mark_1155
Structural
- Jul 20, 2019
- 24
I'm providing some steel for a reno in an old 5 story building with multiple newer additions which increased building size.
The original building from the 1800's has stacking columns, and what I think was supposed to be 4 2' or so walls ending all column spans. Section I'm looking at is about 100' by 50' wide. Columns about 14' spacing. Floor maybe 3' concrete/iron mix with arched concrete ceiling. What you would call beams is the same elevation as the concrete. All integral, very, very stiff floor.
It appears to me that likely in the early 1900's they expanded and removed a 50' section of wall leaving the columns. I think those columns failed and they replaced with some type of angle wide flange columns, which are also failing.
We put eccentricity on columns all the time but it seems like something else is going on.
My question... back in the 1800's was it the norm to create these 3' thick concrete/iron mixtures both in the walls, and in the slab, and tie it all together with super thick concrete perimeter walls? The engineers believed this wall could be removed and I believe the building has said otherwise.
The columns where I believe the wall was removed are bending like pretzels. Like they chopped off the last 14' span, left original columns, did the expansion, and the 50' wall was needed as a stabilizer for the dead load and as a shear wall. There is another thick wall a couple feet away but all the concrete is cracked between old slab and new(er).
Plans say to just replace columns... I'm thinking replacing the columns won't fix the issue.
The original building from the 1800's has stacking columns, and what I think was supposed to be 4 2' or so walls ending all column spans. Section I'm looking at is about 100' by 50' wide. Columns about 14' spacing. Floor maybe 3' concrete/iron mix with arched concrete ceiling. What you would call beams is the same elevation as the concrete. All integral, very, very stiff floor.
It appears to me that likely in the early 1900's they expanded and removed a 50' section of wall leaving the columns. I think those columns failed and they replaced with some type of angle wide flange columns, which are also failing.
We put eccentricity on columns all the time but it seems like something else is going on.
My question... back in the 1800's was it the norm to create these 3' thick concrete/iron mixtures both in the walls, and in the slab, and tie it all together with super thick concrete perimeter walls? The engineers believed this wall could be removed and I believe the building has said otherwise.
The columns where I believe the wall was removed are bending like pretzels. Like they chopped off the last 14' span, left original columns, did the expansion, and the 50' wall was needed as a stabilizer for the dead load and as a shear wall. There is another thick wall a couple feet away but all the concrete is cracked between old slab and new(er).
Plans say to just replace columns... I'm thinking replacing the columns won't fix the issue.
