LIBRA RY

OF
TH E U N IVE RS ITY
O F CA LI FO RN IA
LOS A N G ELE S

G I FT OF

Jo h n S . Pr e l l
 A TR E A TIS E

G A N D U N D E RPI N N I N G .
S H ORIN G A N D U N DERPIN N IN G

AN D G EN ER AL L Y D E AL I N G WI T H

R U IN O U S A N D D A N G E R OU S S TR U C T U R E S .

JO H N S P RE LL .

C vi
i l (9 M ec ha nica l E nginee r .

S A N F RA N C IS CO, C A L .

CE CIL H A D E N S TOCK .

TH I R D E DI T I O N R E V I S E D BY .

FRED E RIC RIC HA RD F A RROW ,

F E LL OW A N D R R
G O D ‘V I N R
BU N TT T
SA OF TH E O YA L I S I U E

RT
OF B R T T
I IS H A CH I EC S .

WI TH N U ME R O U S IL L U S TR A TI ON S ,

LO N D ON

B . T . BA T S F O R D , 94 H IG H H O L BO R N
1 90 2 .
BRA D B U R Y, A GN WE , co LO P R IN I E R S
‘

LO ND N
O A N D TO N BRI D G E .
 PREFA CE TO TH E TH I RD EDITI ON .

TH E very able manner in w h ich th is work was originally

prepared by the author has established it as the leading
authority upon the subject and in revising it for a third edi tion
,

the present write r has after careful consideration found it

, ,

undesirable to re write any considerable portion ; indeed it

-

would be impossible to do so without sacrifi cing something of

that clearness and conciseness whi ch so strongly characterize
the book and which render it of such gr eat value in inculcating
,

“
the principles of S horing and U nderpinning so far as is possible ,

without practical experience on the part of the student .

E xtracts from the L ondon B uilding A c t of 1894 have "

been introduced in place of those from the A ct of 18 55 in ,

force at the date of the first and second editions which it has ,

s uperseded .

S tudents and practitioners alike cannot b e too strongly advised

to place the greate s t relian ce on the principle which the author
was one of the first to lay down i e the infliction of the minimum ,
. .
,

of disturbance to decrepit or dangerous structures in the practical

application of shores for t heir support .

The author s methods of reducing as much as possible the

’

number of needles and wedges employed are not uni v ersally

adopted but even a slight consid e ration of the adv antages
,

O btained by following his method should con v ince e v ery studen t

of the superiority of the arrangements shown and explained in

this work .

F R E D E R I O R FA R R O W .
,

7, N E W C O U R T,
L m CO L N IN
’
s N .

Jun e, 1902 .

7 3 8 4 00
 S A N F RA N CI S CO, CA L .

PREFA CE TO FIRS T EDI TI ON .

TH E object which the author of the following treatise has in

View is as far as he can to supply a want which has for so m e
, ,

time been felt among the younger member s of the architec t ural
profession I t has been impossible hitherto from the author s
.
,
’

own experience to get up the subject of shoring and under

,

pinning whe t her as a necessary part of the educa t ion of an

,

archi t ect or for an examination without a wearisome search

, ,

in di ffe rent libraries for the scraps of information on the sub

j e c t scattered about among the works of various authorities ;
,

and the difficulty of obtaining information in this way has also

be en considerably enhanced by the fact that two of t he best
authorities on the subj ect write in a foreign lan guage Con .

sequently the student has been obliged at a great sacrifice of

,

ti m e to fall back upon the expedien t of sketching and measuring

,

existing cases ; an admirable m ethod in its way but which ,

would b e more interesting and instructive (especially as what

one most wish e s to know is very often hidden out of sight)
if some previous k nowledge of the subject had been acquired
A ccordingly t he following pages comprise a careful collection
“ .

of all the authorities together with a few additional notes and

,

s k etches made from actual exp e rience with t he work .

The shoring and unde rpinning o f the towers column s and , ,

arches of medi aev al churche s or other old b uildings which hav e ,

succumbed after having serv ed the ir pu rp ose well for many

y e ars is a su b ject too wide and co m p licated to be thoroughly
,

investigated in a text book such as this ; a few examples how

-

e ver are gi ven in Chapter V I and methods are described in

.
,

w hi ch some one or two supp osi t ional ca ses sh o uld be treated .

viii PR E F A C E TO F IR S T EDI T I O N .

I nstances of this class are however comparatively rare and so , , ,

v aried in their character that each requires to b e t re ated in ,

i t s own peculiar way ; and it is impossible to lay down any

fixed ru les or to presc ribe any definite methods by which
,

sho ri n g and underpinning may b e succe ssfully carried out in

e very case B ut in the more general cases of shoring such
.
, ,

for instance as are met wi t h e very day in L ondon or other

,

large town s where one house is so much l ike another in its

,

purpose and construction it is possible more or less to prescribe

, , ,

me t hods which will answer as well in one case as in anothe r ;

and it is more the purpose of this book to explain these method s
and the rules invol v ed in them as they are m ore useful to t he ,

student and come into the everyday practice of the majority

,

of architects .

S horing and unde rpinning and dealing with ruinou s and ,

dangerous structures is one o f t he su bj ec t s of which a know

,

ledge is required in the new examination for admission into t he

R oyal I nstitute of B ri t ish A rchitects and the author has con
sequen t ly b een c areful to co m pile this treatise wi t h a view as ,

far as possible to enable a student to answer any question that

,

may be set on this su bject .

C E C I L HAD E N S TO C K .

P M
A R LIA M EN T A N S I ON S ,

VI C T OR I A S TR E E T , WE S TM I N S TE R ,

Ma y, 188 2 .
 A TR E A TI S E

S H ORIN G AN D U N D ERPINNI N G .

C H AP TE R I .

I N TR OD U CTORY .

T H E R E i s perhap s no place where the p rinciple s o f S h orin g

, ,

and U nde rpinning ought m ore fully to be under s tood than

poor L ondon fo unded upon treache rou s clay built of b rick s
, , ,

and aboun ding in ruinous buil di ngs where eve rything i s done

“
,

in such a desperate hurry that anything that come s to hand

seems to be used as a building material by s o many of our
builders with no doubt the reflection on their part A t all
, , , ,

events it will last o ur time The delinquencies of the builde r

.
"

and the treache ry of the soil ar e however evils which are , ,

comm o n to most places ; and the student in the art of shoring

can har dly complain of a scar city of examples to examine I n .

L ondon at all event s he has only to turn s harply round the

, ,

corne r of a s treet and he will run against a huge obstruction in

the middle of the footpath th e feet and sole piece of a system
,
-

of raking sho re s H e will doubtles s at once take out his note

.
, ,

book and rule and j ot down the scantlings and t he position of

,

the separate struts ; but when he comes to examine how the

whole system is wedged up he finds that he is bamed by the ,

s ole piece being so buried in clay and dir t that he can elicit no
-

defi nite in formation from it T his i s nearly always the case

.

S .
B
2 S HO RIN G AN D U NDERPINNIN G .

when work i s examined without any previou s acquaintance

with its principles ; and it is the desire of the author to in stil
into the mind of the reader a su fficient acquaintance with the
p rinciple s and the term s used in s horing and unde rpinning ,

that h e may afterward s with confidence pe rfect himself in the

practical knowledge of the subject by sketching and mea sur ing ,

and by questioning foremen engaged upon the work .

I t is always necessary in attempting to obtain information

,

from a workman to go well armed w ith terms for a s a rule he

,

take s it for gr anted that you understand the phrases h e uses ,

and vouchsafes no explanation concerning them However .

,

thi s is alway s the best way to gain practical knowledge upon

anything " see the work begun and carried out to the end go ,

into it s object criticise it if possible and consider whether

, , ,

from your knowledge of the subject it could not have been done
,

better s ome othe r way N o student should be content with the

.

knowledge he had gained s imply by reading a book .

T he mathematical investigation of the nature of the forces

brought into play in the case of raking shores though it can ,

hardly be s aid to be absolutely necessary is s till well wo rth ,

the attention of the reader fo r it gi v es him an altogether

supe rior gr asp of the subj ect and makes him feel competent to
,

undertake the mo s t di fficult problem it can a fford The in .

v est igat io n of the nature of strains comes of course into many, ,

other of the studie s of an architect and the time spent in con

,

siderin g the proof of formul ae employed can never be s aid to be

spent in v ain B ut for the convenience of those who may not

.
,

be acquainted with the s cience of trigonometry or statics the ,

theoretical has not been allowed to inte rfere too much with the
practical side of the subject ; and the mechanic s of rak ing shores
have been banished to a chapter by themsel ves at the end of the
book so that those who do not unders tand them need not trouble
,

themselve s to read them at all .

A s there are now s o many and varied s ubjects connected with

our profession making it almo s t an impossibili ty to gain a
,

su fficient practical knowledge of all of them there i s eve ry ,

 I N T R O D U C TO R Y . 3

reason to believe that there ill be in the future a demand fo r

w
specialists " that is to say an architect having on hand s ome
'

work which h a s not before come much within the range of his
practice might be glad to consult with some other member of
,

his profession w h o had made a special s tudy of that one par

t ic u lar subject A n d s o if any of the r eaders of this book feel
.
,

that they hav e any inclination to make a s pecial study of s horing

and underpinning and generally dealing with ruinous and
,

dangerou s structures they will find it a pleasing and intere s t

,

ing pursui t havin g an element o f dange r and excitement about

,

it sometime s which give s it a s upe rio r charm ove r many o th er

of the architect s dutie s
’
.

When Once the study and practice of s horing ha s been

acquired there will alway s be found especially in L ondon
, , ,

ample scope for the specialist in this branch of the profes sion
to exercise his ingenuity ; for the r e i s s carcely eve r a hou s e
cleared away for the erection of a new building without it s being
nece ss ary to shore up it s neighbours o n eithe r s ide A n d so this .

subject cannot be too well understood by all architect s for many ,

accident s occur from the s horing being left to the rule o i—thumb -

of the foreman employed on the wo rk s without any supe rvision ,

by some more responsible per s on .

We shall now proceed to describe the difieren t method s u s ed

in shoring and unde rpinning taking first into our consideration
,

the ordinary every day ca s e s to be met with in L ondon and

-

othe r brick built town s

-
.
 C H AP TE R II .

ON BA KI N G S H OR E S .

WE shall describe in this chapter only the ordinary use o f

raking shores r eserving the different varieties of this method
,

to be considered by themselve s in another chapter .

I n P late I Fig 1 there is depicted an example of the

. .
,

raking shore in it s most simple form i e with only one , . .

principal st rut L et us suppose it to be supporting a brick

.

wall 9 inches thick and 20 feet hi gh from the ground A C

, ,

then A B is the p rincip al strut called a sho re E is a deal , .

,

called the wall piece 9 inche s wide and 3 inches thick and
-

, ,

long enough to tak e the foot of the s econdary st rut G I n .

this wall piece about 2 feet fr om one end a rectangular h ole

-

, ,

is cut and a s mall piece of wo od D called a nee dle or by , ,

some workmen a t o ssle o r joggle is inse rt ed p roj ecting about

, , ,

4 } inches on either side of the deal

4
A h al f header is taken .

out of the wall near the top and the wall piece placed in -

position the needle fitting into the hole thus prepared T he

,
.

othe r end of the nee dle projecting beyond the face of the ,

wall piece serves as an abutment to the head of the s hore

-

at B For additional security a wedge shaped piece of wood

.
-

C called a cleat is nailed on to th e wall piece just above the

, ,
-

needle and prevents it fr om being forced out o f its place by

,

the upward pre s sure of the shore A B F i s a balk of timber .

‘

called the footing block or sole piece let into the ground or ,
-

, ,

if the ground be s oft laid upon a s mall pla t form of timber

, .

A cleat is nailed upon the upper side of the sole piece at A -

to prevent the foot of the shore from s lipping A ll these .

parts in connection with the s hore will be tak en more in detail

fur ther on in thi s chapter " at present let it suffice only to
name them and de s cribe their function s .
6 S H O RING AND UNDERPINN I NG .

and this will be a s near a s possible at right angle s t o the

, ,

line 19 A.

N o w in practice this truth i s of the greate s t conveni ence ,

fo r the foot of the shore being gently levered along the sole
,

piece i s co m pressed tighter and tighter and so the necessity of

, ,

wedges i s di spensed with entirely I n orde r to fac ilitate thi s .

o p e ration of levering the shore into its place a groove or slot i s ,

cut in the unde r side of the foot of the shore large enough o nly ,

for the carpenter to insert the end of a crowbar as a lever (S ee .

Plate I I Fig
. . This was the method employed in most of the
shoring executed for the Metropoli tan B oard of Works and it ,

may be considered the best ; for in dealing wi th struc tur es that

,

are r e ally in danger of fallin g the greatest care must be taken

,

to avoid all blows with a hammer or mallet such as are ,

nece s si tated by the use of wedges at the foot of the shore .

From what has been said about the tendency of the shore
to lift the wall and the con s equent reactionary force P which
, ,

keeps th e head of the shore dow n it is obviou s that the needle ,

must not be placed too near the top of the wall for unless , ,

there is sufli cien t weight upon its head the shore will rise and ,

burs t up the cour se s above it .

There is yet another force b rought to bear upon a raking

s hore which we must not forget to mention and that is a ,

cros s strain S acting at right angle s to the shore and ten di ng

, , ,

to be nd it inwar ds the truth of which may be investigated in

,

the chapter on the Mechanic s of R aking S hores at the end of ,

the book I t is to counteract this cross strain that the

.

s econdary strut G i s necessary and in cases where three or ,

four shore s ar e combined in one system as in Figs 2 and 3 , .

,

thi s strut answers the double purpose of counteracting the

cross strain and binding the shores together .

H a v ing now considered briefly the nature of the fo r ces brought

into play in the case of this single raking shore and the practical ,

le s sons that they teach it only remain s to be s aid that where

,

there are any number of shore s in a system each separate shore ,

in that s y s te m i s s ubj ected to the s am e force s or s trains as have

 ON BA K IN G SHO RE S .
7

been de s cribed in the ca s e of Fig 1 I n fact thi s fi gur e may . .

,

b e considered as the oute r s ho re in a s ystem of two or more

S hores . I t ha s been used here more for convenience of descrip
tion than a s a method to be adopted A s a gene r al rule two or .
,

more shore s should be used in a sy s tem .

With regard to the s cantling s of the timber s u s ed in raking

shores as they are for the most part but temporary erections
, ,

builders generally use such timbers a s they may have by them ,

which are too rough for bette r work B ut in order to be quite .

sur e that the timbers are s trong enough to resist the utmost
strain that can be put upon them it i s always as well to u s e the ,

formul ae which are appended with an example at the end of

, , ,

t hi s chapter .

We will now go o n t o con s ider Fig 2 in Plate I T hi s i s the . .

raking shore most commonly seen it is s imply a triple arr ange

ment of that described in Fig 1 The wall piece is made much
. .
-

longer in consequence and has three holes cut in it and three

, ,

needles inserte d with their cleat s nailed above each The outer .

shore is called the top raker the middle s ho re the middle raker
, ,

and the lowe s t is called the bottom s hore A s the top r aker of .

this system i s a much longer shore than that shown in Fig 1 .

,

it will be nece s sary to s trengthen it with more than one

secondary strut This is done by nailing pieces of timber about
.

1 inch thick and from 6 inches to 9 inches wide on either side

,

of the shores as s hown at G in Figs 2 and 3 The s e brace s

, . .

are brought home against the wall and nailed to the sides of the ,

wall piece (which if wider than the shore s i s best notched out
-

, ,

t o receive them) and their position is generally just below the

,

points where the needle s enter the wall A s the bottom shore .

cannot conveniently have a secondary strut it is generally tied ,

up by a brace similar to those at G this brace is also useful to

b ind the three shores together as they approach each other at
their feet and helps to render the whole a ho m ogeneous system
, ,

incapa b le of turning about or warping when tried b y the thru s t

of the wall Hoop ir on is also nailed round and round the feet
.

of the shores to p revent any possibility of their se p aratin g .

8 S H O RING AND UNDE RPINNING .

I n P late IFig 3 we have a much larger and m ore com

. .
,

plicate d system of shores I t di ffers from the other in this .

respect that the top rak er or rider shore as it is called in this

, ,

case instead of coming down to the ground as b e fore is made

, ,

to spring from the back of the shore immediately below it .

This is of course done because it would b e impossi b le except

, , ,

at considerab le expense to o b tain so long a piece of timber as ,

would otherwise b e required I n some cases the foo t o f thi s .

rider shore is made to rest upon a large cleat nailed to the back ,

of the shore below but the best me t hod i s to let it rest upon
,
'

another piece of t imber of the same s cantling which secured to , ,

the back of the shore below goes down to the sole piece as ,
-

shown in th e Fig 3 Thi s rider shore may be of a smaller. .

scantling than the other s .

N o w this plan though it answers ve ry well in a case like

,

Fig 3 should not be allowed in the case of Fig 2 (unless there

.
,
.

was great difficulty in obtaining a piece long enough for the

top rak er) fo r this reason that the power of wood to resist
, ,

compression i s very much impaired by any cross strain that may

be put upon it But still if in the cas e of Fig 2 the house was
.
,
.

really in imminent danger of falling o r wa s ve ry much out of ,

the perpendicular it would not only be advisable but even

, ,

absolutely necessary to keep the top rak e r in two pieces and

, ,

fix it as in Fig 3 because the di sturb ance and b lows upon the

.
,

wall which would be cau s ed by the moving abo ut and fixing

,

so large and heavy a piece of timber might result in b ringing ,

about what it is the object of the s hores to preven t v iz ,

.
,

the total wreck of the house But wheneve r the method of a .

rider shore is adopted the shore below it m ust be m ade ,

propo rtionately str onger to enable it to resist the cross s t rain ,

.

This may be done ei ther by increasing the scantling of t he

rak er from the back of which the ride r shore springs or b y
, ,

solid struts between the rak ers as show n in Fig 1 Plat e II ,

.
, .

I n Fig 2 P la t e II is shown an example of an ex t ended

.
,
.
,

applicat ion of this lat t e r me t hod fo r a lof ty building of several

floor s .
10 S H ORING AND UNDERPIN NING .

The systems of s hores should not if po s sible be more than

from 12 feet to 15 feet apa rt but if they ar e placed nearer to
each o t her than thi s the scantlings may be made lighter which ,

w ill be of gr eat ad v antage in the case of a really dangerous

structure for the reasons mentioned above .

The general arrangement and construction of the raking

shores which are most commo nly used having been explained ,

it now remains only to say a few words wi t h regard to their

de t ails A s thes e can best be explained by the figures on
.

P late I II it will be sufficient merely to refer to them pointing

.
, ,

out their uses .

The meaning of Fig 1 ha s alr eady been explained ; the o ak

.

we dges which compress the rider shore have been dri v en

, ,

home and sawn to a neat appearance Fig 2 is the needle

,
. .
,

which in good sho rin g is m ade out of a piece of wood about

4 inches s quare and 1 foot long cut down at one end to the ,

S ize required to fit the hole made in the wall ; a should e r is

thus formed to butt against the wall piece and a good strong -

a butment is afforded for the head of the shore Fig 5 is . ,

a sketch showing the needle in position in the wall piece w i t h -

the cleat ab o v e it and the manner in which the head of the

,

shore is no t ched to fit the unde r side of the nee dle This is a .

very nece s sary expedient ; for the author has kno w n an instance
of the top rak er in a system of shores a long and heavy piece ,

of tim b er having b een blow n down by a sudden gust of w ind

,

—seriously injur ing two worm en who were underneath it at

the t ime— f rom the neglect to notch the head of the shore or ,

otherwise secure it in case of its becoming loose Iron br aces .

,

as Fig 3 called ir on dogs are sometimes u s ed for thi s purpose

.
, , ,

as also fo r securing the feet of the shores to the sole piece and -

the foot of the rider shore to the shore b elow it I t is important .

that t he pointed teeth of the iron dogs should be at right angles

and no t a t an acute angle wit h t h e shank I t will b e noticed .

that in the s k etch Fig 5 t h e wall piece is secur ed to the wall

,
.
,
-

with iron hooks a detail of wh ich is shown in Fig 4 ; these

,
.

are convenient to h o l d it in p o s iti o n duri n g the in s er tion o f the

 ON B A KIN G S H ORE S . 11

needle s and fi xing o f the s hore s Fig 6 shows the method of . .

levering the feet of the s hores along the sole piece A cleat -
.

should be nailed to the s ole piece again s t the foot of the outer
-

shore and the space s between the sho re s if they d o not quite
, ,

touch s hould be filled in with a bit of s tu ff

, .

T he greatest care must be taken that the sole piece re s ts -

upon a firm foundation of s olid ground for the efficacy of the ,

shore depend s ve ry much upon an unyielding base I t should .

first be asce rtained that there are no cellars o r vaults under the
spot that the s ole piece i s to occupy and all made ground s oft
-

, ,

clay & c should be avoided if possible ; but if as often happen s

,
.
, , ,

it i s impossible to obtain a firm foundation without going to a

considerable depth the s ole piece must rest upon a carefully
,
-

made platform of timbers laid acros s each other which will

, ,

press equally upon the ground all over This platform may be .

laid level and the s ole piece r aised to the requir ed inclination
,
-

by wedge shaped pieces of oak fixed upon it or it may be laid

-

at once to the inclination of the sole piece I n some cases -

.
,

where great pressure is likely to come upon the shore a good ,

bed of concrete i s prepared and the platform which takes the ,

s ole piece laid upon it

-
.

When a space ha s been cleared away and raking shores ,

ar e erected to s uppo rt the surr oun ding buildings they must not ,

be put up in di scriminately without reference to the plans and

,

s ections of the new b uil di ng which i s to occupy the space ; but

care must be taken that they sh all interfere with the building
operation s a s little as possible A s the new buil di ng rises to .

the under s ide of the bottom s ho re s they are taken down the , ,

middle and top rakers being left in position till they are reached
in their turn The foundation of the shore s should be left
.

untouched until all ar e taken down .

I t i s Obvious that the more inclined the shore i s with the

ho rizon the greate r is the lateral thrust it will exert A n
,
.

angle of 4 0 i s con s idered to be the be s t inclination for raking

°

s hores but there i s ve ry seldom room for so great a spread at

t h e foot a s t h i s re uires and the are more o ften rai s ed to an
q y ,
12 S H ORING AND UNDERPINN ING .

angle of 60 o r B ut it s hould alway s be borne in min d

°

that the more the shores are brought in at the feet the less will ,

be the lateral thrust they will exe rt against the wall .

F ormu lae for de termining the p ressure bro ugh t to bear up on a

ra king s ho re by the ho us e w h ic h i t supp o r ts .

R eferringback to the e x ample (Plate I Fig we hav e s een . .

that there ar e two principal forces P and Q brought to bear , ,

upon the shore B efore we can determine what e ffect these

.

two forces have in compressing the shore we must fi rst ,

disco v er the magnitude of each of them separately .

To find the maximum horizontal thrust Q exercised upo n the

wall (Q being in we must use the following formula
Wx t

Where W i s the weight of the wall in cwt s t is the thickn ess of .

,

the wall at the ground lin e in feet o r parts of a foot and B C is the ,

di stance of th e head of the shore fr om the groun d also in feet , .

To find the ve rtical force P to be expressed in cwts ,

Whe r e 0 is the angle the shore makes with the ho rizon and w ,

is the weight of the shore itself in cwts .

Having found by the abo ve formulae the value s of Q and P ,

we can now find t he compression F dow n the shore which they

produce by the form ula,

F I II .

where F is in cwt s and 9 is the angle the sho re make s with the
.

hori onz .

Th ad v if h h n v b f b n a q ai t d w ith t h t ig
e re er , e en e as e er e o re ee c u n e e r o

n m t i
o l y mb l
e r ca i s t & c n d n t b at all ala m d at th i
o s, s n .
,
cos .
,
an .
, .
, ee o e r e e r

app a a h
e r n ce f if w k w h w ma y d g th
ere or in t h a gl 0
e no o n e rees ere a re e n e ,

w hav
e ly to f t m t b l f at u al i
e on re e r i ta g t &
o so e d a e o n r S n es , cos nes , n en s , c .
, an

we s h ll fi d that t h
a p i n t n 0i t a f m d i t a
n e ex i t
ress o a . s r ns o r e n o c o n v en en

d imal F i tan th h A B in Pl I Fig 1 mak n a gl f

ec . or ns ce, e s o re . . . es a n e o
 ON BA K I N G S HO RES . 13

N taking the example in Plate I Fig 1 a wall 20 feet

ow ,
. .
,

high with a fr ontage of 10 feet is supported by a raking shore

, ,

of fir 4 inches by 4 inches the head of which B is 16 feet fr om

, ,

the ground A C The angle 0 or B A C is and by referring

.
, ,
'

to a table of natur al S ine s & c we find that sin 0 is 9 3969 , .

, .
,

cos 0 is 3 4202 and tan 0 is 27 4 74 T aking the wall at

.
,
.

1 cwt pe r cubic foot its weight W will be 15 0 cwt and its

.
, .
,

thi ckn ess t i s 9 inche s or ii of a foot T he weight w of th e ,

.

S hore itself is cwt .

The value of Q is Obtained from I .

W x t = 1—5—0 x 112
—
Q m 32 32
= 3§ cw t app ro xim atel
y .
,

i e the maximum ho rizontal thru s t is 3} cwt

. . 7 .

The vertical pre ssur e P is obtained from II .

p = Q tan a (3; x 2 74 74 ) .
-
9} c wt .

The compression F down the shore is found from II I .

F P sin 0 Q co s x 9 39 6 9
.
) (34, x 9 4202) 9% cwt . .

approximately
i e the shore as a post ha s to resi s t a pressure of cwt
. . .

To find whe t her the shore is s trong enough to resist this

pressure we must use the formula for a long squar e post
, , ,

L = a x zi
c

l
where a is 15 5 for fir d i s the lea s t width in in ches and l is , ,

the leng t h in feet ; L b eing the safe load in cw ts t hat may be .

put upon it .

Very often howeve r the breadth of a shore i s double its

, ,

width i e the sides of the section bear a propo rtion to one

, . .

another of g consequently as we get twice the resistance we , ,

multiply L as found by the above form ula (in which d in t hi s

case is the lesser s ide) by 2 for the s afe load requ ired
70 w
E gi
°

n
ith
n ee r
the ho i n A
i n g F o mulas
r zo

r
,

,
C
for
. We l oo k sa y in M o lesw o rt h s
,

t h e ta b l es o f n at ura l sin es & c ,

’

.
“
, a nd w
.

P k tb k f
oc

that
e -

e see
oo o

°
t a n 70 is 27 4 74
. .
 SH C R IN G AND U N D E R PI N N I N G .

When the s ection i s 6 inches by 4 inches for instance the , ,

sides b ear a proportion to one another of or g consequently ,

we multiply L as found by the above formula (in which d is

the lesser side) by i for the safe load required ; and s o for all
;

scantlings .

I t has however been found b y experience to be always best

, ,

to mak e shores of square timber The shores erected by the

.

L ondon County Council are generally of a square section and ,

timber of this kind can easily be obtained from 4 inche s by

4 inches to 13 inches by 13 inche s .

I n the example before u s the shore ha s a s quar e s ection ;

then
L 15 5 x 333 13§ cwt ;
-

i e the s afe load which the shore will carry i s slightly in exce s s
. .

of the compression F to which it is actually subj ected

, .

I n this manner the top raker in a sy s tem of s hore s can be

te s ted.

The compression down the middle raker and bottom s hores

can al s o be determined in the same way a separate value of Q ,

being worked out for each I t will be found that this com
.

pression increases as the shore s are placed lower down the wall
but as the power of resistance in the lower shore s i s also con
s iderably increased from their being s o much s ho rter than t h e

top raker they will be quite s trong enough if made of the same
,

s cantling .
16 S H O RING AND UNDE RPINNING .

Fig 3 shows the way in which the head of a raking shore

may be fixed in a masonry wall A har d header of stone is .

built into a hole m ade in the wall projecting b eyond the face ,

of the old work and a piece of heart of oak is placed unde rneath

“
,

it as a seating or needle for the head of the shore .

When two or more shores are e m ployed in a system they

should never be parallel but (to quote M V io llet le D u c) they
,
.
- -

should always form a triangle or a portion of a triangle for ,

th is reason that a t riangle can never be thr own out of shape ;

,

when braced shores whi ch are not parallel present an entirel y

,

ho m ogeneous resistance whereas if they are parallel they will

become bent however well braced they may be
,
.

This tru t h may be extended further ; and when two systems

are com b ined in one as is sometimes done when great s t rength
,

is required they should not be placed par allel to each other

, ,

but they sho uld form a triangle on plan as is shown in Fig 4 , .

in perspective T hi s kind o f shore if i t is well braced is exceed

.
, ,

ingly s t rong and suitable to prevent the pressur e of the e arth

,

from ove rturn ing a terrace wall .

I t is often possible to mak e use of a raking shore not only as ,

a suppo rt but also as a means whereby a wall may b e pushed

,

back again fr om a leanin g to an up right posi t ion A n instance .

of this has co m e under the author s notice in th e case of one of ’

the walls of a large war ehouse whi ch had gr adually been pushed
,

o ut of the pe rpen di c ular Th e foundations were examined and

.

found to be in a comparativ ely good condition and the face of ,

the wall though out of the perpen di cular presented a unif orm
, ,

appearance i e there were no serious bulges or cracks percep

, . .

tible on its f ace ; and consequently the idea of r esto ring its
perpendic ularity seemed possible to b e put into execution ,

without any danger to the wall itself A ccordingly r aking .

,

shores were placed at intervals along the wall and a powe rfu l ,

s crew j ack fitted un der the sole piece of each system the con -

n e c t io n s of the quo in s with the return walls were then cut

away and the roof and floors of the buil dings having fir s t been
, ,

propped up with posts and s truts from the ba sement to the

 ADDI T I ONAL US E S OF TH E B A K ING S H ORE . 17

topmo s t s tory we re al s o cut o ff fro m all connection with the

,

wall A wedge shaped fissure wa s next cut in the brickwork

.
-

at a point near the base of the wall on the internal face and ,

the space thus cut out was filled up with s and T he screw .

j acks were turned evenly and gently and the wall squeezing , ,

the sand out of the fis s ure was gradually pushed b ack by the ,

s hores into it s o riginal position The roof and floor s were .

again firmly connected with the b rickwork the posts and ,

s hore s taken down and the whole then presented an ,

appearance as s trong and s atisfacto ry a s when it wa s fir s t

erected .

A nothe r method u s ed for bringing back into the pe rpendicular

the two opposite walls of a building which have been th rust ,

outwards by a roof o r vault though it i s perhaps hardly d ,

p pro o s here may a s wel l be mentioned I t consists in fi xing

, .

bar s of wr ought iron acros s th e building from one wall to the

other which pa ss thr ough to the outside and are then s crewed
, ,

to large nuts or washer s placed against the external face of

, ,

the walls Fir es are lighted under these bars and as the metal
.
,

expand s the washers are s c r ewed up as tightly a s pos s ible The .

fires ar e then extinguished and when the bars begin to cool , ,

the force of their contraction gr adually dr aw s the wall s

together .

B ut to return t o the r aking s hore another of it s many use s ,

i s to s teady a wall whilst it is in proce ss of being unde rpinned ;

these rak ing sh ore s should be left in position for some time
after the works have been carried out so a s to enable the ,

wall to take its bearing upon the new work without danger of
disruption .

T he best wood in which all sh or e s should be made i s nu

doubte dly the fir because its grain i s always straight and it
, ,

can be obtained in long pieces I t i s di fficult to make good .

shore s of oak a s it is generally of a middling length has a

, ,

twisted grain and is h eavy and more troublesome to lift in

,

consequence Oak ought to be us e d however in preference to

.
, ,

all othe r woods for the wedge s s eatin gs &c and even for the , ,
.
,

S . C
18 S H ORING AND UND E RPI NNING.

s ole piece (though thi s i s seldom done ) because it s texture doe s

-

not c rush under the load lik e that of fir .

Care should b e tak en that the shore i s thoroughly well put

together that all the j o ints are made to fit exactly and that the
, ,

foot of each strut has a pe rfect bearing upon the s ole piece -
.

N othing is more satisfactory than to see a shore well made and ,

those who design and construct in this art cannot help feeling ,

in such a ca s e a pang of regr et when their handiwork is cleared

,

away .
 C H AP TE R IV .

ON H OR I Z ON T A L OR F LY IN G S H OR E S .

W H E N a house is taken down in a street and the party wall s of ,

its neighbours on either side require supporting and if the space ,

between the two i s not gr eater than about 32 feet or 33 feet ,

ho rizontal struts r eachi ng from one wall to the other are

, ,

e m ployed ; these are called flying shores .

I n P late V Fig 1 i s depicted the usual method of con

. .
,

s t ru c t in g these shores T wo wall pieces E are provided and a

.
-

rectangular hole cut in the centr e of each for the insertion of

the needles D which rest in holes cut in the walls just as has
, ,

been described in the ca s e of r aking shores a cleat 0 being ,

nailed below them for ad di tional security T he horizontal .

strut A B is compressed by oak wedges driven together above

the needles D and it is stiffened by the raking s tr uts G whi ch
, ,

butt against cleats C on the wall pieces and against straining -

pieces F securely nailed to the top and under side of the

,

hori ontal strut A B

z .

I t will be easy to see tha t by this method a ve ry e ffectual

resistance is o ffered to any inclination of the house s to fall in
upon each other ; but it will also be necessa ry in most cases ,

where flying S hore s are e m ployed to support the angles of the ,

walls towards the street with r aking shores as shown at H in ,

Fig 1 Of the two houses however here represented the one

. .
, , ,

on the left hand i s secure and needs no shoring at all having

, ,

b een built independently of the house that has been cleared

away or in other words the retur n wall belongs to it exclusiv ely
, , ,

and has not b een shared as a par t y wall by the house adjoining
consequently the flying shore has to resist the thrusts of the
opposite house only B ut when both are party walls it will be
.

best although not theoretically necessary to allow su fficient

, ,

C 2
20 S H ORING AND UND E RPINNING .

strength in the shore to resist the thru s t of both the house s

t ogether ; and it will also be necess ary to support t he angles of
b oth the walls both in the front and at the back with rak ing
, ,

shores .

Th e thrust exercised by the wall of the house on th e right

hand side in Fig 1 may be found at any point in its height by
.

the useful formula ,

Wxt
Q 2B C
where Q i s the thr ust in cwts W is the weight of the wall in .
,

cwts t is th e t hickness of the wall at the ground in feet or

.
,

parts of a f oo t and B C is the distance in feet fro m the ground

, , ,

t o the point at which it is desired to ascertain t he thr ust .

I t is ob vious from the laws Of leverage t hat the b est posi tion ,

for the shore to occupy is near the top of the wall as S hown in ,

t he figure and b y working out examples by the above formula ,

which is framed on the supposition that the wall is just falling ,

it will b e found that the thrust will increase considerably as

we come lower down the wall Consequently if from some .
,

inconvenience the shore cannot be placed near the top of the

,

wall it must be made propo rtionat ely stronger the lower it is

,

b rought down I t is a common and a good practice to place

.

two or more flying shores one abo v e the other in the same ,

pe rpendicular plane thus holding up the wall at e very point in

,

its height I n this case it is best if possible to hav e the wall

.

pieces in one length from the top to the bottom of the system .

I f the w all bulges at ce rtain points as in the figur e o r if any , ,

projection s occur upon its face the wall piece must be packed ,
-

up behind with firring pieces and so made to pres s equally ,

against the wall at e v ery point in its length .

The reason why the span of a flying shor e was lim ited ,

apparently so do gmatically at the commencement of this ,

chapter to 32 feet or 33 feet is because ordi nary D an t zic fir

, ,

cannot easily b e obtained in pieces of a greater leng t h than

this S c arfin g or joining two lengths into one is no t a wise
.

practice in the use of flying s hore s ; fo r unless the scarf i s

22 S H OR IN G AND UNDERPINNING .

proposed to use as an abutment either because he is afraid of ,

his wall being pushed in by the pressure brought to bear upon

it or because the un sightly appear ance o f the shores may b e
,

prejudicial to his premises T hi s objection he has a perfect

.

right to make and he can compel hi s neighbour s — o f course at

,

hi s own risk to tie in the wall from the bac k or if there i s

-

, ,

room on their property fo r the erection of raking shores to ,

adopt this method of suppo rting the wall There wa s an .

instance some year s ago of a case of thi s kind on the Thame s

, ,

E mbankment opposi t e the Temple S tation of the D istrict R ail

,

way where al t hough the wall of the house whi ch required

, ,

support was o v er 6 0 feet high and there was an ad mirable

,

abu t ment f or fl ying shores close at hand yet the more e xp en ,

sive method o f raking shores was adopted no doub t b ecause ,

t he adjo inin g owner objected to have hi s pre m ises di sfigur ed ,

as they ce rtainly would be by flying shores butting against

t hem .

We will now go back to consider P late V Fig 2 Thi s i s a . . .

contri v ance whi ch must be employed if the house to be sup

po rted is higher than the house which is used a s a n abutment ,

I t is more con v enient more economical and more e ffectual

, ,

than a raking shore springing from the gr ound would be ,

especially if t he height of th e b uildi ng is considerable I n fact .

,

in all cases where the span is not more than about 33 feet and ,

t here is no difficul ty in obtaining a good abutment it is always ,

best to employ flying shores in pre ference to raking shores ;

for apart from the consideration of economy they present a
, ,

more direct resistance to the thr ust ar e well out of the way of ,

any building operations that may be carried on below them ,

and can remain in position without danger of being di stur bed

whereas the feet of rak ing shores are always in the way and ,

the excavating and pu mping whi ch is so often carried on around

the m unless grea t care is t ak en is almos t sure to loosen their
, ,

foundations and so to render them useless

,
.
 C H AP TE R V .

ON N EE D L E S H OR I N G A N D U N D E R PI N N IN G .

WE have hithe rto been dealing o nly with those method s of

shoring which are used more particularly when some pre
cautionary measures must be taken to arre s t a dangerous
movement in the wall of a building but which may be said only ,

to assist the foundation in the real t ask of supportin g the wall .

We now come to conside r the case when the support of the

foundation is no longer to be relied upon and the wall is to be ,

gripped and held suspended in the air by the shores alone ,

while its lower po rtion is cleared away entirely either to be ,

replaced by new work or to remain open for a doorway or shop

front The method employed to support the wall in such a case
.

is called needle shoring " in principle it i s the most simple of

any and needs but little explanation but in practice it require s
,

the greatest care .

I t consist s merely in cutting holes about 14 inche s square

thr ough the wall of a building at intervals of from 5 feet to
,

7 feet from each other and inserting through these holes short
,

balks of timber called needles whi ch are propped up at either

,

end by stout posts resting upon sole pieces laid upon timber
,
-

platforms on the ground Oak wedges are driven together at

.

the feet of these posts o r the sole pieces are laid at a slight
,
-

inclination and the post s are levered into position in the same
,

way as the feet of raking shores T he needle is thus pressed.

tightly against the under side of the brickwork and after ,

raking shores hav e been fixed as an additional securi t y in

suppo rting the wall the lower portion can be taken down with
,

out fear the whole weight of the wall and floors being carried
by the needles and transmitted thr ough the posts to the ground
, .

The wall is supported on the principle of a corbel springing

24 S H OR I N G AND U ND E RPINNIN G .

from eithe r side of the needle and fi ndin g it s way thr ough th e ,

perpendicular joints until it i s met by the line of the co rbel

,

sp ringing fr om the neighbour ing needle I t might be supposed .

from this that the t riangular space between the corbels having ,

nothi ng to suppo rt it would fall out but thi s is not the case in
,

practice for the adh esion of the mo rtar is sufficient to hold all
,

t he b ricks together if the di stance from one needle to the other

is not gr eater than about 6 feet or 7 feet However if there is .
,

any tendency on the part of the bricks in this space to fall they ,

must be temporarily strutted up fr om below I n thi s kind of .

sho ring there i s nothing to be gained and eve ryth ing to be lo s t

b y u s ing timbe r of a s mall scantling For the needles and for .
,

the posts a s well (unle ss they are ve ry s ecur ely braced to each
other) whole timbers (i 6 about 13 inche s by 13 inches) should
, . .

be used .

The above b rief desc ription b ring s u s to an end Of the three

methods of sho ring usually employed to suppo rt a building ; but
before we give a practic al example of this last method it may ,

be a s well to say a few words here upon the general su b ject of

rui nous and dangerou s s tructure s "
.

The first thing of course to be done when a s tructure is found

to be uns afe is to s hore it up at once on all sides either with ,

rakin g o r fl y ing shores as may be most convenient ; but before

, ,

we can determine how it can best be restored to a so und con

dition a careful surv ey must be m ade of all the walls so that
, ,

we may find out from the nature of the cracks and bends and ,

other guiding marks what is the cause of the failure and in

, ,

what direction the fault lies ; for in thi s way only can we know
with certainty how and where to apply a remedy There are .
,

of cour se many causes to which the f ailur e may be attributed

, ,

all of which should be con s idered when the building is

examined such for instance as the use of bad mortar the ove r
, , , ,

loa di n g o i the wall the thr ust of a vault or more commonly

, , , ,

F or the c on ven i en ce of th eL nd n ad t h
o o re er, e la w co n ce rn n i g
dan ge us struc tures
ro in t h e me t p lis is app d d at
ro o en e t h e en d o f this

C hapt er .
 ON N E E D LE S H ORI N G AND UN DERPIN N ING . 25

s ome defect in the foundation s B ut a s it would be an .

"

i mpo s sible and useless task fo r u s to go into all the cases of

failure that are likely to occur and to pre s cribe he re what ,

sho uld be done in the way of remedy in eve ry instance we ,

must content ourselve s with the investigation of one example

o nly and let it suggest in p rinciple at least what s hould be
,

done in many other ca s e s .

T he failure of the foundations i s a s we have said above the , ,

most common cau s e Of ruin in a building and the method of ,

restoration known as underpinning which i s employed in such ,

a case is of e v e ry day occurrence ; consequently we cannot do

,
-

better than select thi s su bject in considering th e treatment of

ruin ous structur e s .

I f afte r a thorough examination has been made of a dangerous

,

building and from the natur e Of the cracks and bends a n d

,

other evidence of failure in the walls it i s proved beyond doubt ,

that the fault is not to be found in the superstructur e then ,

inspection trenches should be cut and the foundations examined ,

.

A t one t ime it may be discovered that the footings have been

built with b rick s or stones which are both bad in themselv es
and im properly bonded in the work ; for thi s i s unfortunately , ,

a very common practice wi t h some builders to get rid of all ,

their bad bricks or odd bit s of s tufl in the work below the
, ,

ground N othing leads to more di sastrous results ; for it should

.

be remembered that the lowe r a stone or brick is placed in a

wall the greater i s the weight it has to carry and consequently ,

the ve ry best materials should be used in the foundations of a

b u ilding A t another time it may be found that the foot ings
.

have buckled up at either side into the shape of the letter V ,

from the Ofl s e t s being too great or from the fact that back joints
'

have been allowed beyond the face of the upper work Only .

heading courses should be allowed in footings s t retching cour ses ,

should only be used when the footin g cour ses are dou b led and

“
,

Th e ader i ef ed t o
re s r err an e x ce llen t pap e r, by M r . E d w in N a h s , on

Fail u es in Co ns t uctio n
r r , reco r e dd in t h e T ran sac ti o n s of t h e Ro y al
I n stit ute o f Briti h A rc hitec ts i ii
"
s , 18 6 7, vo l. x v .
26 S H O RING AN D UNDERPINNING .

then the stretching cour se should occupy a position under the

h e adin g cour se I t may of t en happen that the concrete or the
.

mortar used for the brickwork below the ground if the situation ,

is a very da mp one has never properly set from the want of

,

hydraulic properties in the lime used ; or the concrete and

f oundation generally may have been dislocated by the e xp an
sion and contraction of the clay on whi ch it rests A gain the .
,

failur e may be caused by some defect in the design of the wall

below the gr ound such for in stance as piers standing upon
,

inve rted arches which hav e not sufficient abut m ent ; or if the
building b e an old one the materials of which the foundation is
,

composed may have decayed so much in proces s of time as to be

no longer str ong enough to carry the superincumbent weight .

I nstances such as these may be enumerated by the score and ,

the t ime spent in their investigation can never be considered as

wa sted for they teach us what to guard against in the future
,

and in exam ining a dangero us s t ructure the knowledge of

defect s in other cases often helps u s in finding out the reasons
of failur e in the case before us .

If a w all whose foundations have th us been disco v ered to be

at fault is in all othe r respect s in a comparatively sound and
homogeneou s condi tion i e if the re ar e no very serio us crac ks
, . .

or sharp bulges perceptible on its fac e o r if it i s only a few

,

inches out of the perpendicular it can be restored to a perfectly

,

soun d and healthy condition by removing the bad foundations

and replacing the m ei the r wholly or in part wi th goo d an d
, ,

reliable new work Thi s operation is called und e rpinning

.

. .

I t is carried out in the follow ing manner —B aking shores

are first erected to assist in supporting the wall and the ground ,

on either side of it is then dug out at one poin t only generally ,

at t h e centre ; and it will depend upon the condit ion of the

brickwork or the mason ry of whi ch the wall is composed as to
how many feet along the wall thi s excav ation may e x t end .

G ood brickwork will carry itself over a span of 6 feet or even

7 feet and the s ame may also be said of most kinds of
,

dr e s sed masonry ; but when the foundations of a wall have

 ON NEEDLE S H ORING AND UNDERPINNIN G 27

failed the homogeneity of the material of which it is composed

is par tially de s troyed and it will not be safe to underpin as a
, ,

general rule more than 3 feet at a time A ll the foundation

,
.

comprised within thi s dimen s ion whethe r it be brick stone , , ,

conc rete wood or iron is r emoved entirely and a new fo un da

, , , ,

tion is commenced upon the s olid gr ound and built up within ,

th e cleared space to the un der side of the old work .

B efore however thi s new work i s commenced the gr ound on

, ,

which it i s to be built must be thoroughly examined and if ,

necessary inspection shaft s should be dug for thi s pu rpose ; for

the neglect to examine the ground may have been th e original
cause of the failure A fte r it has been proved satisfacto rily
.

that the ground is fit to be b uilt upon a good bed of P ortland ,

cement concrete sho uld be carefully laid in a trench cut to

receive it I t s ho uld not be allowed to be t h rown in from the
.

gr ound level as is s o often done for in that case all the larger ,

s tone s fall first ; but it s hould be let down in buckets and

quietly deposited and afte r it has been well rammed the
, , ,

cement on the top should be flushed o ff to a level surface I f .

brickwork i s to be built upon this concrete slabs of Y ork stone ,

ar e often laid o v er it to receive the footings A good work man .

will m e as ure the di stance from the surface of this stone to the
under side of the wall above and wi ll so arr ange his courses ,

that they will fit into the space exactly allowing for the ,

breadth of the joints ; but if when the work has been carried up , ,

it is found that the last course does not quite reach to the
under side of the whole work a carefully laid cour s e of pavement ,

tiles or slates must be pinned into the space and well grouted ,

with liquid cement The whole of the new work throughout .

must be built in cement ; for cement possesses the quality ,

invaluable in this case of expanding as it sets and consequen t ly , ,

it causes the w hole of the new work to rise s lightly and press
against the under side of the old work " .

(I ha all o w ed this ema k o f t h e a uth s to stand as it e p es

“
’
ve r r n or x r ses a
,

o pi n i o n ha
s d b y n o t a few e p e i n ced a chitec t nd b uild rs P tland
re x r e r s a e . or

c emen t w h en h o t ex pa nds in setti n g as w e k no w b u t w h en c o ld

" "
, , nd ,
a
28 S H ORIN G AND UND E RP INN I NG .

When thi s new pier as we may call it ha s been finished , , ,

and the cement has set hard similar spaces may be cleared ,

away and new work built and bonded into it on either S ide ; and
so we can proceed unt il the whole of the old foundations have
been removed and replaced by new work whi ch will carry the ,

s uperstructure with perfect sa fety for all time to come .

We have s tated ab ove that in all unde rpinning operation s

the new work thr oughout should be b uilt in cement ; thi s is
ce rtainly correct for all brickwork or mason ry but an exception ,

may be made to this rule as far as concrete is concerned A ll .

concrete s whe t her h e or cement will expand when they set

, , ,

The ordinary lime concrete used in and a b out L ondon composed ,

Of s ix part s of ballast to one pa rt of greystone li m e will expand ,

as much a s three eigh t hs of an inch to e v ery foot in height and

-

the size thus gained t he concrete never loses Consequently if .

,

the underpinning is all under the ground lime concrete which , ,

is infinitely cheaper than bric k work or masonry in cement ,

may be the so le material employed ; but and thi s is important , ,

some artificial means must be employed to force it up agains t

the under side of t he old work

“
.

A very successful example of unde rpinning in lime co n

crete only is thus described by L ieut Colonel S ir William

“
-

, .

D enison R E in Mr B ur n ell s work on L ime s Cement s and

’
.
,
. .
, , ,

Mo rtars "

On e of the large storehou s es in Chatham D ockyard having

for some time exhi b i t ed serious defects in its walls the attention ,

of the A dmiralty was directed to it in the year 1834 and ,

Mr T aylor the Civil E ngineer and A r chitect was directed to

.
, ,

r eport on the best mode of o b viating the evil .

U pon investiga t ion the foundation of the storehouse (a ,

dead it h i n k Wh n uffi i ently b ut no t e ces iv ly i lak ed it n ither

s r s . e s c x s e a r s -
e

e pa nd n o
x s h i nk nd it is in thi s co n d ti o n that it i afe t t o u e c m n t
r s r s, a i s s s s e e

f
or w o k in un d e pi n n i n g
r I t equi as e y g at j udg m n t t o u e e pa n i e
r . r r v r re e s x s v

ce men t f o t h e e pan i n m ay eadily be greate than is d i a b l

,
r x s o nd r r es r e, a

i n ta n ces ha e bee n k n w n of w alls be i n g aised o me i nch es in thi manner

s v o r s s .

Cemen t w hi c h is d ad mus t o b vi o u ly be c a ef ully avo ided — F R F )

"
e s r . . .
 30 S H ORING AND UNDERPINN ING .

a p s ty c onsistence wa s then thrown from a height of about

a ,

15 feet underneath the wall it wa s allowed to project about a

foot on each S ide where it was confined by planks and afte r
, ,

being roughly levelled it was well rammed to gi v e it as much

, ,

consistence as possible This mas s was raised about 3 feet or

.
,

to within 1 foot of the bottom of the wall " it was then carefully
levelled and covered with 5 inch slates A kind of framework
,
4 -

wa s then placed on the slates consisting of two cross plates of ,

-

iron placed pe rpendicularly to the direction of the wall about

, ,

1 foot wide and long enough to proj ect about 1 foot on each
,

side of the wall .

To these were fixed two frame s par allel to the wall about ,

4 feet long each carrying two sockets for screws

, Within these .

frames were placed two mo v able planks long enough to pass ,

just free between the cro s s plates and wide enough to fit nearly -

the space between th e slates and the bottom of the wall U pon .

these planks were s ock et s fo r the head s of the two s crews ,

by which the plank s were pushed forward o r withdrawn at

pleasure .

When th e apparatu s wa s fixed and the movable plank s ,

ready on both sides of the wall about two barr owfuls of con ,

crete mixed as stated were thrown in fr om above ; the work

, ,

men b elow then commenced turning the screw s on each s ide

s imultaneously mo v ing the two plank s towards the centre of
,

the wall and forcing the concrete b efore them into all the
,

vacant spaces and against the bottom of the wall When the
, .

plank was forced fo rward as far as it would go by the strength ,

of two men to each screw the concrete wa s allowed to rest for ,

about fi v e or ten minute s b y which time it had set hard enough

,

to stand by itself and its expansion in the act of setting com

,

p let ed what the pressur e of the screws might have left undone .

The plan k s were then withdrawn another charge thrown in on ,

each side and compressed as before and this was continued

, ,

till the whole S pace between the frames was filled with concrete .

The screws were then r emoved the board s and fr ames unbolted ,

and taken out and lastly the s ide plates we r e withdrawn

, ,
-

,
PLA T E .
VI .
 ON NEEDLE S H ORING AND UND E RPINNING . 31

“
leaving an interval of about a} of an inch between each ma ss of
concrete which space was afte rwar d s filled in with gr out
,
.

T he abo v e description i s given from notes t aken at the

time The proportion of lime to gravel i s a s 1 to 6 ; and such
.

i s the effi ciency of the concrete in the mode in which it wa s

applied that no s ettlement ha s taken place since the work was
,

completed .
"

T he majority of underpinning operation s are carried out by

s ome such methods a s these that have now been de s cribed but
thi s way of dealing with a ruinou s structur e may be considered
rather in the light of a prevention than a cure for unles s a ,

building i s thus treated at once when it s foundation s fir s t show

signs of giv ing way the evil will gradually increase and
, ,

r ender it imperative not only that the foundation s sho uld be

renewed but also that a c o nsiderable po rtion of the wall above
,

the ground s hould be taken down and rebuilt .

I f we look fo r instance at the wall o f the house depicted on

, ,

P late V I Fig s 1 and 2 we s hall s ee that it i s ruined fo r s everal

. .
,

feet above the foundation s T hi s might perhap s have been .

, ,

p revented if it h a d been underpinned at once when the failure ,

fir st showed itself but no s uch steps having been tak en it ha s ,

cracked badly in many place s bulged fo rward and dr agged the , ,

return walls out of the pe rpendicular .

The reason why the foundation s have so signally failed in

this case to car ry the superstructu re is because the house ha s ,

been made to encroach upon the s ite of an Old pit or trench ,

s hown by the dotted line in the s ection Fig 2 which has been , .
,

filled up for many year s s o that it s e xistence ha s perhaps never

,

been suspected " and a s the foundation s do not go down to any

great depth it i s quite possible that it may not have been
,

noticed when the wall wa s b uilt o r the contr acto r may have ,

cho s en r ather to risk a s ettlement th an go to the extra expense

of excavatin g the mad e gr ound and buil di ng up from the virgin
soil
I t i s now too late to unde rpin thi s wall in the o rdinary way
that we h ave j ust de s cribed fo r the evil has spread s o far that
,
32 S H OR I N G AN D U NDERP I NNING .

it would s till be un s afe even though it s foundation s were

,

renewed ; but after it has been well shored up with r aking

shore s the meth od of needle sho ring must be employed to
,

s upport the upper po rtion (whi ch though it ha s bee n squ eezed ,

in a little towar ds the centre i s othe rwise comparatively sound ,

and homogeneou s) and the whole of the lower po rtion of the

,

wall for a distance of about 12 feet fr om the gr ound must be

removed entirely A ccordin gly four needle s which it i s be s t to
.
,

make whole timbers i e about 13 inches by 13 inche s ar e

, . .
,

inse rted through hole s cut in the wall well out of reach of the
cracks and abov e the point where the bulge is most pronoun c ed
, ,

and these ar e suppo rted by eight post s of the same s cantlin g .

I n consequence of the peculiar natur e of the case the posts ,

must be placed upon two continuous sole pieces laid on either -

s ide of the wall and stretchi ng well across the treacherous

,

ground On the exterior of the wall the s ole piece must rest
.
,
-

upon a carefully laid platform of stout plank s laid in s uch a ,

way that the bearing of the two central po s t s may be spread

over so much of the s urface that it will be impossi ble fo r them
to sink when the weight comes upon them On the inside the .
,

s ole piece may rest upon the concrete under the floor if it i s in
-

a good con di tion ; but if not it mu s t rest upon a similar plat ,

fo rm o i timbe r to that on the outside of the building G reat .

care must be taken in arrangin g these platforms that there may

be no possibili ty of their being di sturbed when the ground i s
excavate d for the new foundations .

I t will be noticed in the section Fig 2 that the nee dle s pa ss , .

,

t hrough the wall ju s t above one of the floors T hi s is the be s t .

and most usual position for the needle s to occupy ; for the brick
work a t this poin t and for s ome way abo ve it is perfectly
, ,

s ound and has n o t been cut into for the inse rtion of plates and
,

j oists Thi s floo r must of course be s trut ted up in dependently

.
, ,

of the wall and a hole cut through it and the ground floor to
,

allow the posts which carry the needles to pass freely to the
ground I f howeve r thi s cutting through of the floors would
.
, ,

be a very co s tly and trouble so me busine ss platfo r m s o f timbe r ,

 ON N E E DLE S H ORING AN D U ND E RPINNIN G . 33

may be plac e d upon the floor and on the under side o f the
ceiling spreading t he weigh t o v er as many j oists as possi b l e
, ,

and the posts set up in di fl ere n t pieces .

The needles having been wedged up tightly against the under

side of the old work the whole of the brickwork below the
,

nee dles must be taken down the made ground under the wall
,

dug out and a good trench cut in the vi rgi n so il to recei v e the
,

bed of new concrete Th e rest of the work may then be built

.

up again in cement to meet the wall a b o ve in the same way as ,

has been described alre ady .

I t should always be borne in mind that e v en after this new ,

work has been finished and the cement has set it is sti ll the ,

needles and posts which do the real work of carrying the

wall ; and the greatest care must be exercised in re m oving
them that the weight is transferred gradually and not all
, ,

at once upon the new work The nee dl es should fir st be

, .

eased a little by knocking out the wedge s at the foot of the

posts a few inches and then after a day or two has elapsed
, , ,

the wedges may be withdr awn entirely and the needles taken
out ; but the raking shores should remain in position for
about a week af t er the wall has settled do w n upon it s new
bearings

“
.

With regard to the respon s ibilitie s incurred in case of the

failure of unde rpinning operations Mr E dwin N ash in his , .
,

paper on Failures in Construction makes the following ,

"

remarks When we s ee that accidents under this head may

cause verdicts of manslaughter to be recorded against architects ,

as was the case against Mr A braham after the noted fall of a

.
,

house in the S trand in 18 5 3 we must be awakened to the ,

necessity of so arranging the bu siness part of such operations

that the architect shall not be made responsible for details he
cannot control I t is often a so rt of work that requires in telli
.

gent watching during eve ry moment of its progress and this is ,

“
not the ar chitect s busines s and if this view be not r ecognised
’

T rans ac tio n s vo l. x iv .
34 S H ORING AN D U NDE RPINN IN G .

b y courts of law it beho v es us to define the responsibility in

,

a writ t e n document between ar chitect and b uilder before

commencing the work .

I t is not however in connection with ruinous structur es that

, ,

we must look for the most general use of nee dle shoring for
.
,

walls are as a rule unde rpinned at once without its aid when
, , , ,

t he foundations first show signs of giving way ; but it is much

more commonly e m ploy ed in cases where some alteration is to
b e m ade in a building which is perfectly sound— such for ,

instance as the addition of a new b ase m ent or the inse rtion of

, ,

a shop front A s an example of the former case the G aiety

-
.
,

R estaur ant in the S trand may b e cited I t was necessary in .

,

order to obtain the space afterwards occupi e d b y the magnificent

G rill Boom that the walls should b e tak en down to a greater
,

depth than was prev iously the case accordingly needle shoring
was em ployed and the whole building stood for many weeks as
,

it were upon crutches while the new foundat ions were being ,

built I n consequence of the weigh t of the walls and t o

.
,

obviate some di ffi culty in support ing the floors the needles ,

were doubled i e placed one a b o v e another in the manner

, . .

shown in the sketch P late V I F g 5 , . i . .

A n example where nee dle shoring is requ ired to support a

wall during the insertion of a breastsummer and shop front is -

illustr ate d in P late V I Figs 3 and 4 The needles in thi s case

. . .

must be made longer than u s ual to span the vault s unde r the
pav ement ; consequently it w ill be as well to strut them a s
shown in the section Fig 4 B aking shores need not be used , . .

unless the wall is of a great height or in a bad condition ; but ,

the window Openings immediately above the needles must in ,

any case be well str utted a s shown in the ele v ation Fig 3 or , , .
,

they will be squeezed in and the fr ames a s well as the glas s , , ,

will be broken .

When the opening ha s been made in the wall and substantial ,

pie rs hav e been built at either end of it the girder or breast ,

summer is fixed in position and a plate fitted to its lower flange ,

t o take the j oi s ts of the first floor A 3 inch York stone template .

-
36 S H ORING AND UNDERPINNING .

ground and so made altogether independent of the support o f

,

the party wall -

.

I n the example we hav e giv en above of the underpinning of

the storehouses at Chat ham it was not deemed necessary to ,

move the goods at all during the operat ions though they were ,

very heavy comprising all sorts of ships tackling such as

,
’

cables blocks ropes spars &c but i t will be recollected that

, , , , .

in that case the walls were not needled and only underpinned ,

in short lengths at a time However all such considera .

,

tions as these depe nd upon so many things that they can ,

only be left to the judgment of the archi tect in each particular

case .

A t the commencement of thi s chapter it was laid do w n as a

general rule that whole timbers should be used in cases of
needle shoring and for this reason that although the scantling
, ,

of whole timber may be found by the usual formula to be larger

than that required to carry the weight with safety yet it should ,

be borne in mind that all beams of ti m b er will deflect a little

when a weight comes upon them and it I s impo r tant in the case ,

of a needle that this deflection should b e r educed to a minimum .

A gain there is always the possi b ility of there being some

,

un foreseen defect in the timbe r and the greatest care S hould ,

be taken even when a nee dle is made of whole timber that it is

, ,

perfectly sound throughout the same may also be said of the

posts which carry the needles I f howe ver economy or space .
, ,

s hould require that smaller timbers should be used we must ,

employ the following formulae from Tre dgo ld s Carpentry ,

’

for the s cantling of beams supported at b oth ends and loaded

in the centre and posts compres s ed in the dir ection of their
,

axis
To find the scantling for a rectangular piece of timber that
will sustain a gi ven weight in the centre when supported at ,

the ends in a horizontal position .

When the breadth is k nown or settled ,

 ON N EE DLE S H ORI NG AN D UN DE RPINNING .

When t he depth is known o r settled ,

L xW xa
“
2

B "
‘

3
D
wh e re L = le n gth of bearing in feet
W = w eigh t to b e carried in pounds
a = 9 1 for fir and 0 13 for oak ;
,

B breadth in inches and

D depth in inche s
To find the scantling of a rectangular post capable of
sustaining a given pressure in the direc t ion of its length
D

where L= lengt h in feet ;

W = the weight to be s ustained in pounds
a = 00 0133 for fir and 00 015 for oak ,

B bread t h in inches and

D thickness required in inch e s .

Part I X . o
f t h e L o ndo n B ui lding A c t, 18 94 (5 7 cf} 58 Vic t .

“
r ela ting to D a ngerous and N eglec ted S tru c tures

“
c . .

D a ngerous S truc tures .

S ect C II I n this part of thi s

. . the expression structure A ct N rea n i
8 tm o
includes any buil di ng wall or other structure and anything
, , ,

“
“
affixed to or projecting from any bui lding wall or other , ,

structur e .

S ect C I II
. Where it i s made known to the Council
. S ur v ey

that any s t ructure i s in a dangerous stat e the Council shall

w e
require a surv ey of such structure to be made b y the district
s urveyor or b y some other competent surveyor .

(2 ) For the purposes of this part of this A c t the expression

di strict su rveyo r shall be deemed to include any su rveyor so

"

appointed .

()
3 T he dist r ict surveyor shall make k n o wn t o t h e C o uncil
 S H ORING AN D UNDERPINNING .

any inf ormation which he may recei v e with respect to any

structure being in a dangerous state .

()
4 I t shall be lawfu l for the di strict s u rveyor to enter into
any structure or upon any land upon which any structure is
situate for the purpose of making a su rvey of such structur e .

S ect CIV I n cases where any such structure is situate

. .

within the city this part of this A ct relating to dangerous

structures shall be read as if the Commissione rs of S ewers
were named therein instead of the Council and all costs and ,

expenses of and all payments hereby di rected to be made b y or

to such Commissione rs shall be made by or to the Chamberlain
of the Cit y out of or to the consolidated rate made by such
Commissioners in the same manner as payments are made by
or to such Chamberlain in the ordinary co urse of his business .

S ect CV U pon the completion of his sur vey the di st rict

. .

surve yor employed shall certify to the Co uncil his opinion as to

the state of the structur e .

S ect CV I I f the ce rtific a te i s to the e ffect that the struct ure

. .

is not in a dangerous state no fu rther proceedings shall be had

in respect thereof but if it is to the e ffect that the same is in a
,

dangerous state the Council may cause the same to be shored

up or otherwise secur ed and a proper b o ard or fence to be put
,

up for the protection of passengers and sh all cause notice to be ,

se rved on the owner or occupier of the structure requiring him

f o rthwith to take down secure or repair the same as the case
, ,

require s .

S ect CV II
. . I f the o w ner or occupier on whom the
notice is se rv ed fail to comply as speedily as the nature of the
case permits with the notice a petty sessional court on com ,

plaint b y the Council may order the owner to take down repair , ,

or othe rw ise secure to the satisfaction of the district surveyor

the structure or such part thereof as appears to the court to be
in a dangerous state wi thin a time to be fixed by the order and ,

if the same be not tak en down repaired or otherwise secured , ,

wi thin the time so limited the Coun cil may wi t h all con venient
,

speed cause all or so much of the s tructu re as i s in a dan gerou s

,
 ON NE E DLE S H ORING AN D UNDERPINNING .

condition to be taken down repaired or othe rwi s e s ecured in

, ,

such manner as may be requisite P rovided that if the owne r .

of the structure di spute the necessity of any of the requisition s

co mpri sed in the notice he may by notice in wr iting to the
,

Council within s even days from the se rvice of the notice upon
himself requir e that the subject shall be refe rred to arbitration
, .

(2) I n case the owner require arbitration he may at the ,

time of giving such notice appoint an independent su rveyor to

report on the con di tion of the structure in conjunction with the
di strict surveyor within s even days of the receipt by the Council
of the notice of appointment of the owner s surveyor and all ’

questions of fact or matters in di spute which cannot be agreed

between the owner s surveyor and the di strict su rveyor shall
’

be referred for final decision to a thir d surveyor who shall ,

( before the owner s su r veyor and

’
the district surveyor ente r
upon the discussion of the question in di spute) have been
appointed to act as arbitrator by s uch two surveyors or in the ,

event of their di sagr eeing by a petty sessional cou rt on the

application of either of them S uch ar b itrato r s hall make hi s
.

award with in fourteen day s .

(3) T he notice se rved by the Council s hall be discharged ,

amended or confirmed in accordance with the decision of the

, ,

two surveyors or the arbitra t or as the case may be .

(4 ) U nless the arbitrator otherwise direct the co s ts of and

incident to the determination by the two s urveyor s or the
arbitrator of the question in dispute sh all be borne and paid in
the e vent of such determination being adverse to the contention
of the district s urveyor by the Council or in the event of such ,

determination being adverse to the contention of the owner s ’

surveyor by the owner .

S ect CV I II N otwithstanding any s uch notice requiring

. .

arbitration as aforesaid a petty sessional court on co mplaint b y ,

the Council may if of Opinion that the structure is in such a

, ,

dangerous con di tion as to require immediate treatmen t make ,

any order which such court may think fit wi t h respect to the

taking down rep air in g o r othe rwis e sec ur in g the structur e
, ,
.
 S H OB IN C AN D U N D E B PI N N IN G .

[18 6 8 S ect CIX . A ll expen s es incurred by the Council in

.

relation to the obtaining of any order as to a dangerous s t rue

ture and carrying the same into e ffect under this pa rt of thi s
,

A c t shall be paid by the o w ne r of the structur e b ut without

, ,

preju di ce to hi s right to recover the same fr om any pe rson

liable to the expenses o f repa irs .

()2 I f the owner cannot be found or if on demand he refu se ,

o r neglect to pay the said expenses the Council aft er se rvin g ,

on him thr ee months notice of their intention to do so may

’

if in their di scretion they th ink fit sell the structure b ut they , ,

shall after deducting from the proceeds of the sale the amount
,

of all expenses incurred by them pay the sur plus (if any) to the ,

owner on demand .

S ect CX Where under this part of this A c t any dangerou s

. .

structure is sold fo r payment of the expenses incurred in

respe ct thereof by the Council the purchaser his agents and , ,

servants may enter upon the land whereon the s tructure is

stan di ng for the purpose of tak ing down the same and of
removing the materials of whi ch it is constructed .

S ect CXI Wh ere the proceeds of the sale of any such

. .

structure are insuffi cient to repay to the Council the amount of

the expenses incur red by them in respect of such str ucture no ,

part of the land whereon the structure stands or stood shall be

b uilt upon until after the b alance due to the Council in respect
of t he structure has been paid .

S ect CX II I f the materials are not s old by the Council o r

. .
,

if t he proceeds of the s ale are insu fficient to defray t he said

expenses the Council may recov er the e xpenses or the balance
,

thereof fr om the owner of the b uilding together with all co s t s ,

in respect thereof in a summ ary manner .

S ect CX III. There shall be paid to the district surveyor

.

in respect of his ser vices under thi s part of this A ct in relation

to any dan gerous structures the fees S pecified in P art II of the .

Third S chedule to this A ct .

2
() P rovided that if any special s e r vice is required to b e
pe rformed by the district surveyor under t his part of this A c t
 ON NE E DLE S H ORING AN D UND E RPINNING .

for which n o fee is specified in th e said schedule the Council ,

may order such fee to be paid for that service as they think fit .

(3) A ll fees paid to any su rveyor by virt ue of this section

shall be deemed to be expenses incurred by the Council in the
ma t ter of the dangerous structur e in respect of which such
fees are paid and shall be recoverable by them from the o w ne r
,

accordingly .

S ect CX IV Where a structure has been ce rtified by a

. .

district surv eyor to be dangerous to its inmate s a petty ses ,

s io n al cou r t may if satisfied of the correctness of the certificate

, ,

upon the application of the Council by order direct that any ,

inmates of such st ructure be remo v ed therefrom by a constable

or other peace officer and if they have no other abode he may
,

require that they be recei v ed into the workhouse for the place
in which the st ructure is situate .

N eglec ted S truc tures .

S ect . CXV Where a structur e is ruinou s or so far

.

di lapidated as thereby to have become a n d to be unfit for u s e

or occupation or is from neglect or otherwise in a structural
,

condition prej udicial to the prope rt y in or the inhabitants of

the neighbourhood a petty sessional cou rt on complaint by the
,

Coun cil may order the owner to tak e down or repair or rebuild
such structure (in thi s A ct refe rr ed to as a neglected structure)
o r any part thereof or to fence in the ground upon which it
,

stands or any part thereof or othe rwise to put the same or any
,

part thereof into a state of r epair and good con di tion to t he

satisfaction of the Council within a reasonable time to be fixed
b y the order and may also make an order for t he costs incurred
,

up to the tim e of the hea ring .

()
2 I f the order is not obeyed the Council m ay wi t h all ,

convenient speed enter upon the neglected structure of such

,

groun d as aforesaid and execute the order .

(3) Where the order directs the taking down of a neglected

structure or any part thereof the Council in executing the order
,
 S H ORING AN D UND E RPINNING .

may r emove the materials to a convenient place and (unless ,

the expenses of the Council under this section in relation to

such structur e are paid to them wi t hin fou rteen days after such
removal) sell the same it and as they in their di s cretion think
, ,

fit.

()
4 A l
l expenses inc u rred by the Council under this section in
r ela t ion to a neglected structure may be deduc t ed by the Council
out of the proceeds Of the sale and the surplus (if any) shall be
,

paid by the Coun cil on demand to the owner of the s t ructure ,

and if such neglected s tructure or some part thereof is not taken

do w n and such mate rials are not sold by the Council or if the ,

proceeds of the sale are insu ffi cient to defray the said expenses
the Council may reco ver such expenses or such insu ffi ciency
from the owner of the s t ru cture together with all costs in respect
thereof in a summary manner but without prejudice to hi s
,

right to recover t he same from any l e ssee or other person liable

to the expenses of repa irs .

S upp lemen ta l as to D a ngerou s a nd N eglec ted S truc tu res .

CXV I
S ect . . Where the Council h av e incurred any
expenses in respect of any dangerous or neglected structure ,

and have not been paid or hav e not recovered the same a petty ,

sessional court on complaint by the Council may make an order

fixing the amount of such expenses and the costs of t he
proceedings before such petty sessional cou rt and directing ,

tha t no part of the land upon whi ch such dangerous or neglecte d

structure stands or stood shall be built upon or that no part
, , ,

of such dangerous or neglec t ed structure if repaired or rebuilt

, ,

shall be let for occupa t ion until af ter payment to the Council of
the said a m ount and thereupon and un til payment to the
,

Council of t he said amount no pa rt of such land shall be b uilt

upon and no part of such dangerous or neglected str ucture so
,

repaired or rebuilt shall b e let for occupation .

()
2 Ev ery such order shall be made in duplicate and one ,

copy of such order shall be retained by the proper o fficer of t he

court and the other co py shall be kept at the county hall .
 C H AP TE R V I .

ON TH E S H OR I N G AN D U N D E R PI N N IN G OF
M E D IZE V A L BU I L D IN G S .

TH E practi c e of the a rt of s horing and und e rpinning does not

always confine itself to the meaner buildings in a crowded
town but the sphere of its greates t usefulness and fulles t
,

de v elopment is to be found in the restoration of our venerable

churches and cathedrals many of which but for its timely aid
, , ,

would long before this hav e fallen victims to the rav ages of
decay E ve ry architect who loves hi s art must be glad to be
.

the means of saving from destruction even one stone of those

wonderful and b eautiful works executed by the mason s of the
Middle A ge s " and there have be en many instances in whi ch
the ponderous towers and ste e ples of cathedrals hav e been saved
from impending ruin by an oppo rtune application of this usefu l
science S uch were the works of R ondelet at the Chur ch of S t
. .

G ene vi ev e at P aris of F lach at at the cathedral at B ayeux and

, ,

in our o w n coun try of Cottingham at Hereford ; and had it not

,

been for the interference of the elements the un de rpinning at ,

Chichester would no doubt have been successfully carried out ,

and the original tower and spire of the cathe dral might s t ill
hav e been standing .

T he gigantic shores and centre s used in cases such as these

require however a fuller description than can be given in this
, ,

trea t ise ; and the reader is referred for an example to the

excellent description and dr awings of the shoring of th e central
tower and lantern of the cathedral at B aye ux b y MM D ion .

and L a sv ignes But instances of shoring on so va s t a scale

.

are rare and more the work of engineers than ar chitects and
,

it will be better to describe here a more humble example ,

 ON TH E S H O RING or M E DI E V AL B UILDING S . 45

and one whi ch is more lik ely to be of se rvice to us in ordi nary

prac t ice .

A t a meeting of the Ro y al I nstitute of B ritish A rchite cts ,

held on Monday 3rd February 18 73 an excellent paper was

, , ,

read by Mr J P S eddon
. . on the shoring & c of the
.
, , .
,

tower and spire of the parish church of G rosmont in

Monmouthshire We cannot do better than quote here Mr
. .

S e ddo n s own remarks upon that building describ ing the state
’

of decay in whi ch he found it and the subsequent measure s ,

whi ch were employed in its restoration The di agr ams on .

P late s V I I and V III are copied from the dr awings made by

. .

Mr Willi am E d Martin to illustrate Mr S e ddo n s paper and

. . .
’

whi ch afterwards appeared in the B uilding N ew s of February

7th 18 73
,
.

The parish church of G rosmont dedic ate d to S t N icholas , .

,

in the di ocese of L landaff is situated in Monmouthshire near

.
, ,

to where the b order of t hat co unty join s those of Herefordshire

“
and B reconshire— a very beautiful and retired part of the
country .

The structure is one which by its hi s torical interest and

architectural value justifies the pride t aken in it by the
inhab itants of the surrounding district ; but it has e v en wider

“
claims for consideration and par ticularly in connection with
,

this metropolis distant though it may seem to be

, .

I t owes if not its origin at least its enlargement and

, ,

embellishment to the same munific ent patronage which di rected

,

those on a grander s cale at th e A bbey of Westminster ; and

though G rosmont Church is as befits it s position a compara , ,

t iv ely humble structure in po int of style it may claim some ,

resemblance to its nobler contemporary Had the same caution .

been exercised in its case as in that of the A bbey and had only ,

a modest lantern surmounted it s crux I sho ul d not have the ,

following chronicle of disaster to bring before you B ut th e .

s ubs tructure was in all probab ility never intended to suppor t

the ambitious though elegant cent ral octagon tower and sp ire
which at a later period were piled upon it exemplifying a ,
46 S H OR I N G AND UN DERPI N N I NG .

temerity of which medi aev al architects were often guilty and ,

which brought ruin in the case of Chichester and seriou s danger

in that o f S alisbu ry .

The church the plan o f which is a L atin cross consists of

, ,

a nave 6 7 feet by 18 feet 6 inche s and aisles 9 feet 6 inches ,

wide separated b y ar cade s of five bays (with responds deepe r

,

than ordinary obviously t o gi v e more abutment to the crux

,

arches ) central tower and spire ; transept s with aisles on the

weste rn sides of the same width a s those to nav e chancel and
chapel so uth of same There is also a porch on the north side
.

O pposite t he central bay of the main arcade s The c rux arche s .

and transept are the earliest portion being in the style of the ,

Transition between N o rm an and L ancet The chancel i s fully .

developed L ancet .

I t is now many years since I was first called in to examine

this church and then it was in a condition which cannot be
,

desc ri be d a s othe r than to tte ring from old age In this p art of .

the count ry it must always have b een a diffi culty to obtain

prop er building sand and the loamy s and at hand would soon
,

destroy the value of any amount of lime mixed with it Fr om .

this cau s e the mo rtar of the walling thr oughout had become
little better than ear th and the whole of th e external wal ls
,

exposed to the weather were g rievously dilapidat ed .

U nder the great weight of the to wer and spire whi ch were
added the earlier c rux piers and ar ches have been crushed and
, , ,

t w isted out of shape and thi s pressure has be en tr ansmitted in

,

the directions of no rth south and west by the several ar ches

, , , ,

whi ch h ad themselves be come disto rte d so as actually to thrust

outwards the end walls of nave and transep t s The more solid

“
.

walls of the eastern side of transepts and of the chancel had

yielded less yet s till in some degree
,
.

The whole eastern limb viz chancel and E leano r Chapel , .

,

by far the richest archite cturally wa s in the worse con di tion , ,

and impe ratively needed rebuilding U nder the circumstances .

desc ri be d however it s eemed a perilou s operation to unde rtake

, , ,

a s even th e te mporary removal of s uch suppo rt a s they gave t he

 ON TH E S H ORING or M E DIE V AL B UILDING S . 47

central t owe r might accelerate the ruin of the rest of the fa b ric .

Funds adequate for this work only having with di fficulty been
collected this was e ffected with great care The chanc e l and
,
.

E leanor Chapel were in 1869 —70 almost entirely taken do w n

and rebuilt under my direction s .

Car eful examination was made before and after the execu ,

tion of thi s work of the state of the crux piers and arches and
, , , ,

marks set to S how whether the s e yielded at all by reason of

settlement in the new masonry This which was mostly to be .
,

fear ed at the north east angle pier does not seem to have taken
-

place to any great extent B ut still I recei v ed reports from .

time to time that the o rigin al m isc h ief was proceeding and I .
,

caused a close examination to be made from which it appeared ,

that the cracks were s urely though slowly extending particularly ,

in the no rth west pier I n consequence of this I reported that

-
.
,

it was in my opinion essentially necessary that the tower and

, ,

spire should be so shored up and supported by centres as to be

independent of the piers which then as funds were procured , , ,

could be made good ; after which the restoration of the arches

and superstr uctur e co uld at any time be tak en in hand .

I estimated the cost of this preliminary work of supporting

the failing arches at about 400l and received instructions from .
,

the vicar the R ev W H Twynin g to dir ect it to be done at

, . . .
,

once .

The failure of the substructure of the tower i s primarily

traceable to two causes First errors in design and secondly
.
, , ,

errors in construction The de s ign i s in fault from the weight

.

of the tower be ing carried upon insu fficiently abutted arches ;

and the construction from the imperfect execution of the
,

dressed stone work and the mason ry of the walli ng

-
.

Fr om the first cause (impe rfect design ) four distinct c lasses

of failure are to be traced S preadi ng of arches at thei r
springing ; (2) flattening of the arch curves thus neutralising ,

the keying and rendering the arch insec ure by the liabili ty of
,

voussoirs to fall out ; (3) thrustin g of the vertical supporting

piers under the tower arche s out of the perpendicular an d
48 SHO RING AN D U NDERPI N NING .

()
4 transmission of the thrusting force to all adjoinin g pier s ,

arches and walls throwing them out of the normal stable

, ,

condit ion— verticality .

From the second cause (imperfect construction)three classes

of failure may be traced The crushing of the wr ought
stone facings which form the casing of the piers ; (2) the
b ursting asunder or drawing of the bonders of the various
members of which the piers are composed ; and (3) rents or
fissures of the walling generally .

The most prolific causes of failure in b uilding are generally

two V iz un equally yiel ding of foundat ion trenches and uh
, .
,

compensated thrusts whether from roo f s or arches The case

, .

now under consideration is a signal example of failure from

“
the latter cause — an equa lly uny ie lding foundation having
contributed in some degree to intensify this failur e .

Writers of book s on buildin g generally assume it as a fact

not to be questioned that a solid rock foundation roughly ,

levelled or stepped where necessary is the foundation most to

,

be desired ; but an attentive consideration of the present case

would lead to the b elief that such a foundation if not absolutely
,

dangerous as a base for a building erected in the ordi nary way ,

is at least v e ry undesirable unless extraordinary precautions are

used in the selection of the materials for the walls in the bond ,

ing and in the elimination of all unequal s ettlement from a

,

g r eate r number of mo r tar j oints in any one portion of the

walling than in another on the same level I n this case the .

functions of the tower piers were to transmit the weight of

the tower to the foundation s ; the latter being rock and in co m
pressible the piers became crushed between two unyiel di ng
,

forces whi ch would not have been the case had the foundation
,

been of a partially yielding natur e s uch as a s ti ff clay or

,

gravel .

Taking the va rious classes of failure enumerated in detail

()
1 T he spreading of the lower a r ches at the springing The .

four ar ches ca rrying the tower spread as follows — N orth arch ,

°
5 8 4 feet (7 inches) east arch 375 feet, inche s) south ar ch ,
 ON TH E S H ORING OF M E DI E V AL B UILDING S . 49

°
75 inches ); we s t arch 6 25 fee t (7k inches) This
f eet (9 ,
'
4
.

spreading has not taken place equally at b oth sides of the

original central line of each arch ; t he abutments to some Of
the ar ches being more soli d and stable than others remain
, ,

alm ost in their original po s itions whils t the spreadi ng has ,

taken place on that side of the centre line towards the weakest
abutment .

S preadin g of the ar che s lead s n aturally to t he s econd cla s s

o f failur e viz flattening of the arch cu rve s T his flattenin g
, . .

has not taken place regularly ; the arches prese rve in some part s
their original cu rves whilst in other places the cur ve s have
,

been forced into s traight lines The general outlines now .

assumed by the so ffit s of the arch s are irregular line s not e

amenable to any known mathematical curve .

S preading of the arches al so in v ol v es the thir d class of

failur e vi thr ust ing the piers s upportin g them out of the
,
z.

p e rpen di cular I t is evident that the pier s co uld not hav e

.

remained upright when the ar ches spread except on the sup ,

position that the springers of the arches S lipped back on the

ab aci of the caps b ut thi s would have been impossible for the ,

vast weight o f the superstructure au gmented the fri ction between

the two stone surfaces to such an extent as to make the last
s to ne of the cap and firs t sto ne of the arch practic ally one
s tone Hence the number of inches by which the faces of two
.

opposite pie rs ar e out of plumb becomes a correct mea s ur e of

the S pread of the superin cum b ent arch .

The four t h class of failure noticed is the tran s mis s ion of the
thrusts of the tower arche s to the extre m ities of the buildin g
in all directions I t will be well to remember that those forces
.

comme nced and continued to ac t whilst the walling generally

was gr een and the mo rt ar in a s oft con di tion t hus facili t ating ,

to some ext e nt t he accom m odation of the surroun ding abutments

to the thrusting forces without involvin g any sudden Violent or
,

dangerous fract ures ; while the gradual su b sequen t piling on

weight when the tower and spire were added continued to ,

increase the distortion .

8 .
50 S H O RING AND UNDERPINNING .

T he forces generated by the thrusting of th e no rth and

south tower arches are in the dir ections of the nav e arcade s to
the west ward and the chancel flank walls to the ea stward ;
the latter being comparati v ely soli d wall s—o n accoun t of the
,

narrowness of the lancet win dow opening s— have su s tained the

th rusts in a fairly e ffi cient manner ; but on account of the large
openin gs and small pie rs in the n ave arcades they fo rmed but
an in different abutment ; hence every pier and arch is thrust
we stward the we s t gable itself bein g thrust out of the per
,

p en di cular o v erhangin g its base 5 % inche s

, The east and west .

tower arches acting through the transept flank walls whi ch

,

are their abutments ha v e thrust out of the pe rpendicular the

“
,

no rth and south tran s ept and wall s— the former inches and ,

the latter 8} inche s .

A n in spection of the ground plan of the buil di ng will

show the no rth west and south west piers to be those most
- -

deficient in abutment and in reality it is found that the s e two

,

piers ar e those that have su fl ered most and are in the most ,

dangerous condition The south west pier had to be cased

.
-

some forty years since with carefully coursed wrought masonry ,

increas ing the area of the pier by about 10 feet supe rficial ; and
the present extremely da nge rou s condition of the n o rth west

“
-

pier compels it s reconst ruction be fore any other po rtion of the

building .

The first class of failure a rising fr om the second cause is

the crushing of the dr essed stonework in the pier facings .

This has tak en place from the undue concentration of the

weight on thi s facing ; the backing being composed of rubble
walling with a gr eater number of mo rtar j oints than in the
,

facing has settled down leavin g the casing to do t he work of

, ,

carrying the to wer and thus reducing the working ar ea of each

,

pier from 18 feet to 8 3 4 feet .

T he second class of failure un de r this head is the dr awing

of the bond stones or bur sting asun de r of the piers This .

is a ve ry unusual mode of failure ; and is due in this case to

impe rfect footings under s ome members composing th e piers .
52 S HO RING AND U N D E R P IN N I N G .

restore th e chancel of G rosmont Church the Opportunity of ,

s eeking to determine if the failure of the tower substructure

was at all progre s sive was sei ed With thi s object all the
z .

fissur e s in the stonework were fi lled with cement and the ,

extent of the fis sur e s lineally determ ined by dr awing lines

across the end of them in transverse dir ections The s tructure .

thu s prepared was left after the chancel had been rebuilt up
, ,

to the end of N ovember 18 72 (about two years) when a careful

, ,

inspection of the parts so prepared revealed the following

s tartling fact s " fi rs t that all the fis s ures which had been
,

s ealed up w i th cement were open again ; and s econdly that , ,

the transverse termin al line s of the fissure s of 18 70 were left

2 inches or 3 inches in some ca s e s a s much as 6 inche s behind
, ,

by the extension of the fissures up to 18 72 This discove ry .

compelled immediate at tention to the dangerous condition o f

the tower and notwithstanding the renewed prote s t s of the
,

oldest inhabitants I did not hesitate to recommend the taki ng

,

of immediate step s to r e s to re the four disabled tower pier s and

arche s and in the event of the necessary funds not being
,

av ailable to e ffect thi s re s toration at least to sho re up three of

,

the ar che s thus relieving the pier s and to needle the fourth
, ,

arch leaving a clear space under it for it s restoration should

,

the funds obtai nable be suflic ient to cover the expense .

A n idea suggested itself that the piers and ar ches might be

re s tored by taking out a damaged s tone here and there and ,

replacing the s tone s s o removed w ith other s ound s tones thus ,

e fl e c t in g the restoration with compar ative safety and by slow

degr ees ; but on consideration this plan was aban doned because ,

s ome parts o f the piers s hould of necessity be entirely re case d

or rebuilt of cour s e ve rt ically T hi s would have the e ffect
,
.

of reducing the width between the piers to s omething about

9 inche s le s s than the width of th e arch at the S pringing ,

which would be a r eversal o f the proper way of treating the

arches viz by having them as originally const ructed 2 inche s
, . , ,

narrower at the sp ringing than the space between the pier s

supporting them I t was therefore decided that the pier s and
.
 ON TH E S H ORING or M E DIE VAL BU ILDING S . 53

ar che s s hould be entirely removed and rebuilt using in all ,

t h e old s to ne not damaged and that thi s sho uld be first t ried
,

upon the arch and pier s on the north s ide the arch p roposed ,

to be needled thi s being in the mo s t un s afe conditi o n of the

,

As in constructing an e ffective sy s tem of suppo rts to the

tower arche s a s afe unyieldi ng bottom was a p rim ary con
,

sideration it was determined in this case to clear away the

,

entir e space immediately under the tower to w e r arche s and , ,

for a space of 3 feet all round outside or beyond the tower

piers right down to the s olid rock and to refill the space s o
, ,

clear ed with carefully m ade cement concrete well rammed .

The site to be thus operated upon was encu mbe red with old
seats fittings and wood floors all of which having been cleared
, , ,

away the excavation commenced p la n ked runs having bee n laid

, ,

down thr ough the chur ch and across the churchyard to pit s or
gr aves dug to receive the human remains di sinte rred ; the s oil
itself being s pread over the s urface of the chur chyar d at s ome
di s tance from the building .

On removing the so il imme di ately under the floors it was

found that the bodies had been at some time interred with not
more than four inches of soil over the co ffins which accounted ,

for a hitherto unaccountable s mell that h ad frequently

sickened some member s of the congregation during their attend
ance at D iv ine S e rvice .

L o wer down at about two feet under the floor level five
, ,

distinct springs made their appearance e vidently the dr ainage ,

from the hill at the north side of the building These springs .

flooded the space already excavated preventing fur ther pro ,

g ress
. A drain six feet deep was cut thr ough the south
transept and discharged through th e south t ransept wall into
the churchyard which is lower at that side T his drain kept
, .

the working from being submerged and discharged dur ing the,

heavy rains 6 0 gallons of water per minute .

The excavations were continued until solid rock was reached

at an average depth of five feet from the floor level The en t ire .
54 S H O RING AND UNDERPINNING .

soil removed was of a ve ry dark colour light in weight and ,

spongy in text ure containing human remains in various stages

,

of decay in fact the whole mass had apparently been used over
and over again for burials the most recent having been appar
,

ently thir ty one years ago This appeared fr om the coffin

-
.

b reastplate whi ch with its gilded lettering was as fr esh as

, ,

the day it was put in al though there was no trace whatever of

,

the c o fli n whi ch was stated to have been of oak by a party who

,

recollected seeing it lowered into the grave .

S ome graves were hollowed out of the s olid rock below the
tower foun dations others with steined half brick s ides covered
, ,

with stone slabs ; the latter were found to be filled with a

black fluid e mitting a ste nch s o horrible as to be percei ved
,

even in the most remote parts of the building A ll human .

remain s dist urbed were reverently cared fo r and interred in the

churchyard T he entire space dug out was now filled up with
.

cement concrete well rammed 135 tons of concrete having

b een con s umed in this operation A drain was laid on th e
.

rock bottom under the concrete to dr ain the S prings which

continued to flow in from the no rth side of the building A .

finer concrete was spread upon the surface between the pier s
under the tower arches and upon thi s a bed of cement eighteen
,

inches wide was floated o ff to a level to take the centerings .

The shorings to each arch are constructed in t w o separ ate

portions the lower portion on t ressel and the upper portion
,

on centre proper This system has been adopted to facilitate

.

wedgin g up or stri k ing the centres when and where required .

The exact outli ne of each arch was Obtained by sc ribing the

s o fli t of the inner member of the arch to whi ch the centre was

to fit on a skeleton template of inch boarding su fficiently

,
-

wide to include the whole curve of the ar ch whi ch template ,

was securely fixed against the S ides of the ar ch dur ing the
scribing This template was shaped by the lin e s o s c ribed and
.
,

the permanent framing worked to it ; thu s the centr e s when

fixed fitted accurately all the i rr egularities of the ar che s T he .

timber used in the s horing generally i s fro m 10 inch es to 12

 ON TH E RI N G
S HO or M EDI E VA L BU I LDINGS . 55

inche s square some havi n g been s elected 14 inche s wide to

,

allow of getting out the curved backs without reducing the

working section of the timber below 10 inches by 10 inche s .

A ll the j oints in the frame s are tenoned (s ee P late th e

mno n s being 2 inche s thick in the centre of each piece and fr om ,

2} inches to 3 inche s deep ; the j oints are all s hown on the

1

dr awings preci s ely a s they were executed The fr amework was .

fi tted togethe r on the nave floor first an d havin g been num ,

be red at the joint s was knocked to pieces to facilitate the removal

and re erection under the tower E ach t ressel was afterwards
-
.

built up in its proper place and when the three tressels were
,

securely fixed in their respective archways a temporary s c af ,

folding was erected o n them to mak e a platform for the putting

together and hoisting of the centr e s T he s pringing piece of .

each arch wa s laid down on it s side in that ar ch and the ce ntr e ,

framed to it and secur ed together with g in ch wrought iron - -

dogs ; a tac kle wa s then rigged up to the bell beam s with a fa ll

to the floor and each centr e was thu s hoiste d to its proper

“
,

position under the variou s ar ches and secur ely wedged up to

,

the so flit with oak we dges .

I n ordering the firs t lot of timber for this framing it was

assumed that timber in the log with one side only saw n would
, ,

answer every purpose requir ed as well a s timber sa w n all

roun d ; but this proved to be a mistak e as it was foun d to be ,

an impo s sibility to square to the tenons mortices shoulder s , , ,

and bearings without having at least thr ee sides of eve ry piece

,

s awn die square T here being no sawpits near the buil ding
.
,

this timber was squared with a dz e s and plane s where requir ed ,

caus ing some loss of time ; but t he next consignment of timber

having thr ee sides sawn square much facilitated the work of
,

fitting togethe r and makes much better work in every way .

Thr ee arches having been S hored up wi th centering as ,

described the fou rth ar ch was treated as follow s a hole a b out

,

eighteen inches square was knocked thr ough the tower wall '

over the apex of the ar ch and about two feet above it to allow
, ,

s ufficient head room for the intr oduction of a hammered stone

56 S HO RI N G AND UNDER PI N NI N G .

di scharging arch over the wr o ught stone arch Two more .

holes were knoc k ed through the wall of the same size about 2 feet ,

lower down on either s ide fi about halfway between the centre "

of the arch and the transept flank walls Three holes were .

thus made to take nee dle s at di stances of about 45 feet apart »

.

N eedles 12 inche s by 12 inches were in se rted through the s e

holes and support ed by uprights inclining inwards at the top ,

and sti ffened at the height of eve ry 5 feet b y means of straining

pieces secured with dog irons The walling over the nee dles was .

pinn ed up and wedged in e very case with flat stones b edded in

,

cement and when the cement had set a temporary centre was ,

fi xed under t he arch the key remo v ed and all t h e arch stones , ,

s afely taken dow n one by one ; one half the piers on ei t her side -

were also removed and the entire space occupied by the arch and ,

piers cleared away to allo w of the e rection of the new work i .

a an gemen t in t h e D aw i n g o n PI V I I I w hic h sh ow s lin te ls

Th e rr r . .
,

i ns te d ove t h e n eedles and t h e n dles th emselves ll o n t h e sa me level

er r ,
ee a ,

i co n ide ed b y M
s s r S eddon t o b e be tte than that a c tu ally e ecu te d and
r. r x

he e desc ibed Th e f ami ng al o is h o w n s fit te d to a es to ed a c h it

r r . r s s a r r r ,

havi n g been fo un d i mp a cticab l t o d elineate t h e a ctual disto rtio n o f t h e

r e

pi e n d a c he
rs a r s .

1 Th e fo llo w i n g d tail of t h e w ight thus c a i ed w ith t h e cal culati o n

e s e rr , s

as t t h e m a nn e in w hi c h it w as di t i b ut ed
o r nd t h e b ak in g w ights o f s r ,
a re e

t h e sev al p o ti o n
er f t h e ti mb er f a mi ng em pl o y ed
r s o e app en d ed b y M r s ,
ar r.

S dd n at t h en d o f h i pap e
e o e s r

By a c tual e p erim n t a hla in spi e i f o un d to w eigh

x e , cw t pes r r s . r

c ub ft . .

ubb l e ma so n y in t o w er w eighs cw t r r
pe r .

ub ft c . .

Th e er in pi e 25 34 c ub f t w e igh t (at 15 27 c w t p e c u b ft )
a re s r 38 6 9 4 18 . .
, . r . .

cw t 193 4 7 to n
'

. s .

T h e e in to w e
er ar c ub f t w eight (at 19 3 c w t p e c ub ft )
r . .
, . r . .

119 9 12 8 c w t to n. " s .

T h re e S i b ll f ami n g n d fl o w eighi n g abo ut 5 to ns

e ar x e s, r a o r, .

T tal w ight at a h p i n g n g
o e 7 98 034 t o n rc s r i s s.

T h e e i n d cha gi n g a h o e t w a h
r s o is A t ual w o k i n g secti on al
r rc v r o er rc es . c r

r ac o f a h a c h 3 4 5 ft
e c up er Many ton f ac t u ed
, . s r. s es r r .

S ti nal a ea o f eac h pi
ec o r w ght fac i n g 8 3 4 ft sup er rubb l e c o e er, ro u , . . r ,

9 6 6 ft su p e . t o tal a ea 18 ft sup e
r . r , . r.

We ight o n eac h pi er 19 9 5 ton 11 08 to n s t o t h e ft su p er

, On f ilu e s . . a I
 ON TH E sH O RIN G or M EDI E V AL U L ING S
B I D . 57

T he three remaining arche s we re afterwar d s s imilarly re s to red ,

and the tower and spire now stand upon a ba s e whi ch will
remain immovable for all futur e time .

The most impo rtant lesson to be learnt from thi s example i s

the same as that taught u s by the memo r able fall of the tower
and spir e of Chi cheste r in Feb ruary 18 6 1 viz that when a , , .
,

heavy load is to be placed upon pie rs and ar che s it i s madnes s ,

to build the piers in rubble mason ry with ashlar work only a s

a casing The piers which ar e to carry such a load should be
.

built in ashlar or dre s sed stone work th roughout their entir e -

thickness as was done by Mr S cott (afte rwards S ir G ilbe rt) in

,
.

t he rebuilding of the pie rs at C hi cheste r I f s uch a method i s .

found to be impracticabl e on acco unt of its cost the core of ,

rubble mason ry must at all event s be built in cement so that ,

there can be no po ssibility o f its settling down and leaving the

weight to be carried by the casing only .

T he method of restoration adopted at Gr osmont may be

briefly recapitulated a s follow s — A ll the four arche s and pier s
being unsafe it wa s determined to re s tor e them i e r eplace
,
‘

, . .

them in new work ; there being o nly fun ds enough to admit of

the restoration of one arch it was decided to restore that arch ,

which with its piers was found to be in the most dangerou s

, ,

condition consequently the wall above thi s arch (the no rth

,

arch) wa s needled and the other three arche s were temporarily

,

centred to prevent their falling before they could be attended

to in their turn The ar ch under the needles was then taken
.

of th e ru bb l e c o ri ng
ashla fac i ng do in g duty fo r t h e w ho le pier carri ed
,
the r

239 2 t o n n d w as c ush ed
s, a r .

A c tual to tal w eight p e ft squa e o n f un dati on r . to n r o , s.

B eak i n g w eight o f t h e th ee n e dl
r 216 t o ns w e ight f o n e s ide o f to w er
r e es , o

at level o f n eedl 170 t ons e timat ed ac t ual w eight o f t h e n e dlin g 70 t o

es, s e ,

7 5 ton s (Th e co belli n g t o o c tago n w ith a c hi ng ove th o w f o m 4 0 to 5 0

. r , r r, r s r

to p n ac h quo i n N W nd N E T h ese quo in e t o n t h e parts o f t h e

s o e . . a . s r s

pi ers allo w ed t o tan d ) Th e l ad on t h e n eedling bein g only te mpo rary a

s . o ,

co effi ien t o f s af et y o f o n ly 3 w as ad o pte d

-
c .

A ct ual b eak i ng w eight f e h w a p ed up cen t e 105 0 to n w eight on eac h

r o ac r -
r , s

1995 t o n safe w o rk i n g p erma n en t l o ad 210 to ns

s (so effic ie nt o f safet y 5 ,
-
, .
58 S H ORING AND UNDERPINNING .

do w n and half the pi e rs on either side to be replaced in new

,

work set in cement N o w it must be remembered that although

.

the no rth wall of the tower was carried on the needles and the
east and west arches had centres under them which wo uld only
break under a load of tons yet the no rth east and north
,
-

west quoins of the tower (which were estimated by Mr S eddon .

to weigh 5 0 tons each) had nothing to carry them but the

po rtions of the pier s which were allowed to remain standing ;
these must in this case have been s trong enough to carry
this weight ; but the reader s attention is dr awn to this point
’

because in many instances of simil ar restora t ion the core of

, ,

ru bb le work may be so decayed as to be utterly in capable of

bear ing the quoins even for so sho rt a time a s would be n ec e s
,

sary ; in such a case the quoins themselve s and all the four ,

walls roun d the tower must be shored wi t h needles and posts

, ,

so as to take as much of the superincumbent weight o ff the

pier s as possible " it is a mi stake to suppos e that centerin g
under the arches entirely relieves the pier s of their lo ad .

T he reader will have noticed in Mr S eddo n s pape r that th e

.
’

idea suggested itself of restoring the c rushed piers and ar che s

of the tower at G rosmont by t aking out a da maged stone he re
and there and replacing the stones so removed with other
,

s oun d stones ; this method though found to be impracticable

,

in thi s case because of the piers being so much out of the

pe rpendicular has still been carried out with complete success
,

in many other cases But when such a method is adopted th e

.
,

greatest care must be taken that the piers to be re c a sed are

first almost entirely relie v ed of their load by S hores and centr es ,

and that only s m all po rtion s ar e renewed at a time .

These old G o t hic buil di ngs require the most gentle handling ;
for if they hav e once been damaged by fire or storm or if at ,

any prev ious time they have sunk down or become disto rted it ,

takes very little to upset the state of equilibrium into which

they hav e settled though they may have remained in that
,

state for hundr eds of years The fall of the tower at Chichester
.
,

though hastened by the storm of wind which raged during the

 ON TH E S H ORING OF M EDIE V AL B UILDING S . 59

night before the ca tastrophe was no doubt originally brought ,

about by the distur bance caused to the equilibrium of the piers

by the remo v al of the organ screen whi ch spanned the nave at
their feet and also by the manner in which it was attempted
,

to recase the piers after their da ngerous condition had been

discovered S o whenever it is necessary to mak e any alteration
.
,

or to underpin a building eve ry possible precaution must be

,

taken that the equ ili brium i s not upset or the building shaken .

I n a speech delivered at th e I nstitute of B ritish A rchitects and ,

recorded in their Transaction s at the time of the Chiche ster "

disaster S ir G il b ert S cott thus describes the work that was

,

carried out un der his supe rvision at t h e Chur ch of S t Mary at

“
.

S tafford which is an example of the s tone by stone method of

,
- -

restoration
The first operation he says was to bind the tower
, ,

round (internally) with ve ry s trong iron bars with right and ,

left s crews which were screwed up as tight as possible This

, .

was done at t w o different levels We then dug round the .

base of the tower as low at least as the bottom of the fo un da

, ,

tions remo v ed the remains from all sur roun di ng gr aves (which
,

had as is too often the case done ve ry great mischief b eing

, , ,

much deeper than the foundations) and filled up the whole space ,

with a solid m ass of concrete Having shored the arches and .

the piers so as to carry as much as possible of the sup erin c um

,

bent weight we began gr adually to remo v e the loose stone

,

work and to put in new (or rather ad di tional) foundations ,

spreading out upon the new concr ete This operation r equi res .

a system of movable shoring quite di stinct from the more

permanent shoring alr eady mentioned Thi s secondary shoring .

is continually being moved upwar d s a s the work proceeds no ,

part of the old work being taken out at one time beyond what
is necessary to give room for the inse rtion of the new portions
actually in hand at the time I n each course or at short in te r
.
,

vals in the height we inserted chain bar s (which are best of

,

copper) in s hort length s but so constructed a s eventually to

,

form continuou s tie s all r ound the pier I n e ffecting the s e .

60 S H ORI N G A N D U N DERPINNIN G .

operation s I was brought to the conclusion that it is impos s ible

,

to exagge rate the danger and the diffi c ulty that exi sts in pro
v idin g s ho ring of suffi cient strengt h ; for in this as in eve ry ,

work of the kind in which I have bee n engaged I found that ,

all the shoring that I co uld by any po s sibility get in was only
barely s ufficient for the pu rpose I have seen enormous timbe rs .

bend under the pressure to which they have been subj ected and ,

I wi s h to o ffer my most decided Opinion that in most cases it is

absolutely necessary before a single stone is removed to inse rt
, ,

a ll the sho r ings whi ch can be brought t o bear withi n the space

to be ope rated upon I w o uld also advise tha t in no case should

.

the shores be half t imbe rs or timbe rs of an oblong section but , ,

that th ey should be of s quar e or round timbe rs s o as to have no ,

tendency to bend in one direction more than in another (in

lar ge works indeed the shores must be l a rger than sin gle
, ,

timbe rs ) In one ca se (a minor work)which I had in hand I had

.
,

expressly provided fo r the use of whole tim be rs in the sp ecific a

tions ; but the clerk of the works had permitted half timbers to -

be u sed an d the consequence was that the sho ring gave way
,

ve ry perceptibly much to the detriment of the work A nother

, .

precaution I would recommend is the use of the hardest s tones

which can be procured for if this be neglected the new work
, ,

is almost sure when the shoring is remo v ed and the weight

, ,

brought to be ar u pon it to split and it is needless to say that

,

crack s in such s upplemented masonr y ar e far more dangerous

than in a new structure for by throwing the weight upon the ,

old core (if any remains) or upon piers not yet rep air ed or upon
, ,

other Old work such pa rti al failur e of the new stonework may
,

lead to the mo s t serious consequence s U nder no circumstances .

,

therefore s hould anything approaching a soft stone be made use

,

of whatever may be th e mate ri als of the old pier The next

, .

thi ng I would urge is the avoiding of ordinary lime mortar and ,

the use of cemen t B esides setting the new work and pinning
.

it in cement it ha s been my practi ce to run the core behind

,

with liquid cement first pouring in wa ter and then the cement
,

grout which when thu s u s ed I have fo und in some cases to

, , ,
 ON TH E S H O RING or M E D I E VAL B UILDINGS . 61

penetrate the inter s tice s to a depth of nine to ten f eet b elow

the level at which it wa s poured in a s if it were s o much quick ,

sil ver While engaged upon the s e works on one occasion a loud
.

repo rt wa s hear d by the workmen like the report of a gun and , ,

it wa s found that one of the pillars of the chancel (quite un co n

n ec te d with the to we r) had s plit almo s t fr om bottom to t Op ,

owing to s ome indirect pres s ure brought upon it by the opera

tion s going on at the towe r which shows that the s horing ,

s hould not be limited to the tower itself but should in s ome ,

degree be extended to adjoining parts The shoring s hould .

have in all ca s es a special foundation provided for it T he floor .

of the church is wholly insufficient fo r the pu rpo s e and it would ,

be a fatal e rror to trust to it .

"

The reparation of the towe r o f H erefo rd Cathedr al by the

late Mr Cottingham though on a much large r s cale wa s in all
.
, ,

other respects nearly identical with S ir G ilbe rt S cott s work at ’

S tafford which ha s just been described

,
I n all these example s .
,

a good foundation of concrete fo r the s h ore s wa s of paramount

import ance M Fla c h at befo re he erected the mammoth shorin g
. .
,

which held up the tower and lantern ove r the cro ssing at B ayeux
Cathedr al s ank ar ound the feet of the four pie rs to a hard
,

s tratum n o less than twenty wrought iron tube s o f 4 fee t -

diameter in ternally which h e filled up with conc rete ; and upon

,

the s e tube s and between the foundati o n s of the piers he laid a

, ,

bed of concrete 9 feet thick the top of the tube s ente rin g 3 feet
,

into thi s concrete T he weight of the shore s and the tower

.

which they had to carr y wa s o f c ours e very c o n siderable and ,

fully justified the extreme cauti on taken with the s e foundations .

A b rief de s c ription of this w ork i s thu s given by M r B ur nell .

in a paper publi shed in the Transaction s of the R o y al In s titute

of B ritish A rchi tect s U pon the concrete bed described
"
,
"

above M Flach at e r ected a double s et of frame s of whole

, .

timbers on either side of the centr es originally placed to s uppo rt

the ar ch (before M F lach at was called in) fo r the purpo s e
.
,

of fo rming a s eating for a s et o f needles carried upon a s e ries of

screw jacks and made to support the ma s onry of the square
-

,
 62 S H OR lN G AND UND E RPINNING .

part of the to wer a little above the vaulting of the nave and
,

transept T he tower was carefully hooped with iron bars keyed

.

up whilst they were still hot so that their S hrinkage actually ,

closed the mas onry which had previously been fissured over the
ope ni ngs and b efore alte ring the centre s to the form M Flach at .

thought requisite he also s urrounded the sp rin gings o f the

,

arches of the nave with a s trong wr ought iron cradle intended -

to resist the lateral thrust The cen tres were then str engthened
.

and modified s o as to allow the easy underpinning of the pier s ;

and the lateral arches of the nave choir an d transepts which , , ,

h ad participated in the movements of the piers of the towe r ,

were carefully shored up E very precaution was taken to .

protect the original mouldings of the vaulting and th e sculp ,

ture of the capital s columns and bases by enclo s ing them w ith
, , ,

rubble mason ry against which the shore s were made t o act

,

di rectly .
(I t
"
s hould be mentioned that the four quoins of the
tower were nee dled by a system of needle s ho ring totally in
,

dependent of that already described on each side of the centre s ,

of the great arche s T he nee dle s carrying the quoin s were each
.

made of th ree wrought iron gir der s b olted together with four
-

timbe r fl it ch es forming one excee di ngly strong beam four of

,

the s e needles lying across each other and forming a s quare on ,

plan were insert ed just under the neckings of the caps at the
, ,

top of each of the four piers and were carr ied by sixteen massive
,

po s ts each made of nine whole timber s strongly bolted together

, ,

in the same manner in which the masts of a ship are constructed

“
.

T hese po s ts were each 16 me tre s high (5 25 2 feet) and con ,

ducted the weight of the quoins straight down to the bed of

concrete on the ground ) I t is to be observed that the nee dling
.

was totally independent of the centres of the gr eat ar ches and ,

wa s designed solely to support the weight of the tower and

octagon above the line of the vaulting ; the arche s and the
spandril fi llings were all that bore dir ectly upon the centres
themselve s .
"

When all thi s shoring wa s e rected (and it completely filled

up the crossing being braced across and across the S pace ) the
, ,
 ON TH E S H O RING or M E DI E V AL BU ILDING S . 63

piers wer e entir ely r emoved from unde r the tower and rebuilt ,

from their foundations and the ar che s were restored by the ,

stone by stone method

- -
.

T he cost of this work was 32 220l M V io lle t le D u c whose ,

. .
- -

opinion was consulted before it wa s decided how the tower

should be treated gav e it as hi s Opinion that the si m plest and
,

cheapest plan was to pull it dow n altogether and rebuild it

from it s foundation and he estimated the cost of this at a sum
,

considerably smaller than 32 220l B u t even if M V io lle t le D uc ,

. .
- -

was right there will always be a s atisfaction to arch aeologists

, ,

at least that the original tower was prese rved in tact On the
,
.

top of the G othic lantern there was an I talian R enaissance

dome which was remo v ed before th e tower was underpinned
,
.

The succe s s of this operation is however considerably marred , ,

when it is compared with the stone by stone underpinning of - -

the towe r of Hereford Cathedr al by Mr Cottingham where .

, ,

although the weight unde rpinned was double that at B ayeux ,

the money expended was less than one fourt h The weight of -
.

the spire at Chichester was also nearly doub le the weight of

the tower at B ayeux and as it would have been neces s ary to
,

employ the s ame method to restore it satisfactorily as was u s ed

at B ayeux on account of the rottenness of the piers it is
, ,

perhaps as well from an economical point of View that it fell

down especially as not a life was lost nor a limb broken
, .

The cost of rebuilding it was in rou nd numbers 5 0 000l and , .

,

had it been underpinned as the B ayeux tower the operation ,

would probably have cost much more than this .

“
We will now go on to consider the suppositional case s of
underpinning depicted on P lates I X and X which are copied . .
,

from M V io llet le D uc s D ictionary under the word E t ai

.
- -
’
.

T he following i s a synopsis of the treatment of these case s

described in t hat work .

Tak ing the first case on Plate I X the cylindrical column A ,

which carries vaulting ri b s in all directions and one or two ,

stage s of similar columns above has become crushed under the ,

load a s shown in the sketch In order to ena b le the damaged

, .
64 S H ORING AND UN DERPI N NING .

s tone s to be removed we mu s t c on s truct a s quare fr ame of oak ,

as indicated in the sketch B in pe r spective and in B in plan , ,

'
,

with sides tenoned into gaping mortices into which wedges are ,

driven at C which with the bolts 5 in s ure the frame s being

,

fitted tightly against the face of the cylinder This frame is .

fitted (a s at C in the sketch D ) under the necking of the

,

capital and is carried by eight stout posts G inclined sufh

, ,

c ie n tly to allow the new stones which replace the old at K H to

pass in freely S hould there be any sound stones below the

.

necking four wrought iron straps must be screwed a s show n in

,
-

the sketch F to the side s of the frame and their feet L inse rted
, ,

in the joint to catch the under side of the last sound stone ; the
,

rest of the column can then be removed and r eplaced in n ew

work .

I f the whole of thi s lower column i s cru shed togethe r with ,

the sp ringing stone s of the vault the vaulting ribs must be ,

centred and the column abov e must be treated in the way we

,

have just descri bed for the lower column the eight posts passing ,

through the vaulting panels to the gr ound below .

The second case depicted on P late X i s a neat application of ,

the principle of needle shoring A pier E which carrie s two .

,

main ar ches A two di agonal arches B and one transverse

’
,
’

arch C as well a s the weight of the upper vault ha s become

’
, ,

c rushed under the load I n this ca s e where it will be nece ss ary

.
,

to use so many timber s in s o s mall a space we mu s t take care ,

to arrange them s o that they will not inte rfere with the buil di ng
of the new work T o s hore i s nothing b ut to shore in such a
.
,

way that one can build between the shores is often a difli c ult
pro b lem to solve The transver s e and diagonal ar ches having
.
"

been centred the two main arches should be suppo rt ed a s

,

shown at A in the ele v ation and the springing stones of the ,

arches from I to K which have shared In the ruin of the pier

, ,

can then be taken out and notches cut to recei v e the needles
at L L Th e needles In order to occupy as small a space as
. ,

possible are each made o f four s trong pieces of wrought iron

, ,

bound together with hoops as shown at M ; they are made to

 ON TH E SH O RING or M E DI E V AL BU ILDING S . 65

rest upon strong pieces of oak at O in the e l e v ation and O on ’

the plan and are ca rried by the four stout posts N and N
,
It '
.

will also b e necessary to support the wall above the needles

with raking shore s at H and H '
.

When the old work has been removed and the n e w work
finished the posts and needles should be taken down first then
, ,

the centres under the ar ches and la s t of all the raking shores
,

at H and H '
.
 C H AP T E R V II .

ON TH E M E CH A N I C S OF B A KI N G S H OR E S .
"

WE will suppose C B (Plate X I ) to represent the sec t ion of a

.

wall that requires to b e supported by the rak ing shore A B ,

resting on the ground at A ; A C being the ground line L e t .

there b e a hori ontal force T near the top of the wall at d

z ,

tending to o ve rturn i t about its bottom edge 0 the moment of

this force which measures its tendency to overt urn the wall is
, ,

T x Cd .

This is resisted by the weight of the wall (W) acting vertically

at it s centre and having a moment about C of
,

W x Ce ,

where C e is generally half the thick ness (t) of the wall When .

these forces just b ala n ce t he wall will be abo ut to fall over and
, ,

the t w o moments will be equal ; therefore

T x Cd = W x Ce .

N o w in order to r estore the wall to its original condition

,

b efore the force T acted upon it we must find some means of

,

completely balancing this force and this can be done b y placing

,

the shore A B against the wall at B where it is firmly fixed

“
,

against a plank or w a lling p iece by means of a needle dr i ven

through both the plank and the wall ; then by wedging up the
base A a horizontal pressure (Q ) is produced agains t the wall
, ,

such that t he moment of Q ab out C balance s that of T or ,

Q x B C = T x Cd
7 x 06

Co pi ed from an a ti c le in t h e B u ld ing N
r i e ros .
68 S H O RING AN D U ND E RPINNIN G .

what amount of horizontal force (Q ) it will be able to counter

act ; for
2P + w
Q _
2 t an . 0
"

The hori ontal and vertical forces at B being thus determined

z
,

we can find the compression (F) down the shore by resolving

P and Q in the direction of A B and adding their resolved parts
, ,

together ; therefore we have

,

F P sin 9 Q cos 0 .
(I V ) . .

I n order to find whether the shore is strong enough to resist

this compression we must use the formula for a long pillar
, ,

namely
L a x

Where a 15 5 for fir d is the diameter or width in inch e s

,

and l the leng t h in feet ; L being t he sa fe load in c w t t ha t .

may be put on the pillar A s howe v er the depth of a shore is

.
, ,

usually dou ble its width we shall get twice the resistance as
, ,

o b tained by the a b o v e formula or F should not exceed ,

(1
4

S afe load 31 x
7
.
5

There will also be produced a cross strain S acting at right -

, ,

angles to t he shore and tending to b end it inwards which is

, ,

equal to the resolved parts of P Q and w — namely , , ,

P cos 0 Q sin 0 w cos 9

.
, .
, . .

A n d since these strains are uniformly distributed over th " entire

leng t h of A B t he total amount of cross strain at the ce n tre is
,
-

equal to half their sum or ,

S 5 "Q sin 0 (P w ) cos

. .

I f we su b s t itute for P its v alue as found from we have

S Q s in . 6 a
l

z
u
co s fi “
 TH E M E C H ANI C S RA KING RE S 69
'

ON or S HO .

To find the de fl ection (D ) in the middle which t h e cross strain -

S will produce on a beam of fir we use the formula ,

8 fa
x
27 b d

The dimensions D b and d being in inches and l in feet S is

, , , , ,

t o b e expressed in c w t I f the value of D thus O btained I s an

.

appreciable quantity it will be advisable to counteract the cross

,

st rain by a strut g h so as to pre v ent the resisting power o f the

,

shore from b eing impaired ; and the force S w ill represent the
compression down this strut I f we wish to find what ratio S .

bears t o t he breaking weight of the shore we can use the

-

formula
B reaking weight 32 x
-

(V III ) '

b and d being in inches and l in fee t ; the break ing weight is

,
-

f ound in cwt The strain S must not exceed one sixth of the
.
-

b reaking weight thus obtained

-
.

We can now determine the magnitude and direction of the

re sultant (B ) of all the forces its point of action being at the

“
,

base A of th e S hore S uppose this resultant to make the angle

.

wi t h the hori ontal A C then by the rules of mechanics we have

z ,

Q
P w

from (II ) Q t a
n 9 + 1
2
. .

B ut , B R Js in .
2
d; cos .
2
4>
B =

from which we obtain the magnitude of the resultant R .

t he direction of B or the value of the angle we have

P + w
tan 4) R Q
.

. co s .
¢
70
tan 0 + — ~

2 Q
. .
70 SH O RI N G A N D U N D E RPINNIN G .

This last formula shows us that th e gre ater we make the

hori ontal force Q th e more nearly will t he angl e s 1 and 0
z , <;

approach to equality or the dir ection of B get nearer and

,

nearer to that of the shore for the quantity ,

s diminishes with
the increase of Q The mini m um valu e tha t Q can have is
.

when P is nothing or t he head o f t he shore merely rests against

,

t h e wall and is not pressed upon b y any v ert ical force in which
, ,

case we find from (III ) t hat t he v alue of Q is .

and substituting thi s value for Q in (X ) we obtain

tan 1 2 t an 0 . <; . .

I n this case therefore the direction of the resultant becomes

, ,

that of the line A E We s ee then that the resul t ant force B

.
, ,

may hav e any di rec t ion between A E and A B according to the ,

a m oun t of the pressure Q ; b ut it will generally lie nearer t o

A B than to A E and consequently it is ad visa ble to hav e t he
,

abutment at A very n e arly at right angles to the S hore A B in ,

order t hat any hori z ontal th rus t at A may be coun teracte d by

t he resis t ance of the ea rth .

E xample — We will now show the practical application of

.

these t en formul a b y taking the case of a brick and a half wall

,
- - -

4 0 feet high and 10 feet frontage suppo rted by a raking shore ,

of fir 12 inches b y 6 inches the top of which is 30 feet a b o v e ,

t he b ase of the wall and its spread at the foot 6 feet The
, .

angle 0 or B A C will be 7 8
, ,tan 0 5 cos 0 1 9623 °
.
, .
,

sin 0 9 805 6 and the weight w of th e shore is

.
, cw t .

T k ing the wall at 1 cwt per cu bic foo t i t s W will be 4 6 7 cwt

a .
, .
,

its thic k ness t being 7 o f a f oot 7

,
.

We firs t find the maximum hori ontal t hrust Q from (I ) z .

W t
_
.

—
Q —
2 . BC
9 0W t .
72 S H O RING AND UND E RPINNING .

The cross strain S produced at the middle of the shore and

-

ac t ing at right angles to its depth is found from (V I ) , .

S Q s in 0+ " co s 0
4
. .

(9 x 9 805 6) (1 12 x
'
196 23)
cwt 9 .

From (V II ) we can find the deflection which t his strain of

9 cwt will cause at t h e middle of t he beam
.
,

S Z3
x
27 b d3
9 3 3
x
‘

92 1n ch .

27

I n this case as there is a deflection of n e arly 1 inch at th e

,

mid dle of t he shore it will be advisable to in t roduc e a s t rut g h

,

otherwise its resis ting power as a pillar will be impaired The .

co m pression down the strut will be the abo v e v alue of S or ,

9 cwt .

The breaking weight at the mid dle of the shore may be found
-

from (V III )
.

bd e
B reak i ng we i ght 32 x -

l
6 x 14 4
a 32 ‘
x 90 c w t .

306

which is ten times the strain 8 which we hav e just obtained , .

The pressure which the resultant force R exe rt s on the base

A can be calcula t ed fro m (I X ) .

R JQ 2
(P
J 9 3
(4 5
4 8 cwt ,

direction in which t his force R acts at

Th e A , or the angle
which it mak es wi t h A C is found f rom (X) ,

w
tan .
l
c; t an . 9
2Q
46
16
 INDE X .

A N G LE S o f rakin g h res s o , 11

BAY E U X CATH E D R AL h o ring at , s , 61

B st w o d f
e h res 17
o or s o ,

Br ces 7
a ,

CH I C H E S TE R t o w e a d p e , f a l r n s ir i ure o f , 5 7, 5 8
C o s st a
r s r in o n ak n g h o res , 8 r i s
DAN G E R OU S s tructures , 24
cla uses of Lo ndo n Buil ding A ct rel ating to , 37
D i tan
s apart f sy stems o f r akin g sh re 10
ce o o s,

D gs ro n 10
o ,
I ,

EX P A N S I ON of cement , 27

F A IL U R E o f fo un dat io n s 25 31 , ,

Flyin g s h o res 19 ,

F o rces acting o n s h o res 5 66 , ,

F o rmula fo r p ressure o n fl y in g sho res 20 .

F o rmulae for needl e s h o ring 36 ,

p res sure o n r akin g s h o res ,

G R OS M ON T CH U R CH , h rin g
s o o f, 45

H EA D of s h o re p o si ti o n o f
, , 6
H o riz o ntal s h o res 19 ,

JC G G L E , 4

LE VE R IN G f o o t o f s h o res 6 ,

L i m e co n crete in un d er p inning , 28

M E C H AN I C S o f raking s h o res 6 6 ,

M ed i aeval bui l dings s h o ring o f 4 4 , 6 3 , ,

76 IND E X .

N E E D LE S H OR I N G , 23, 24
N dl es 4 10 32
ee , , ,

N umb er o f s h o res in sy stems , 9

OBJE CTI ON S by nei g hbo urs to fl y i n g h re S o s, 21

POS ITI ON of he ad f h r o s o e, 6
n edle 32
e s,

BA K IN h o re sim ples t f o rm o f 4
G s , ,

s h o re s sy s t em s o f 7 , ,

R e i n s tat em ent Of l e a ni n g w all s 16 , , 17

R e s po n si bili ty o f a rchi t ect s 33 ,

R i d er s h o r e s 8 ,

S CA N TL I N G S o f fl y n g s h o e , 21
i rs
r i ak ng S h o e , 9 rs
S ca rf s in r ak i g h r 9 n s o es ,

S h r s nu mb r in y t em 9
o e ,
e s s s s,

S h in g f mediaeval b ui ld i g 4 4 6 3
or o n s, ,

S i mpl s t f rm f raki n g h re 4
e o O S o ,

S l p i ece 4 11
o e , ,

S t fi d h ri n g at S t M a y s Ch u h
’
a or ,
s o . r rc ,

S y t m Of r aki n g h res 7
s e s s o ,

TOS S L E , 4
T ru i n g
ss of raking sh o e rs , 9

“
U N D E R P IN N I N G , 26

VAR IE TI E S Of rak i n g s h o res , 15

V a ri et y Of fl y in g S h o re 22 ,

WE D G E S u se s an d limi tati o n s of
, , 9
r
oo d bes t for s h o res
, , 17

TH E EN D .

B R D R
A BU Y, AG N E W, "I CO . I D P R NT R
I E S , LO N D O N A N D TO B BR I DG B .
 U nive rs ity at Califo rnia
S O U TH E RN RE G IO N A L LIBRA RY FA C ILITY
405 H ilg a rd A ve nue , Lo o A ng eie s , C A 90024 1388
-

Ret urn th is material to th e lib ra ry

fro m w h ic h it w as bo rro wed
.

r m L9 -
l o on