Architect question for those of you that do residential projects...
When you guys do load calculations for a residential project (an addition or remodel, not a new home), how common is it for you to do them based on the previous 12 months of electrical bills?
I'm used to doing the math myself...
Now that you have an interior frame wall,, it makes mle\re sense because insulation has a place to live.
That assembly would somehow need to address getting bulk water and vapor out of the gap. Below is a diagram from Building Science Corp with a similar concept.
Assuming you’re in a much...
I recall comparing our electric bills to BOMA averages for office space, ours were something like 25% above the notional average per SF.
-Jason, Architect
Dik,
Very minimal west glazing (only the 16" wide, full height glass slots between CMU panels on the west). 8' deep Kalwall overhangs on the lower glass panels, operable Kalwall panels on the upper glass panels. As occupants, we could raise and lower the upper shades in the morning and lower...
It was on the tail end of the UBC, I think. I was still in school when they designed it.
I know the electric bills were above average. It was built out of thermal bridges. Great office, though.
-Jason, Architect
Architect opinion…
A lot depends on your climate. My old firm built our office out of uninsulated solid grouted CMU, exposed on both sides with no overhangs. In a hard driving rain with wind, we’d sometimes see moisture on the walls, but it would dry quickly because it could evaporate to either...
EDIT oops, Where I said PT roof sheathing I meant fire rated. Not the whole roof, just on either side of where units adjoin.
I took over a townhome project from a guy who did really sloppy drawings and somehow got a permit - he had no detail of how the party wall met the roof sheathing. No...
Architect here...
Somewhere in the IRC (maybe in the Definitions?) there is language that each unit shall be structurally independent. The ones I've worked on treated each unit like it got wind from all sides, so they ended up being pretty redundant.
The reason the architects are pushing for...
These are just normal everyday laundry rooms, 6' x 8', maybe 8' x 12'. Nothing special.
It's been so long I don't recall the specific house when the AHJ comment came up, just that I was told a vent fan was required for code compliance and I never questioned it until this week. I noticed there...
I've included a switched ceiling mounted ventilation fan in laundry rooms for as long as I can remember. When I first started designing homes, plan reviewers redlined me for this requirement and I never questioned it.
A contractor has recently pushed back at me on this, saying that the 4"...
I went for this link before I saw your termite comment. It's basically an LVL lapped frame for the narrowest possible portal walls. It may be interesting for someone else's situation...
I actually went to the house in question today for the special inspection - the ABU46 is beefier than I thought. I probably had those little folded sheet metal fence post bases in my head, the ABU46 is 11GA and the standoff doesn't seem flimsy at all.
Funny thing was, I was there for the epoxy...
This one wouldn't exceed crushing on a plate, but it's also interior so there aren't any existing anchor bolts nearby.
Maybe I'm overthinking it. The little folded sheet metal post bases just feel flimsy. I guess it isn't going anywhere once the anchor bolt gets set.
-Jason, Architect
I've got an interior remodel in construction, single family home with a conventionally framed roof where we're taking out an interior wall below the ridge and replacing it with a glullam flush beam. Loads to 4x6 posts are around 6,500 lbs each. The 4x6's get buried into walls at each end (this...
I worked on a project once with 15-18ft deep caissons (ranging from 36"-52" diameter) within 6 ft of an existing slab on grade structure where access was tight. We ended up going to the maximum depth with a vacuum truck - basically a diesel motor powering a huge vacuum with 12" diameter hoses...
