Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-14
A HORROR AVERTED.
Building Inspector Hoffman Makes a
Lucky Discovery.
A WORTHLESS FOUNDATION WALL,
Which Would Have Fallen and Caused tho
Loss Of Many Lives
HOW HONE BUILDERS ARE DECEIVED

l
The vigilance of Building Inspector Hof.
man averted an accident on Liberty street
which would probably have been more fatal
and fully as costly as the Wiley building
disaster of three years ago. In his round OF
duty Inspector Hoffman went down to ex.
anime the work being done toward rebuild
ing the business block on Liberty street in
which the Household Credit Company was
recently burned out The owners Of the
property were excavating for foundations
upon which to erect An entirely new eight
story building. They intend to 60 down
about 13 feet below the street grade for the
cellar and when the inspector had arrived
had reached depth of about eight feet.
AS the inspectors do not usually pay
much attention to building operations until
the work of construction actually begins,
Hoffman was just about to turn away when
his attention was called to grinding noise
| at the bottom of the Arbuthnot building
foundation which adjoinA
Grinding Away Its Supports.
On closer examination he discovered that
tha Arbuthnot foundations were defective,
and when the support of the adjoining wall
was removed the whole east wall had begun
to settle. The grinding noise he had heard
was caused by the weight of the solid six
story brick wall beating down on the loose
stone at the bottom of the foundation.
An examination of the wall showed that
1t was bulged out fully four and one-half
inches up about the third story, and at the
rear of the building the top of the wall was
leaning out fully eight inches Here and
there along the foundation wall some of the
big stone on which the pressure had been
heaviest were broken off by the pressure
from above, and even in the brick sido wall
numerous freshly cracked bricks showed
the effect of the strain.
The extreme danger of the situation was
apparent. The inspector hastily sent for
Contractor Kerr and ordered the work of
excavation stopped.
Had to Brace the Building.
Then to avoid all danger of disaster the
force of workmen who had been digging
away all in ignorance of their danger were
put to work bracing up the Arbuthnot
foundations This required comparative
ly short time, but the difficulty will delay
Contractor Kerr's work greatly. The
ing will have to be torn out, new founda-
tions put in and the wall entirely rebuilt
Until this Is done Kerr cannot proceed.
The cause of the trouble with the Arbuth
not building as explained by Inspector
Hoffman, originated with the construction
of the foundation wall. The wall inside the
cellar is built of square cut blocks of stone,
which Mr.. Arbuthnot contracted for and he
supposed the wall was built solid clear
through. But the uncovering of the wall
from the outside showed that the square
stone had only been used as a lining. Be-
tween the lining and the adjoining rubble
or small loose stone had been dumped in.
As the heaviest pressure of wall is on the
outside edge of the foundation the Arbuth-
not wall began to sag and settle down on
these loose stones as soon as the support of
the adjoining wall was removed.
To make matters worse the Arbuthnot
foundation is only 81 feet deep. In dig.
ging below it to get a 13-foot cellar for the
new building the wall would have been so
weakened that it could not stand. The
Building Inspector is satisfied that had he
not discovered the situation there and acted
as he did, within "a hours there would have
been disaster such as the city has not seen
in years
The Owners Heavy Loss.
Charles Arbuthnot, the owner of the
building, will, as the matter stands, be the
heaviest loser. Under the law he cannot
recover from the contractor who built his
wall, because when . building is formally
taken off builders hands his RESPONSE
bility for 1t ceases whether the work is good
or bad. The Arbuthnot building was put
up ten years ago, only four stories being
built, but the foundations were to stand six
stories. The other two floors were added
three or four years ago. 1t is estimated
that it will cost between 81. 900 or So, 900 to
put in a new side wall and the expense
will fall entirely on Mr.. Arbuthnot
The importance of the work of the Build
ing Inspectors is realized when O case of
this kind is brought to light Scarcely
week passes but the Inspectors catch con-
tractors building foundation walls just as
this one was built Notwithstanding their
vigilance the masons get the work done
sometimes before the Inspectors have an
opportunity of seeing it, and once a wall
has reached the upper courses and is cov-
cred up with good work it is almost impos-
sible to detect the cheat.
Case in the East End.
When 1t is found out the Inspectors order
the walls torn down and rebuilt. Inspector
Brown now has q case of the same kind on
Frankstown avenue, East End. The con-
tractors, In putting up foundation for
Theodore Weiss, had built the wall nearly
to the top.
The interior appearance was that of
good, solid wall, but between it and the en-
bankment rubbish had been thrown in
making worthless foundation. Captain
Brown ordered it down, and it is now being
reconstructed under his close supervis-
ion. In the construction of chin
neys extraordinary vigilance on the
part OF the Inspectors is also required,
the contractors being frequently compelled
to tear chimneys down and rebuild them
from the cellar up to the roof. This is
rather expensive for the contractors, but
unless closely watched many of them will
take chances of discovery in order to save
dollar or two in bricks The building
regulations require q 9-inch wall between
chimney flues and all interior wood work,
particularly in frame dwellings, but the
dishonest class Of contractors prefer to build
a 4X-inch wall. It is cheaper for them,
though highly dangerous for the owner Of
the house, because of the liability to fire re-
sulting.
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