Do you guys have a detail you can share how you frame deck column with natural stone veneer (6" thick including mortar) all the way to the top and above the deck? I never like this scenario and it is very hard to transition from concrete pier, to column to wood with stone around it. In the...
Lets say you have 6:12 shed roof. In the middle this roof you have a fireplace. How do you typically frame this? The fireplace will have thin set stone veneer, but the chimney above will be about 7 ft tall and will have heavy stone veneer. The chimney framing and fireplace framing will be...
I have a project where the existing house is a one story house with CMU walls built in 1947. We are adding another story. We just found out that the CMUs are running bond but all hollow. I am still not 100% sure how the 2x8 plate on top of cmu is attached. There is a chance maybe the all...
The soil report recommends the house foundation shall be on spread footings at frost depth. What happens if they have a hard time digging to frost depth due to a very large rock at some areas? I am talking about a solid rock roughly about 16 ft long, 8 ft wide. Not sure how deep it going to...
When you use digital signature from Adobe or Bluebeam, what do you typically do? Do you put your PE stamp blank without your signature or date and put this certificate next to it? Do you still add your signature on top of the stamp and add this next to it? Do you still add signature and date...
I get phone calls all of the time from agents or home owner or buyer about cracks in the basement wall. Probably it was noted on the inspection report and the inspector probably wrote to consult professional engineer regarding the crack. What do you typically do? Is this easy money or...
So the plan was to build a living space over the existing garage with lower roof carport. Then architect changed it to this graphic below where the addition is now over the carport, and you have low roof space over the garage for storage. But then it has been discovered that the existing...
If you have a one story house and you are turning it into a 2 story house, how do you typically detail the exterior wall transition? The existing exterior wall plywood stops at the top of existing double top plate. The existing rafters are removed, then new floor joists sit on top of the...
If I convert a window well into a full height door and add retaining wall and stairs (direct basement access from exterior), how do you avoid cold bridges? The footing of the basement is no longer buried to frost depth.
I must admit, in the residential world, handrail newel post is often overlooked. Somehow the deck is built and engineer never specified anything. I have seen a lot of detail like this below. According to ASCE 4.5.1, a single 200 lb shall be applied in any direction on the top of the rail...
What is the standard practice if I have a series of straight steel beam (5 columns, 4 spans) that is 50 ft total? This will be supporting a high end concrete deck with heating tube. Do I design the beams as continuous and put a connection at the inflection point? Do I design the beam as...
So, what do you typically do now when you design a deck? How much lateral load do you use? Do you calculate the tension chord force at the end of the deck and use a tension hold down device like IRC Figure R507.2? According to NDS, the allowable shear capacity of a deck with horizontal...
About to purchase PDF books from ICC. How does it work? Do I get to download the PDF to my computer? Or do I need to log in to a website just to view it? Am I able to highlight my copy like a printed book?
Lets say you have a wood shear wall that runs parallel with the floor joists above crawlspace. How would you transfer the load down to foundation?
1. Do you build foundation wall along this wall all the way to 2.25" below the plywood? (1.5" sole plate plus 3/4" ply)? This way the shearwall...
Let's say you have series of dropped beams (3-1.75X11.875 LVL) and columns in a crawlspace of a residential construction. Let's say your columns in the crawlspace support 20K of point load(unfactored). I want to hear the consensus:
1. What would you use as column member?
2. How do you attach...
Architects ask me to send proposal to them all of the time on small remodels where they remove and add several walls. Sometimes they even include the existing structural drawing and I am 100% sure none of the walls are structural. The building department usually wants them to submit something...
What hurricane ties do you typically use if you have exposed 2x12 rafters? I have used only long screws before from the top but the exposed rafters are usually thick (4x). What would you use if the rafters are only 2x and you don't want to see ugly hurricane ties from under the roof.
I do not have much experience with light gauge framing. I usually work with timber. I have a mezzanine in a prefab steel building that will be supplied/fabricated by the steel manufacturer. The joists will be 10C12 joists and at the end it cantilever about 5 ft. At the end of the cantilever...
Every building department here uses different guidelines on how to determine roof snow load. Some give you the roof snow load, some give you the ground snow load and you go ahead and add the appropriate factors. Some counties specifically tell you to use ground snow load with no reduction...
Let's say you have a gable roof with collar tie & ceiling joists. If you install a new ridge beam just below the ridge board and you also keep the existing collar ties, am I right to assume you can remove the ceiling joists and use the existing rafters?
