Bruce,  What are you whining about, you get to drive the PLANE!  Ruth


At 9:23 PM +0000 7/10/12, Bruce Marcham wrote:
Christopher:

2.  I'm guessing they cut the joists (and rafters above) from the basket so
that wouldn't be as scary as doing it from the floor. It had to be slow
going though.

3.  Some sort of wainscoting treatment? Maybe they were hiding failed
plaster. There doesn't seem to be any plumbing to hide there (the studs
would have been notched). It hides the electrical circuits without using
Wiremold?

4.  A floor is a sort of composite structure with the subfloor running
perpendicular to the joists (and maybe to some degree the lath of the
ceiling below) forming the skin. It might be tied into the wall in some way
and that may be helping. There may also be a (previously) non-structural
wall below that is helping out.

5.  I don't know a lot about this type of construction but I find it pretty
scary. I think I see a steel beam in the third floor level but no steel
column at the party wall (I hope there was a pilaster of some sort there
but that doesn't appear to be the case). There doesn't appear to be what I
think is called a shear wall or significant diagonal bracing. There is
strength in numbers--lots of smaller elements that add up to equal a
structural element of sorts.

6.  I think that's what you're seeing.

I'm a little surprised they wouldn't try to shore it up rather than tear it
down but we saw the same thing happen when an old building in Cortland (NY)
burned. In that case the heat from the fire probably weakened the mortar
adding to the impetus to tear it down ASAP?

Bruce (not a structural engineer but still wondering when I get to drive
the train)

-- 
Ruth Barton
[log in to unmask]
Dummerston, VT

--
**Please remember to trim posts, as requested in the Terms of Service**

To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>