Phase 1 Project Summary

Date: 2/29/08

Preserve RI

957 North Main Street

Providence, RI 02904

Project: Walker Design and Planning Phase

Project Overview

The Walker House Design and Planning Phase completed preliminary designs, appliance selections and costing, deconstruction and building analysis.  Jonathon Sherman, design professional from Newport Collaborative Architects, created, refined and presented the kitchen and bathroom finish designs.  Heritage Restoration, Inc. (HRI) concentrated on understanding more about the existing structure, how it was put together, and if there were any structural issues. On February 18th and 19th, HRI, along with a North Smithfield High School instructor and 3 students, and PRI’s Kurt Bagley began deconstruction of the kitchen’s interior, Room 107, adjacent bathroom, Room 108C and the 2nd floor bathroom, Room 206.  The deconstruction was quite typical, since much of the work was from the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.  What was uncovered was quite extraordinary.  The Walker House revealed over 280 years of building evolution, with perhaps 4 or more makeovers and upgrades contributing to an improper structural load distribution.  Since much of the discovered issues were unanticipated, the building requires additional deconstruction, manipulation, and analysis.

Jonathon, Kurt and Rob had been corresponding since January 14th on several design concepts that would be appropriate for the house.  The design’s intent would utilize modern designs, appliances and products, while trying to remain sympathetic to a late 19th century aesthetic.  On February 15th, Jonathon presented kitchen and bathroom concepts to PRI staff, Tom Spadoni, North Smithfield High School instructor, and Rob Cagnetta.  The designs were well received, with some modifications that may help in reducing some product costs.  Once completed, the final designs shall be incorporated into the final project budget. 

On February 12th & 13th, HRI arrived to complete job protection to the Walker House main work areas.  HRI covered rooms 107(kitchen), 108(original kitchen), 101(hall), 201(2nd fl hall), and part of 204 with a combination of homesote, paper and plywood.  Job protection was essential to ensuring the proper floor protection during the construction process.  The main hall stairs were first evaluated for structural integrity and then covered with a layer of homesote on the tread, then a ¾ cdx plywood box frame of risers and treads were screwed together to protect the stairs.  The box frame was only screwed into itself, not to the existing stair assembly. 

On Monday, February 18th, the HRI crew, along with Kurt, Tom, North Smithfield High School students, Zac Murdoch, Anthony Gauvin and Grant Rocco began deconstruction.  The deconstruction was limited to 20th century modifications in room’s 108c, 107 and 206.  HRI & Kurt completed thorough documentation of existing conditions through photographs and some video.  Once the 20th century layers were removed, HRI discovered the following:

Room 107- 19th Century Kitchen Ell

• The original floorboards are 1x4 heart pine running north to south.  The floor cannot be reused, since much of the floor is either rotted or damaged, although some may be salvagable. 
• The sub-floor runs diagonally, across 2x8 joists.
• Under the false wall paneling was ½ cdx plywood on all of the walls.  The plywood was numbered, the nails removed and saved for potential reinstallation.
• The south end last 3 joists bays are compromised and require replacement.
• Batten insulation, perhaps from the 1960-70’s is in between the joist bays and the wall stud bays.  The insulation paper/vapor barrier was ripped and contained considerable rodent feces.
• The kitchen ell sills seemed to be in good condition.  
• The roof rafters are 2x6 with a 1” ridge board.  There is only one collar tie.
• The kitchen ell was constructed against the original horizontal sheathing boards.  The boards range from 14” to 25” wide. 
• There was considerable old water damage from the ridgepole down the original north wall.  The sheathing dry rotted, although may not require replacement.

North Wall of Main House

The north wall behind the kitchen ell had significant dry rot, powder post beetle damage and other infestation.  HRI scraped and vacuumed out the sill inside the kitchen ell from the door to 108 to the west corner.  Also, the studs across the kitchen ell interior wall were compromised.  Part of the sill was replaced in the 1980’s from the northeast corner to the ell corner.  From the ell corner, through the ell to the northwest corner is an original sill and possibly rotted.  More investigation is necessary from the exterior. 

Room 108C

Room 108C, adjacent to the North wall, was part of the late 19th century modifications, as well as a more modern reuse of historic material. 

• Looking at the Room 108C from Room 108, the plank frame door and plank wall were fastened with galvanized finish nails.  The wall and door were documented, deconstructed and saved.
• The ceiling was 1x6 bead board with sawn lath and plaster underneath.  The bead-board and the plaster were removed.
• The north wall was riven lath, although the plaster seemed to be late 19th century.
• The chimney door and frame were documented before it was gently removed from the wall.  The door was nailed with late 19th century cut nails.
• The basement water feeds were capped and removed.  The copper waste lines remain intact.
• There were significant frame movement and inappropriate weight distributions in the Room 108C area. See a more detailed description in Frame Analysis.

Room 206

Room 206 was clearly part of the late 19th century modifications.  Several significant discoveries were made as to the potential chronological changes to the house, as well as understanding more of the inappropriate weight distribution of the house. 

• The east wall masonite paneling covered full length horizontal 1x6 tongue and groove paneling.  The paneling matched the attic stair wall paneling, suggesting late 18th century alterations.  The paneling covered a door leading to Room 207.  The paneling was cut in several places for an electrical wire that ran to the room switch.  Most of the wall can be reused.
• The east wall paneling covered a vertical plank wall.  The plank wall ran from the finish floor to the side of a ceiling joist.  The planks were nailed to a small 7/8 x 7/8 stop on the floor, fastened with cut nails.  This suggests the plank wall was installed after the floor, perhaps in the late 19th century.  This may suggest Room 207 was assembled in the late 19th century.
• The north wall had 1x4 vertical tongue and groove paneling at chair rail height under the masonite paneling.  The paneling could potentially be removed and reused.
• The west wall was strapped before the more recent bathroom remodel over plaster.  The plaster was sawn lath and seemed to match the Room 108C north wall plaster in color and texture.  The door from Room 205 was a early 18th century 4 panel door, although the door frame was clearly late 19th century by nails and milling.  The wall was perhaps rebuilt/installed during the late 19th century renovation.
• The ceiling patch in the plaster matches the 1x6 wall beadboard.  The patch corresponds with an attic floor patch.  The area may have been where the original attic stairs came up.  The plank stairs that were on the attic floor matched the opening quite perfectly in pitch, size and location. 
• The floor was linoleum over plywood.  Under the plywood were scribed 1-1/2” thick sleepers, compensating for an existing floor discrepancy of over 2-1/2”.  The floor rolled and dipped from the house settling, inappropriate weight distributions from the attic through the plank walls, to the 19th century chimney build out to the rotten sill. See a more detailed description in Frame Analysis.

Frame Analysis

HRI sought to determine the building’s viability for retrofitting the kitchen and 2nd floor bathroom, as well as upgrading the necessary electrical, heating and plumbing systems for residential occupancy.  The Design and Planning Phase provided an opportunity to deconstruct the building’s layers, understand building evolution and determine the building’s needs. Once deconstruction was complete, HRI observed the following conditions:

• The north main house sill was compromised from the northeast ell intersection, west through the ell and potentially to the northwest corner post.  The sill was previously replaced from the northeast corner to the east wall of the ell, adjacent to the bulkhead.  More investigation of the sill towards the west corner is required.  The deterioration was due to carpenter ants, powder post beetles and dry rot.
• The studs were originally mortised into the sill.  The north wall’s studs in the kitchen ell were all compromised. 
• The kitchen ell south end last three joist bays were compromised from dry rot.
• The 1980’s exterior restoration replaced the east sill, west sill a part of the north sill with pressure treated wood.  The building drop was not corrected at the time, allowing the frame to fall around the perimeter at least a few inches. 
• The original chimney stack, along with the added 19th century masonry mass and flue on the north and east of the chimney, held back the building’s dropping perimeter.  Since the chimney resisted the perimeter’s movement, the building actually twisted slightly counterclockwise.  This can be seen from the exterior looking south at the northwest corner and the attic. 
• More significantly, the 19th century masonry mass was built as structural.  Evidence suggests the original framing surrounding the original chimney mass was replaced with lighter, 2-3” thick joists.  The 1st and 2nd floor joists in Room 108C and 206 were replaced using the same 2-3” thick by 3-4 wide joists.  The entire Room 206 2nd floor joist assembly relied on the new chimney mass.  Since the perimeter had dropped, the chimney mass once holding only a short 8’ x 5’ span of joists, now supports much of the northern building mass.  As a consequence, intermediate plank walls have created a severe point load on the joists and the 19th century chimney mass, causing the mass to sheer from the original chimney. 
• Some of the original roof rafters have been notched and posted about ½ way up their length.  This may have occurred during the late 19th century and added to in the late 20th century.  The additional load of the posts were not considered when installed, adding several point loads where they did not belong.  The additional load contributed to increased pressure on Room 206 plank walls, through the floor, cracking the joists and sheering the 19th century chimney mass. 
• The original house was built in three bents.  Starting at the northern gable bent, the second bent was placed at 12’, and the third west end gable at 15’.  There are no intermediate posts in any of the 28’ wide bents.  While the exterior studs can distribute the load, the interior bents, intersecting girts and plank walls did not have any posts.  While the original plank frame wall loads may have been minimal, the perimeter drop created excessive interior loads.

Summary

The Walker House Design and Planning Phase uncovered several areas of concern.  The building’s gradual movement over 280 plus years created a point load situation that cannot be ignored.  Interior plank walls carry inappropriate building loads, transferring weight to inadequate or failed joists and masonry masses.  The slow downward movement progression cannot be simply manipulated back to level and plumb, since the building was altered and somewhat locked into its current position. HRI and Lenny Henkel, from Benn and Associates Structural Engineers, believe the building should be manipulated slowly, while monitoring the resulting load redistribution. Once the movement and loads are better understood, a proper solution can be developed.  HRI suggests the following course of action:

• Remove the west side of the north elevation shingles about 4’ up.  Remove the sheathing, exposing the northwest cornerpost and sill from the kitchen ell over.
• Procure the services of Benn and Associates, to assist in the analysis, structural calculations and repair methodology.
• Begin structural manipulation.  HRI shall install various movement gauges; i.e. strings, surveying marks, crack monitors.  HRI shall then begin supporting the northern gable, slowly, each day, moving the structure and analyzing the movement.
• Complete final analysis and develop potential solutions for repair.  The remedy will favor timber frame solutions.

The additional analysis and deconstruction costs have are summarized in the Proposal Addendum for Walker House Phases 1-4.  If there are any questions or comments on this Project Summary, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you,

Robert J. Cagnetta