The Layher Keder Roof in Witten6/28/2004

The town of Witten has a fine local history museum, containing exhibits illustrating the history of the town and local countryside. Both the upper storey and the roof of the building, erected in 1839, have deteriorated considerably over the years. The entire timber structure was fungus-ridden, and in some parts rotten, since the roof was no longer sealed against the outside. The brickwork in the area of the cornice and the joist bearings were therefore already affected.

To preserve the building and to protect the museum objects it housed, repair and refurbishment were urgently needed. It was estimated that the work would take about three months. Since there was nowhere for interim storage of the museum exhibits, rain or snow while the roof was open could have caused considerable damage. To prevent this, the local council's building experts looked for an inexpensive solution with a temporary roof. Telgenbrok Gerüstbau GmbH from Essen was able to submit the least expensive quotation, featuring the Layher keder roof on the basis of SpeedyScaf equipment.

Within just four days, four erectors built the complete structure. To match exactly the axis dimension of the keder roof, the 800 m² SpeedyScaf structure had to stand very close to the outer wall on the eaves side. This meant that because of the relatively large roof projection the inside tube of the assembly frame would have collided with the eaves. "But with the Layher balustrade frame we were able to build around the eaves and create suitable supports for the beams of the 260 m² keder roof", explains Mr. Telgenbrok.

After only eleven weeks, the refurbishment work was completed, the scaffolding dismantled, and the exhibits returned to their usual places. The protection afforded by Layher's keder roof meant there was never any risk of damage from inclement weather. What's more, the construction timetable could have been kept to even if weather conditions had been very poor.