Report on a Visit to Alvin Enterprises Housing Development

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Technical Note (National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research), 1952-05-20

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DIVISION OF' BUILDING RESEARCH

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA

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NOT FOR PUB.LI.CATION

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No.

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FOR INTERNAL USE

PREPARED BY D.Il. Ru.therford

PREPARED FOR

CHECKED BY

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APPROVED. BY

ｓｕｾｊｅｃｔ Report on a Visit to Alvin Enterprises Housing

Development

This development consists of 418 living units in 51 buildings.•

A plank wall type of cons,truetion is being used with DO,nolo Construction

Company doing the building. The project is located on the east side

of St. Laurent Boulevard in Manor Park.

The visit was made in order to view piank walls under e.o.struci;ion

ｾ､ the following personnel took part:J.I. Lawson, ｍＮｪｾ Goodwin,

P.J. Sereda., T. Ritchie, A.G. Wilson, C.R. Crocker, G.W. Shorter ｾ｣ｩ

D.H. Rutherford.

t

ＧｾＮＢ Contact was made through M,r. Michaels of Alvin Enterprises who

also acted as guide and answered all questions put forth by tht}

visitors.

t

t

A description of the project and particulars about plank wall

construction follows, along with simple drawings.

In all the buildings floor joists are set into the concrete

basement walls .On top of the concrete wall and toward its inner face

awood,en sill (about 3" x

4")

is placed upon which the plank wall is,

erected. ,The first step in the construction of the plank w,all prope,r

is the erection of upright members which run eantinu0us11 to one $torey

height. These members are 3" x 10" ｴｩｭ｢･ｲｾ All other timber used i$

also 3" in ·thickness but may vary in wid.th. Two uprights are lt$ed at .

right angles to each other to form the corners of the building and other

uprights are placed only at those positions where interior partitions

will butt in. This makes for a non-uniform spacing of ,uprights with

the distanCe between being anything up to 16'. Such spaaing is at

ｶ｡ｾｩ｡ｮ｡･ with the Montreal Building Code which specifies that uprights

shoUld oectir at least every 8 ft. .

When all uprights for one storey have been erected and temporarily braced in their proper position, the next'step is to plaee

thehorlZcon.-tal beam members which will carry the jelsts of the storey aOQ.e. 'Xhe

theory here is that all loads are transferred via these ｨｯｲｩｺｯｾｴ｡ｬ

members to the ur.rights and thence to the 'basemeat wall. The

be.

members, again

3'

xlO" material, are' fasteneci ta the uprights. ｴｬｳＱｲｾｧ a

half dove-tail joint. In this way a skeleton framework one atore, high

,

.

2

-The plank wall, which is in theory ir not in reality, a curtain wall, is next put in place. This consists

or

ｾｩｬｬＱｮｧ the spaces be'tween the uprights up to the horizontal beam with

3"

planking set on edge, each piece being toe-nailed to the pieces immediately below and aqjaoent to it. These plank pieces need not be continuous ｾｲｯｭ

upright to upright but when short pieces are used a close fitting butt joint is employed. A similar joint oecurs at the upright.

Should a window opening be required in any wall, short upright members are placed to form the opening with a half dove-tailed horizon-tal member across the top. The filling in with plank is then continued around the opening.

Construction for the second storey is similar, with floor joists being laid on the horizontal beams and the spaces between joists

filled with cut pieces. There follows then the erection of uprights at corners and at other desired points and completion

or

second storey

walls. .

In order to minimize passage of air through the walls a caulking compound is applied to the inner. surface of the walls at all joints.

For interior finish the walls are covered with a

25

lb. sheathing paper, strapped with 1" lumber, lathed with insul-lath, and plastered. The 0nly vapour barrier near the inner surface of the wall is provided by the insul-lath which material is also the only added insulation in

the wall. It was noted in some buildings that plain fibre board.was used in place of iDsul-lath thereby eliminating the vapour barrier •.

Finish in basement apartments consists of strapping and fibre board. Concrete walls are treated with asphalt for water proofing unless the fibre board used has incorporated in it layers of asphalt.

On the exterior face

or

the plank wall a roofing relt is applied and a single eourse of bricks is placed so as to leave a 1" air space between the plank wall and the brick. The brickwork is supported on the concrete basement wall, and door and window lintels are steel

angle s. The brick facing is tied to the plank wall by means of

4"

nails driven into the plank and pro jecting into the mortar at every sixth course of brick.

Interior bearing partitions are erected of 2" x

4"

studs at 12" centres and are finished with gypsum lath and plaster.

Party walls are of concrete block and the same material is used to enclose main stair-wells. Concrete block walls are carried right through the plank walls to butt against the brick facing.

Roof construction is such as to give a

1/4"

slope in 1 t.oot. all sides of the building to a central drain. The roof ｴｨ･ｲ･ｦｯｲｾ

varies from 6" to 2 ft. above the ceiling joists. Ceiling joists are also strapped so as to provide support for 3" rock woO.1 batts which are laid between the joists.

3

-Heating of all units will be the responsibility of individual tenants using oil burning space heaters. Should the apartment be on two levels, openings are provided in the· floor above the heater for the purpose of allowing passage of heat to the upper rooms.

Individual fuel storage is provided at the rear of each apartment either at ground or first floor levels.

Complete co-operation was given by Mr. Michaels to those making the visit, and he tendered a welcome to any future visitors. He may be reached by phone at

6-5467.

Exterior view at completion of plank wall. Diagonal members seen are not permanent fixtures but simply hold uprights in a vertical position during erection of remainder of wall.

Interior view of corner detail. Wall section showing detail of second storey joists.

Exterior views showing

various stages of completioQ.

Exterior view showing addition of normal brick facing.

Cedar Plank Construction as used in Alvin Heights housing project.