They ended up not doing that bc it would be bad for morale to see the entire White House dismantled.

As it was, they gutted entirely floors 1-3. They numbered a lot of the pieces from the original and put some of it back in. They also ended up selling bricks they didn’t need anymore to the public for $1 per brick. Wood was also sold from the White House that was used to create gavels from. Government ended up making 10k from this even though goal was just to break even.

Truman ended up finding a bunch of stones on the exterior walls that had mason symbols in them so he had them pulled out and shipped off to mason temples all over the country since he was a mason.

By the end, the construction crews were in a hurry to get the job done and gave up restoring stuff and just loaded it all into trucks and dumped it into a landfill in Virginia.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4863613&forum_id=2#42675394)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Reconstruction

When the Trumans moved into the executive mansion in 1945, they found it badly in need of repair after twelve years of neglect during the Depression and World War II. In 1946, Congress authorized $780,000 ($11 million in 2020 dollars) for repairs. The mansion's heaving floors and mysterious sounds had been known by staff and First Families for many years.[2] For the first two years of his presidency, according to White House photographer Abbie Rowe, President Truman heard "ghosts" roaming the halls of the Second Floor residence.[3][4] Government agencies had expressed concern about the condition of the building, including a 1941 report from the Army Corps of Engineers warning of failing wood structure, crumbling masonry, and major fire hazards. The report was dismissed by President Roosevelt.[5]

In early 1946, during a formal reception in the Blue Room, the First Lady noticed the very large crystal chandelier overhead swaying and its crystals tinkling. The floor of the Oval Study above moved noticeably when walked on, and a valet was then attending the president while he was taking a bath. (Truman described a potential scenario of him in his bathtub falling through the floor into the midst of a Daughters of the American Revolution tea "wearing nothing more than his reading glasses.").[6] In early 1947, a "stretching" chandelier in the East Room and another swaying in the Oval Study caused further alarm.[7][8] "Floors no longer merely creaked; they swayed."[9]

Investigations Edit

The Public Buildings Administration was asked to investigate the condition of the White House, but no action was taken until January 1948. After the commissioner of the Public Buildings Administration, which had responsibility for the White House, noticed the Blue Room chandelier swaying overhead during another crowded reception, he and the White House Architect conducted their own on-site investigation the next day. They discovered split and gouged-out beams supporting the ceiling and second floor above. He reported "that the beams are staying up there from force of habit only."[10][11] The number of occupants in the second floor was restricted, temporary fixes were made to some of the beams, and scaffolding-type supports were erected throughout the First Family's second floor living quarters.

On January 30, 1948, the president received a confidential report from the Commissioner of public buildings warning of the "imminent collapse" of the Second Floor of the mansion.[12] In February, the president invited the president of the American Institute of Architects, Douglas Orr, and the president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Richard E. Dougherty, to "make a structural survey of the safety of the White House". Their one-day investigation concluded with a report issued that same day which said the second floor structure was a fire hazard and was in danger of collapse.[9] They recommended that the second floor should be reconstructed as soon as possible, electricity use be cut to a minimum, and that further investigations be undertaken.[13] Congress provided $50,000 for a more thorough investigation and additional engineers and other professionals were engaged from the private sector. Walls, ceilings, and floors were opened up to provide access to the investigators.[14]

Collapse Edit

Split beam supporting the Second Floor under Margaret Truman's Sitting Room, 1949

In June 1948, a leg of Margaret Truman's piano crashed through the floor in her second floor sitting room and through the ceiling of the Family Dining Room below. Investigators found the floor boards had rotted, the main floor beam was split completely through, and the ceiling below had dropped 18 inches (46 cm). The investigators determined that the west end of the Second Floor was sinking. The First Family was relocated from the west to the east end of the floor.[15] Steel bracing was added to support the Second Floor and ceilings throughout the residence. The investigation concluded that the problem was in fact a collapsing building, not just a floor, and "heroic remedies" would be required.[16]

That year was an election year and the president feared that news of the collapsing White House would serve as an unflattering metaphor for his administration. On September 30, 1948, the White House Architect announced that the White House's "structural nerves" had been damaged, the second floor would need to be rebuilt, but that overall the building was in "good shape". He estimated the cost of repairs might be $1 million.[17]

The on-site forensic investigations continued while the First Family was away campaigning. In October, the ceiling of the East Room began to collapse and required wood supports. The structure under the Main Stair was found to be crumbling. The president's bathtub had begun sinking into the floor. The investigators discovered that the foundations of the interior walls supporting the upper floors and roof were all but non-existent. As they sank into the ground, the interior walls and floors were pulling away from the exterior walls leaving large gaps. They determined that the interior of the house was sinking and in danger of collapsing inwards; the entire mansion was unsafe (except for the new Truman Balcony).[18]

Upon returning to the White House the day after winning the election, the president was informed that the Federal Works Agency was about to do what his political opponents could not: remove him from the White House. On November 7, 1948, the news was made public.[19] The Trumans departed town and within two weeks the White House was vacated. Furniture, staff, and the First Family moved into Blair House, the President's guest house, across Pennsylvania Avenue.

Contributing factors Edit

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4863613&forum_id=2#42675851)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Balcony

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4863613&forum_id=2#42675846)