Bernard Schwartz House

[Tom]

I'm sure you are right about it not being typical.
I think I do remember seeing the word "laminate" used on a drawing.
I'll look back and see what I can find.

[Tom]

I do remember seeing a drawing that called for these beams to be be "scabbed" with plywood and nails
like what you are talking about with glue and OSB.

Yet somewhere along the line I picked up the idea that they were glued along their edges as if "laminated"
I'll look into it. Maybe, from the start, they did what you describe.

[SDR]

If the narrow edges of the 2 x 4s were flat and true, they could be ganged vertically and glued, using clamps---perhaps before erection. But construction lumber cannot normally be relied upon for that degree of milling. On the other hand, curved or bowed sticks could be wrestled straight---or at least parallel---in the act of "lamination."

Scabbing with nailed or screwed plywood would be a useful and perhaps superior alternative, and one more easily achieved.

I make increasing use of polyurethane glue (i.e., Gorilla Glue, etc) in exterior work.

Terminology employed on Taliesin drawings varies from sheet to sheet, and over time. The euphemisms for "kitchen" are but one notable example; I've spotted many other alternates within the accepted trade vocabulary, on Taliesin construction drawings.

S

[Tom]

Looking through Sargent.
Nothing on the construction of the 3 "superimposed" roof beams
but did find this:

"In the Schwartz house .... Tafel protested to Wright that there was insufficient structure at the 30ft span intersection of upper and lower roofs, which at that point were separated by continuous clerestory windows.
Wright asserted that one cantilever roof would hold up the other (also in cantilever).
Without permission, Tafel substituted steelwork for the timber specified, putting in a large I-section in the upper roof
with steel rods suspending the lower beam below. To this he added steel flitch plates.
He also substituted 2X4's for the plywood specified in the core of the ground floor bedroom, since both he and the client
felt that the severe winter climate of Northern Lake Michigan demanded greater insulation."

I gues this is what RG was talking about in mentioning how Tafel was fired.

[Tom]

I think Sargent is wrong in saying that both roofs, upper and lower, were cantilevered.
Upper roof framing was never cantilevered unless some of the beams were anchored
and tied down into the fireplace masonry.
... and I don't think that is that case or was ever planned.

[Tom]

Sergeant does in fact say that the “mainspans of three 2 X4s stichnailed together have been stable.”

[outside in]

Wright stacked 2x4's in many Usonians - he was able to use extremely long pieces of lumber at a much cheaper price (try pricing 20 ft. long 2x12's)... carpenters would nail 1x2's on the sides to hold them together for construction purposes but I don't believe they were ever glued, i.e. laminated together. This was the chief failing of the system, as the stacked lumber would slip by one another when subjected to loading. We "sistered" 1x10's on either side, glued and screwed to the top and bottom 2x4's creating a big box beam, allowing all of the original framing lumber to remain. The 2x4's were jacked above level, i.e. with a crown in the middle for better roof drainage, prior to attaching the 1x10's.

[SDR]

Thanks, John---much appreciated.

I Googled "stitchnailing" and was rewarded only with this document, which contains the term---somewhere.

https://tolko.com/wp-content/uploads/20 ... Canada.pdf

S

[g.dorn]

I wonder if the word superimposed is used by a specific taliesin person, or was in general use by all and to mean something specifically.

In looking at the Schwartz drawings ( july 1939) where the word is used - it seems to be in context of a plan, and as a note for the timber joists - either floor or roof (rafters) and only on the 2 x 4 built up joists.

I'm just wondering if it refers to the stacking of the 2 x4's or the laping/layering of the joists over the steel beam.


on an earlier drawing 3904.13 - sheet 3 upper floor plan And roof plan, the UF bedroom roof framing plan says - 3- 2 x 4 laminated 2'4" oc
on an early section drawing - a note also says 3- 2 x 4 laminated 2'4" oc

[g.dorn]

another interesting note on the drawings, in this case 1:1 section detail sheet . in the trellis roof framing-
it has a note saying spray 0-flake

and points to a squiggly line of an internal fascia above the glass doors -

this I interpret to mean "spray some insulation gunk to the interior framing of the trellis"

Additional insulation perhaps? which make sense in like of the comments a few days ago that E. Tafel made the GF timber walls thicker for increased insulation.

[SDR]

Gary, "outside in" is the restoration architect of Jacobs I and a number of other Wright structures. His word can be taken as gospel on matters of documentation and construction of both early and late Wright houses. A search of his posts here would be well worth the time for someone interested in the nitty-gritty of Usonian design and construction, among other topics.

S