CELLARS OF BRITAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 14, 17 July 1939, Page 4

CELLARS OF BRITAIN

PROOF AGAINST AIR RAIDS

Choked with dust, their black hats and coats smeared with grime, Home Office experts and Government engineers surveyed with satisfaction the wreckage of a three-storey house in. Chester Street, Liverpool, recently, reports a Liverpool correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph and Morning Post."

The wreckage had proved beyond all doubt the soundness of their plans for reinforcing the country's cellars and basements against air raids.

The house, weighing more than 100 tons, was blown up by Territorial Army Sappers and crashed over a strutted basement. The house was razed, but when demolition squads had opened the basement it was found to be intact.

Thus, after many months of painstaking investigation and experiment, it may be fairly concluded that a high degree of security against air raids has been made available to the 10,000,000 people in this country who live in houses with basements or cellars.

The methods tested and vindicated today are now in mass production. They comprise sheets of corrugated and galvanised steel laid against the ceiling and supported by steel beams and props placed at not more than five feet distant.

FIFTY TONS OF MASONRY.

The basements of three adjoining houses, all scheduled for demolition, were strutted to test the effect of collapse due to the force of the explosion. The centre one of these houses collapsed completely, throwing about 50 tons of masonry ou to the ground floor and ceiling of its basement. The explosions had been calculated to represent a 5001b bomb falling 50ft away. To make conditions even more exacting the inner walls and ceiling beams tod been chipped away to ensure that tlie whole weight of the house would fall inwards. It was impossible to discover how the collapse would affect someone inside the basement.

The crash of falling masonry was heard all over the neighbourhood. The area involved, in a crowded Liverpool district, was closed to the public. Normally the ceiling walls, which are 100 years old, are only 4_in thick. To complete the process of reinforcement these walls had been thickened to 9in. Where this had not been done in one of the adjoining houses the walls collapsed, although the props and joists were left in position.

For all those in the less than £250-----a-year class this basement strutting will be carried out free of charge. Those above that income level will have to pay for materials and work. The estimated cost is between £10 and £12.