Industrialization of Building Practice

Issues

The middle of the nineteenth century saw the rapid replacement of on-site fabrication of buildings to the assemblage of machine made building parts

This included the use of cast iron for building partsStoves instead of fire placesNew framing techniques for wooden buildingGas and Water input into stores and dwellingsMetal Roofing (both standing seam & shingles)

Grainfield, Kansas (1887)

Balloon Frame

Attributed to Chicago, largely a continuation of modifications in building practice present in early 19th century buildings.

Use mill sawn, standardized dimensional lumber, nailed lap joints exclusively. The sawmills make most efficient use of pine, few other woods are used for construction grade timber. Oak and poplar become rare in framing, although they are often used in moldings, newel posts, and flooring, where shapers and routers are part of the manufacturing process.

Windows, doors, shutters are some of the first building components to be constructed in sash factories.

Who invented the balloon frame

The creation of balloon frame construction is difficult to assign to a single individual.Much of the desire for balloon frame is part of an evolution from the earlier heavy

timber construction.Studs become lap jointed in the 1840s.Alternatively, a nailer was used to key the top and bottom of the studs.Collars and headers for doors and windows are lapped and nailed in earlier buildings.Many buildings with dimensional lumber framing continue to use a larger hewn sill

right up to the beginning of the 20th century

Circular sawn

Method of fastening

Skew Nailing

Parts of framing

Ganged sills

bridging

Balloon framing

Cross bracing

Platform framing

Each floor is built separately1 sole plate2 the joists are laid3 the subfloor or flooring is laid4. Studs are nailed to flooring5. Plate is nailed to the top of the studs6. Joists nailed, then sole plate then flooretc

Floor joists are carried on a ledger board

Ledger board

New nailing pattern

(d is the notation for penny in the English monetary system £.s.d)

a 2d nail is 1 inch long. Each 1d increase is ¼ inch increase in length up to 10d followed by a 12d which is 3¼ long. A sixteen-penny nail is a ¼ inch longer than 12d, and the remaining sizes, beginning with 20d, are multiples of 10 and are each ½ inch longer than the preceding size.