s. 54. fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Part of the 57 & 58 Vict. Act shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds c. ccxiii. a day during every day of the continuance of the non-compliance with the order of the Court in reference to such failure. Under sects. 151 and 152, post, pp. 239 and 241, where, in erecting any building or structure, or in doing any work to, in, or upon any building, anything is done in contravention of this Act, or anything required by the Act is omitted to be done, the district surveyor is empowered to serve notice of the irregularity. And if default is made in complying with such notice, a petty-sessional court is empowered by sect. 153, post, p. 239, upon complaint by the district surveyor, to make an order requiring the notice of irregularity to be complied with. Penalties are recoverable under sect. 166, post, p. 254. 54. (1) Recesses and openings may be made in external walls provided (a) That the backs of such recesses are not of less thickness than eight and a half inches; and (b) That the area of such recesses and openings above the ground storey do not taken together exceed one half of the whole area of the wall above the ground storey in which they are made. (2) Recesses may be made in party walls provided— (a) That the backs of such recesses are not of less thickness than thirteen inches; and (b) That over every recess so formed an arch of at least two rings of brickwork of the full depth of the recess be turned on every storey except in the case of recesses formed for lifts but where such recess does not exceed five inches in depth corbelling in brick or stone may be substituted for the arching; and (c) That the area of such recesses do not taken together exceed one half of the whole area of the wall of the storey in which they are made; and (d) That such recesses do not come within thirteen and a half inches of the inner face of the external walls. (3) An opening shall not be made in any party wall except in accordance with the provisions of this Act in relation thereto. Provided that it shall be lawful for the superintending architect on application made to him in accordance with any rules made in that behalf by the Council to give consent in writing to any modification or relaxation of the requirements of this section with respect to the area of recesses and openings in any special cases where he may think proper The word area as used in this section Rules as to openings. recesses and 57 & 58 Vict. shall mean the area of the vertical face or elevation of c. ccxiii. the wall or recess to which it refers. s. 55. Rules as to timber in external walls. Recesses and openings.'-A diagram illustrating this section will be found in App. V., Pl. V., post. 'External walls.' The expression 'external wall' means an outer wall or a vertical enclosure of any building not being a party wall; see the definition in sect. 5 (15), ante, p. 17. Ground storey.'-This is defined by sect. 5 (11), ante, p. 16. 'Party walls.'-What is a party wall is defined by sect. 5 (16), ante, p. 17; see the notes thereto. A party wall cannot be cut into except upon condition of making good all damage occasioned to the adjoining premises, see sect. 88 (8), post, and after a month's notice has been given in accordance with sect. 90 (1), post, p. 173. Such notice must have been given within six months of the work having been begun, and the work when begun must be prosecuted with due diligence, except in the case of a difference arising between the person giving the notice and the owner of the adjoining premises, in which case the difference is to be settled in the manner provided by sect. 91, post, p. 177. By sect. 77 (3), post, p. 148, conditions are prescribed subject to which openings may be made in party walls dividing buildings, which, if taken together, would exceed in extent 250,000 cubic feet. 'Superintending architect.'-The power given to the superintending architect to modify or relax in any case the requirements of the section is new. 'Area. This word is defined by sect. 5 (22), ante, p. 22, but such definition is not applicable to the present section, and the definition contained in the last paragraph of the section must therefore be substituted for it when construing or applying this section. A limitation is placed by subsect. (1 b) of sect. 54 upon the extent to which recesses and openings may be made in external walls above the ground storey. The section is, however, silent as to external walls belonging to or below the ground storey. In the corresponding provisions of the Metropolitan Building Act, 1855, sect. 13, the limitation applied to recesses or openings made in any external walls. On the other hand, that Act did not prescribe, as the present section does, the character of the arch to be made over recesses in party walls, which recesses might be made to extend to one foot from the inner face of the external walls. Penalties. See the note under this heading to sect. 53, ante, p. 116. 55. All woodwork fixed in any external wall except bressummers and storey posts under the same and frames of doors and windows of shops on the ground storey of any building shall be set back four inches at the least from the external face of such wall But loop hole frames and frames of doors and windows may be fixed flush with the face of any external wall: Provided that it shall be lawful for the Council by bye-law or otherwise to exempt from the provisions of this section oak teak or other wood provided the work be constructed to the satisfaction of the district surveyor. 'External walls.'-This expression is defined by sect. 5 (15), ante, p. 17. 'Bressummer.'-Means 'a wooden beam or a metallic girder which carries a wall,' see sect. 5 (7), ante, p. 15. Storey posts.-These are upright timbers disposed in the storey of a building, for supporting the superincumbent part of the exterior wall by means of a beam over them. Crabb's 'Technical Dictionary' and Gwilt's Encyclopædia of Architecture.' Timber in external walls.-The corresponding provision to this section in the Metropolitan Building Act, 1855, sect. 14, allowed no woodwork whatever to be fixed flush with the face of a wall. All woodwork was by that section required to be set back four inches except loophole frames, which were allowed to be fixed within an inch and a half of the face of the wall. The present enactment, it will be seen, permits of the frames of doors and windows, as well as loophole frames, being fixed flush with the face of any external wall; and further enables the Council by its byelaws to exempt any woodwork from the operation of the section, provided it is constructed to the satisfaction of the district surveyor. The placing of timber or woodwork in walls in certain cases is prohibited by sect. 64 (21), post, p. 128. With regard to the plans and sections to be deposited with the Council, where it is intended to place timber in an external wall, see No. II. (7) of the Council's Regulations of the 1st Jan. 1895, in App. III., Pt. II., post. Byelaws.-The Council is empowered by sect. 164, post, p. 249, to make byelaws with respect inter alia to 'woodwork in external walls.' Penalties. See the note under this heading to section 53, ante, p. 116. 57 & 58 Vict. c. ccxiii. s. 56. summers. 56. (1) Every bressummer whether of wood or Rules as to metal shall have a bearing in the direction of its length bresof four inches at least at each end upon a sufficient pier of brick or stone or upon a timber or iron storey post fixed on a solid foundation in addition to its bearing upon any party wall or external wall and the district surveyor shall have power in his discretion to require that every bressummer shall have such other storey posts iron columns stanchions or piers of brick or stone or corbels as may be sufficient to carry the superstructure and the ends of such bressummer if of wood shall not 57 & 58 Vict. be placed nearer to the centre line of the party walls than four inches. c. ccxiii. s. 56. (2) At each end of every metallic bressummer a space shall be left equal to one quarter of an inch for every ten feet and also for any fractional part of ten feet of the length of such bressummer to allow for expansion. (3) A bond timber or wood plate shall not be built into any party wall and the ends of any wooden beam or joist bearing on such walls shall be at least four inches distant from the centre line of the party walls. (4) Every bressummer bearing upon a party wall shall be borne by a templet or corbel of stone or iron tailed through at least half the thickness of the wall and of the full breadth of the bressummer. (5) The end of any timber not permitted to be placed in or to have a bearing on a party wall may be carried on a corbel or templet of stone or iron or vitrified stoneware tailed into the wall to a distance of at least eight and a half inches or otherwise supported to the satisfaction of the district surveyor. ment. 'Bressummer.-This expression is defined by sect. 5 (7), ante, p. 15, to mean 'a wooden beam or a metallic girder which carries a wall.' See the diagram in App. V., Pl. VI., post. The present section corresponds to sect. 15 of the Metropolitan Building Act, 1855. Its provisions, however, are not quite so stringent as those contained in the previous enactAt the same time the present enactment empowers the district surveyor to require additional storey posts &c. to be placed under a bressummer should he consider that those proposed to be placed are insufficient to carry the weight intended to be placed upon the bressummer; it also allows the ends of wooden bressummers to be placed four inches from the centre line of party walls, and is silent as to the distance of the ends of metallic bressummers from such line, whereas the previous enactment prohibited the placing of the end of any bressummer nearer to such line than four and a half inches. 'Pier-A pier is defined in Gwilt's Encyclopædia' as ‘a solid between the doors and windows of a building, the square or other formed mass or post on which a gate is hung; also the solid support from which an arch springs. According to Brande & Cox's 'Technical Dictionary,' the solid between the openings of a building, or that from which an arch springs.' The expression also includes buttresses, or additions erected at intervals along a wall, and built into the wall for the purpose of increasing its strength. 'Storey post-See the note to sect. 55, ante, p. 119. 'Stanchion.'-Any upright support is included in this term. 'Corbel-A corbel is the technical term for a projecting. bracket for the purpose of supporting a superincumbent object,. or for retaining the springing of an arch. Gwilt defines it as 57 & 58 Vict. 'a range of stones projecting from a wall for the purpose of c. ccxiii. ss. 57, 58. supporting a parapet or the superior projecting part of a wall.' 'Expansion. The previous enactment made no provision for guarding against the expansion of metallic bressummers. Bond timber.-The expression 'bond' used in the plural number signifies, according to Gwilt, 'the timbers disposed in the walls of a house, such as bond timbers, lintels, and wall plates.' 'Bond timber' is the technical term for timber worked in with a wall as it is carried up, for the purpose of tying it together in a longitudinal direction while the work is setting. Brande & Cox's 'Technical Dictionary.' 'Wood plate. This is a piece of timber lying horizontally on a wall for the purpose of receiving the ends of girders, joists, rafters, &c. Joist. The timber whereto the boards of a floor or the laths for a ceiling are nailed. Joists rest on the walls or on girders, sometimes on both.' Gwilt's Encyclopædia.' The distance required by the previous enactment to be left between the ends of a wooden beam or joist, and the centre line of any party wall upon which it had a bearing, was four and a half inches. Under the present enactment four inches is sufficient. 'Templet' or 'template'—is ‘a short piece of timber or stone' laid under the bearing of a girder with the object of distributing the weight of the latter.' Brande & Cox, 'Technical Dictionary; see also Gwilt's Encyclopædia.' 'Tailed through.'-To tail in anything is to fix one end in the wall, so that the leverage exercised by the projecting part should be counteracted by the weight above it. 'Timber in walls.'-Sect. 64 (21), post, p. 128, contains prohibitions against the placing of timber or woodwork in a wall in certain cases. Penalties.-See the note under this heading to sect. 53, ante, p. 116. external 57. If any gutter any part of which is formed of Height and combustible materials adjoin an external wall such wall thickness of shall be carried up so as to form a parapet one foot at parapets to the least above the highest part of the gutter and the thickness of the parapet so carried up shall be at least eight and a half inches throughout. Height and thickness of parapets. The present enactment. is practically the same as that which was contained in sect. 16 of the Metropolitan Building Act, 1855. A diagram illustrating this section will be found in Appendix V., Plate VII., post. Penalties. See the note to sect. 53, ante, p. 116. 58. In either of the following cases :— walls. Cases in (a) When a wall is after the commencement of this which a wall Act built as a party wall in any part; or to be deemed a party wall. |