Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-05
PORTION OF TEMPORARY ROOF ON WALTZ HOUSE.
LOOkING TOWARD STATE WAR AND NAVY BUILDING.

and another there. and all these holes
weakened the trusses.e
The net result of all this was that
the truss on the outside tended to pull
in, so that the upper chord tended tc
push out. Since the other end was
fixed, it tended to come down as well
as to push out, the joining of this
lower chord with the first truss being
made in a rather intricate connection
| of wood with iron scraps around it
and as the load got on it the connec.
ton became fractured. Once the
wood was broken, the truss no longer
| functioned as such.
The top part of the truss had sagged
down and was resting on the interior
partitions, and as long as it had stayed
there it was reasonably safe But,
according to the office of the Army
engineers, it was a condition that one
| cannot analyZe from a structural stand
| point, and in the opinion of the builder
was extremely dangerous, as there
was an actual detection of six inches.
Had it not been for the partitions,
according to Mr.. SEVERN, the roof
would have fallen long ago. At the
masonry walls, moreover, where the
old wooden trusses had been seated,
| 1t was found that some rot had taken
place where moisture had gotten in.
| In some places in the roof they had
cut big notches in the timbers and
| had inserted a big trough that used
to act as the gutter of the roof. These
were hewn out of the solid wood, were
! in long stretches away beneath the
roof, did not appear to have all come
under the leaks and were inserted in
the lower chord of the roof.
Handling the details of wrecking
this old construction and putting in
the new was good deal like dispatch
| ing a railroad train. There were 125
days, inclusive of all holidays and
Sundays, rain or shine, and these were
duly marked out on large chart and
the estimated length of time printed
in white.
THE most important part of the job
was the planning of this schedule,
according to Mr.. Lusk, as the organi-
cation and the sequence of events are
of utmost Importance. Trains are run
on a schedule and so is a successful
construction job, and as each part of
the work progressed and was finished
a red line was drawn through it and
ended up with the significant figures,
400 per cent"
When it was decided to fit a large
cedar room into the top floor. as well
as any other changes that became
wise or necessary, these were marked
out in yellow chalk so that a mere
glance showed what was taking place
all along the line.
Before starting the wrecking of the
third floor it was necessary to line all
the second-floor rooms with canvas to
protect them. The floors were pro.
tected with red rosin paper; then with
thick, tough. fibrous paper, solidly
backed on top. The partitions of the |
second floor were all protected with
light canvas, and. of course, all the
furniture had been previously moved |
Temporal roof trusses then were |
installed by putting up posts and |
trusses and plates over the whole |
thing. Then came the joists, and these |
were sheathed with one-inch lumber
and finally, prepared ready-roofing |
over the top. 1t is this roof that has |
attracted so much attention in the /
last few weeks,
The sides under the caves were all
lined with canvas so that light and
air was admitted and there We're added
temporary electric lights. Ihe lum.