Hello all,
Looking for input on when a vehicle barrier system is required vs a typical guardrail for fall protection on the sides of a concrete ramp.
I am designing a concrete ramp for semi trucks that goes from 0 to approx. 4 feet above grade (up to a loading dock). Not that it ever matters...
Hello all,
I am looking for opinions on how a substantial structural alteration limit (30% of total floor and roof area) applies with multi-story buildings. In my case, I have a two story CMU building - the ground floor is a slab on grade, second floor is wood joists with steel girders...
Hello all,
I am curious how others are designing residential wood framed chimneys with brick veneer. I designed a new house, and the homeowner was previously going to install a freestanding CMU or prefab Isokern chimney. This was to be an exterior chimney outside of the back porch framing...
Hello,
I recently performed a site study of an existing building that is racked / laterally displaced up to about 4 degrees from vertical (for a client looking to purchase it). It is an old building, probably around 100 years old, with several renovations and additions over the years. It is...
This is my first endeavor into the design of very low cost chain hotels (plenty of experience in unique, steel/concrete framed hotels). I have received a structural engineering template from this hotel chain, which at first glance looked like it would really streamline my design process - it...
The threads I have read here on IEBC interpretation pretty much cover all extremes - some say that if the lateral demand does not increase more than 10% over the already 1000% utilization ratio, it is OK - others seem to stick with never letting it exceed 110% of material capacity as well as the...
I am inspecting a vertical crack in a 12" CMU wall that overlaps an embedded 8" W-section column. I am not sure when it was done, but there was attempted control joint sawcut in only one face of the wall. The joint apparently does not relieve any stress, as there is a crack running parallel to...
I have seen several threads that agree that you should avoid designing CMU elevator core walls assuming you get coupling action from the lintel, since it is difficult to get the loads to work. This follows guidance from NEHRP Seismic Design Technical Brief No. 9, where testing showed that even...
First post, apologies if this is answered elsewhere. My situation is I have an exst. structure with unreinforced CMU bearing walls (with brick veneer). This will be a "change of use", where they are converting what is currently a warehouse into a wing of a new school building, so it has to be...
