YESTERDAY, I discovered a steel post downstairs—like the covered columns in the Social Hall but in an unexpected place.
This one came to light as I was taking photos of the lower portion of opened-up walls that had been damaged in June 2023 by a flood caused by a faulty sprinkler head. (That story is HERE.) I noticed that one vertical member looked more like metal than like wood.
Below the jump, I show annotated photos of our normally hidden post.…
Viewed at basement level
 |
| View from hallway into kitchen (As usual, click/tap on an image to enlarge it.) |
According to a 2003 engineering drawing, this post supports a steel girder that traverses the sanctuary building. (The drawing also shows a second, counterpart post located directly across the hallway, but no such post or pilaster is actually visible at that spot!)
The post’s cross-section is shaped like the letter “I”. What you see above is only the top (or bottom) of the “I”. We can’t see the body of the “I” because a wood stud is nestled next to it, presumably to support the button board (wall surface) on the kitchen side of the wall.
Viewed from inside the kitchen, the post is housed inside a pilaster, which juts out from the wall. This pilaster is covered with darker tile than the neighboring wall surfaces.
Viewed at attic level
Above the kitchen and the hallway, there is a large attic — about 8’ high. It is accessed from the kitchen closet that houses the building’s water heater. The newly identified post and the girder are readily visible inside the attic.
 |
| View above kitchen, looking eastward toward Social Hall |
 |
| The steel post supports the girder that runs across the middle of this photo. |
No comments:
Post a Comment