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Mr. John Oxion Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend & St. Joseph County Re: Oliver Chilled Plow Works Buildings 46 and 47 - Forge 2 March 20, 2002 Page 3 The ramp structure on the east elevation and surrounding site work have not been included in this study. We understand changes to the grading and other site issues are anticipated to be included within the site work package of the overall facility. Our remaining comments focus on the assessment of the roof, facade and structural elements making up Buildings 46 and 47. Building 46 - Roof and Structural Framing The roof structure of Building 46 has four sawtooth skylights separated by flat areas constructed of reinforced cast in place concrete. Photos 7 and 8 show how the flat sections of the roof were covered with BUR roofing and gravel. These areas do not drain well and tend to hold water /ice as shown in the photos. The sloping roof portion of the skylight was simply a mopped on asphalt/felt paper system. Large portions of this membrane have torn and come loose as shown in the photo. In some areas the top of the slabs have been exposed to the weather. The windows in the skylights have been removed and replaced with what appears to be transite. Transite typically contains levels of asbestos which require that it must be abated. 'In the limited areas where the transite could be examined, it appeared to be intact and not in a friable condition.` This greatly simplifies the abatement and disposal of these panels, which of course, reduces the cost. The sloping portions of the sawtooth skylights were constructed using precast concrete channel slabs as shown in Photos 9 and 10. The channels are laid with the flanges turned down and are in turn supported by the structural steel frame. Snow, ice and water tend to collect at the base of the slope and seep through the roofing membrane. This has in turn caused the steel reinforced channel slabs to deteriorate, sometimes to the point of collapse as shown in Photo 11. Most of the channel slabs have significant deterioration with some of the fallen slabs shown in Photo 12. Water seeping through the roof also tends to collect along the steel roof beams as shown in Photo 13. At first blush, the majority of these beams appear to be in such poor condition that replacement may be necessary. Closer examination reveals that there is still a sound enough steel core left intact that instead repairs can be made. Photo 14 shows the base metal that is left once the outer layer of corrosion has been broken loose. The flanges of this beam were measured to still have approximately 2/3 of their original cross section. Thus, the beams can be cleaned and plated rather than replaced. Problems were also observed at the base of the steel columns where dirt and water could collect trapping moisture against the steel. Photos 15 and 16 show a significant loss of cross section at the base of these columns. Compounding this problem, most of the columns in both Buildings 46 and 47 had been struck on multiple occasions by forklifts or other heavy equipment as shown in Photo 17. This weakens the column with regard to buckling. Damage to one column was apparently severe enough to merit encasement in concrete as shown in Photo 18. Encasing the base of the column like this is an easy and relatively inexpensive method of repair.