Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-10
THE WHITE HOUSE FLOORS
Colonel Bingham's Report on Their Settling
and the Method Of Repair.
''SOmethinE 10 lmperatavely Demand
ed to Relieve the Strain On the
Executive Mansion"

sen, chief of engineers, today. by Col. Bing-
| ham, the officer in charge of public build
| irgs and grounds, a portion Of the flooring
| in the Executive Mansion is in a very bad
| condition. Considerable settling of the
| second-story floors over the east room,"
says he. has been observed for long
| time The increasing records of the execu-
| tive office made necessary the use of in
| creasing record cases, which are. unfor-
trnately, very heavy, and also. unfortu-
rately. they have to stand where the hoors
| are weakest At the east end of the Sec
ohd-story corridor the center had sagsed
| in all directions four inches below the hori-
zontal. As this corridor is only eighteen
| feet wide this meant a depression of the
| carrying beams of four inches in nine feet
| or about eight times an allowable defec-
| tion Iris Is not a DETECTION, but a perma-
EeDt set. as this depression was measured
after the corridor had been cleared and the
| floor taken up.
| The two beams running north and south,
WHICH mold the main weight of this floor,
/ are tenoned into two large built beams
running east and west, which carry no;
i only the ceiling of the east room and the
| three very heavy glass chandeliers bat
head.
The ceiling of the east room is separate
fre m the floor of the second story. but as
| 1t is comparatively new very extensive
10, economy demands great care in the
necessary repairs and particular caution
| rot to lnJure the ceiling Of the east room
while repairing the floor above Hence
the insertion of iron beams is excluded
The beams Of this second floor are theo-
| retically abundantly strong and vet we find
| a large permanent detection which is UNI
doubtedly due to the heavy cases of hooks
| and records constituting an unusual and
constant depression in the weakest parts
OF the flooring.
SusPensfOn Rods Necessary
without great expense and more time
| than Is at disposal. it is also impossible
| to renew the floor beams. No support from
beneath is practicable. The only resource
| left is to suspend the weak parts of the
| floor from the roof ORDERS which are. for
tunately, very strong. These suspension
rods can be concealed except I'm the second
story east corridor, where it is proposed TO
lncase them in what will look like wooden
pillars. 1t VIII not do to attempt much in
straining the beams back to the horizontal
| but the floor will be leveled up by addi-
uonal noor girders nailed to the present
ones. This will also add considerable stiff
ress, although it will increa sc the weight
ne above only accentuates the fact that
the tme mas come when something is i'm
peratiVely demanded to relieve the actual
pnysical strain now made on the Executive
Mansion
White House improvements
Col. Bingham reports that the usual
| care was extended to the mansion during
| the past month and minor repairs made
| to its furniture as required In the small
reception room on the first floor a new
oak mantel was put in. the fireplace trim
| med, the hearth tiled and the doors and
windows ref1nished. In the green bed
room and the southwest dressing room
all the furniture was reupholstered and re-
covered with new material new silk win
dow drapery purchased, new carpet made
up, new mating laid, a new couch pur-
chased and Few mantel lambreuuins nut
up. New mating also laid in the north
east bed ROOM the furniture reupholstered,
new lambreqCins put up. new white mar
bic hearthstone laid. etc Minor carpentry
ard plumbing repairs were made and the
work of stripping and cleaning the large
crystal chandeliers in the east room was
commenced.
Repairs to Stable and GreenhOuses,
Extensive repairs have been made to the
stable of public grounds in the rear of the
Presidents stables, necessitated by the
rotten and dangerous condition of the wood
foundation blocks of the building and the
timbers supporting the front platform. The
work of repairing the woodwork of the
greenhouses was commenced last month,
and all f1ues, chimneys and pipes of the
heating apparatus were cleaned out and
repaired. new smoke stack of heavy
black iron was put up in place of one that
had become rotted out and unserviceable.
The broken brick coping of the low retain
ing wall north of the conservatory was re-
moved preparatory to constructing a new
coping of Portland cement.
Visitors to the Washington Monument
There were 9.16S visitors to the top of the
Washington monument during July, of
which number 1850 made the ascent i'm the
elevator and Isis by the stairway, making
a total o f1,41S,990 persons who have Wis
tied the top since the shaft was opened to
visitors October 8, 1883.
Permission having been granted By Col.
Chas. j. Allen, corps of engineers, 10 use
a piece Of ground on the Potomac flats for
compost and storage grounds, piece of
ground on the flats between 18th and 10th
and 1874 cart loads of manure and soil
which had been piled near the Presidents
stable, and about 100 cart loads of manure
on the old storage grounds at 18th and B
streets, were hauled to the new storage
grounds and piled. The manure pit at the
Presidents stable was emptied and the
contents were hauled to these grounds.
Col. Bingham also reports that the tel
egraph Office of the United States Senate
has been removed from the second to the
first floor, and that the new Instruments
furnished by the sergeant-at-arms were
connected up ready for use. Telegraphic
connection between the executive depart
ments and the Capitol has been cut off,
pending the reassembling of Congress next
December.