Shoring

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Shoring (from "shore," a prop) is an operation connected with building. It is often necessary before actual building is begun to support adjoining premises while the work of excavating for underground apartments is being carried out. The art of shoring comprises the temporary support of buildings, and may become necessary because of the failure or settlement of some portion of the structure or for the purpose of upholding the upper portion while alterations are being made in the lower.

There are several different forms of shoring, each adapted to suit peculiar circumstances. Much of the shoring for ordinary cases is done with heavy, roughly sawn timbers strongly braced together, but for especially heavy work steel members may be introduced and prove of great value. There is the trouble in connection with their use, however, that connections between steel members are not made with the same facility as between pieces of timber.

The form of shore in most general use is that known as the raking shore. It consists of one or more timbers sloping from the face of the structure to be supported and bedded upon the ground. As the ground is usually of a more or less yielding nature, a stout timber plate termed a sole-piece, of sufficient area to withstand being driven into the soil, is placed to receive the base of the raking timber or timbers. A wall-plate, with the object of increasing the area of support, is fixed to the face of the wall by means of hooks driven into the wall. Where space is available, an angle of 60° is the best to adopt for the main shore, the auxiliary members ranging in their slope from 45° to 75°. In many cases, especially in towns, the angle of slope is governed by outside influences such as the width of the footway.

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.