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We work on a lot of homes that use Zip R - we typical will use it in combination with interior gyp for shear walls where the loads are low and there are lots of long walls. At walls with high capacity, we specify 1/2" sheathing to be installed directly to to the studs to take the shear, and the...

It all about how detail and design the wall. I would rely on engineering design principals and ACI, not the IRC. If the slabs are adequately tied into the wall at the top and bottom, then the wall is pin-pin with at rest soil pressure and you can use a small footing because the wall is...

Great Thread! We do about 50% high end residential and the build price is about $500/sf to $1000/sf. We will price our fee on $/sf basis and also typical around 0.5% to 1% of construction cost. We then round up or down based on complexity and work history with the architect. Do they...

For two wood beams, I would keep it simple and just add up EI beam1 and EI beam2 and run the deflection calc with a combined EI. The different stiffness is accounted for by the different E's.

We always support an angle off of the vertical fireplace wall, not on the roof. This allows for all of the waterproofing and roofing details to not interfere. For supporting brick, we typical add jack studs at each vertical stud with flat 2x10 blocking at the face of the wall supported by...

You need to talk to all 3 partners at once and sell them on your service. It wont work with only going through your boss.

Hi Sam1993 - In Texas you can take the PE or SE exam without fulfilling the experience requirement. They decoupled the exam and experience requirement a few years ago. In order to get your license you will need to pass the exam and complete the experience requirements and complete the...

Great Discussion and I always think of this quote when people bring up code minimums: "A Code Minimum Building is the lowest quality building that you are allowed to build."

We are small structural consulting firm with 10 to 15 employees. We use Harvest and it is great. You can track each project and phase, and each employee can be set with a billable and costing rate to track each project. Project managers can then track projects and billings. We use...

Another item to keep in mind is that pay varies widely between firms with hourly compensation with 1.5x overtime and firms with salary where overtime is typically expected part of the job. Typically the hourly firms will pay less because they know that you will clock in overtime. I...

Steel Beam should bear on the wood column with a tab from the bottom of the beam that bolts into the side of the column Do not do a moment connection to the wood column.

Your plan seems workable. Definitely support the brick on steel. Due to the shape of the bump out, you will need two cross beams and 4 columns each on new foundations elements.

I started as a solo engineer 5 years ago after being burnt out and underpaid by larger firms. It took about a year before I was overwhelmed with work (we do custom residences and commercial buildings) and I hired a part-time young engineer who basically functioned as a smart drafter. I didn't...

For residential - I highly recommend that you strengthen you wood design skills both gravity and lateral. Also, spend some time reading though the IRC. Great Advice from Atrizzy above. I also recommend working for a small firm that specializes in high end custom residential and you...

Since it needs to be part of a moment frame - I would recommend framing the beam into the side of the column and using a moment connection. We commonly do the detail that Dik mentioned with big strap plate from the top of beam to the top of the column and then a angle seat at the bottom...

Thanks for the great suggestions and insight.

Yes. This is for a single story podium with parking below. One of main concerns is the connection at the top of the column and how to drag the shear load into the shear walls. No shoring is definitely good.

Hi All, I recently engineered two schematic for a two story over podium project. The owner wanted two designs for the podium: 1) concrete PT with conc columns and shear walls and 2) all steel with pan deck with steel columns and bracing. Now they want us to look at hybrid version -...

To install the straps on the interior wall - just have the contractor cut a small slit in the plywood and feed the strap through. We do this all the time and haven't heard any complaints.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I thought this system would work out well - I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something. Appreciate the thought about bracing the top flange and constructability. We will stick with the WF because because we have a lot of cantilevers...