We just completed a glulam repair project in which the beams projected from the interior to the exterior of the building envelope supporting the balconies. The exterior portion were completely consumed and had to be cut-off at the building wall. We used a steel shoe, 1/8" thick extending 24...
If I had a nickel every time a contractor wanted to use fibres in lieu of WWM...
In our experience, substitution of WWF with fibres is acceptable depending upon the application and type of fiber. Polypropelene fibres are for plastic shrinkage control only; they do nothing for drying shrinkage...
Although it may not be relevant to your geographic location, the Masonry Design Code for Canada (CSA S304)states that for wood structures of four storeys or less, non-load-bearing masonry cladding may be supported by wood members. Regarding your situation, it's decorative and should therefore...
Interesting discussion. The detail should work structurally; however, be advised that for stone less than 75 mm in thickness, each stone must be individually supported. That is, independent support for each stone unit is required, at least according to Canadian Standards Association. Multiple...
At the risk of wading into dangerous waters...salt water has no chemical effect on the integrity of the paste; you can cast concrete utilizing sea water as your mix water, disregarding corrosion of any embedded metal. In the absence of effective air entrainment however, eventual scaling and...
Further to the NBC Canada reference, Part 4 is quite specific; 12 kpa (250 psf) for any structures exposed to vehicle traffic with potential exposure to loaded buses and trucks (fire trucks included) or the imposed point load of 54 kn (12 kips) for driveways and sidewalk over areaways and...
Just a cautionary note regarding repairs to post-tensioned structures (forgive me if I'm wading into waters already visited); the conventional steel reinforcing is often used for crack control and does not contribute substantially to structural capacity. Has the integrity of the post-tensioned...
In direct answer to your question, I'm not aware of any publication directly comparing the two systems. From our own experience however, you will generally find that the precast system costs significantly less compared to cast-in-place, post-tensioned; largely due to the requirements for a...
Remember that a sealer is a type of damproofing product; you get a temporary reduction in the level of moisture and chloride penetration which decreases in performance over a short period of time. Membranes provide 100 percent waterproofing and usually via visual inspection you can tell where...
CAUTION! Cyclic wind loads will induce considerable levels of dynamic loading on your banner and potentially loosen your fasteners. In direct answer to your question, in my opinion no. In fact, I tend to over-design the connections because of the dynamic action you don't get with rigid...
A good reference is a book called Building Science for a Cold Climate published by National Research Council of Canada. The SI perm value for 6 mil polyethylene is 0.0522 (dry cup) perms in ng/(Pa*s*m)
JW
The Canadian Standard CSA A371 has some excellent information regarding repointing masonry. I agree in general with the points raised above; however, I generally specify that if a joint needs to be re-pointed (cracked, eroded or displaced mortar) a minimum of one inch should be removed or to...