Bench Braces

September 7, 2009

We suggested a park improvement to Director John and he responded within a few days. We noticed that all the benches in the park were sloping toward the front as a result of a failure in the cantilever joints. John went to Lisbon on Saturday and bought all of the materials. By Monday the project was completed. The following is my report to John by e-mail which included both photos:

The eight hiker benches throughout Ft. Ransom State Park have been reinforced and made rigid with the installation of two 4”x4” braces attached to each bench. The above photo shows two green braces. Two torque-head fasteners were put into the upright member at the bottom of the brace and two longer fasteners were placed into the old wood at the top of the brace. Treated lumber was used, but the cut ends were soaked in treating material before installation. The braces were approximately 20” in length and the bottom cut was made at the site to match the angle of the old uprights, as shown in the larger photo above.

However, some benches were so close to the ground that a shorter version of the brace was fashioned to the bench, as shown in the top photo above. This bench is located in the playground area immediately north of the visitor’s center.

Both versions should last a long time. Every bench in the park was rickity, in that the seat sloped down and to the front when attempting to sit on the bench. This can give an unsettling and unsafe feeling to the park user. Now the benches are rigid and do not give way to the weight of someone sitting on them.

The repair of the benches took approximately ten hours, including the time to travel to each bench via the Toro Workman.