of a 26-inch-deep unreinforced footing of tabby on which
rested the brick masonry walls. The original foundation walls are of brick construction extending to a greater depth than the foundations of the addition.
Because of its relatively low strength, tabby performs well when uniformly
loaded. The support of a post or beam is problematic when concentrated loads
are not distributed such as on a wood plate or brick masonry-bearing block.
The computed design pressure for the combined dead load and live load of
6.8 psi was low when compared to the 350 psi compressive strength obtained
by Sickels-Taves. In St. Helenas we had a fairly uniform load. There were no
cracks in the sidewalls related to settlement caused by failure in the tabby.
SUBSURFACE EVALUATION
To determine the nature and consistency of underlying soils in the vicinity of the
exterior wall, in 1994 we requested that the S&ME office in Charleston provide
a proposal to the church for a geotechnical investigation and analysis consisting
of borings, small test pits and laboratory analysis. S&MEs proposal was accepted
and field exploration occurred in August of 1995. The purpose of the soils investigation was to determine the amount of settlement that had occurred, its cause,
and how much future settlement was anticipated. We also wanted to determine
the probable response of the underlying soils during a seismic event.
S&MEs subsurface exploration Report No. 1131-95-034 dated August
18, 1995, presented the results of the exploration and analysis. We were in
contact with Billy Camp, P.E. of S&ME, during this procedure and also consulted with George Fore prior to, and after, obtaining the results from S&ME.
The purpose of the exploration work was to determine the nature and consistency of the soils directly below the balcony sidewalls of the church and the
configuration of the wall at the bearing elevation. It was thought by others that
this might explain the outward rotation of the walls. The question of whether
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104
SEISMIC ANALYSIS
Previous comments by other structural engineers had raised the level of concern in the congregation with regard to seismic safety. As a result of those discussions, we included in the evaluation report a rather extensive discussion of
seismic issues affecting St. Helenas.
We insisted that several broad questions be asked before we would recommend or adopt a complicated or excessive seismic mitigation. First, what is the
risk of injury, death, or property damage in Beaufort due to a seismic event?
Second, how much would seismic provisions add to the cost of rehabilitating
St. Helenas? Third, what were the current requirements of the state and federal building codes with regard to seismic reinforcing and repairs to historic
structures?
From this, it was apparent that the risk of death or injury in a seismic
event for a person in St. Helenas Church is extremely small. Although the
building code required that higher seismic factors be used when reviewing an
assembly type building such as St. Helenas, which seats 300 or more people
in one room, in reality the building is fully occupied for only a very few hours
each week. As part of the geotechnical analysis, we asked S&ME to review the
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Liquefaction
105
potential for the liquefaction of the soils underlying St. Helenas in a seismic
event because the greatest amount of damage is often caused by the subsidence of masonry buildings on soils as occurred in Kobe, Japan, and in nearby
Charleston in 1886.
To enhance the wind and seismic capacity of St. Helenas, the exterior walls
could be rehabilitated by repairing cracks. The balcony floor and roof framing
had to be securely anchored to the exterior walls. Repairs had to include a positive anchorage to all of the exterior walls in accordance with the Bolts-Plus
philosophy of seismic reinforcing. This method of seismic reinforcing relies on
traditional methods to tie building elements together. The seismic (and wind)
resistance of a building can be greatly enhanced by simply providing a positive
connection between the floor and roof framing and the exterior walls. The
earthquake anchor, developed in Charleston as a result of the 1886 earthquake,
is an example of a Bolts-Plus type seismic repair. For Bolts-Plus to work, we
insisted that deteriorated masonry and timber be repaired.
LIQUEFACTION
Liquefaction, the loss of a soils shear strength due to the increase in water
pore pressure resulting from seismic vibrations, is always a concern in the
Charleston area. Liquefiable soils are commonly found in South Carolina, and
much of the geological evidence suggests that liquefaction has occurred during
past earthquakes. The potential for liquefaction depends on the nature of the
soils, groundwater potential, and the magnitude of the earthquake. Using
standard methods of analyzing liquefaction, based on the seismic risk of the
Beaufort area, the probability of liquefaction or the liquefaction potential for a
given exposure time can be predicted. The amount of ground settlement due to
liquefaction can also be predicted.
The S&ME report indicated that assuming an earthquake magnitude of
about 5.9 and a base acceleration of 0 to 12g, the liquefaction potential of the
underlying soils beneath St. Helenas was within acceptable limits.
Based on the above assumptions, factors of safety against liquefaction
were calculated for the potentially liquefiable deposits. Standard Penetration
data (N values) from the soil test borings indicated that the factors of safety
were greater than 1.5 and, consequently, the risk of liquefaction would be
acceptable by todays standards. The report concluded that some densification
of the loose sands above the water table, and therefore settlement, could occur
during an earthquake even without liquefaction.
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106
The liquefaction potential can be reduced in one of six ways: base isolation,
deep foundations, drainage wells, chemical grouting, jet grouting, or compaction grouting. These methods range in cost from the most expensive to the
least expensive. The first two are structural modifications to the foundation of
the building; the others affect the subsoils. At that time, recent experience
from the West Coast indicated that seismic events varied to such a degree that
predicting the response of a building that has been modified or that rests on
remedied soils was almost impossible.
Since the costs for mediation were high and the benefits unpredictable, a
reasonable solution was to not do anything if the potential for liquefaction and
the amount of settlement was determined to be tolerable. Damage from a
major seismic event can be controlled by ensuring that wall and floor systems
are tied together and masonry is contained and reinforced. In this manner, settlement due to liquefaction can be tolerated and structural stability does not
depend on soils mediation or foundation modification. In fact, the summary of
S&MEs report concluded that the underlying soils were resistant to liquefaction, and that modification to the foundation was not necessary.
Based on the soil conditions encountered at the site, there was no reason
to believe that the foundation soils were settling. However, settlement would
be expected if the foundation loads or soil stresses were increased. Consequently, from a geotechnical standpoint, ground modification or foundation
underpinning was not necessary.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on our analysis, and by applying engineering judgment relating to other
historic structures such as St. Helenas, we offered the following recommendations for the building committee and vestry to consider:
The sidewalls of the building should be jacked into a vertical alignment
and the masonry reworked, reducing the eccentricity of the wall and
increasing the net section of the masonry at the critical juncture with the
balcony while reestablishing vertical continuity. At the same time, the balconies should be securely tied into the masonry sidewalls in a manner
often referred to as bolts-plus reinforcing. This will require the installation of a new balcony header sill in accordance with sketches enclosed
with our report.
Roof truss number IV should be repaired by replacing the deteriorated
lower chord. This will require the shoring of the curved plaster ceiling
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Recommendations
107
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108
FIGURE 7-10
Lateral bracing
consisting of timber
poles and framing
was installed on both
sidewalls. (See color
insert.)
FIGURE 7-11
Great care was
taken to protect the
monuments in
the church yard.
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Recommendations
109
FIGURE 7-12
JR Graton provided
much of the labor
required to build and
set the temporary
lateral bracing.
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110
FIGURE 7-13
Cribbing consisted of
6 7 (actual dimension)
by 4-foot-long eastern
white spruce.
FIGURE 7-14
The timber frames
were used to stabilize
the sidewalls during the
straightening operation.
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Recommendations
111
FIGURE 7-15
Griphoists were used
to pull the sidewalls
together.
FIGURE 7-16
The Griphoists were
secured to timbers that
straddled the window
openings.
The renovation of St. Helenas Episcopal Church won a 2001 South Carolina
Honor Award by the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation.
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112
FIGURE 7-17
The completed project
won an award from
The Palmetto Trust for
Historic Preservation.
FIGURE 7-18
The underside of the
side balconies were
replastered.
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Reference
113
FIGURE 7-19
All exterior surfaces
were renewed,
including the steeple.
(See color insert.)
REFERENCE
1. George Fores November 1994 Conditions Analysis and Conservation
Studies report
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CHAPTER
ot only did Charlestons 1841 Market Hall survive war, tornados, hurricanes, fire, and the 1886 earthquake, but also it suffered underutilization
and neglect forced by Reconstruction and the Depression that hit South
Carolinas economy especially hard. During the bombardment of the city from
Morris Island by federal forces, an artillery shell burst through the roof, grazing the bottom chord of one kingpost roof truss.
Damage by historic events such as the Civil War and the 1886 earthquake,
combined with the low countrys harsh climate of sun, rain, and humidity, were
abundantly evident when Phillips & Oppermann, PA obtained the architectural design contract for its restoration in 1992.
This chapter will relate the design teams struggle to apply conservation principles by integrating high-tech solutions of analysis and materials testing with
simple traditional approaches of timber framing and masonry restoration.
Once the strategy for structural rehabilitation was developed, it had to be
defended on several occasions prior to the start of construction and through a
construction period that lasted more than three years. Major items of discussion
were shoring and bracing, masonry rehabilitation, and timber framing. Although
Charleston, being a port city, is hardly isolated, much of the expertise for the
rehabilitation was obtained at a distance from the project. The Winston-Salem
based architect Joseph K. Oppermann assembled a team consisting of a structural engineer, materials conservator, and a mechanical engineer from such
diverse locations as Raleigh, North Carolina; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and
East Norwalk, Connecticut.
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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116
FIGURE 8-1
The Civil War was
especially hard on
Charleston. An artillery
shell penetrated the
roof of Market Hall.
The structural engineers decision to pull the floor structure out and rehabilitate timber-bearing pockets was a much-debated issue. To enhance Market
Halls resistance to wind and seismic forces, the design strategy called for the
existing flooring to be temporarily removed and the floor joists lifted out to be
rehabilitated or replaced. A diagonal subfloor consisting of 5/4 sheathing
boards was specified to be installed between the original joists and flooring
forming a structural diaphragm. Both shear and axial forces had to be transferred between the two elements of wall and floor.
The number of floor joists requiring replacement or rehabilitation was a
question of debate. I insisted that the contractors carpenters could best make
that determination after the joists were pulled out and examined. The contractor
wanted, in advance, to be provided with the exact number of timbers to order.
Much of the masonry had to be rebuilt with loose bricks pulled out and
relaid. The masonry restoration contractor questioned the scope of the work
after their bid proposal was accepted.
Construction management issues such as these greatly impacted the overall preservation plan. A diverse team of designers led an extensive construction
team through a difficult rehabilitation tempered by constraints inherent in
municipal capital projects. Through friendly persuasion, the design team ultimately prevailed in rehabilitating Market Hall as designed and detailed.
The rehabilitation of the main floor system required that the original 4 14
floor joists be reinforced, supplemented, or replaced. The original span of 34 feet
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117
was excessive by modern standards for any application including the intended
Confederate Museum. The ends of the floor joists in the masonry pockets were
severely deteriorated, especially beneath the wide window openings.
FIGURE 8-2
The ends of the joists
were exposed for
examination.
Most of the joists were sound immediately beyond the inside face of the
masonry with few exceptions. One or two joists were severely deteriorated for
their full length.
The original survey of the floor framing was made through gaps in the
flooring where the architect had arranged to remove the first one or two floorboards on each side of the building. Access to the floor framing from below
was limited by the presence of four retail establishments on the first floor that
continued to operate during the design phase.
The ceiling in the lower level was tongue-and-groove 134 beaded-ceiling
boards nailed directly to the joists. The flooring of the main room was oneinch-thick dense pine tongue-and-groove boards nailed to the floor joists.
Attachment of the floor system consisted of the simple embedment of the joist
ends into the wall approximately 8 to 10 inches. The joists rested on a 3-inchthick timber plate that was severely deteriorated, especially below the windowsills. Termite tracks were visible on the face of several joists.
To maximize the use of existing fabric, I recommended that the floor system
of northsouth joists be reinforced with two lines of support running eastwest.
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118
The support would be at the third points of the joist span, greatly increasing the
stiffness of the floor system. To maintain the floor system as a timber structure,
the primary reinforcing members were specified to be two 8 -inch-wide glued
laminated timber beams. I recommended that these members be let into the
floor joists rather than be set below the joists. This decision caused a great deal
of concern to the architect and owner and had to be defended through several
discussions and special meetings. The insertion of the floor beams provided an
excellent opportunity to gain length in the soon-to-be three-piece floor joist system if each joist was first removed, end trimmed, and then cut into thirds.
FIGURE 8-3
The gaps in the floor
joists to accommodate
the 8 3/4-inch-wide
glued laminated timber
beams allowed for the
deteriorated ends to be
removed.
In this way, 8 inches would be gained in two places, offsetting the loss of
deteriorated wood at the joist ends.
The need for total structural intervention had to be defended through preliminary design and into design development, during special meetings with city
project managers and department administrators. The structural design concept was subjected to an informal peer review during which alternate solutions
were offered. Apparently, the citys primary concern was that the proposed
solution appeared to be too drastic, resulting in a possible loss of historic fabric
and possibly excessively high construction costs.
All manner of alternate concepts were suggested, including the application
of load-bearing metal studs to support the floor and roof and steel channels to
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119
act as ledgers epoxy bolted to the masonry to support the floor joists and tie the
floor system to the perimeter walls.
My intent to transform the floor system into a diaphragm had to be
explained. Floor joist removal was integral to this effort also because the application of 5/4 (1 inch thick) diagonal flooring as a subfloor was key to that
effort. For the finish floor to remain at the original level, the floor joists would
have to be lowered to compensate for the inch-thick diagonal floor sheathing.
This could only be accomplished by temporarily removing all flooring and
joists, and reworking the masonry joist pockets and bearing plates. Obviously,
this would also require the installation of temporary shoring and bracing during construction to ensure stability of the masonry walls.
Various forms of cross-bracing or sheathing were suggested to be installed
beneath the floor system by the architect, peer reviewers and city officials. All
suggestions were aimed at not disturbing the floor joists in their original state.
Unfortunately, decay and deterioration had greatly impacted a severely undersized floor system, which would be required to support the display cases and
exhibits of a newly minted Confederate Museum.
City managers insisted that the existing flooring would be difficult to
remove without destroying it. To be fair, their concerns were fueled by the
advice of peer review engineers and consulting contractors.
All of the suggested alternates seemed to contain either steel or plywood as
a primary ingredient. Many of the suggestions were verbally transmitted without
benefit of a written report or calculations. Each was required to be debunked as
we progressed over many months into the construction document phase. In my
opinion, the steel-stud support system would not work because it would forever
change the original structural system of the building. Often, structural engineers
propose this solution without considering that the stability of the building
depends on the weight of the floor system resting on the masonry walls. Take
that away, and the original, thick masonry walls become unstable. Their answer,
to tie the masonry to the studs, further debases the original system.
Although the American Plywood Association credits the ancient Egyptians
with the invention of plywood by alternating the direction of grain of wood
veneers in the construction of mummy cases, I did not want to use a twentiethcentury construction material in the restoration of Market Hall. One concern
of using plywood for such an application is that the layers of adhesive,
although thin, might act as an improved vapor barrier, retarding the movement of moisture through a building. A practical reason for resisting the use
of plywood is that traditional framing rarely is at an even spacing, accommodating 8- or 12-foot sheets of plywood without trimming. This leads to waste
and additional labor.
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120
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121
Georgia and Peter Bull of Cleveland, Georgia greatly impressed project superintendent Tom Magee of NBM Construction.
Once the structural design concept was accepted by the County and the
contractor was on board, work a Market Hall proceeded smoothly.
FIGURE 8-5
The iron work was
restored to its original
configuration and
color. (See color
insert.)
FIGURE 8-6
This completed
building again houses
the Confederate
Museum. (See color
insert.)
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122
AWARDS
The Restoration of the 1841 Market Hall received the following honors:
Restoration and Renovation 2004 Palladio Award for the Restoration of
Market Hall, Charleston, South Carolina
2003 South Carolina Historic Preservation Honor Award for the Restoration of Market Hall, Charleston, SC
2003 South Carolina Historic Preservation Honor Award The Palmetto
Trust for Historic Preservation SC Department of Archives & History
Governors Office for the Restoration of Market Hall, Charleston, South
Carolina
2003 National Preservation Honor Award National Trust for Historic
Preservation for the Restoration of Market Hall, Charleston, South
Carolina
2002 Samuel Gaillard Stoney Conservation Craftsmanship Award by
the Historic Charleston Foundation for work on the Restoration of 1841
for the Restoration of Market Hall, Charleston, South Carolina
2002 Carolopolis Award presented by The Preservation Society of
Charleston for the Restoration of Market Hall, Charleston, South Carolina
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CHAPTER
HISTORY
The Salem community was founded in 1766 by the Moravians, a Protestant sect
from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with origins in the Czech states of Moravia and
Bohemia. How the Moravians came to North Carolina is quite interesting. In
November of 1751, leaders of the Moravian church met in London to consider
the offer of one of the Lords Proprietors, John Carteret, the Earl of Granville,
to sell them a large tract of land in North Carolina. Under the leadership of
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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124
FIGURE 9-1
Historical photograph
provided by Old Salem,
Inc.
FIGURE 9-2
The termite damaged
floor joists were
removed to provide
access for the
archeologist.
Count Zinzendorf, the Moravians accepted the offer and directed Bishop August
Gottlieb Spangenberg to lead a small exploratory expedition into the interior of
North Carolina to select a suitable tract of land. After much effort, the explorers
staked out a tract containing 98,985 acres to be known as Wachovia.1
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125
From almost the beginning, enslaved and free African Americans lived in
Salem. The African American congregation of St. Philips Moravian Church
in the community of Salem was formed in 1822. In 1823, the Moravians constructed for their black citizens a simple log church a few blocks south of
Salem Square adjacent to the Strangers Graveyard. In 1861, the congregation
moved into a newly constructed Greek Revival brick church, again built by the
Moravians, which is now the oldest standing African American church building in North Carolina. The black church prospered so well after the Civil War
that the Moravian Church agreed to enlarge the building in 1890. The 1890
addition to the 1861 St. Philips Moravian Church in Winston-Salem was constructed on a portion of the preexisting Strangers Graveyard. The addition
contains two first-floor rooms, a central corridor, and a balcony above.2
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126
FIGURE 9-4
A pair of structural
steel trusses was
designed to support the
replicated belfry.
Between the two projects, structural engineering tasks at St. Philips included
the design of traditional timber frames and connections, structural steel, underpinning, masonry restoration and repair, and a number of construction details.
Drawings for the log church were executed by John Milner Architects, Inc. of
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, based on review, input, and sketches provided by us.
FIGURE 9-5
The log church has
a false chimney and
cupola. (See color
insert.)
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127
FIGURE 9-6
The bottom chord
consists of two 4 10s.
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128
FIGURE 9-7
The connection at
the queen rod joint
appears to have been
reworked during the
original construction.
The exterior walls and the corridor walls of the 1890 addition are constructed of brick masonry, with very shallow footings. Obviously, when setting
the bearing elevation for the walls, the builders were well aware of the numerous burial sites in the area of the addition.
Subsidence of the remains within disturbed pockets in the stiff clay caused
major cracks to form in the exterior walls at the northwest corner of the 1890
building addition. Numerous settlement cracks in the masonry of the northwest corner of the 1890 addition were obvious by the 1980s.
The cracks extended from the base to the top of the wall on both the front
face and north side of the building. The cracks were through-wall cracks as
much as 1 to 2 inches in width.
During the exploratory phase, distance from the underside of the floor joists
to the bottom of the walls was measured to be from 17 inches to 26 inches.
The bases of the walls were found to be rectangular in shape without projections or footings of any kind. The foundation walls, as found, were approximately 17 inches thick at the exterior locations and 8 inches thick at the
corridors. The oversized brick units of the 1890 addition measured 3 inches
high, by 4 inches wide, by 8 inches in length.
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129
FIGURE 9-8
The northwest corner
was temporarily
braced prior to our
involvement with this
project.
FIGURE 9-9
The cracks extended to
the top of the wall and
were up to 2 inches in
width.
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130
By 1995 it was made clear to me that St. Philips would have to be interpreted as an 1890s building and the addition could not be removed. In a letter
to John Larson of Old Salem, Inc., we listed the order of tasks required to
repair the front section of the church . . .4 First, the cracks in the masonry
needed to be located, in the drawings, on the building elevations. The location
of the graves under the addition needed to be mapped, noting the depth of these
features and the extent of undisturbed soil. With the benefit of an archeological
base map and a geotechnical report, the type, number, location, and depth of the
mini piles (or other ground modification techniques) would be determined so
that budget prices could be derived. By this time, John Milner had been retained
to execute the design of both the log church and St. Philips Moravian Church
restoration.
In 1993, we had recommended that a subsurface investigation be undertaken to determine the relative depth and configuration of the 1861 and 1890
wall footings, as well as the nature of the soils located directly beneath the
footings in both areas.3 Successful underpinning of a wall requires that it be
uniformly supported continually along its length. It was obvious that support
needed to be provided along the wall by bridging the less consolidated pockets
of soil without disturbing those areas. The main purpose of the proposed soils
investigation was to determine the capacity of the firm soils to support a continuous grade beam with, or without, the installation of soil modification or
support elements, such as piles. If sufficient support could be obtained in the
undisturbed locations, then a continuous concrete grade beam could be
designed to span the archeological features. The underpinning approach that
we devised was to install the mini piles first so that they could be used for temporary support of the building and act as hard points to jack against in lifting
the badly cracked masonry walls. In order to be successful, the walls would
have to be lifted and pulled together simultaneously. In this way, the maximum
amount of existing masonry could be retained by merely closing the cracks.
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131
The project documents included structural details and notes that spelled out a
suggested sequence of work, a suggested method for execution, and a layout of
the mini piles.
SUBSURFACE EXPLORATION
Froehling & Robertson, Inc. of Raleigh, North Carolina, was finally authorized
to undertake a subsurface exploration in April of 2002 to evaluate subsurface
conditions for underpinning of the west wall of the addition. At our request, it
had provided a proposal for this work in 1993. F&R drilled two 40-foot-deep
borings approximately 5.5 to 6 feet west of the exterior face of the west wall at
locations cleared by the project archeologist. Borings were drilled with an allterrain CME-550 drill rig using hollow stem augers to advance the borings.5
The usual approach of including test pits, also known as observation
pits, in the soils exploration was not necessary because the work of the archeologist exposed the bottom of the walls in the interior of the 1890 addition.
The configuration of the base of the wall and the nature of the supporting soils
could be observed without the need for observation pits.
General engineering characteristics of the subsurface soils were determined from samples obtained at selected intervals in accordance with Standard Penetration Tests (SPT) procedures (ASTM D-1586). Beneath a thin veneer
of topsoil and approximately 2 feet of firm, silty clay residual soil, there was
8 to 12 feet of very stiff micaceous, fine sandy silts. Extending for the remaining 40 feet of depth, firm to stiff slightly micaceous to very micaceous, fine
sandy silts were encountered. After 24 hours, a piezometer installed in Boring
B-1 detected no groundwater. F&R concluded that the conditions encountered
at the two borings would be favorable for the installation of friction-type mini
piles to a depth approximately 25 to 35 feet below existing grades. F&R
anticipated that steel mini piles could develop a design skin friction of 300 to
400 pounds per square foot.5
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132
1996 and 1997. Starting in July 1991, archeologist Dr. Leland Ferguson from
the University of South Carolina and his team of students had verified the original location of the 1823 log church and located 120 to 130 graves of people
buried in the Strangers Graveyard between 1775 and 1890.4
Although Old Salem had photographic and archeological evidence of the
log church, the configuration of the structural system to support the roof was
based on conjecture and other similar buildings. Structural design issues at
the log church included the design of an A-frame roof structure, support of the
false chimney clad with brick veneer, bracing of the gable endwalls, design
and support of the open belfry, determination of porch and balcony details,
tie-down details connecting the log structure to the foundation and the design
of the roof structure. The principal element in the roof structure for the log
church is partially exposed to view tied A-frame, with the collar tie located
approximately midway between the apex of the frame and the level of the
supports.
FIGURE 9-10
The A-frames with
collar ties were
pre-fabricated in a
shop.
Three horizontal ties were placed across the building at the top of the log
walls to resist the horizontal thrust of the A-frames. A traditional timber joint
consisting of a tongue and fork type connection was inadequate for the loads
involved in these tie members, and the end connections had to be reinforced
with steel.
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133
FIGURE 9-11
The connection of the
ties to the A-frames
had to be reinforced
with steel.
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134
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Construction
135
Once the gaps in the masonry walls were closed, the cracks could be
healed by a combination of rebuilding and stitching. The stitching process
relies on the installation of retrofitted joint reinforcing placed into raked-out
horizontal mortar joints straddling the cracks. By necessity, the masonry repairs
had to occur after the walls were fully supported by the underpinning system
consisting of temporary steel beams and mini piles. A new cast-in-place reinforced concrete footing served as both pile cap and grade beam, spanning
between the piles while supporting the wall above. The piles were inserted between
the features mapped by the archeologist into stiff soil. The archeologist provided an AutoCAD layout of the Strangers Graveyard, which we incorporated
into the structural drawings, enabling us to direct the placement of the piles in
undisturbed locations. To avoid conflict, the concrete footing was set as high as
possible, but comfortably below grade.
CONSTRUCTION
Structural drawings included photographs of existing conditions showing
repairs to the masonry and suggested ways to brace the building. These drawings, as well as specificationsincluding a section describing mini pileswere
included in the bid package. The low bidder for the restoration, general contractor H. M. Kern Corporation, selected Foundation Services, Inc. of Greensboro
(now Hayward Baker, Inc.) and Blake Moving Company of Greensboro, North
Carolina, as the subcontractors.
Hayward Baker, Inc. utilized a KB1 Drill Rig with a hydraulic generator
and a diesel powered grout mixer. A 2.2-to-1 Portland cement-to-water ratio
was used to achieve a grout design mix with a compressive strength of 4,000 psi
at three days. The design capacity of the 4-inch outside diameter micropiles was
5 tons, with a factor of safety of 2.2. The 4-inch O.D. piles had a wall thickness
of 0.525 inches, with a yield strength of Fy 36 ksi. Piles were inserted in
accordance with our layout with the exception of three, which had to be offset
slightly to avoid obstructions to the drill rig.
Charlie Blake of Blake Moving Company used a simple and direct method
to pull the walls together.
Sets of flat steel bands were placed horizontally around straight sections
of wall.
Head joints in the masonry were knocked out so that the bands could pass
through each section of wall, encompassing the portion to be pulled together.
This operation required that the open cracks be cleared of debris so that the
cracked sections of wall could be leveled and moved while floating on steel.
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136
FIGURE 9-14
The mortar in the
cracks had to be
removed prior to
pulling the wall
together.
FIGURE 9-15
Bands of steel were
installed through
mortar joints. Building
corners were protected
with wood.
Using the banding system, the discontinuous sections of wall were slowly
and carefully pulled together so that the mason could heal the cracks using
common masonry restoration techniques.
The reconstruction of the belfry of the masonry church proved to be interesting. Its configuration was determined by Philips & Oppermann, using the
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Construction
137
FIGURE 9-16
The masonry wall
was supported by the
mini-piles. Steel bands
were used to provide
under-slung support
to the wall. (See color
insert.)
early photograph that showed it and the log church. Other evidence included
the remnants of the belfry support timbers and framed out openings in the attic.
We determined that without supplemental support, the existing structure was
inadequate to resist forces derived from wind acting on a new belfry. The solution was to design a wood-framed belfry supported by a pair of steel trusses to
span the width of the church.
FIGURE 9-17
The steel trusses
were designed to be
lightweight with bolted
connections to ease
assembly within the
attic space.
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138
These trusses were located in the attic, spaced to avoid the original framing.
An added consideration was the erection of this structural system in an tight
space. To accommodate the geometry and allow for assembly in place, the steel
truss components and lateral bracing consisted of structural angles field-bolted
together.
SUMMARY
The underpinning fix for St. Philips consisting of strategically placed mini
piles, concrete grade beams, and the efforts of a general contractor and his
subcontractors consisting of a foundation specialty contractor, a structural
mover, and a masonry restoration contractor to provide permanent support for
the building while avoiding the archeological features beneath the building
that were the source of its distress.
REFERENCES
1. C. Daniel Crews, Villages of the Lord, The Moravians Come to Carolina
(Winston-Salem: Moravian Archives, 1995).
2. Old Salem, St. Philips Church, An Overview, (Winston-Salem: Old Salem,
Inc., June 11, 2003).
3. Fischetti, David C. Preliminary Structural Evaluation Report, January,
1993.
4. Fischetti, David C., Letter to John Larson, 1995.
5. Charles A. Phillips, St. Philips Moravian Church, Report of Findings,
(Winston-Salem: Phillips & Oppermann, P.A., 1993).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
John Sensbach, Preserving North Carolinas Old Surviving Black Church, North
Carolina Preservation, #86 Summer 1992.
Ralph E. Sanders, Report of Subsurface Exploration, Froehling & Robertson,
Inc., No. D66002, April 15, 2002.
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CHAPTER
10
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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FIGURE 10-1
View of the
surrounding property
from the attic. (See
color insert.)
FIGURE 10-2
The up and down
braces had been
removed to transform
the attic into habitable
space.
Where reinforcing was accomplished with miscellaneous steel, each connector was designed to resist the forces involved at locations deemed deficient
or damaged, with a minimal amount of intervention, while allowing for reversibility where practical. At several locations, a wood mock-up of the connector
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141
FIGURE 10-3
The braces were
replaced in kind.
assembly was made to ensure an adequate fit. The actual wood mock-ups were
provided to the steel fabricator, along with the engineers drawings. The small
fabrication shop had tool-and-die capabilities, and was not strictly a miscellaneous steel fabrication shop. As a result, reinforcing connections were made
with great precision, in stainless steel, to suit each individual situation.
FIGURE 10-4
The post-to-beam
connection was
damaged in several
locations.
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142
FIGURE 10-5
Each reinforcing
connection was custom
fabricated by providing
a wood mockup to the
steel fabricator for
each location.
Some rafters, beams, and purlins required reinforcing with steel knife plates
where a simple traditional scarf joint would not suffice.
FIGURE 10-6
The proposed knife
plate connection was
load tested.
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143
Deterioration in several beams and timber plates and sills was verified, and
in some cases discovered, through the use of resistance drilling.
FIGURE 10-8
Wood scientist
Ron Anthony used
resistance drilling to
discover deterioration
in timber member.
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144
Segmental infill using laminated veneer lumber was used at two locations.
The serrated roofs of the wings were reconstructed on the basis of historical writings, prints, architectural evidence, and knowledge of similar construction at other sites contemporary to Montpelier, such as Thomas Jeffersons
Monticello, Poplar Forest, and the University of Virginia. Anchorage of the
plates supporting the serrated roof joists to the masonry included tie-down
anchors and shear keys to resist lateral loads such as wind and seismic.
FIGURE 10-9
The serrated roof
followed Thomas
Jeffersons original
design, which was
verified by ghost
marks.
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145
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146
The mason constructed the chimney, filling the gap between the original
chimney and a new concrete footing.
FIGURE 10-12
The chimney extension
provided duct access
into the vertical spaces
within the chimney.
(See color insert.)
The newer floor openings had to be closed up and the original stair openings reconstituted. In some cases, framing for floor openings became quite
complex. Joist hangers, splice plates, and laminated veneer lumber were all
utilized in an effort to make more than adequate repairs while removing as little historic fabric as possible. We utilized Dutchman inserts with epoxy to
repair some deteriorated timbers.
In the lower level, one large deteriorated beam was repaired by removing
the deteriorated center of the beam and replacing it with laminated veneer
lumber.
Many of the original connections required enhancement for the members
joined to carry the required load. The connection between the attic posts and
the ceiling and dragon beams became a very complicated connection of stainless steel, which was first patterned in wood and then built by a small tool and
die shop using the wood pattern as a guide.
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147
FIGURE 10-13
The deteriorated
interior of the large
beam was hollowed out
to sound wood.
FIGURE 10-14
Dutchmen consisting
of laminated veneer
lumber were installed
from the top using a
gap-filling epoxy.
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CHAPTER
11
eeting the requirements of the building code is not the same as assuring
the public of a safe structure. As structural engineers, it is critical that we
make the judgments needed to keep a historic structure in service when parameters appear to fall short of minimum code requirements.
In this chapter we will discuss timber structures in general and the structural repair of glued laminated timber structures and the use of laminated
timber in the conservation of other timber structures.
TIMBER MISUNDERSTOOD
Timber is the primary structural component for most historic structures in the
United States and Canada.
In todays residential market, timber is primarily of importance as dimension lumber. Most timber production consists of dimension framing.
Manufacturers provide the design for prefabricated components such as
wood trusses for the complete framing of floors and roofs. Other manufactured products, such as laminated veneer lumber and joist products, are
selected on the basis of load tables provided by the manufacturer. As a result,
the glued laminated timber industry is one of the few areas where structural
engineers are practicing the design of heavy timber structures on a daily basis.
Some timber-frame manufacturing firms have in-house engineers, but most use
the services of private consulting engineers.
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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PRESERVATION PHILOSOPHY
It is hoped that by learning more about timber design, structural engineers will
develop a preservation philosophy that demands rigorous analysis in order to
justify doing nothing to an historic timber structure that has been performing satisfactorily for many years. Buildings that analysis (and observation)
clearly indicates are unsafe should be reinforced in the most sensitive manner
in an attempt to retain as much historic fabric as possible. Buildings that
require extensive modification or reconstruction should be restored in a way
that is in keeping with the original construction if possible, while fulfilling
safety requirements. Often, engineers are asked to evaluate framing members
to determine the capacity of an existing floor structure in an historic structure.
This review process differs considerably from design.
STRUCTURAL REVIEW
Members in the horizontal plane, such as floor sheathing, joists, purlins, and
beams, are stressed principally in bending. The resisting bending moment is a
measure of the strength of such an element. This measure, stiffness and horizontal shear make up the three qualities that are normally checked during the
process of selection that we call design. Because timber is available in certain
standard lumber sizes, the designer selects from the available sizes, grades, and
species those that most economically meet the predetermined standards for
bending stress, deflection, and horizontal shear. When the engineer reviews the
capacity of an existing member, many parameters complicate the process of
selecting appropriate lumber. Size, span and spacing of members are dictated
by the structure. It is the engineers task to determine the size, orientation, species, grade, and end condition of all of the structural elements in a building
that already exists. Between the factors of limited availability of types of lumber, economic considerations, existing standards, and the structure of the
building itself, freedom of choice is eliminated.
ENGINEERING JUDGMENT
Often, the structural engineer must pass judgment on a structure that has served
far beyond what we consider to be a normal period of service. The timbers of
such a structure were not selected on the basis of modern engineering analysis.
They certainly do not bear inspection marks attesting to their grade and species.
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151
It should be obvious to the engineer that a safe floor structure should not
fail in bending due to the actual loads imposed. But it is important to recognize
that excessive deflection, excessive vibration, or a lack of stiffness, should not
automatically categorize a floor structure as unsafe. Strict deflection limitations should be set for floors that support plaster ceilings in lieu of wood or tin
ceilings or no ceilings at all. But for comfort, the deflection limitation set in most
building codes for floors, no matter what the ceiling, is 1/360th of the span.
It must be said that overstressed structural members may also be perfectly
safe. It is important for the engineer to evaluate the basis for his or her conclusion regarding the safety of the structure. When making such an evaluation, the
loads assumed for design should be reconciled with the actual loads that will
occur in service. For example, if we think about the uniform design live load of
40 psf for residential floors used as living areas, packing a group of people
weighing 160 pounds each into a room and allocating four square feet of space
each would be equal to 40 psf. In reality, it is difficult to imagine such a situation, and when one considers that most furniture weighs less per square foot,
it is very difficult to see how residential floor loading could attain 40 psf.
The design values that we assume are critical to the computed capacity of
some floor systems. For structures such as mill buildings, average design values
yield results that fall well above the minimum code requirements for adaptive
reuse occupancy, such as Office or Retail.
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152
CASE HISTORIES
The portico of the Miles Brewton House in Charleston, South Carolina
(c.1757), required a timber 6 18 in size and 52 feet long. Glued laminated
timber was specified because of the need for such a large member. The replacement roof structure for the Thomas Day/Union Tavern (c.1850) in Milton,
North Carolina, includes laminated veneer lumber. The tapered rafter, collar
tie, and ceiling joist system duplicates the profile of the original structural elements, which were destroyed in a fire three years before we first inspected the
building in 1977. Of course modern timber products should not automatically replace traditional timber framing and joinery. Replacement-in-kind of
members with mortise and tenon, dovetail, tongue and fork, slotted, or oakpinned joint connections is a possibility that must be considered. In recent
years, various designs for new post-and-beam frames have been produced containing few or no metal connectors. Traditional technology is available through
timber framers located in many areas of the United States and Canada.
In a 1988 structural evaluation report, we concluded that the large second
floor assembly hall of the Chowan County Courthouse in Edenton, North Carolina (c.1767), could be used for public occupancy if the area was posted to
limit the number of people to 200. A deflection limitation of 1/360th of a span
governed the design, producing a bending stress as high as 2292 psi in large,
dense southern pine timber floor joists and beams.
In 1991, we reviewed the floor structure of the 1917 Walker Building at the
State Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire. Assuming a reasonable set of design
values equivalent to No. 1D SR southern pine, based on examination of wood
samples obtained from the building, we concluded that the existing 7 11
timber beams were adequate to support a live load of 86 psf, which is well
within the 50 psf required for office occupancy. The live load deflection limitation of 1/360th of the span controlled the design. Of course, we can conclude
that this is a safe structure that meets minimum code requirements. The calculations were based on reasonable assumptions of design values.
In 1985, half a dozen floor joists from the 1903 Montague Building in Raleigh,
North Carolina, were removed from the building and tested to destruction. Of the
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Case Histories
153
five joists tested, (of six joists selected, one was found not suitable for testing) the
average bending stress at rupture was in excess of 5000 psi. The average modulus
of elasticity was 1,295,000 psi. These measures of strength and stiffness were
used to evaluate the capacity of the floor structure. To meet tenant requirements
for possible retail occupancy in this speculative office building, we recommended
that all of the existing floor joists be reinforced.
At Moorfields, a 1792 house in Hillsborough, North Carolina, we evaluated
the excessive deflection of a summer beam by measuring offsets in the floor surface above the beam. Based on field measurements and computer analysis, we
were convinced that the two-span summer beam had failed. Indeed, when exposed
to view by removing the ceiling plaster, during construction in 1980, the summer
beam contained a severe fracture consistent with a typical bending failure. The
only replacement beam available of sufficient stiffness and strength that would fit
in the space between the floor sheathing and the plaster ceiling below was a steel
tube section of a dimension approximately equal to the original timber beam.
St. Michaels Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina was built
between 1752 and 1761. Architect unknown, it resembles English pattern
book designs, which were popular in the colonies. St. Michaels, is similar to
James Gibbs design for St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. St. Michaels survived wars, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and the 1886 earthquake. During the
Revolutionary War, St. Michaels was the center of British resistance, and as
such, the tower was a target for British naval gunners. The 186 foot tall steeple
served as an observation post and navigational landmark in this and subsequent military conflicts. As a result of the 1886 earthquake, the steeple settled
8 inches, while leaning 18 inches towards the west requiring reconstruction of
the portico below. Repaired cracks in the brick masonry can be observed today
from the inside of the tower.
Hurricane Hugo, which struck near Charleston at the Isle of Palms on
September, 22, 1989 caused damage to St. Michaels resulting in an insurance
settlement of $6,000,000. An indication of the strength of the winds was the
damage to the weather vane at the top of the steeple. Consisting of a tapered 2
inch square wrought iron bar, it was bent by the winds of this category 4 storm.
The steeple of St. Michaels consists of five stages above the roof. Its base,
square in plan, forms the center portion of the vestibule. These brick masonry
walls vary from 4 feet-9 inches to 5 feet-3 inches in thickness. The masonry
box, translating from square to octagon in stages; it extends to the underside
of the gallery level.
Since the spire consists of four intersecting frames, we applied a 48 to 55
psf wind load to a pie shaped portion of the plan. At the same time, preliminary
observation indicated that the eight posts at the open lantern level had various
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154
amounts of deterioration in their bases. The analysis indicated that the steeple
frame acted much less stiff with one or both these joints disconnected.
Subsequent to Hurricane Hugo, I was contacted by Craig Bennett, P.E. of
Cummings and McCrady, Inc. architects, in Charleston through a recommendation from materials conservator George T. Fore of Raleigh, North Carolina. George
Fore produced a condition analysis and conservation study of the carpentry,
masonry, plaster and finishes, and various details. He also provided framing details
for the steeple as well as evidence of racking of the upper structure due to Hurricane
Hugo. His report located areas of deteriorated wood within the framework.
To determine the amount of lean in the steeple a surveying instrument was
set in the window of a nearby office building, but measurements were inconclusive. Upon inspection on a day with five to ten mile per hour gusts, Craig
Bennett led the author on a tour up into the tower in similar fashion to the
tours afforded through the years to dignitaries visiting Charleston such as
George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. On those occasions apparently it was common practice to afford such dignitaries a view of the city.
The analysis of a steeple should consider wind pressure in four directions.
Overall, stability depends on anchorage to the buildings foundations. Some steeples consist of a spire connected to a bell tower. In these cases, the analysis must
include the steeple frame and its connection to the bell tower, whether masonry
or stone. Steeples may consist of freestanding timber structures or timber structures where one or two walls are integrated into endwall framing. Many steeples
bear on the endwall of the church with two supports and with two supports on
the first interior roof truss. In many cases the two interior posts may pass through
a balcony structure. Endwalls may be timber frames or masonry walls.
No matter what the configuration, wind and seismic forces should be
applied in the transverse direction across the ridge and in the longitudinal
direction parallel to the ridge. Many steeples lean towards the nave in situations where support is shared between an endwall and a less stiff roof truss.
Even with a rigid support of timber posts and balcony or narthex wall framing,
a steeple will lean if the endwall support is a non-yielding masonry wall. In
these cases, a small amount of shrinkage across the grain in several large timber plates can cause a dramatic lean in a tall steeple towards the nave.
For ease of analysis the timber frame of a steeple may be reduced to its
primary and secondary framing. Rigidity may depend on x-braces, or up or
down braces, or knee braces. A preliminary analysis will reveal whether the
braces are resisting tension or compression forces. If the computed tension is
high, with the ability of the connection to resist tension insufficient, all such
tension members should be deleted and the program run again. The computer
model must account for continuity or discontinuity through joints. For steeples
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Case Histories
155
2.13 inches
Deteriorated
5.43 inches
This response seems to be in line with actual conditions. If the steeple was
experiencing much larger movements, then sheathing, cladding and architectural feature would be rupturing. Each of the eight faces of the gallery level
contains decorative millwork consisting of an arch with keystone, engaged
columns and an entablature with exceptional carved ornaments. The molded
architrave of the gallery was planed into the horizontal planks forming the
arch. George Fores investigation did point out that this level of the steeple
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156
racked causing the horizontal planks to slip past one another breaking the
paint bond which covered the joints.
Stresses in the members appeared to be relatively low in the net sections of
various members. This seemed consistent with a timber framed structure
where the connections at joint locations govern the design. The highest stress
appeared to be in the interior vertical post at the top of the lantern level because
a large amount of bending was applied to a small net section.
This analysis appeared to set the stage for a replacement-in-kind solution
where severely deteriorated members are replaced and the deteriorated ends of
other members are repaired.
About two years before, at the Miles Brewton House in Charleston, I had
met Tommy Graham of McClellanville, South Carolina. He had been selected by
Hill Construction Corporation of Charleston to provide the restoration of the
timber portion of St. Michaels steeple. My first inclination was to replace in-kind
the deteriorated timbers and portions of timbers using mechanical splices.
As an alternative, Tommy suggested that we make repairs using Dutchmen
and a gap filling epoxy adhesive to maximize the retention of historic fabric.
Besides, he said that the acquisition of large dense cypress timbers dried to the
moisture content compatible with the timber inside the tower was problematic. To test the epoxy, I directed Tommy to have his crew prepare six 1 inch by
3 inch long half lapped joints, under field conditions, which could be transported to a testing laboratory. With the assistance of Froehling & Robertson,
Inc. we tested the specimens at North Carolina State Universitys Forestry
Department utilizing a Tinius-Olsen testing machine. The results tabulated in
F&Rs October 8, 1992 report of tensile tests were fairly uniform.
Specimen No.
2,510
846
10.4
2,500
842
10.3
2,855
973
10.2
3,040
1,035
10.6
2,390
812
10.4
1,845
634
10.5
(Avg. 857)
The results of the tensile tests indicated that wood failure occurred along
the plane with sidegrain contact and total glue failure occurred at endgrain to
endgrain surfaces. This indicated to us that our Dutchmen and built-up repairs
should include only scarf joints. In one case, we discovered a horizontal strut
which was totally deteriorated. To replace it we vertically laminated five cypress
boards together.
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157
New tenons and boat shaped Dutchmen were fabricated from dense cypress
with a moisture content of 14 percent to 16 percent which was close to the
moisture content of the original frame of 11 percent to 14 percent.
FIGURE 11-1
Deteriorated wood has
been cut away from a
beam in St. Michaels
Episcopal Church in
Charleston, South
Carolina.
FIGURE 11-2
The repair was
completed using
cypress infill pieces
similar to the original
in density and moisture
content.
Where radiating 8 10 timber beams below the floor of the gallery were
severely deteriorated we replaced them with pressure treated Southern Pine having a 2.5 pcf retention of Copper Chromated Arsenate (CCA) water borne preservative. These members, cantileved towards the center across brick corbels
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158
provided vertical support to the central spine of the tower. The ends of these
members were embedded in the masonry wall approximately 3 feet. Wrought iron
straps throughout the steeple which had disintegrated and could not be reworked
were replaced with stainless steel.
LAMINATED TIMBER
At initial glance, it would seem incongruous for glued laminated timber to be
mentioned in a discussion of preservation and conservation. In fact, glued laminated timber may be the greenest construction product available, used in a
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Laminated Timber
159
multitude of structures that have now attained the age of 50. Introduced into
the United States in the 1930s, from Germany, by Max C. Hanisch, Sr. (1882
1950), glued laminated timber is present in thousands of buildings.
FIGURE 11-3
Glued laminated
timber was introduced
into the United States
by Max Hanisch.
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160
FIGURE 11-4
The Peshtigo High
School Gymnasium was
built in 1934.
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161
solid timber, except for that one must take into account different allowable
design values, fabrication and connection techniques, and the larger sizes and
special shapes common in glued laminated timber construction.
DETERIORATION
The repair or rehabilitation of glued laminated timber structures requires the
expertise of a structural engineer familiar with glulam design. In order to
design an appropriate repair which meets the requirements of the Secretary of
the Interiors Guidelines, the engineer of record must determine as much as
possible about the building under investigation. This information is best found
in the shop drawings. Observation and measurement is required to determine
how the building has performed during its service life. Rigorous analysis is
required to determine the capacity of glued laminated timber structures and
how to best reinforce, repair or rehabilitate them if necessary.
Laminated timber deteriorates in the same manner as solid timber except
for a few unique characteristics. Termites and fungi will destroy wood that has
moisture content greater than 20 percent. In glulam, deterioration may follow
certain laminations because of moisture variations. The glue line, although
thin, will act as a boundary with termites found in one or two laminations for
a certain distance while adjacent laminations may be free of infestation. Because
laminated timber members are large, deterioration can be very serious, requiring intervention on a major scale.
As in other structural materials, glued laminated timber can fail due to
deficiencies in design or fabrication or changes in service conditions. Failures
in glued laminated timber members can be in horizontal shear, radial tension,
bending or deflection. Horizontal shear usually occurs at connections, notched
ends or highly loaded beam ends. The failure mode includes horizontal splits
in the end of a member where wood fibers slide past one another. An inadequate glue bond can cause horizontal shear failure to occur at a glue joint.
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162
most easily determined by reviewing the shop drawings. Shop drawings are very
important to the evaluation, because they reflect what was actually built. Certain
dimensions such as the tangent depths of two-hinged Tudor arches are very difficult to measure in the field.
The date of construction will establish the full range of design values associated with a particular lumber combination. Many changes in design with
respect to adjustments to design values or stresses have occurred since the
1930s. It is important to determine which set of design standards were used.
Waterproof adhesives usually are dark, while water-resistant adhesives are
white or gray in color. Treatments, type and the amount of retention, may
require that samples be laboratory tested.
By tapping with a carpenters hammer, a deteriorated glulam can be sounded
out. The extent of deterioration on the surface of a member can be easily recognized because of discoloration. Often, termite tubes or small pinholes caused by
borer insects may be visible on the surface. Ultrasonic devices may also be of value.
A moisture meter can be used to determine areas likely to contain deterioration.
By measuring deflection, members that have lost stiffness due to deterioration or failure can be identified.
Possible causes of damage from excessive moisture include termites and
fungi. Deficiencies in design or fabrication or changes in service conditions can
cause glued laminated timber structures to fail. Horizontal shear, radial tension,
bending, and deflection are areas of investigation for the structural engineer.
CONSERVATION METHODS
Methods of conservation include reinforcement or repair with steel and epoxy
systems, segmental infill, field lamination, and steel or wood cover plates
nailed, screwed, lag screwed, or bolted into place.
Damaged timber members can also be replaced. Of course, the cause of
the original deterioration must be eliminated.
In North America, glued laminated timber usually consists of 1- or 2-inchthick (nominal thickness) Douglas fir or southern pine boards with a waterproof
adhesive applied to the face of each board. After drying, natural growth characteristics are removed and individual boards are end joined, with finger joints, to
form long laminations. Individual laminations are then laid up according to a
pattern and clamped under pressure until cured, forming structural members
that are then dressed in a double-faced planner.
In the fabrication of glued laminated timber, the moisture content can be
controlled while many strength reducing characteristics found in solid timber
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Conservation Techniques
163
CONSERVATION TECHNIQUES
Repair and conservation techniques range from replacement in kind to reinforcement with steel and/or epoxy systems. Many structural repairs require the
replacement of the decayed ends of arches or A-frames with moment resisting
steel legs connected with field-applied shear plates.
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164
The usual repair for a horizontal shear problem is to replace the member
if it is badly split. Shear reinforcing of other overstressed members that have
not failed may include lag screws used to stitch the beam together. These are
normally inserted through the roof or floor deck, perpendicular to the axis of
the beam. Stitch lags are inserted into pre-bored lag lead holes, which may
extend almost the full depth of the beam. Three-quarter-inch diameter lag
screws are available up to 30 inches in length. Other shear reinforcing may
include an exposed joist hanger to support the bottom of a notched beam, steel
side plates, or steel or fiber reinforced plastic dowels inserted in vertical holes
and epoxied in place with a gap filling epoxy formulated for wood repairs. The
zone around the bored hole may be strengthened with an epoxy consolidant prior
to inserting a dowel and a split member may be clamped under pressure prior to
adding epoxy.
Radial tension is a failure similar to horizontal shear that occurs in the curved
portion of curved tapered beams and Tudor arches. Again, the typical repair
requires insertion of lag screws or reinforcing rods inserted perpendicular to the
failure lines. In a curved member, insertion would be on a radial pattern.
Bending failures may require the full replacement of a member. If the failure is confined to a few tension laminations, the glulam member can be relieved
of its load by jacking. The damaged wood can then be carefully cut away. New
high-quality boards obtained from a laminator, planed to the actual thickness
of the exiting laminations, can be glued in place using a field-applied, gap-filling
epoxy. This work requires the skill of a craftsman and the cooperation of a
glulam manufacturer who can furnish long, finger-joined replacement stock.
Of course, the cause the failure must be removed. The repair, to be successful,
may require the addition of one or more laminations to increase the depth of
the member. A bending failure may require that the member be reinforced with
steel side plates, bottom plates, or flitch plates.
Any repair with steel requires that the engineer balance the load carried by
steel with that carried by the glulam timber. The engineer must design the
shear transfer between the two materials. Most engineers will ignore the contribution of the glulam and design the steel to carry the full load. In many glued
laminated timber buildings, steel side plates have been painted to match the
wood finish. If appearance is a major problem, a steel flitch plate can be inserted
into a kerf or rout cut into the center of the beam. Often, these cuts are made
with a chain saw attached to a guide. The flitch plate must then be securely
attached to the wood with a suitable epoxy-bonding agent. Determining plate
thickness, height, length and connection method requires a thorough structural analysis. Glued laminated timber beams with inadequate bending capacity can also be reinforced by adding tie rods or bottom plates of steel.
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Conservation Techniques
165
FIGURE 11-5
Severe deterioration is
evident in the leg of a
Tudor arch, which was
not protected.
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166
The connection of the laminated timber arch to its supporting steel shoe is
critical because the shoe transfers vertical forces and horizontal thrust through
anchor bolts to the foundation.
FIGURE 11-6
In this case, axial and
bending forces are
transferred to a
steel leg.
Repairing this type of connection often requires that steel plates be welded
to the existing shoe and connected to the glued laminated timber member to
resist all forces.
FIGURE 11-7
The steel side plates
transfer axial loads and
bending moment to the
support.
The connection of steel side plates to glued laminated timber may require
the field installations of 2 58- or 4-inch-diameter shear plates.
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Conservation Techniques
167
FIGURE 11-8
Nine sets of holes and
grooves have been
installed to accept
4-inch-diameter shear
plates.
Shear plates are inserted flush to the face to the member in a dapcut by a
special cutter.
FIGURE 11-9
Providing a metal
covering and blocking
to allow moisture to
escape will ensure the
serviceability of the
repair.
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168
REPLACEMENT-IN-KIND
Because laminated timber structures are composed of many components,
sometimes the replacement in kind of a damaged or deteriorated beam, purlin,
column or arch half span may be a more cost-efficient solution that an in-place
structural repair or reinforcing.
Often, replacement-in-kind is not economically feasible. More advances
are being made in the field of timber design than in any other area of structural
engineering. Recent products include laminated veneer lumber and numerous
other beam and joist substitutes. The most important benefits of these reconstituted wood products is the availability of long lengths, higher design values,
and greater stiffness. Preservationists and preservation engineers must determine the appropriateness of these materials to each case.
CONCLUSION
Only through specialized knowledge and experience can structural engineers
make the judgments needed to properly evaluate historic timber structures.
The engineer must be convinced that the structural model in the computer is
an accurate representation of actual conditions. Once that is clear, the application of rigorous analysis, testing, and engineering judgment may be necessary
to explain why the historic timber structure in question has performed adequately for many years.
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CHAPTER
12
Tabby: Engineering
Characteristics of a Vernacular
Construction Material*
INTRODUCTION
abby, like historic brick masonry, receives little attention among the general
public, as well as within the construction industry. At the present time,
research funds for construction-related topics involving coastal issues flow
toward wind design, exterior insulation systems, and the geophysical interaction
of wind and ocean on shoreline development. In general, historic materials
research takes a back seat to other structural engineering endeavors. A discussion of tabby as a construction material must always begin with a definition or a
description, because it is unknown to most people in the construction industry.
Tabby is an early cast-in-place construction material consisting of sand, lime
(from shells and wood ash), and water. Tabby can be considered a lime-based
concrete, unreinforced, with shell and shell fragments serving as the coarse
aggregate.
*This chapter was originally written for The Conservation and Preservation of Tabby: A Symposium
on Historic Building Material in the Coastal Southeast, Jekyll Island, GA (February 1998).
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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170
FIGURE 12-1
Church wall at
St. Helenas Episcopal
Church in Beaufort,
SC is a tabby wall with
a brick cap.
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Compressive Strength
171
In about 1843, Portland cement was developed. Lime and clay are combined by burning. The resulting clinker, ground into a fine powder, made
cement much superior in durability to natural cements. When employed in a
mortar or a concrete, it was far superior in strength and hardness. Within 50
years, most concrete employed Portland cement in lieu of lime cement.
Tabby consists of oyster shell and pit sand aggregate, bonded together with
homemade lime and water. The mixture is placed between form boards, which
are held together with wood ties and wedges. The tabby mixture was rammed
or tamped into place to properly fill the form without voids.
FIGURE 12-2
Tabby is surprisingly
durable.
COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH
Depending on the mix and the time and quality of curing, the compressive
strengths of new tabby probably ranged between 250 psi and 1,000 psi. Additional sampling and testing should be encouraged in order to increase the body
of knowledge regarding tabby strength. Compressive strength is also an indication of hardness, durability, and impermeability.
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172
Samples of historic tabby, when tested, have yielded fairly good compressive strengths. Dr. Lauren B. Sickels-Taves tested tabby samples from
the Cumberland Island National Seashore for the National Park Service. The
results of the tests were as follows:
Analysis of Original Tabby:
Compressive Strength350 psi
Absorption84.58
Specific gravity2.013
Formula1:3:1 lime:sand:shell with wood ash
Stereologyinland beach sand
The analysis of tabby ruins or tabby buildings begins with the determination
of compressive strength. A preliminary evaluation might depend on nothing more
than an assumption, based on engineering judgment, for compressive strength.
TENSILE STRENGTH
Tensile strength of tabby is probably 10 to 15 percent of the compression
strength. In an unreinforced tabby structure, low tensile strength would significantly affect serviceability. Considerable cracking would occur during both
initial shrinkage and subsequent seasonal cycles in temperature.
All walls supporting lightly loaded roofs are subjected to tensile forces due
to lateral loads or uplift due to wind. For this reason, the tensile strength of
tabby must be determined.
Most tabby ruins are the remains of buildings that were destroyed by high
winds. Presumably, the roofs of these structures were pulled off by high winds
causing the collapse of some walls.
The low tensile strength of tabby and the lack of anchorage of the roof
structure to resist uplift and the absence of continuous vertical ties contributed
to these failures.
SHEAR STRENGTH
The shear strength of tabby is probably about 50 percent of the compressive
strength, ranging from 35 to 80 percent. Shear strength must be determined
when evaluating a tabby structure for lateral loads such as wind and earthquake.
The model codes are beginning to mandate that sufficient testing be undertaken
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StressStrain Curve
173
FIGURE 12-3
Typical tabby ruins,
Coastal Georgia.
STRESSSTRAIN CURVE
Concrete is usually tested by filling 6-inch-diameter by 12-inch-high cylindrical
molds with concrete during job placement. These cylinders are allowed to set
at the jobsite and are then transported to a testing laboratory to cure for 7 or
28 days. Out of a quantity of five cylinders, two usually are tested at 7 days,
two tested at 28 days, and one held in reserve. The samples are molded in
accordance with ASTM C-31 and tested in accordance with ASTM C-39 by
breaking them in a hydraulically powered compression machine that records
load applied versus deformation. The strength at 28 days is the compressive
strength, which is specified for concrete. For example: 3000 psi concrete is
actually 3000 psi @ 28 days concrete. Obviously, historic tabby cannot be
sampled fresh and must be removed by being cut or cored from the structure.
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174
The testing of a cylinder of tabby or a test prism cut from a tabby wall
should yield a stressstrain curve when stress is plotted against strain. The
modulus of elasticity of a tabby sample can then be obtained. The results of
this test are a measure of the stiffness of the material, and are useful in determining the stability of unbraced walls.
TESTING TABBY
Many of the methods of testing concrete and masonry can be applied to tabby.
Because of its continuity, which is superior to unit masonry, testing can be
applied easily to samples, assuming that the samples can be removed, transported, trimmed, and capped without crumbling.
Olivia Alison, curator of the Telfair Museum of Art, saved several cores
obtained from HVAC work completed at the Owens-Thomas House at the
Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah. These cores, 45/8 inches in diameter, were
taken from the thick interior walls of the mansion.
FIGURE 12-4
The cores were
obtained from holes
made through the walls
for piping.
Two cores were transported to the Froehling & Robertson, Inc., office in
Raleigh, trimmed, capped, and tested in a Forney 500,000-pound-capacity testing machine.
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Testing Tabby
175
FIGURE 12-5
The two samples were
capped in similar
fashion to concrete
cylinders.
In situ tests that have been developed for masonry can be applied to tabby.
As with masonry and concrete, obtaining accurate values for compression and
shear is important. Unit weight is a physical property often overlooked, but
important for analysis.
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176
WALL CONSTRUCTION
Tabby walls are proportioned so that buckling due to slenderness is not a problem. Use of the basic equation for unreinforced masonry or concrete walls
shows that a height to thickness ratio of 10 to 1 does not cause a reduction in
strength due to slenderness. The eccentric loading due to timber trusses or large
floor beams probably can be ignored if distributed on a thick wood plate.
Because of its relatively low strengths, tabby performs well when uniformly
loaded. The support of a post or beam on a tabby wall is problematic when concentrated loads are not distributed, such as on a wood plate or brick masonry block.
At St. Helenas Episcopal Church in Beaufort, South Carolina, the brick
masonry sidewalls are supported on a tabby foundation wall that is 26 inches
thick. The computed design pressure for the combined dead load and live load
of 6.8 psi is low when compared to the 350 psi compressive strength obtained
by Sickels-Taves. In St. Helenas we have a fairly uniform load. There are no
cracks in the sidewalls related to settlement caused by failure in the tabby.
Stucco and plaster applied to tabby walls not only protect them but give
them greater strength. A thorough analysis would include these materials in a
composite section. The reapplication of these surface treatments provides an
opportunity for reinforcing a tabby wall with metal lath, although corrosive
environments may dictate that a stainless steel lath be used. The stucco layer
can conceal earthquake or wind anchors, which may be required to tie floor
and roof structures to tabby walls.
TABBY REINFORCING
Inset wood grounds, nailers, or plates can provide the horizontal continuity in
a tabby wall capable of resisting tensile forces due to lateral loads. Often, these
elements in historic structures are badly deteriorated and are in need of replacement. The tensile capacity of such elements is dependent on the net cross-sectional area of sound material, bond capacity, and continuity through joints.
SERVICEABILITY
Tabby is a surprisingly durable construction material when kept dry and free
from freezethaw degradation.
During construction, the formula of lime, sand, shell, and wood ash mixed
and placed under field conditions was subject to variation. In tabby, because it is
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Serviceability
177
FIGURE 12-7
The Horton-DuBignon
House on Jekyll Island
(ca. 1738) is one of the
oldest tabby structures
in Georgia. (See color
insert.)
FIGURE 12-8
The intersecting
interior wall provides
stability to the
two-story Horton
House ruins.
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178
STABILIZATION
The most appropriate stabilization for a tabby wall should be the same as that
employed for any historic brick masonry wall suffering damage. Traditional
repairs are the most direct, using similar technology to that available to the
original builder. Walls function best when they are braced by floors and roofs.
All masonry walls provide better service when they are part of an occupied
building with an intact roof system.
Methods for preserving tabby should be similar to those of any other
masonry system, with repairs determined on a case-by-case basis. Protecting a
tabby structure from moisture should be the primary goal.
FIGURE 12-9
In 1899, steel rods
were added and the
tops of Horton House
walls were capped.
RUINS CONSERVATION
Structural stabilization of tabby ruins is required if close inspection by the
public is to be allowed. Over a long period of time, tall, unbraced walls and
chimney structures tend to collapse due to high wind events. If subjected to a
sufficient number of storms of sufficient magnitude, what remains are walls
that are stable until deterioration reduces their capacity further. Bracing may
be required if analysis indicates that a wall exceeds a certain maximum unbraced
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Reference
179
CONCLUSION
Tabby is a traditional construction material important to the coastal areas of the
southeastern United States and the Caribbean. Conserving historic tabby buildings and ruins that remain will require that we undertake sufficient research to
better understand this construction material. Tabby can be analyzed in much
the same way as unreinforced Portland cement concrete is analyzed. Through
observation, measurement, testing, and analysis, tabby structures can be evaluated to determine their structural serviceability.
REFERENCE
1. Gwilt, Joseph. The Encyclopedia of Architecture, the Classic 1867 Edition,
The Complete Guide to Architecture from Antiquity to Nineteenth Century.
New York: Crown Publishers, 1982.
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CHAPTER
13
INTRODUCTION
he relocation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and dependencies involved
structural issues related to lifting, transporting, and supporting the various
buildings at the new location. The International Chimney Corporation (ICC) of
Buffalo, New York, won the design-build contract from the National Park
Service. The relocation team included five subcontracting consulting firms, a
structural mover, and a unified hydraulics system expert.
Any relocation transportation system must deal with the act of lifting the
structure off the ground, transferring the load to a transport system, moving
the structure along the move route, and transferring the load of the structure
from the transport/support system to the new foundation.
The 208-foot-tall brick and granite masonry tower completed in 1872 was
originally constructed 1,600 feet from the shoreline.
It rested on a double layer mat of 6 12 southern pine timbers, laying flat.
The timber mat was located approximately 4 feet below the water table, keeping
it safe from deterioration. On the timber mat rested the base of the lighthouse
consisting of hard, dressed stones of pink Vermont granite grouted into place.
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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PM
182
FIGURE 13-1
The Cape Hatteras
Lighthouse is 208 feet
tall. It weights
4,800 tons.
BACKGROUND
The case for moving the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was made in a paper, by this
author, titled Straight Line Move Necessitated by the Migration of the Barrier
Islands, presented at the Annual APT Conference, October 1986, in Austin,
Texas. That paper discussed the inevitable migration of the barrier islands, the
original construction of the lighthouse, examples of other similar large buildings moved successfully in the United States and elsewhere, and the technology
available to accomplish the task.
A lighthouse is by nature obstinate and stubborn, standing as it does on
the edge of the earth, subject to the ravages of the sea. When a lighthouse is
threatened by time and the environment, it is popular to rally to its defense,
often with the same obstinacy that the lighthouse exhibits daily. So it is with
the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in North Carolina.
This wonderful structure was designed in the 1860s painstakingly by hand,
without benefit of computers. The bricks were made and laid by hand. Beautifully
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Background
183
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184
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Background
185
sound where materials were transferred to lighters. These scows could not get
all the way to shore, so a long wharf had to be built into the sound. A tram
railway was constructed from the wharf to the construction site to transport
building materials over mucky marsh and soft sand.
David Stick, in his book North Carolina Lighthouses, describes the laying
of the foundation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.1
Instead of contracting with a private firm for the project, the Light House
Board took on the job with its own crew, hired a foreman, and employed day
labor, all under the general direction of a district engineer. The foreman selected
for the Cape Hatteras project was Dexter Stetson, a man ingenious enough to
figure out new ways of getting things done and capable of doing them.
Dexter Stetsons working party was on the job in early November 1868.
Construction began on quarters and a messroom for the crew, a blacksmith
shop, two derricks, and storage buildings for cement and other perishable
materials, as well as the wharf, tram railway, and scows.
Because the lighthouse was to be constructed on a relatively low beach
covered with soft sand, there was special concern about the foundation. Original plans had called for driving heavy pilings into the sand as support for the
huge blocks of granite that were to serve as a base for the tower, but Stetson
found that he could a drive a sounding rod only 9 feet into the sand. He then
discovered one of those contradictions of nature that coastal residents tend to
take for granted. The very same sand that is so dry and soft near the surface
that a mans foot will sink to a depth of an inch or two with every step is almost
invariably damp and compact only a couple of feet down. It thus forms an
exceptionally sturdy foundation capable of supporting tremendous weight.1
Accordingly, Stetson proceeded to excavate a wide hole 6 feet deep. Finding that he could drive the pilings only 6 more feet below that level as a result
of the sand being very hard and compact, he devised an entirely different
method of supporting the structure. Because his 6-foot hole had rapidly filled
with water, he took advantage of another phenomenon of nature: the resistance of certain types of wood to decay so long as they are totally submerged in
water and thus not exposed to the air. By building a cofferdam around his huge
hole in the sand, he was able to keep the hole free of water with the use of
powerful steam engines. He then laid a course of 6-by-12-inch southern pine
timbers in the bottom of the hole and placed a second course of 6 12s crossway on top of the first layer. Using the timbers as a base, he then laid a massive octagonal foundation, composed of large blocks of granite laid in cement
mortar, a rubble masonry, the interstices being filled with smaller stone of the
same kind.1 When this was done, he turned off the steam engines and let
the water seep back into the hole, covering the pine timbers.1
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186
From the ground level, four more octagonal courses of cut granite were
added, each narrower than the preceding one, thus giving the outward appearance of huge stone steps surrounding the exposed foundation. Above this foundation for a height of approximately 10 feet cut granite was laid at each corner
with solid brick between, thus providing a base sufficient to support the weight
of the massive circular brick tower that was to rise above it.
As the crew of masons continued to lay course after course of brick, gradually reducing the diameter of the tower as they worked skyward, metal stairways were installed. When at last the structure was completed, the Light House
Board shipped down a first-order flashing lens of the most modern design with
a lampist named George J. Crossman to install it properly.
The current tower, round and 208 feet tall, was completed 600 feet north
of the original 1802 sandstone structure and 1,600 feet from the shoreline; the
older light was demolished. Yet by 1919, the shoreline had eroded to within
300 feet of the second tower. In an effort to arrest the trend, the Lighthouse
Service installed 900 linear feet of interlocking groins in 1930. Within two
years, though, the shoreline was 100 feet from the light station, prompting the
construction of more groins, which also proved ineffective.
In 1935, land was acquired for a new light station, and a metal frame
tower 150 feet in height was completed the following years. Upon exhibiting
the new light, the 44 acres comprising the old site were turned over to the
Department of the Interior for use by the National Park Service.
In the following decade, the erosion was reversed by accretion along the
shoreline. As a result, in 1950 the National Park Service and the Coast Guard
entered into an agreement that allowed the light to be moved back to the
striped tower. Basically, the agreement specified that the National Park service
controls the light station, while the Coast Guard was obligated to take appropriate action to maintain a light, whether in the tower or elsewhere.
Since 1950, though, erosion rather than accretion had affected the coast in
the vicinity of the station, and again the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was threatened with destruction by the sea.
In 1979, the National Park Service commissioned a study for the feasibility
and cost estimate for relocating the lighthouse.2 The proposed method called
for the relocation of the complete light station to an area 2,800 feet southwest
from its present site. Two keepers quarters and an oilhouse would be relocated
along with the 2,600-ton lighthouse. For that study, MTMA Design Group of
Raleigh, an architectural firm, hired the author to provide consulting structural
engineering services to assist in determining the means and methods of such a
relocation and assist in the cost estimating. Previously in 1978 we had provided
consultation to MTMA Design Group for a similar study for the Cape Lookout
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Background
187
Lighthouse which was also threatened by erosion.3 For the Cape Lookout study
we naively concluded that the lighthouse could be cut into four to five pieces to
be moved separately. It was obvious that for the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
there would have to be another approach because the base alone weighed more
than 700 tons.
The 208-foot-tall lighthouse is a brick masonry cylinder enclosed by a truncated cone. The inner and outer walls are connected by numerous shear walls.
The center of gravity of the lighthouse is only 56 feet above the base. Proportioning the lighthouse with a low center of gravity enables it to withstand high
wind forces tending to overturn such a tall structure. Its inherent stability
against overturning is critical to the feasibility of relocating this massive structure in one piece.
Because of economics, the relocation of very large masonry structures is
usually made in a straight line or along a smooth horizontal curve on fixed rails.
Even though the lighthouse was at that time estimated to weigh 2,600 tons
above grade, it was more feasible to move the structure in one piece rather than
several. The cylindrical tower could have been cut into manageable sections,
but the octagonal base, weighing 768 tons, would remain a very heavy piece to
relocate intact. Thus, the proposed method to move the lighthouse in its entirety,
in a straight line, along steel and concrete rails to a new foundation was judged
to be a more simple and practical solution once the structure is lifted from its
foundation.
The new site, as selected by the National Park Service for the relocation
study, would be 2,800 feet southwest of the current site and 2,400 feet from
the shoreline. Factors influencing site selection include soil-bearing capacity
and water table depth, elevation and stability of the landscape, number of years
before coastal erosion again would affect the structure, and ease of moving
across the intervening landscape.
To lift the lighthouse from its foundation, we proposed that heavy-steel
needle beams would be horizontally inserted in two directions through the
octagonal base. The beams would be connected to steel girders, forming a
square in plan; numerous struts would brace the girders to each other. The
structural steel would weigh an estimated 150 tons, with the largest piece
weighing 33 tons.2
The lighthouse, along with the steel framework, would then be raised by
twenty-two 150-ton hydraulic jacks. Sufficient cutting of brick and stone would
be required to ensure a relatively clean separation from the foundation, which
would then be relocated to the new site.
The proposed procedure would require that two parallel rails be constructed to the new site. The rails would consist of 1 -inch continuous steel
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188
FIGURE 13-2
Kenneth Adair (right)
consulted with the
author in September
1986.
The solution proposed by Mr. Adair would require that five to six parallel
rails be construction to spread the weight of the moving load more evenly on
the supporting sand layers below. This discussion validated the assumptions
we made regarding the feasibility of location made seven years before.
Machinery available to move a large masonry structures include hydraulic
cylinder jacks, industrial rollers, and cable pulling machines to provide the force
needed to overcome static friction at the initiation of movement and to sustain
a constant rate of movement.
The Simplex Division of Templeton, Kenly & Company of Broadview,
Illinois, had been manufacturing high tonnage hydraulic cylinders for 40 years.
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Background
189
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190
Pittsburgh, a distance of 20 feet. The church consisted of heavy brick walls with
timber-framed floors and roof structure. The building measured 110 feet by 65 feet
with two towers flanking the narthex. The contractor utilized 85-pound steel rails,
3-inch rollers, and numerous screw jacks, as well as a considerable amount of timber cribbing and running timbers. There was no interruption in the use of the
building and no damage to the delicate plaster or stained glass windows.6
This same contractor, in 1903, moved the 600-ton Col. Brown mansion
160 feet vertically from the banks of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh to
the top of the bluff overlooking the river.
FIGURE 13-3
The Col. Brown
Mansion was moved
in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, in 1903.
The brick house measuring 85 feet by 40 feet was lifted in stages to four
benches cut into the face of the cliff. Again, the technology was similar, utilizing
steel needle beams, screw jacks, and timber cribbing.7
More recently, in 1975, the sixteenth-century Church of the Virgin Mary at
Most, Czechoslovakia, weighing 12,000 tons, was moved because it prevented
access to large underground coal deposits. It was moved 800 yards on rails at
0.0013 mph over a period of 4 weeks at a cost of $15,300,000.
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Background
191
FIGURE 13-4
The Church of the
Annunciation of the
Virgin Mary, Most,
Czech Republic.
Source:
Courtesy of the City of
Most, Michal Hornof.
FIGURE 13-5
The Church of the
Virgin Mary moved
along a curved route.
Source:
Courtesy of the City of
Most, Michal Hornof.
In 1966, the 3,200-year old Temples of Ramesses II, at Abu Simbel in Egypt,
were moved to site 212 feet above and 690 feet back from the approaching shoreline of Lake Nasser. Italian engineers, in 1965, proposed to move each of the
temples in a single piece. One weighing 291,500 tons and the other 60,500 tons.
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192
The estimated cost for this proposal was $90 million. Alternatively, the temples
were cut into 950 pieces weighing 30 tons or less. The relocation effort that rescued these ancient structures was chronicled in the May 1966 issue of National
Geographic in an article titled Saving the Ancient Temples at Abu Simbel.8
FIGURE 13-6
The Temples of
Ramses were moved
in 1966.
Source:
Courtesy of Denise
Chans Flickr stream,
Creative Commons
License AttributionShare Alike 2.0
Generic.
The relatively simple structure of the lighthouse and its location are two
aspects that contribute to the technical feasibility of relocation. It is not an ancient
structure. Detailed plans showing the construction of the lighthouse are filed
with the Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut.9
We argued that the relocation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse would be
beneficial to the State of North Carolina in terms of tourism not only during the
moving operation, but also thereafter; the value of the lighthouse as a historic
site would be enhanced because this would be the lighthouse that was moved.
It would have an impact on our policy regarding coastal management and zoning that would recognize the migrating nature of the barrier islands and the
feasibility of relocating large structures.
The philosophy/argument that if a structure is moved its historic significance is compromised was invalid here. To the contrary, the revetment is a
traditional hold back the sea approach, which denies the migrating nature of
the barrier islands. It would have permanently changed the site, creating within
50 to 70 years a new island, restricting access, and obscuring the view of the
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Design Issues
193
DESIGN ISSUES
The Park Service first solicitated design proposals for the relocation of the
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. We participated in the brainstorming part of that
effort and our team was selected for the project. During the design proposal
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194
our team considered, and then quickly rejected, two possible alternatives for
primary elements of the project. First, we considered the idea that the lighthouse required a gantry or bracing structure to provide stability during transport. We reasoned that by its inherent service as a navigational aide, subjected
to high wind forces, the lighthouse is proportioned to be highly stable and thus
did not require a supplemental bracing structure. Our analysis showed that the
factor of safety against overturning, in a 120 mph wind, was at least 17 to 1.
At no point in a 120 mph wind does the lower portion of the windward side of
the masonry structure develop tensile forces due to overturning. We estimated
that a stiff gantry structure of steel would weigh at least 200 tons. Construction
of such a tower would negatively affect the schedule and the budget with little
or no benefit in return. Unfortunately this project did not move forward because
the funding was not in place.
The selected alternative in the International Chimney Corporation designbuild proposal consisted of steel cross beams, main carrying beams, and a steel
cradle at the base of the lighthouse. This is the critical area that must be contained while a controlled application of force is applied to the bearing surfaces
at the lift points. Our team considered and rejected the idea that a continuous
hard rail system had to be built along the total length of travel. We instead
agreed that a set of steel rails and a steel mat which would be advanced in leapfrog fashion along the route would have many advantages. For strength, ease
of handling, availability, and salvage value, a mat consisting of W10 54 steel
beams was selected.
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195
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196
relocation, were addressed. The geotechnical investigation for the new lighthouse
location included recommendations for site preparation and requirements for
foundation support.
Full-time testing and inspection was required in order to verify the continuity of subsurface conditions indicated in the geotechnical report and to monitor construction activities to verify that adequate foundation subgrade
conditions were achieved. In addition to monitoring of the subsurface conditions, on-site geotechnical personnel provided in-place density tests of subgrade soils.
The on-site monitoring provided information, on a continuous basis, to
on-site personnel as to the motion and strains to which the lighthouse was
being subjected and issue warnings if the established parameters had been
approached or exceeded. Data was also compiled at three locations for various
team members in Buffalo, Chicago, and Atlanta.
ROUTE PREPARATION
After excavation and dewatering, the base of the lighthouse was mined by
cutting through with a stone cutting cable saw.
FIGURE 13-7
After the excavation, of
the original foundation
had to be dewatered.
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Route Preparation
197
FIGURE 13-8
The original granite
foundation was cut
away using cable
saws.
This provided a 6-foot tall space under the lighthouse, where steel shoring
beams and posts could be placed. As the mining operation proceeded, stone
was replaced by the shoring system consisting of transverse W8 35 shoring
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198
beams and 5-inch-diameter, double extra strong, shoring posts on heavy bearing plates supported by one layer of 6 8 oak cribbing.
FIGURE 13-10
A steel mat was
installed to support the
pipe column shoring
posts.
Supporting the oak cribbing was a continuous steel mat of W10 54s that
rested on the original timber mat. The 70-foot-long steel mats were inserted
first. After the cribbing and plates were placed, the shoring posts were installed,
spaced 4 foot on center in one direction and 4 foot, 6 inches on center in the
other direction. After installing cross-bracing angles, the W8 35 shoring
beams were installed on top of the posts. Built into each post was a Simplex
50-ton hydraulic jack with a 10-inch stroke. As each section was completed,
the hydraulic jacks were pressurized to support their share of the total weight
transferred to the shoring steel, the next section was sawed through, and the
stone removed. Steel mats, cribbing, bearing plates, posts, and shoring beams
followed the mining of each section until the lighthouse was supported on steel
in its entirety.
Heavy cross steel consisting of 60-foot-long W14 145 beams were
inserted parallel to and between the shoring beams. Gaps above the shoring
beams were grouted and shimmed. Below the 13 cross beams, seven main beams
consisting of seventy, 72-foot-long double W24 162 beams were inserted
transverse to the shoring steel and parallel to the move direction. The main
beams contained inverted hydraulic cylinders that rested on Hillman industrial rollers. This assembly was the heart of the system. Repeated 100 times,
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Route Preparation
199
the 100-ton hydraulic jacks had more than sufficient capacity to support the
lighthouse during the move.
The lighthouse was lifted in stages using the synchronized hydraulic system.
After the cylinders were sufficiently extended, 6 8 oak cribbing was installed
as a temporary support. The load was transferred from the jacks to the cribbing,
and then the posts, jacks, and plates were reset at higher elevation on additional
cribbing. In this manner the lighthouse was lifted out of its original excavation
to a height that would allow it to move horizontally on the track of densified
soils, stone subbase, steel mats, and track beams. Five hydraulic push jacks connected to the track beams and the double main beams were used to propel the
lighthouse and its supporting steel. Each push jack was connected to a track
beam with a hydraulic clamp. The 4,800 tons quietly moved along the tracks,
pushed in 4- to 5-foot increments. After the push jacks were extended, the
hydraulic clamps would release to allow the push jacks to retract for the next
push. As the mat and track steel were passed over and cleared, these items were
picked up and relocated in front of the lighthouse. This leapfrogging of stone
and steel was the limiting factor to the rate of travel for the lighthouse.
FIGURE 13-11
The main steel
leapfrogged along the
route to the new site.
Moving the lighthouse from the prepared travel route onto the new foundation essentially reversed of the process used to move it off the old foundation. A transition zone of stepped cribbing was used to carry the track steel
across the new foundation.
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200
FIGURE 13-12
The Lighthouse was
lifted out of its original
position to the proper
grade.
FOUNDATION DESIGN
Eighty percent of the weight of the lighthouse was estimated to lie within a
donut-shaped footprint. This load pattern was used to distribute the weight to
the shoring beams and towers, cross beams and main steel, and the new foundation. The new foundation was proportioned by applying the load from the
lighthouse in three stages across the footing. The Portland Cement Association
concrete design software PCA-Mats was used to check footing thickness and
reinforcing quantities. Although the original footing mat had been a double
criss-cross layer of 6 12 dense southern pine timbers, laying flat, the new
foundation was 60 feet wide to accommodate the moving system. It was
designed to subgrade parameters provided by the geotechnical consultant.
Footing thicknesses reviewed included 36, 48, and 60 inches. Final parameters
used for design consisted of a subgrade modulus (Ks) of 50 kcf and an allowable
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New Foundation
201
soil bearing pressure (Qa) of 6,000 psf. Analysis indicated that a 48-inch
thickness provided a balanced design between concrete and reinforcing steel
with a comfortable factor of safety in bending and shear for the various loading
conditions during and after the move.
FIGURE 13-13
The new foundation consisted of a
4-foot-thick reinforced
concrete mat 60 feet
square in plan.
NEW FOUNDATION
The original timber mat provided satisfactory support for over 125 years.
Available soils data, experience, and testing in the Buxton area indicated that
soil conditions at the new location were very similar to those at the original
location. A concrete mat foundation 4'-0" thick by 60'-0" square was designed
to distribute the weight of the lighthouse uniformly across a wide area with the
least amount of internal stress in the foundation structure. The foundation mat
was proportioned to impart relatively low stresses to the underlying soils.
Because the load of the lighthouse was applied nonuniformly to the new concrete mat as the lighthouse was moved onto it, the new mat contained additional reinforcing to accommodate the changing stress pattern.
Reinforcing consisted of epoxy coated #10 (1-inch diameter) bottom bars
spaced at 8 inches on center each way and #10 reinforcing bars spaced at
14 inches on center each way in the top of the mat. Strips through the middle of
the footing had additional reinforcing to accommodate bending stresses imparted
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202
by the moving load. The reinforcing was placed in a layout that recognized the
directional manner of the movement and accommodated stresses resulting from
the moving load. Concrete for the mat, consisting of 522 cubic yards, was placed
during an 8-hour period with two concrete pumps.
In order to accomplish the transfer of the support frame onto a new foundation, a space of at least 8 feet was needed. The base of the concrete mat
foundation bears at about 12 feet below grade. At this depth, medium dense to
dense sands are present that will easily support the estimated pressure of 5,000
pounds per square foot that will be imposed by the lighthouse. Dewatering was
accomplished by installing a system of single-stage multiple wellpoints. These
wellpoints drew down the groundwater to allow construction of a crushed
stone base layer and the 4-foot-thick reinforced concrete mat foundation.
When the mat was completed, the wellpoints were removed to allow the
groundwater to return to its former level. When the lighthouse reached the new
foundation, the groundwater was again lowered, but only partially, to expose
the top of the mat.
The concrete mat was placed sufficiently in advance of the arrival of the
lighthouse to allow time to achieve full concrete design strength. After the concrete
had cured for more than 28 days, the lighthouse was moved across the new
foundation and into place on July 9, 1999.
Based on the geotechnical analyses, the new foundation was expected to
have an immediate settlement on the order of 1 to 2 inches. Because the transfer of load to the new foundation occurred while the three-zone unified hydraulic support system was active, it was determined that settlement of this
magnitude would not affect the lighthouse. The actual amount of settlement
was much less than anticipated, on the order of 3/8 inch.
OTHER ADVANTAGES
The ICC relocation equipment was totally reusable and recyclable. The steel
included recycled beams used by Expert House Movers of Maryland on previous projects. The majority of concrete placed on-site was for the foundation of
the relocated lighthouse structure. Solutions utilizing piles, piers, or a deep
foundation for a rail system requiring abandonment, reclamation, retrieval or
disposal were rejected. The mats, cribbing, rails, beams, and hydraulic jacks all
can be used on future projects. The aggregate base course of crushed stone was
leap-frogged ahead of travel, and at the end of the move, stockpiled for the
National Park Service to use in later phases of construction.
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Summary
203
The transportation scheme designed by the ICC team provided system redundancy. No other system offers a comparable safety margin and system redundancy
as the selected design. With regard to weight variables, inconsistencies in the
move route, protection against storms, and variations in subgrade support, a
hydraulic system on steel rails was judged the best solution for moving the
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
FIGURE 13-14
The Lighthouse was
moved on steel rails.
SUMMARY
The relocation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse utilized technology known to
few people, mostly in the structural moving industry, to lift, transport, and set
the 4,800-ton lighthouse. The unified hydraulic system allowed the structure to
be uniformly supported while traversing a support system consisting of beams,
mats, and compacted soils. Structural issues involved vertical support of the
lighthouse as its base was incrementally removed by mining, support during
transport by a system of cross beams and main beams, and temporary and
permanent support at the new location. The inherent stability of the lighthouse
dictated that once supported on steel the lighthouse would remain stable. The
5-inch double extra strong steel pipe shoring towers had to be laterally braced
to resist wind and seismic forces.
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204
FIGURE 13-15
Temporary support
shoring posts
consisting of
5 x-strong pipes had to
be laterally braced.
CONCLUSION
The successful relocation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse should resolve once
and for all the technical feasibility of moving large structures. In this case,
engineering and construction expertise combined to solve the National Park
Services dilemma regarding the management of an important cultural icon.
CREDITS
DCF Engineering, Inc. of Cary, North Carolina, produced the structural drawings for the lifting and transporting of the lighthouse, and the new foundation.
Law Engineering (now MACTEC) of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Atlanta,
Georgia, provided geotechnical services and material testing. Randy Knott,
P.E., and Al Tice, P.E., were the primary managers for Law Engineering and
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Bibliography
205
REFERENCES
1. Stick, David. North Carolina Lighthouses, North Carolina Department of
Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, Raleigh, North
Carolina, 1983, 3rd printing.
2. Study and Report, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, for National Park Service,
MTMA Design Group, P.A. Raleigh, NC, December 1980.
3. Cost Estimate: Relocate the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, Cape Lookout
National Seashore, North Carolina, MTMA Design Group, P.A., Raleigh,
NC, November 15, 1978.
4. Simplex/Pine Design Features and Applications, Kenly, Templeton &
Company, Broadview, Illinois 60143.
5. Wire Rope and Jack Pulling Systems, Lucker Manufacturing, An Amhoist
Company, King of Prussia, PA 19406.
6. Moving a Church of 3200 Tons, Scientific American, March 1923, p. 186.
7. A Great Engineering Feat, Scientific American, July 1, 1916. p. 17.
8. Gerster, Georg, Robert W. Nicholson. Saving the Ancient Temples at Abu
Simbel, National Geographic, Vol. 129, No. 5, May 1966.
9. Office of the Lighthouse Superintendent Fifth District Baltimore, MD,
Cape Henry Lighthouse Station. Architectural and Engineering Drawings
for First Order Lighthouse for Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United
States Coast Guard Academy Library, New London, CT 06320.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pilkey, Orrin H. Jr., William J. Neal, Orrin H. Pilkey, Sr., Stanley R. Riggs. From
Currituck to Calabash, Living with North Carolinas Barrier Islands, North
Carolina Science and Technology Research Center, Research Triangle Park,
North Carolina 27701, 1978.
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CHAPTER
14
uring the past few years, historic preservationists have been successful in
convincing highway department administrators and other state officials of
the importance of saving historic bridge structures. State bridge engineers have
been given the task of rehabilitating and upgrading bridge structures that, several years ago, would have been replaced without question. State highway
departments now have in-house preservation planners who work closely with
the State Preservation Department and local preservation groups.
With this emphasis on historic preservation, the rehabilitation of our timber-covered bridges should be much easier. Unfortunately, this does not appear
to be the case.
Between 1805 and 1885, an estimated 10,000 covered bridges were built
in the United States. Today, approximately 800 remain. In order to save our
remaining historic timber-covered bridges, we must embark on a program that
involves evaluation, rehabilitation, upgrading, and maintenance.
Too often, covered bridges are taken out of service without the benefit of
a complete structural analysis and testing program. Too many bridges have
been victims of well-intentioned repairs, designed to upgrade the bridges
structural capacity, but have instead, actually destroyed the essence of the
bridge. The use of precast concrete, steel, or glued laminated timber girders to
supplement the existing trusses, or schemes that remove the bridge trusses
from service altogether, are a poor reflection on a structural engineering profession capable of solving many difficult problems.
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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208
There are many structural engineers in the United States with extensive
timber design experience. Unfortunately, many of these engineers do not have
experience designing or analyzing highway structures. Fewer still are proficient
in the area of historic preservation.
Timber is an excellent material for highway bridge construction. If maintained,
a timber bridge structure can give good service for many years. In Pennsylvania,
Vermont, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Indiana, there are many examples of covered bridges that have provided good service for 100 years or more. These bridges
are often neglected or inadvertently abused by well-intentioned highway maintenance personnel, and yet they continue to serve an ever-increasing traffic demand
until they are ultimately removed from service.
The structural engineer engaged in the evaluation of historic timber covered bridges should focus on the evaluation of the primary structural elements.
A complete and thorough analysis of the bridge truss must be performed.
Included should be a realistic computer analysis that accurately models, as best
as possible, continuous and discontinuous joints, as well as the various components members. First, the structural materials should be identified. It may
require that small samples of the wood be provided to the forestry department
of a local university or to a full service-testing laboratory. Some species of
wood cannot be identified without a thin section being examined under a
microscope. The density and grade of the component materials must be determined by observation and testing.
Laboratory testing of components of the bridge may indicated that allowable
design values vary from those currently published in the National Design Specification for Wood Construction of the National Forest Products Association.1
Some components of the original truss may have to be sacrificed to a
destructive testing program to obtain information used to justify realistic design
values. Nondestructive bending tests of components can be utilized to establish
an accurate modulus of elasticity, or stiffness, of component materials.
Load testing the bridge can easily be accomplished by driving a vehicle of
known weight onto the bridge.
Accurate deflection measurements must be obtained directly off the truss
with a surveyors instrument or deflection gauge.
A reasonable and fair design philosophy must be established that provides
for bridge safety, while justifying the continued service of historic bridge structures. A timber design philosophy that recognizes, for example, the critical
nature of buckling and tension failures versus less critical conditions, associated with a perpendicular-to-grain overstress at a bearing connection, must be
developed by the engineer.
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209
FIGURE 14-1
A Delaware County
(New York) truck of
known weight was used
to test the Downsville
Covered Bridge.
FIGURE 14-2
Readings were
obtained before,
during, and after the
loading of the bridge.
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210
utilize members and connections similar to the original bridge fabric. Steel
cover plates, stiffeners, ties and modern connectors should be avoided wherever possible.
The timber bridge trusses of Reuban L. Partridge (c.18231900) in Ohio
appear to be designed to allow for the easy replacement of web compression
members and the outboard chord material. Only the tension diagonals that are
notched through the multiple chord members are impossible to replace without extensive shoring or the bridge.
Mr. Partridges bridges, less than 100 feet in span, can be structurally
upgraded by substituting full-length glued laminated timber members for existing bottom-chord material. This substitution will increase the tensile capacity
of the bottom chord in three ways. The use of full-length glued laminated timber removes the reduction to the multichord net section due to shear block
notches and butt splices. Also, higher allowable design values in tension are
available with glued laminated timber materials.
These kinds of solutions would bring to these projects timber design expertise capable of evaluating and analyzing historic bridges as timber structures.
Historic timber structures provide an excellent laboratory for the timber
industry. Information regarding the long-term performance of wood would be
of great assistance to structural engineers faced with the problem of evaluating
historic structures. Research opportunities such as these would add to our
knowledge of modern timber engineering, as we utilize this renewable construction material, so important to our forest products and construction industries.
Structural engineers with timber design experience must become actively
involved in historic preservation in order to save our remaining historic covered bridges. Highway department bridge engineers must seek out consultants
with timber design expertise. By working together, we can save an important
part of our civil engineering heritage.
REFERENCE
National Forest Products Association, National Design Specifications for Wood
Construction, Washington, D.C.: National Forest Products Association, 1977.
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CHAPTER
15
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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212
FIGURE 15-1
General Herman
Haupt.
The timber trusses that form the primary structural systems of covered
bridges take many forms. Some of the most common, such as the Burr archtruss and the Town lattice, are based on patents that can be attributed to
particular inventor/builders of the first half of the nineteenth century. Long
service history has shown that these two, the most popular covered bridge
truss configurations of the nineteenth century, were the best structural solutions
for building these monumental timber structures. In this chapter we will
discuss the bridge designs of Burr, Town, and Haupt.
THEODORE BURR
Theodore Burrs addition of the two-hinged arch to the multiple kingpost truss
was a technical breakthrough in bridge construction.
His 1817 patent prompted much discussion in engineering circles about
the interaction of the arch with the truss. His patent, which was simply a
combination of a two-hinged arch with a multiple king post truss, demonstrated
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Theodore Burr
213
FIGURE 15-2
The Utica Road
Covered Bridge
contains modified Burr
trusses.
the stiffening ability of the arch. The Burr arch-truss was often criticized for
being statically indeterminate. Critics attempted to analyze the system of arch
and truss together, while the attitude of the builders was to proportion each
separately to carry the total load and merely yoke the two together.
FIGURE 15-3
The deteriorated
members in the Utica
Road Covered Bridge
were replaced in kind.
(See color insert.)
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214
The success of the Burr arch-truss is proven by its popularity. Within the
few years, between the granting of his patent and his tragic financial failure and
death in 1822, Burr accomplished some incredible feats of construction such as
the 400-foot-span bridge across the Hudson River at Waterford, New York.
ITHIEL TOWN
The Town lattice has also been criticized for being structurally indeterminate
and wasteful of material. Actually, it is the best possible truss configuration for
a covered bridge because of its redundancy and the repetitive nature of its
construction. The system provides for relatively close spacing between lattice
and chord intersections, usually 4 feet on center. This provides the opportunity
for close spacing of the transverse floor beams without overstressing the bottom
chord in bending. The nature of highway loadings requires that the floor of a
bridge be tested for concentrated wheel and axle loads. In other configurations
of timber trusses, widely spaced truss panel points greatly limit the capacity of
the bridge requiring extra heavy floor stringers, beams, and flooring, or panels.
The combined tensile and bending forces in the bottom chord of a covered
bridge are critical to its capacity.
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Ithiel Town
215
In Town lattice bridges, the load path into the truss is more direct, from
the floor decking into the transverse floor beams usually spaced at 2 feet on
center. The floor beams are usually placed on top of the bottom chord with
every other beam extending through the lattice. Every other floor beam runs
across the width of the bridge from face to face of lattice, creating an eccentric
loading condition on the bottom chord that can be mitigated by shimming so
that the through beams bear on the outboard portion of the chord.
The myth that Town lattice truss bridges are easier to build, because the
joinery is less complicated than a Burr, should be dispelled. The vast number
of individual pieces to be assembled, and the large number of trunnels to be
driven requires an intensive application of labor. The system is complicated.
Ithiel Town controlled the construction of these bridges, in part, because there
were many details critical to the successful construction of a Town lattice
bridge that are not readily apparent.
In 1839, Ithiel Town published a pamphlet containing a description of his
improvement in the Principle, Construction, and Practical Execution of
Bridges that represented his best thinking related to his patents for the Town
lattice truss.1 The contents of this publication are notable because they show
tie beams combined with principal rafters and knee braces. Some existing
Town lattice truss bridges were either not built according to Towns latest
thinking or they have lost their original roof structures. For example, the
Goddard Bridge in Kentucky contains only common rafters and no interior
knee braces.
Figure No. 1 in Towns pamphlet shows a floor consisting of transverse
flooring and square longitudinal stringers.1 The Haverhill-Bath Covered Bridge
in New Hampshire contains stringers and possibly original floor beams rather
than the closely spaced floor beams and longitudinal flooring now found in so
many Town truss bridges. The stringer solution is much better because these
secondary members are lighter in weight and allows air to circulate around the
floor beams, keeping them relatively dry.
Although large bolster beams are shown in two figures of bridge sections
in Towns pamphlet, no mention of these critical elements is included.
Apparently, the need for sufficiently large bolster beams, so as to not overstress
the chords and lattice sticks, was obvious from the very beginning.
To properly construct a new Town lattice truss bridge requires scrupulous
attention to detail. First, the timber needs to be of a very good quality of
uniform dimension. Douglas fir No. 1 Dense, free of heart center, is one of the
best materials to use for a Town lattice truss bridge. Southern pine is less
desirable, because of its additional weight, the presence of more knots, its
dimensional instability, and the difficulty of commercially obtaining large
quantities of good-quality material in lengths greater than 16 feet. Often the
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216
The Town lattice requires a wide bearing surface for the truss so that
bottom chord, lattice, and connections are not overstressed. The general rule
of thumb is that the truss should extend beyond the center of the bearing equal
to the depth (height) of the truss. Town lattice trusses usually terminate at a
built-up end post. If the end of the truss is close to the bearing point, the
endpost may greatly affect the forces in the lattice braces and counter braces.
Bearing blocks, bed timbers and bolster beams can be configured to enhance
the capacity of a Town lattice truss. The Auchumpkee Covered Bridge in
Thomaston, Georgia, was originally built with very heavy double-cantilevered
bolster beams that tapered down in depth from their supports. These were
reused in Arnold Gratons 1996 reconstruction of the bridge that had been
destroyed in a flood. The tapered configuration is not only visually pleasing, it
provides a gentle transition between the main span and the supports.
A Town lattice truss will be substantially stronger if the chord sticks are as
long as possible. By scattering the end joints in the bottom chord in a rational
manner, there is less chance that a joint will fall precisely at midspan or at the
most critical point in the bottom chord. A more subtle consideration is load
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Ithiel Town
217
FIGURE 15-6
The original doublecantilevered bolster
beams were reused at
the Auchumpkee Creek
Covered Bridge.
sharing between individual leaves. The trunnels not only connect chords and
lattice together, they also allow for load sharing within the individual chord
sticks to provide continuity through joint locations. Drawings for new or
existing Town lattice trusses should show the distribution of joints in all chords
with the length of the chord sticks noted. Replacement chord sticks installed in
a bridge should respect the original joint locations.
During the first Covered Bridge Conference held in Burlington, Vermont,
in February 2003, we observed and briefly reviewed the analysis of several
covered bridges as performed by universities for government agencies, and by
traditional highway bridge engineers as consultants. In the first case, the effort
is academic, resulting in an educational tool used to transfer knowledge to the
design community. In the second case, there are serious gaps in the understanding
of how these timber structures perform by some members of the highway
bridge design community. Some engineers demonstrate their lack of knowledge
of timber design when they talk of shear planes in the design of trunnels. The
capacity of trunnels used as the primary connector in Town lattice trusses is
governed by the bearing in the trunnel perpendicular to grain. Timber elements
do not fail in shear across the grain. When a load is applied perpendicular
to the longitudinal axis of a timber pin, it may fail in bearing perpendicular to
grain, in horizontal shear, or bending; but not in shear through its cross-section.
Since bearing in the pin controls the design, increased capacity in Town lattice
connections can be achieved by increasing the diameter of the pins or by
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218
RETROFITTED ARCHES
In this chapter we must discuss the use of the retrofitted nail laminated timber
arch as stiffening and strengthening devise installed in many covered bridges
of the multiple kingpost design. Obviously, these bridges should not be
categorized as Burr arch-trusses for they do not follow the Burr patent.
The considerable structural advantages of retrofitted two-hinged nail or
bolted laminated arches offer a strong case for not restoring a bridge to the
earlier time period that does not include the arches. It can easily be demonstrated
that retrofitted nail laminated two-hinge arches do not share load-carrying
capacity equally with the truss system. If properly built and maintained, the
nail or bolt laminated two-hinged arch adds considerable stiffness to the bridge
structure.
The capacity of the arches depends on the supports being nonyielding and
the arches being held in line to avoid buckling out of plane. For the arches to
work, the arch ends must bear against a thrust block capable of resisting all
horizontal and vertical forces without movement. This is one Achilles heel
of retrofitted nail laminated stiffening arches. The second possible defect in
nailed or stitch bolted arches is the lack of sufficient fastening to resist shear
forces between individual laminations caused by bending moments induced by
unbalanced loads.
If a bridge retrofitted with two hinged laminated arches is raised to avoid
floods or ice in the river, then the stone abutments and piers will have to be
modified or rebuilt to accommodate the horizontal thrust of the arches.
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219
The boundary (support) conditions for both the arches and the trusses are very
important to the evaluation and condition assessment of the bridge. The ability
of the pier and abutments to resist the horizontal thrust of the arches without
movement is critical.
The reconfiguration of bed timbers, bearing blocks and bolster beams at
supports is a powerful tool in strengthening an historic covered bridge because
the truss superstructure is not affected. These elements are among the first to
deteriorate because of their proximity to stone, earth, and water. Because of
this, these pieces are rarely original to the period of construction. Often, the
current timbers are creosote treated replacements. Enlarging bed timbers can
reduce the span of a bridge, greatly reducing member forces.
HERMAN HAUPT
From an engineering standpoint, it could be argued that the best form for a
new covered timber bridge would be a double Town lattice with a stiffening
arch. For any refinement of the Town lattice truss, the designer should simply
look to General Herman Haupts Improved Lattice Truss. General Haupt
(18171905), a noted bridge designer from Pennsylvania, graduated from
West Point and became chief of military railroads during the Civil War.
Rigorous mathematical methods of analyzing the forces and stresses in
framed structures, such as bridges, were unknown until the 1840s. Civil
engineers Squire Whipple and Herman Haupt independently developed
mathematical methods of truss design. In 1842, Herman Haupt produced a
small pamphlet, Hints on Bridge Construction by an Engineer.2
Squire Whipple is credited with developing the scientific basis of bridge
design in America with his 1847 publication, A Work on Bridge Building. In
1851, Herman Haupt produced his major work, General Theory of Bridge
Construction.2
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Hill Covered Bridge is the only remaining example of Herman Haupts 1839
patent for the Improved Lattice Truss. It is the older of only two remaining
historic covered bridges in North Carolina and is on the National Register of
Historic Places. It is located approximately one mile east of a former stagecoach
stop in Catawba County.
The trusses consist of 3 12 posts (vertical web members) and double
2 12 braces (diagonal compression web members) in a lattice design where
the braces cross two panels. The top chord consists of two 2 12s on each side
of the braces that contain the posts at the centerline of the truss. The bottom
chord consists of four 3 12 members. The end post is a 6 12. The first
brace is a notched 12 6 with the second post passing through a rectangular
hole in the brace. Connections between members are wood trunnels (pegs),
usually three per joint. Two of the four members that form the chords are cut
at the same splice locations, resulting in a net cross-sectional area in tension
members equal to one-half of the gross cross-sectional area.
In 1987, we provided an accurate analysis of the Haupt truss configuration
of the Bunker Hill Covered Bridge. The axial forces in individual webs and chords
were obtained, as well as local bending moments in continuous members.
We performed an analysis on an AT&T PC 6300 computer using a plane
frame analysis program to model the truss. The computer model contained of
55 joints and 94 members.
The computer model included link connections at interior web intersections
to simulate the continuity of lapped member connections where there is shear
transfer between members, but each of the intersecting members maintains its
continuity through the joint. The links are one-thousandth of a foot in length. We
used for the link connections, the section properties equivalent to one, two-inch
diameter trunnel.
The chords were modeled as continuous members, as were individual web
sticks. This is more accurate than the usual truss design assumption that all
members are pinned at their intersections, including chord members. The
supports were modeled as idealized hinge or roller supports.
It is important to note that the truss model analyzed assumed a theoretical
truss containing no deterioration or damage. Defects in individual timber members,
as well as slippage in connections and shrinkage in connections or members, were
not accounted for in the computer model.
Design Loads
Although the bridge is located in Conner Park in Claremont, North Carolina,
and is used for pedestrian traffic only, we analyzed the trusses for both
pedestrian traffic and uniform lane loading equivalent to AASHTO H15-44.
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The pedestrian traffic load combination consists of 100 psf floor live load in
accordance with the 1978 edition of the North Carolina State Building Code
for Catawba County.
Analysis
The preliminary structural analysis did not include a detailed analysis of the
connections. The truss and floor beams were adequately sized to support
uniform loads imposed by pedestrian traffic as well as an H15 vehicular loading
for a one-lane bridge. Deflection under these loads was computed to be less
than one-half of an inch across the full span.
The support of the bridge by the abutments was close to the second post
location. This support condition reduced the overall stresses in the truss by
reducing the span but overstressed the second diagonal somewhat under the
design loads.
Condition Survey
In 1987, we pronounced the Bunker Hill Covered Bridge to be in good
condition. The tin roof did not leak. Roof rafters, truss members, floor beams,
floor decking, and lateral cross-bracing were generally in good to excellent
condition. Some posts and braces contained unusual holes and notches, which
may have been misdrilled holes or notches made by vandals. Although the
concrete and stone abutments that were repaired or rebuilt by the Department
of Transportation were not an authentic restoration, the structural condition of
the abutments appeared good.
Although the abutments are well constructed, backfill on the sides of the
abutments and at the ends of the bridge constituted a decay problem to the wood
in close contact with soil or concrete. A concrete swale use to divert runoff
around the sides of the abutments was located too close to the siding. The ends
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of the siding boards were decayed in several areas. The powder post beetle or
some similar boring insect had attacked the truss members.
At the time, we made five recommendations:
1. We recommend maintaining the existing tin roof rather than reroofing
with wood shingles. Tin is economical, noncombustible, light in weight,
and sheds snow. For these reasons, it remains the roofing material of
choice for many New England covered bridges.
2. The wood of the bridge at the abutments should be insulated from
direct contact with earth or concrete. The concrete swale should be
rebuilt so that it is not in contact with the superstructure or siding. The
ends of the bridge floor and chord members should be protected from
direct contact with earth.
3. Consideration should be given to installing an automatic fire-protection
system.
4. The bridge should be swept or blown clean with compressed air on a
periodic basis to remove debris that has accumulated on and around the
bottom chord.
5. Consideration should be given to nominating the Bunker Hill Covered
Bridge for inclusion in the American Society of Civil Engineers National
Historic Landmark Program.
We concluded that the Bunker Hill Covered Bridge, is a very significant
example of nineteenth-century bridge technology, is in excellent condition, and
is well maintained.
Herman Haupt was involved in so many emerging technologies for so
many years, his early timber bridge design work is almost forgotten. His
autobiographical Reminiscences of General Herman Haupt overshadows much
of his previous work and many of his later accomplishments.
Haupts improved lattice truss bridge was a response to Ithiel Towns 1820
and 1835 patents for the plank lattice timber truss. Haupt used the analytical
methods he developed in the 1840s to design a more efficient lattice truss,
which consisted of web members positioned only at locations that required
support. Redundant members were removed, resulting in the improved lattice
truss as described in his book General Theory of Bridge Construction published
in 1851.2
The Bunker Hill Covered Bridge is the only remaining example of the
bridge truss design by Herman Haupt in 1840 and illustrated in his 1851 book
General Theory of Bridge Construction, Fig 90, Page 153.2
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FIGURE 15-7
An illustration of
the Haupt Truss is
on the first page of
the chapter titled
Improved Lattice
from General Theory
of Bridge Construction
(Ref. 2).
General Haupt was keenly aware that his knowledge and ability as a civil
engineer was vital in ensuring the health, safety, and welfare of the general public:
With even greater simplicity and economy than the ordinary lattice, it appears
to be entirely free from its defects; and possessing many of the essential requisites of a good bridge, with a capability of extension to spans of considerable
length, it seems to be unusually well adapted to the wants of a community
with whom economy is an object.2
In the Bunker Hill Covered Bridge, with the skin removed, we see the handiwork
of Herman Haupt.
FIGURE 15-8
The Bunker Hill
Covered Bridge
with repairs almost
completed. (See color
insert.)
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This opportunity came when a windstorm uprooted a tree next to the bridge,
smashing the south portal. The damage revealed considerable damage where the
ends of the bridge had been encapsulated by concrete when the bridge was
previously repaired. Having completed a recent evaluation, Sidney Halma gave
us the call to assist with the repairs. With Mr. Halma pleading poverty on
behalf of the Catawba County Historical Society, we were limited in what we
could provide within our negotiated fee. As a result, we decided that we would
produce a minimal set of drawings and invite two or more bridgewrights or
qualified timber framers to the site to observe the damage for the purpose of
determining the scope of work. To limit my time traveling, and to have the
bidders agree on scope, I decided to invite Arnold M. Graton and Jan Lewandoski
to visit the site at the same time. Fortunately, they both flew from Manchester,
New Hampshire to Douglas Airport at Charlotte, North Carolina, aboard the
same plane, where I met them, transporting them by automobile to the bridge
site. After the three of us spent three to four hours observing conditions,
we agreed on a scope of work. Arnold Graton was the successful bidder, and
soon he went to work.
During the 1987 rehabilitation, Arnold Graton, removed the side boarding
and roofing from the bridge in order to gain access to chord members that
required repair.
FIGURE 15-9
Deterioration was
apparent at all four
corners of the bridge.
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225
replaced badly decayed or missing members with solid timbers of equal size
that were ripped from a 12 14, 38 feet in length.
FIGURE 15-10
Arnold Graton
repaired in kind
deteriorated chord and
web members using
southern pine similar
to the original.
This old dense southern pine bridge timber had been in storage in the
Gratons yard in New Hampshire since the 1950s. By removing the sideboarding
and roofing of the Bunker Hill Covered Bridge, the incredibly beautiful framing
was revealed.
The temporary removal of the sideboarding of the bridge by Graton was
reminiscent of Haupts order, as chief of military railroads during the Civil War,
to remove the roofing and sideboarding of the covered bridges in the vicinity
of Washington, D.C., to prevent the Confederates from easily burning those
vital links.
Though the Bunker Hill Covered Bridge played but a small role in the
development of the nation, covered bridges that no longer exist played a pivotal
role in the growth of the United States. The development of rational analytical
methods for truss design in the 1830s and 1840s paralleled the growth and
expansion of the railroads. Covered bridge structures were the first to benefit
from methods developed by early civil engineers.
In covered bridges we see an emerging engineering analysis and construction
technology, pioneered by men such as Burr, Town, and Haupt, which was soon
applied to both timber and iron bridges as American civil engineers rose to the
challenges presented by a developing railroad industry.
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REFERENCES
1. Town, Ithiel. A Description of Ithiel Towns Improvement in the Construction of Wood and Iron Bridges: Intended as a General System of BridgeBuilding for Rivers, Creeks, and Harbours of Whatever Kind of Bottoms;
and for any Practicable Width of Span or Opening, in Every Part of the
County. New Haven: S. Converse, 1821.
2. Haupt, H. General Theory of Bridge Construction, New York: Appleton
and Co., 1851.
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CHAPTER
16
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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228
which spans the upper Connecticut River, is the longest covered bridge still
standing in the United States and longest two-span covered bridge in the world.
As cited in its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, this is the
only remaining notched Town lattice bridge in the world. Until the start of
construction it had carried two lanes of automobile traffic safely across the
Connecticut River.
The Cornish-Windsor Bridge is a National Civil Engineering Historic Landmark. It was the subject of a book, published in 1926, titled, The Economic
Implications of the Bridge at Windsor, by structural engineer Richard Dana3.
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229
Bridges. The laminated timber arch retrofit proposed by the Committee for the
Authentic Restoration of the Cornish-Windsor Bridge required traditional methods and materials as practiced by Milton S. Graton, craftsman, of Ashland, New
Hampshire. Mr. Gratons proposed timber arch solution had a long history.
In a letter to Mr. J. W. Storrs, Consulting Engineer, dated August 1908,
J. P. Snow, bridge engineer of the Boston & Maine Railroad, recommended
arches for the Cornish-Windsor Bridge. In another letter to Mr. Storrs dated
September 15, 1908, Snow stated the following:
. . . regarding Windsor Bridge: An arch of 20 rise could be used and the
figures would give a section of 9 42 or 10 38. . . .
The foot of the arches would need to be very strongly secured to the
masonry and timbers would need to be framed between the arches to prevent
ice catching on the lower one and to make both of them act together. I think
it can be absolutely safe.4
In 1984, Mr. Graton proposed the following as detailed in Plans for the
Authentic Restoration of the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge. The bridge
would be retrofitted with four radial arches, built up with 2 14s of dense
select structural untreated Douglas fir, mechanically laminated with stitch bolts
and spikes. The location of the reinforcing arches at the outside of the trusses
of the Cornish-Windsor Bridge would maintain the interior width of the bridge
at its original two lanes. Concrete thrust block supports would have to be built
into the tops of the two abutments and the central pier in order to create sufficient bearing area. Raising the bridge would be necessary in order to provide
the additional clearance needed to place the arches above damaging winter ice.
Additional longitudinal floor beams and transverse needle beams would also be
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230
required to increase the structural capacity of the bridge to HS15-44 (the designation for a standard highway design and the minimum live load for highways which carry, or may carry, heavy truck traffic). Load sharing between the
new radial rib arches and the trusses would be attained by adjusting threaded
hangers or suspender rods, which connected the two elements.5
Objections to Mr. Gratons arch solution were based on preservation philosophy, as well as other issues. Because the arches were to be 20 feet deep, they
would spring from a point 4 feet below the bottom of the bridge. The visual
impact of the partially exposed curved arches was objectionable to many people, particularly the Vermont Agency of Transportation, the Vermont Division
of Preservation, and the Town of Windsor. In addition, with the arches placed
to the outside of the trusses, the bridge cross-section and end appearance would
have to change. Probably the greatest objection was the necessity of raising the
bridge 4 feet above its original location so that the arches would avoid the winter ice that forms in the upper Connecticut River. The bridge raising would
change the historic relationship of the bridge to grade at both ends. The street
in Windsor and the highway in Cornish would have to be elevated, along with
several residential structures. The arch supports would also have extended,
beyond the protecting envelope of the bridge, to bear against stone masonry and
a concrete thrust block. This critical connection would have been subject to wetting by driving rain, high water, and moisture derived from contact with the stone
and concrete, as well as ice damage. Protection of the spring point of the arch was
a major concern of the opponents of the timber arch retrofit.
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232
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233
FIGURE 16-1
The analysis provided
forces for 1,600
members.
To obtain realistic support conditions, we modeled springs. It was a frustrating ordeal because often the 13-hour process would yield incorrect results.
I would start the program at the end of the workday, expecting results the next
morning. Too often, summer electrical storms would interrupt the power and
I would have to start again.
The results of the analysis were magnificent. All of the lattice member and
chord forces were produced. We could see the effects of bolster beam supports
and accurately determine the optimum locations for chord splices for an array
of loading conditions.
A temporary cable-stayed support system was designed to allow construction to proceed while the Connecticut River was filled with ice. The design of
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234
the cable stayed temporary support system was an adventure in itself. Originally, Chesterfield Associates was planning to shore the bridge from the river.
Unfortunately, the Upper Connecticut often freezes during the winter. Moving
ice would simply destroy any temporary supports standing in the river. During
a meeting with NHDOT engineers and officials, Dave Allen, of Chesterfield
Associates, the contractor, explained that the two-year construction schedule
would require work to be phased in such a way to avoid the ice. The plan was
to work on the two spans of the bridge independently. While the discussion
ensued, I was quietly sketching on the proverbial, back of an envelope.
I quickly sketched the bridge with a two-span cable stayed structure to allow
the symmetrical two-span bridge to be rehabilitated in a symmetrical manner.
After presenting the sketch and interjecting a few comments into the discussion, the advantages of such a system became apparent to all. It was immediately embraced. The cable-stayed system had to be fast tracked. We designed
the three 80-foot towers using 10HP42 steel piles, which were available to the
contractor. The steel system consisted of transverse needle beams, two longitudinal carrying beams, built-up towers, and an array of 140 ksi Dywidag bars
for stays. The design was handsketched on notebook paper and faxed to the
jobsite on a just in time schedule so that welders would not be waiting.
FIGURE 16-2
The towers were
fabricated in a field
on the Cornish, New
Hampshire, side of the
river.
Two towers were erected on opposite banks, and one on the central pier.
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235
FIGURE 16-3
The cable stayed
system allowed for an
orderly rehabilitation
of the roof structure.
(See color insert.)
Larger concrete dead men with earth anchors were installed to resist the
pull of the stays on the end towers. The needle beams provided a perfect support for a rail and rolling hoist.
FIGURE 16-4
The glued laminated
timber chords were as
much as 116 feet in
length.
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236
This enabled the long glued laminated timber chord replacement members
and other materials to be pulled into the bridge.
FIGURE 16-5
Glued laminated
timber was used for
chord replacement
material, floor beams,
and bolster beams.
The cable-stayed system allowed work to continue through the winter and
the repairs to be made in a symmetrical manner that was important for a twospan continuous truss with very high tensile stresses in the top chord over the
central pier.
FIGURE 16-6
The cable stayed
system allowed work
to proceed through the
winter.
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237
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238
FIGURE 16-8
The governors of both
New Hampshire and
Vermont attended the
dedication ceremony.
(See color insert.)
FIGURE 16-9
Key to the project
was the ability to
successfully integrate
glulam sticks into the
notched Town lattice
system.
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References
239
FIGURE 16-10
Camber remained in
the completed bridge
for several years.
REFERENCES
1. FitzSimons, L. Neal, et al. American Wooden Bridges, ASCE Historical
Publication No. 4. New York: American Society of Civil Engineers, 1976.
2. Donovan, Richard T., ed. World Guide to Covered Bridges. Boston:
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, Inc. 1980.
3. Dana, Richard T. The Bridge at Windsor, Vt., and Its Economic Implications.
New York: Codex Book Co., Inc., 1926. Copy in Wilbur Collection,
University of Vermont Library.
4. Snow, J.P. (Bridge Engineer, Boston and Maine Railroad, Boston), letter to
J.W. Storrs (Consulting Engineer, Concord, NH), Aug. 22, 1908, Engineering
Society Library, New York, NY
5. Graton, Milton S. and Wright, David W. Plans for the Authentic Restoration
of the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge. Unpublished report, 1984; revised,
1987.
6. Fischetti, David C. Glulam Chord Replacement Alternative, CornishWindsor Covered Bridge report, Jan. 19, 1988.
7. American Institute of Timber Construction. Timber Construction Manual.
3rd ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1985.
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CHAPTER
17
unique covered bridge has been built in the United States. The North
Carolina Department of Transportation project provided a pedestrian
overpass over Highway 52 at Old Salem, the site of North Carolinas first
Moravian community. Moravian settlers arrived in North Carolina from Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, in 1753.
To enhance and blend with the cultural landscape and historic architecture of
Old Salem, several types of covered bridge structures were considered. The final
choices were the Burr arch-truss and the Town lattice. The Burr arch-truss is a
two-hinged arch combined with a multiple kingpost truss. The arch affords great
stiffness. The Town lattice has many redundant members, providing a truss with
great toughness. Although Theodore Burrs (17711822) patent of 1817 claimed
nothing but the arch, combined with the multiple kingpost truss, it became the
most popular covered bridge structural system in the United States.
Of the seven surviving covered bridges in Lehigh and Northampton counties near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, all are Burr arch-trusses. In 1970, nearly
300 Burr arch-trusses were still standing, with 175 located in Pennsylvania;
this was the type of bridge that the Moravians would have constructed for
themselves in Salem during the first half of the nineteenth century. For this
reason, it was decided that the Burr arch-truss was the logical choice for the
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
c17.indd 241
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covered bridge built at Old Salem. This paper will discuss the development of
the design for the Old Salem Bridge and the application of covered bridge
technology to both the preservation of historic structures and the construction
of modern transportation structures.
THE CONCEPT
Why build a covered bridge at Old Salem? As a tourism destination, Old Salem
needed a pedestrian overpass structure to enhance and blend with its cultural
landscape and historic architecture. The choice of a covered bridge conforms to
the traditional technology of covered bridge building in North America. At the
same time, it was important to Old Salem planners, such as John Larson, that
the structure not be mistaken for an original artifact. To differentiate, the bridge
is clad with transparent panels that give a modern appearance while exposing
the traditional interior construction.
FIGURE 17-1
The acrylic
panels provided a
weathertight sidewall
closure. (See color
insert.)
The bridge serves as a gateway for vehicular traffic entering Old Salem as
the museum community expands westward.
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Description
243
DESCRIPTION
The bridge is a 120-foot span Burr arch covered bridge that spans business
Highway 52 through the city of Winston-Salem, enabling pedestrians to gain
access to Old Salem from a visitors parking lot. Pedestrians using this bridge
enter Old Salem adjacent to the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.
The bridge is framed with two massive Burr arch-trusses, 15 feet, 10 inches
in height with a 5-foot rise. The chords and arch are built up from several members with staggered splices to provide continuity. Individual chord members are
5 inches square in cross-section. The braces are rectangular in section. The
posts are large, cut to shape timbers, which contain offsets at brace-bearing
points.
FIGURE 17-2
The brace to chord
connections had to be
made tight in the field.
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244
FIGURE 17-3
The bridge is protected
by a standing seam
copper roof.
FIGURE 17-4
The arches spring from
stone-clad concrete
abutments.
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History
245
FIGURE 17-5
The 5-foot rise had to
be configured into a
series of ramps and
landings to conform
with ADA.
HISTORY
In 1751, the land now occupied by the city of Winston-Salem in North Carolina
was a wilderness crossed by the hunting trails of the Cherokee, Creek, and
Catawba Indian tribes. In London, leaders of the Moravian Church were considering an offer of John Carteret, the Earl of Granville, to sell them a large
tract of land from his holdings in the North American colony. The Moravians,
the spiritual descendants of the Czech priest Jan Hus who was martyred in
1415, had established in 1741, the town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as their
chief center in North America. It is from Bethlehem that Moravian explorers
set out in August 1752 to search for suitable land.2
A small group of five men left Pennsylvania traveling down the coast past
the Chesapeake Bay to Edenton, North Carolina. Their leader was Bishop
August Gottlieb Spangenberg, whose task it was to search for the 100,000
acres of land for the church to purchase from the Earl of Granville. Accompanied by the Earl of Granvilles chief surveyor and three local inhabitants, they
traveled westward.2
After a wrong turn that led them into the North Carolina mountains, the
group found the tract of land they were searching for. They had surveyed several
plots that proved to be unsuitable prior to locating a large tract of land, which
they named Wachovia.2 In the following year, 1753, a group of Single Brethren
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246
PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
The following time line is provided to show that a Burr arch-truss is the most
logical choice for this particular span.
1753 The first Moravian settlers arrive from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
They establish Bethabara as a temporary community.
1771 Theodore Burr, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania engineer and contractor is born in Connecticut.
1776
Theodore Burrs patent of 1817 claimed nothing but the arch combined with the multiple kingpost truss. This became the most popular covered bridge structural system.
1820
1822
1835
1835 The Humpback bridge is built near Covington, Virginia. The 120foot-long multiple kingpost bridge has an 8-foot rise.
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1842
1844
1894
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Project Justification
247
1970
1971
Nearly 300 Burr arch-trusses are still standing, with 175 located in
Pennsylvania, more than in any other state.
SpanType
Date Built
Solts Mill/Kreidersville
1840
1989
Name
SpanType
Date Built
Bogert
1841
Wehr
1841
Manassas Guth
1858
Rex
1858
Geiger
1858
Schlicher
1882
The Burr arch-truss was the logical choice for a covered bridge in Old
Salem. This is the type of bridge that Moravian settlers would have built during
the first half of the nineteenth century as their community matured. During this
period, many Burr arch-trussed bridges were built in Northampton and Lehigh
Counties in Pennsylvania near the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem. In 1970,
nearly 300 Burr arch-trusses were still standing, with 175 located in Pennsylvania.
Of the seven surviving covered bridges in Lehigh and Northampton counties
near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, all are Burr arch-trusses3. Although a Town lattice bridge was proposed to be constructed on the plank road near Old Salem,
this type of bridge was not desirable as a pedestrian bridge because it does not
provide sufficient open space between chords to produce an open appearance.
The Town lattice is distinctive in its use of simple sizes of lumber, and the small
amount of framing. The resulting simplicity of framing requires less skilled
labor but produces a closed tunnellike structure that must overshoot its supports in order to distribute its end reactions. The Burr arch-truss requires great
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248
skill in timber framing, like the large Dutch barns found in many German
communities. In chapter 15, we dispel the common belief that the Town lattice
is simpler to build than a Burr arch-truss.
Louis Wernwag (17701843), who was born in Germany, and Timothy
Palmer (17511821) of Newburyport, Massachusetts, built many great timber
bridges. Their bridges varied in design and construction, each being designed
for a specific span, using a one-of-a-kind trussed arch. Because of their complexity, a pedestrian bridge built after the designs of Wernwag and Palmer was
judged impractical for this project. For these reasons, it was decided that the
Burr arch-truss was the logical choice for a covered bridge at Old Salem.
RECYCLED TIMBER
Originally, the drawings indicated that the large posts were to be recycled material. The intent was to obtain these members with reasonable moisture content
so that shrinkage in the posts would not affect the stiffness of the trusses. These
members were assumed to be more available as recycled material because of
their large cross-section and relatively short lengths. At one point, Al Anderson,
of Blue Ridge Timberwrights, suggested that his company could furnish all of
the material in the bridge as recycled timber. I agreed with the request as long
as a dependable method of quality control could be instituted.
During the process of material acquisition, BRTW revealed that it was unable to locate posts of a sufficient size in sufficient quantity. BRTW offered several
solutions for mechanically attaching blocks to the posts. I considered mechanical attachment, but rejected it as inadequate. Alternatively, to fabricate the posts
from glued laminated timber was not in keeping with the original intent of the
project. I suggested that the blocks be attached by gluing in a glulam plant if
quality control could ensure the integrity of the joint. Fabricating the large posts
from new material would require extensive drying, if timbers so large could be
found at all. It appeared at one point that the bridge would be furnished with
recycled timber for everything but the posts. This change would have reversed
the plans, which required new material with only the posts of recycled timber.
MATERIAL GRADING
Recycled material posed a problem in grading. The Southern Pine Inspection
Bureau (SPIB) does not have criteria for grading recycled material. Criteria for
certain types of deterioration, damage, manmade holes, daps, notches, and
mortises are not accounted for in the grading rules. There is no way to account
for the history of recycled timber. The effects of long exposure to high loads or
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Awards
249
elevated temperatures are unknown. NCDOT and I agreed that some sort of
mechanical testing would be required to verify that each piece had the necessary integrity for its role in the bridge.
It was agreed that first all timbers should be graded in accordance with SPIB
Grading Rules. Drilled holes would be considered to be open knots with the same
criteria applied regarding size, location, and frequency. After grading, all suitable
timbers would be load tested by applying a known load and measuring the deflection across a given span in order to compute the modulus of elasticity. This would
provide a measure of stiffness for each piece, presumably enabling us to discard
pieces that fell below the published values for the grade. Certainly, knowing the
modulus of elasticity for compressive members is particularly valuable. For tension
members, it was thought that the recycled material, being extremely dense, would
be at least as strong as published values for the same grade of new material.
MOISTURE CONTENT
It became clear that moisture measurement using meters would be problematic.
Because of accumulated salts in the recycled timbers, moisture contents varied
widely. The history of the timbers, according to BRTW, included some that were
taken from a marine structure and others that came from a building that stored
agricultural chemicals. Several samples were oven dried, establishing that the
average moisture content was much less than what the handheld moisture meters
had indicated. Storage at the job site was critical to the moisture content of these
materials. Timbers were stored at the site off the ground, but uncovered. Rain
affected the top surface of the timbers. Water-filled mortise holes and areas around
shakes and checks resulted in high moisture readings in various locations.
Through numerous conversations between the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the timber frame subcontractor BRTW and I suggested
that materials could evaluated and approved using a combination of handheld
moisture readings verified with oven-dry tests.
AWARDS
The New Covered Bridge for Old Salem won several awards for design, including the following:
2002 Biennial AwardsExcellence in High Design, Award of Merit for
the Pedestrian Bridge over Old Salem Bypass, Old Salem, North Carolina
Community Appearance Commission of Winston-Salem and Forsyth
County19992000 Count Zinzendorf Award
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250
CONCLUSION
The Salem Bridge revives traditional timber framing and bridge building as it
was applied to the construction of covered bridges in North America during
the first half of the nineteenth century.
FIGURE 17-6
The end view displays
the complexity inherent
in extending the
two-hinged arch to the
bearing point without
interrupting the bottom
chord.
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Bibliography
251
REFERENCES
1. Richard Sanders Allen, Covered Bridges of the Middle Atlantic States.
(Brattleboro, Vermont: The Stephen Green Press, 1959).
2. C. Daniel Crews, Villages of the Lord: The Moravians Come to Carolina
(Winston-Salem: Moravian Archives, 1995).
3. Susan M. Zacher, The Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, PA:
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Museum Commission, 1994).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
American Wooden Bridges (New York: American Society of Civil Engineers, 1976).
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CHAPTER
18
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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There were a number of good reasons for selecting a Burr arch-truss system
instead of a Town lattice truss design for the superstructure. First, the original
aqueduct was a Town lattice, which was replaced after 50 or 60 years with an
iron aqueduct. We were not able to locate information about the original design,
its configuration, or its record of service. As a result, a Town lattice design
would be open to almost as much speculation as any other system.
In reality, the Town lattice would have been a difficult system to construct,
because it would have to be built on site with many trunnels driven into a large
number of lapped joints of chords and lattice. The aqueduct, by its nature,
needed to be built of pressure treated wood for durability. The problems of
treating and drying pressure-treated timber would be virtually insurmountable
using waterborne treatment such as Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA). The
acquisition of trunnel stock, which usually is of White Oak (impossible to pressure treat) and southern pine pressure-treated lattice and chord material, would
require a very long lead time to dry, treat, and redry. Any excess moisture in the
trunnels or lattice would result in splits forming in the lattice and the trunnels
loosening as the structure reached its equilibrium moisture content.
Although the goal was to design a bridge that timber framers could build, the
assembly of a Town lattice structure requires specific experience and skills unique
to certain bridgewrights. Although the Town lattice has a reputation for toughness, it contains many built up and intersecting members with a potential for
decay between members on hidden surfaces. Boring or cutting through CCA
pressure-treated material is problematic because salt crystals associated with the
preservative tend to dull tools. Driving trunnels through salt-treated lattice and
chords is also an issue because of the brashness of the treated wood and the roughness of the salt-treated surfaces, which must engage during the driving process.
The Town lattice truss is labor intensive and would have to be built continuous over three spans, extending beyond the abutments a distance equal to
its depth. Although this would allow for the forces at the end supports to be
distributed among a sufficient number of lattices, as opposed to an abrupt
termination resulting in excessive stresses in the lattice, the total length of the
trusses would increase by 24 feet. Repairing a Town lattice truss is extremely
difficult and labor intensive because of the closely spaced and tightly held lattice sticks. Again, this work would require the services of a bridgewright with
specific experience.
The Burr arch system was designed as a redundant system with either the
arch or the truss able to support all loads, independent of the other. The nineteenthcentury builders would proportion each and then simply yoke the two together.
In this way, they could circumvent the question of whether the truss stiffens the
arch, or the arch stiffens the truss.
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256
In this case, the truss and arch were analyzed separately and then also together.
Instead of superimposing the arch on the truss, in the computer we actually suspended the less stiff continuous truss from three two-hinged arch spans. The Burr
arch structural system was designed to support a total weight of 8000 plf.
FIGURE 18-1
The aqueduct consists
of three equal spans
of 66 feet. (See color
insert.)
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257
and thus, does not increase the load to the structure. Aqueduct structures
provide an opportunity to test the concept of load duration, which is central to
the design of timber structures.
The Tohickon Aqueduct was bid in 1999 with J.D. Eckman, Inc. of Chester
County, Pennsylvania, submitting the low bid of $3.1 million. Several timberframe companies that were heavily courted by the designers declined to submit
a bid. Because the low bid exceeded the states proposed budget, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources was directed by the state to
develop an alternative design in concrete. Again, on behalf of the Point Pleasant
Community Association, Bill Collins petitioned the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to consider a timber aqueduct. This time it would
be a value engineered version of the first design, bid as an alternative to a
concrete structure designed by the department. Again, it agreed, on similar
terms, that value engineering would proceed without funding from the state. As
before, the Forest Service agreed to fund the engineering design with the condition that the project include fiber-reinforced polymers to reduce cost. Fiberreinforced polymers were introduced as a research project of the Advanced
Engineered Wood Composites Center at the University of Maine.
The structural system was value engineered to reduce costs by simplifying
details, remove requirements for traditional timber framer qualifications, and
introduce more glued laminated timber into the project, in particular, for the
two-hinged arches.
FIGURE 18-2
The arches were
replaced through
value engineering
by glued laminated
timber.
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258
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259
FIGURE 18-4
The chords are
pressure-treated glued
laminated timber.
FIGURE 18-5
The superstructure
was constructed of
pressure-treated
southern pine.
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260
FIGURE 18-6
The Tohickon Aqueduct
was reopened on
September 15, 2001.
FIGURE 18-7
The completed
aqueduct won a
National Timber
Bridge Award in 2002.
(See color insert.)
of aqueducts with Town lattice and Burr arch structural systems included in
Richard Sanders Allens series of covered bridge books. Some structural engineers
favor demolition of a historic covered bridge, only to reconstruct it new, as a viable
preservation solution. They argue that the new rebuilt bridge is still historic
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Reference
261
because the original idea remains. Certainly, the reconstruction from scratch of
the superstructure of a long-gone timber framed aqueduct does not trample on
preservation sensibilities. In fact, prior to the Palladio Awards, the Tohickon
Aqueduct had won a first place National Timber Bridge Award in 2002 for Rehabilitation of an Existing Bridge.
The most remarkable aspect of the Tohickon Aqueduct project was the
ability of Bill Collins to move a state agency toward a solution in which they
had no initial interest, and then obtain, through negotiation, interested third
parties to pay for the engineering.
REFERENCE
1. Cesa, Edward A., News Release USDA Forest Service, January, 2003.
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CHAPTER
19
INTRODUCTION
s we ease into the twenty-first century, it is useful to reflect on the last
30 years of preservation engineering in the United States, as well as the
current status of the profession. One organization, the Association for Preservation Technology, has been at the forefront, raising awareness and providing
a forum for a wide spectrum of preservation-engineering issues. There is, however, additional work to be done. Knowledge of preservation and materials
technology, increased ability to communicate and exchange ideas, and both
successes and failures in practice have enabled preservation engineers to make
the necessary judgments in evaluating historic structures. The engineer must
be convinced that the structural model in the computer is an accurate representation of the building, or the building components, being considered. Once
that is clear, the application of rigorous analysis, test, and engineering judgment
* This chapter was originally written for the APT Bulletin Vol. XXIX, No. 3-4, Thirtieth-Anniversary
Issue, The Journal of Preservation Technology, The Association of Preservation Technology.
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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The Current State of Historic Preservation Engineering: One Engineers Point of View
is necessary to explain why the structure has performed adequately for many
years, rather than simply explaining why it is not working.
CURRENT PRACTICE
Within the construction industry it is architects who have assumed leadership
in historic preservation. A relatively small portion of structural engineers in
private practice consult with architects on building design. Of these, very few
provide engineering services for National Historic Landmark or National Register properties. Often, when engineers, as consultants to architects, respond
to the particular program established for a project, the amount of sensitivity
brought to bear is directly proportional to the architects direction. Fortunately,
there are numerous projects where the engineer has introduced sensitivity to
the benefit of the whole team. The creative preservation engineer can make a
major difference in the overall success of a project by being sensitive to the
original historic fabric.
Structural engineers may become embroiled in conflicts over preservation
philosophy with architects, clients, approving agencies, state preservation offices,
and third-party reviewing organizations. In many cases, the engineers responsibility is to ensure that all structural code requirements are met with a minimum
of intervention. At the same time, money allocated for testing may be limited.
The tendency is to opt for a retrofitted independent structural system, such
as a steel or concrete frame, which will support all vertical and lateral structural loads, including the buildings own weight. This, to many engineers, is the
most appropriate solution because it circumvents the issue of the capacity of
the existing structure, particularly in buildings with timber structural components and masonry walls. One would assume that sufficient fieldwork would be
undertaken to verify deficiencies and deterioration before replacing the existing
structural system with the new. Often, however, this is not the case. In many
cases, the decision is based on insufficient testing, observation, and analysis.
The philosophy of analyzing the structural system of a building sufficiently
to justify doing little or nothing to the historic fabric is contrary to current
practice, which establishes design fees on the basis of how much work needs
to be done. An innovative, creative solution including research, job-site observation and measurement, long-term monitoring, and extensive analysis of the
existing system and potential solutions may be beyond the fee structure in the
standard contractual arrangement between architect and engineering consultant, since fees are usually determined as a percentage of construction cost.
Unfortunately, an intrusive solution requiring major intervention may result.
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265
Our society, which demands immediate solutions, does not tolerate unforeseen
costs and does not forgive errors or omissions in construction or design. This
forces the design engineer to follow the path of least risk, although this approach
may result in the highest overall project cost. For construction financing purposes, cost must be predictable. To prevent possible cost overruns due to unforeseen conditions, the design engineer is often forced into major intervention
involving great quantities of new materials, which are far more predictable. The
perceived risk extends to the serviceability of the rehabilitated historic structure
and is based on not knowing. Lack of information originates with the absence of
a thorough investigative program involving observation, testing, and analysis.
Some architects may be tardy in bringing the preservation engineer on
board. Selection of a qualified engineer early in the project is crucial. According to Martin Weaver (1993): Although structural surveys should involve
qualified structural engineers, the conservator is frequently going to encounter
evidence of structural problems when no engineer is present and in situations
where it is unlikely that anybody is going to be able to return for a second look
until much later in the project when it may be too late.1
Some architects may be unsure of which consultants they should hire.
Rather than hire both a conservator and a structural engineer, they engage one
of them, until it is apparent that the needs of the project dictate additional
assistance. As an organization, the Association for Preservation Technology is
built on the premise that an interdisciplinary relationship must exist for a
project to succeed. The concept of minimum intervention was confirmed in the
special APT Bulletin (XXIII, 1991) on preservation engineering.2 APT members have also engaged in interdisciplinary exchanges with such organizations
as the American Concrete Institute, the American Society for Testing Materials, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society for NonDestructive Testing, and others. APT is one of few organizations that serve as
a forum for technical issues, as well as preservation philosophy.
Many times, it is the conservator and structural engineer working together
who strike a balance between structural adequacy and the maximum retention
of historic fabric.
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The Current State of Historic Preservation Engineering: One Engineers Point of View
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Building Codes
267
bringing new products to market. For example, basic research into the loadduration factor for timber design as it applies to timber structures that have
been in service for a very long time will not help sell new products for the forest-products industry. The clay-products industry has little or no interest in
doing research into what might be considered archaic systems, such as limebased mortars, terra cotta, and structural clay tile. Smaller specialty suppliers
are still the primary source of replacement materials for preservation projects.
BUILDING CODES
Building codes continue to change in response to disasters. The terrible Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory fire of March 25, 1911, affected building codes
in New York City, as well as other North American cities. The 1981 Kansas
City Hyatt Regency walkway failure changed the way steel structures are
designed and detailed by shifting more of the burden for the design of shop
details to the engineer of record. As a result of Hurricane Andrew, which battered south Florida in 1992, codes have been complicated with various windload factors and unrealistic loading conditions in order to prevent future
damage from a similar storm, as if a deficiency in the code were the problem
(studies have shown that the code in South Florida was more than adequate,
had it been followed, to produce buildings constructed well enough to resist
wind forces generated by Hurricane Andrew). The Northridge, California,
earthquake of 1994, as well as the one in Kobe, Japan, a year later, will greatly
affect seismic requirements of the building codes to be published in the next
few years.
New textbooks, handbooks, design codes, and building codes regularly
replace the old. In recent years, there has been an accelerated transfer of basic
research regarding the application of loadswind, snow, and seismicfrom
the graduate-school laboratories directly into model building codes. Building
codes are not the proper forums for this exchange of ideas; rather, they should
be a distillation of the best and simplest requirements, which have been proven.
Only time will tell how these more complex building codes will affect the existing stock of buildings as they become candidates for restoration, rehabilitation,
or demolition.
Instead of being of repository of minimal, yet simple, requirements for the
construction of the safe structures, building codes are prescribing complicated
methods of analysis, forcing engineers into a cookbook methodology from
which they cannot vary, except at their own peril. An engineer evaluating the
seismic resistance of a historic structure must fit in into a certain building type.
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The Current State of Historic Preservation Engineering: One Engineers Point of View
In a 1990 issue of Wood Design Focus, Arlo Ceccotti presented an earthquakeperformance challenge to researchers, code writers, and designers:
It is evident that thorough knowledge and planned balance of the positive and
negative aspects will yield a proper design that guarantees structural safety at
a reasonable cost.
Researchers have the challenge of quantifying the factors that yield ductile
behavior and energy dissipation in the structure. They can determine how to
design and detail connections that lead to ductile systems, rather than brittle
failures.
Code writers have the challenge of combining the often disparate results
of research. They must present a few relatively simple and conservative design
rules, which are easy to apply, for the most common structural forms (those
with known ductility and dissipation levels). Yet, for less common structures,
for which experience has demonstrated good structural performance, code
writers must provide simple rules or guidelines based on the engineering judgment. Designers, have the challenge of finding the classes, creating the most
convenient design from technical and economical points of view.3
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Conclusion
269
ENGINEERING JUDGMENT
Preservation engineering is quite different from designing new structures. Freedom of choice is eliminated. The preservation engineer must evaluate an existing
system, which in some cases was not designed but merely proportioned according to a pattern book based on rules of thumb. Meeting the requirements of the
building code is not the same as ensuring a safe structure. Structural engineers
must make the judgments necessary to keep a historic structure in service when
parameters appear to fall short of minimum code requirements. For example, in
reviewing the capacity of an existing structural member, many parameters complicate the process. Size, span, and spacing of members are dictated by the structure. It is the engineers task to determine the size, orientation, material, properties,
and boundary conditions of all the structural elements in an existing building.
It must be recognized that structural members that are determined to be
overstressed may in fact be perfectly safe. It is important to evaluate the basis
for the conclusion. The loads assumed for design should be reconciled with the
actual loads. A safe floor structure should not fail in bending due to the actual
loads imposed, but excessive deflection, excessive vibration, or a lack of stiffness should not automatically categorize a floor structure as unsafe.
Strict deflection limitations should be set for floors that support plaster
ceilings in lieu of wood, or tin ceilings, or no ceilings at all. For comfort, the
deflection limitation set in most building codes for floors, no matter what the
ceiling, as 1/360th of the span.
Today we have the technology to analyze loose-laid stone walls, obtaining
a quantitative methodology that utilizes lateral earth and hydrostatic pressures,
unit weights, friction and roughness coefficients, shape factors, and wall dimensions. Yet engineers insist on building replacement stone walls with reinforced
concrete faced with a stone veneer while knowing that the serviceability of a
loose-laid stone wall, properly constructed of a suitable stone material, can
easily outlast the reinforced concrete wall.
CONCLUSION
Preservation engineers dare to meet challenges that engineers engaged in new
construction never encounter. The knowledge that is being accumulated through
these experiences needs to be shared with engineers entering the field through
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The Current State of Historic Preservation Engineering: One Engineers Point of View
REFERENCES
1. Martin E. Weaver, Conserving Buildings, Guide to Techniques and Materials (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1993), 5.
2. Stephen J. Kelley, Overview: The Role of the Engineer in Preservation,
APT Bulletin XXIII (1991): 6.
3. Arlo Ceccotti, The Earthquake Performance Challenge, Wood Design
Focus 1 (1990): 3.
4. Feilden, Bernard M. Conservation of Historic Buildings (New York:
Butterworth & Co. Ltd., 1982), 104-105, 121.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fitch, James Marston. Historic Preservation: Curatorial Management of the Built
World (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982), 128129, 146147, 350355.
Harvey, John. Conservation of Buildings (London: John Baker, Ltd. 1972),
116125.
Hosner, Jr., Charles B. Preservation Comes of Age From Williamsburg to the
National Trust, 19261949 (Virginia: The University Press of Virginia, 1981).
The Preservation Press, National Truss for Historic Preservation, Preservation:
Toward an Ethic in the 1980s (Washington, D.C.: National Preservation
Conference Williamsburg, Va., 1980).
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Index
Structural Investigation of Historic Buildings: A Case Study Guide to Preservation Technology for Buildings,
Bridges, Towers, and Mills. David. C. Fischetti 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
bindex.indd 271
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272
Index
bindex.indd 272
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Index
Jobsite observation, 44, 129
John Milner Architects, Inc., 126, 130
Joints
dovetail, 60, 63, 68, 152, 266
tenon, 60, 63, 68, 152, 157, 266
Joist hangers, 11, 44, 60, 146, 164
Joist substitutes, 16, 18, 68, 168
Kivett Hall, 101
Knots, 63, 215, 231, 249
Kobe, Japan, 29, 105, 267
Laminated veneer lumber, 18, 54, 68, 146147
Lateral bracing, 5, 6667, 78, 107109, 138, 209
Larson, John, 130, 131, 138, 242
LEED, 158
Lehigh, PA, 241, 247
Lewandowski, Jan, 47, 49, 233
Lime mortar, 7, 100, 101, 107, 170
Live load duration, 17, 64, 151
Load duration, viii, 13, 1718, 64, 151152, 257
Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD), 29, 151152
Load testing, 4, 6, 6566, 208
Long-term deflection, 35, 46
LRFD. See Load and Resistance Factor Design
Lumber grades, 49
273
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274
Index
bindex.indd 274
Stone, vii, 6, 15, 33, 42, 57, 154, 184187, 195199, 230,
269
Storrs, J.W. 229
Strain gauges, 4
Stucco, 8, 92, 102103, 176177
Structures
existing, viii, 3, 10, 30, 3738, 87, 159
historic, 114, 1718, 64, 151152, 266267
Surveyor, 2, 42, 76, 208, 245
Tabby, 92, 103, 169179
Tasker, James F., 228, 237
Tax credit, 8687
Tax credit status, 74, 83
Tedesko, Anton, 23
Telfair Museum of Art, 174
Tenon, 60, 63, 68, 152, 157, 266
Termites, 69, 161, 162
Terra cotta, 6, 267
Testing laboratory, 156, 173, 208
Thomaston, GA, 109, 216
Thermal movement 4, 13
Timber, viii, 46, 813, 1519, 28, 4751, 5770, 8586,
149168, 221225, 231232
Timber design, 811, 1518, 2829, 5860
Timber framer, 42, 4756, 64, 120121, 224, 232, 255
Timber Framers Guild of North America, 120, 253
Timber joinery, 6163, 139
Tinius-Olsen, 156
Tohickon Aqueduct, 4748, 253261
Tongue and groove decking, 243
Topographic plan, 4, 63
Town, Ithiel, 27, 211, 214219, 222, 228, 246
Town lattice, 4751, 212, 214219, 227229, 238, 241,
247248, 253255, 260
Treenails, 60
Triangle Shirtwaist Company, 267
Trinity United Methodist Church, 4344
Trunnels, 48, 60, 127, 215, 217, 220, 255
Tudor arches, 159, 162165
Tuttle, Harry, 33
Ultimate stress design, 29
Underpinning, 42, 74, 106, 125127, 130131,
134135, 138
Underwriters Laboratory, 25
United Church of Chapel Hill, 4447
United hydraulic system, 181, 202, 203
Use factor, 155
Utica Road Covered Bridge, 213
Wachovia, 124, 245
Wake County, NC, 50, 84
Walker Building, 1819, 152
Watagua Club, 74
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Index
Watagua Hall, 7190
Weaver, Martin, 265
Wernwag, Louis, 27, 248
Whipple, Squire, 21, 27, 219
White, Percival, 26
Whites Mill, 56
Wilson, Barrett, 193
Winston-Salem, NC, 115, 125, 130, 243,
245, 249
Wood Design Focus, 32, 268
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