Hello,
My company is designing a courthouse that does not have any holding cells or other facilities that would require a risk category iv construction. In a recent meeting we were informed by the architects that the local county was wanting to add a backup 911 call center. I am thinking that...
Hello,
I am working on a steel and wood framed building built back in 1915. The contractor, while performing demolition noticed a deflection a steel beam forming the edge of an auditorium balcony. Using a laser level, he determined that the beam has a deflection of about 2-1/4". The beam is an...
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I am hoping someone can help direct me to design guide or reference material. I am designing a slab that will be supported by steel piles. The slab will be constructed between two underground structures, which is why we are using piles. The pile will be driven to bedrock. I have been...
Hello,
I have a question about snow drifts. I am designing a building that has three different roof heights meeting each other, please see the attached. For the area that I have circled should I combine the drifts off the other two roofs or should I take just the worst case to design the...
Hello All,
I am working on a building built back in 1935 and have come across a rebar call out I cannot figure out and I was hoping someone here may have seen it before. Does anyone know what OQ's is refering to in the circled callouts on the attached plan? I have not been able to find...
Hello all,
I am hoping some of you may shed some light on the concrete breakout strength equations of ACI 318-14. The background is we are trying to connect a new steel beam to either an existing 24" wide x 11" deep concrete column with a min of (4) #11 vertical bars and #4 ties spaced at 11"...
I am working on a building built back in 1965 and came across the following note about the rebar:
"All reinforcing bars shall be deformed bars (conforming to A.S.T.M. A-303) with a minimum allowable tensile strength Fs = 24000psi (A-432)"
Now I understand the A-432 and Allowable Tensile Strength...
Hello,
I have a question about 1960's era steel joists. I am looking at a building constructed in 1965. The structural drawings call out 32LA13 joists spanning 60' and spaced @ 7'-4" oc with a Total Roof Design Load, from the drawings of 61psf. I was wondering if there is a way to tell the...
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I am working on an existing building 1965 which has had an addition put on in 1969. I am demolishing the 1969 addition. On the existing drawings for the addition they are calling out AH concrete. From what I can find it is a polymer added to the concrete. I was wondering of anyone else...
Hello,
I have a project where I am evaluating a roof for a mechanical unit and have come across a steel joist, see attached picture, I have not seen before and I was wondering if any one here has seen one of these before. The joist has double angle top and bottom chords like a typical steel...
Hello All,
I am working on a building built in the early 1930's. We are placing some large mechanical unit on the roof. The roof is composed of a reinforced concrete slab spanning over steel beam. The beams are spanning between girders, in some areas they a steel beam girders, in others they...
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I have recently been asked to provide lateral bracing for a couple of spiral staircases. They are interior staircases for access to a theater catwalk some 20 to 34' above the base of the stair. The architect is using a proprietary staircase by a manufacturer. My question is how would one...
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I am working on putting a new recessed loading dock between two existing buildings. The local frost depth is 4'-0" below grade. Our design called for the existing footings to be underpinned with concrete for the full width of the existing footings in order to keep the bottom of the...
Reading one of the recent threads about salt on concrete reminded me of a conversation/argument I had with a contractor/developer. I designed a commercial/retail building in central New York and called out 4500 psi concrete because it will be subject to freeze/thaw cycles or de-icing chemicals...
Hello,
I have an issue that has come up on a building under construction. At one of the corners there is a hairline crack starting at the top of the wall and extending down about 12', see attached photo taken by contractor. The wall is 8" CMU reinforced with #5 @ 48" oc. I do call for a bar in...
I have a set of existing plans from a renovation done in '93. I do not have the original building design drawings. The renovation drawings indicate the main beams are 9 x 35-14 glu-lam beams. Field measurements on the beam confirm the size, but due to inaccessibility of the beam or the beam...
Hello,
I have design a facade rehab in Framingham Mass, and one of the framing subs believes that the requirements are min 16ga studs @ 18" oc. I have looked through both chapters 16 and 22 of the IBC and the Massachusetts amendments to the IBC2009 and I have not found any reference to this...
Has anyone heard of using p.a.f.'s in the top of a cont bond beam to attach something like a light gauge track as opposed to using an anchor bolt or an expansion anchor.
Thank you.
Hello,
I have a friend who is a home inspector but is also getting into commercial inspections. He has been asked to look at a CMU wall that has been on a fire and was wondering what he should be looking for to determine if the wall is still OK or should be replaced.
Thank you
An architect I work with asked me a question about the steel studs I am using on a project. He asked if they have ridges on the corners to provide a bit of a thermal break. I have not heard of any such studs and I was wondering if anyone else has.
Thanks
