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<br />floodproofing system consisted of a reinforced plastic sheeting which had its <br /> <br /> <br />top reinforced with gray duct tape and secured to hooks which had been placed <br /> <br /> <br />in the outside wall every 2 ft (Figure 31). A properly sized O-ring was then <br /> <br /> <br />pushed against the bottom of the reinforced plastic sheeting and into the <br /> <br /> <br />aluminum channel. The O-ring was fitted against the reinforced plastic and <br /> <br />into the aluminum to make a water-resistant seal (Figure 20). The total <br /> <br /> <br />flood-resistant system consisted of this aluminum channel, plastic sheeting, <br /> <br />and the O-ring insert around the base of the entire area of the house. Ply- <br /> <br /> <br />wood reinforcement was used over door and window openings. <br /> <br />44. General problems were encountered while constructing this system on <br /> <br />the house: <br /> <br />a. It was difficult to find a material to bond plastic to plastic. <br />A waterproof construction cement was used to bond plastic to <br />plastic at places where plastic was lapped. <br /> <br />b. Seating the O-ring into the aluminum channel was very diffi- <br />cult. Because of this difficulty, installation was <br />time-consuming. <br /> <br />Gage system <br /> <br /> <br />45. Gages were placed on the walls inside the house to measure the wall <br /> <br /> <br />deflection. The gage locations and numbering are shown in Table 2. Figure 32 <br /> <br /> <br />shows some typical photographs of the gage placements. The wires from the <br /> <br /> <br />gages were run out windows to an automatic data recording system which was <br /> <br /> <br />located in a van. <br /> <br />Test Results <br /> <br />46. The deflections of the walls were recorded during both the loading <br /> <br /> <br />and unloading of the house. These data are presented in Figures 33-47. <br /> <br /> <br />47. Water was obtained from a well and pumped to the test site <br /> <br /> <br />(Figure 48). The water level was raised slowly on the outside of the house. <br /> <br /> <br />As the water level increased, some seepage did occur inside the house. About <br /> <br />1 in. of water leaked into the house during the test in which 4 ft of water <br /> <br /> <br />flooded the outside. <br /> <br /> <br />48. The results demonstrated that house walls are stronger than indivi- <br /> <br /> <br />dual test walls and that a prototype house can withstand approximately 3 ft of <br /> <br /> <br />water head without damage. <br /> <br />16 <br />