Sagging floors, sinking girders, settling piers all mean trouble for your crawl space and can result in unlevel floors, inoperable doors and windows and cracked drywall. The Foundation Supportworks, Inc. Smart Jack is a supplemental support system for crawl space applications. The Smart Jack effectively supports sagging beams and floor joists caused by:
- Length of span greater than spanning capability of the members,
- Floor load added after construction, exceeding design values, and
- Weakening of members over time due to high moisture and rot.
Thrasher Basement Systems had an ideal opportunity to use this application at the Garland Hotel in Bedford, Iowa. The Garland Hotel was built in 1857 and is often known as the grandfather of all hotels in this area. It served as a stagecoach depot until the railroad came through Bedford in 1872. The hotel survived a fire in 1875 and a tornado in 1892. In addition, it is famous for housing Jesse and Frank James, outlaws and members of the Quantrill's border raiders, in Room 7. It is believed that Jesse and Frank James used a tunnel that runs from the hotel to the Livery Stable under Main Street to discreetly leave the area. In 1977 the hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Thrasher Basement Systems was hired to install a Smart Jack system to level and stabilize existing beams in the crawl space underneath the Garland Hotel. Over time soil shifted and settled, along with changes in soil density and moisture content, causing movement of the beams and weakening of the structure. Thrasher installed 36 Foundation Supportworks Smart Jacks to stabilize the existing structure so that restoration can continue on this historic landmark.
Special thanks to Juan Martinez, John Neuvirth, Ray Brown, and Jon Erbst for a job well done!
