I have a client who had a contractor install a timber retaining wall for an area that will end up having a very large surcharge load, and to his credit, he had second thoughts and called me. Right off the bat I could see it was wonky. The wall was placed on a 45 degree slope, zero coverage at...
A thread came up in the general discussion section about interior drainage systems along the footing. These systems are ubiquitous in homes in neighborhoods with poor drainage and wet soils, and owners who don't want to dig out around the exterior of the foundation and correct the issue from...
I do residential assessments several times a week. I stay away from detailing the repairs, though, for the liability. I have a local firm that I refer the design work to. So I go out, identify the issue, recommend a course of action for the client, and if he asks for a design plan, I refer...
HouseBoy that's probably one of the more insidious interior drain products out there. If you're really trying to manage a water issue, you should be placing your drain lower than the underside of the slab. At the level shown in the photo, water can still wick up through the concrete. But...
Think this through for a minute, and you'll get your answer. Hint: where in the IBC does it address stanchions for a pipe rack. Or even the pipe rack itself.
For anyone landing at this thread from a basement drainage search, the sketch the OP provided is for an interior drain system. It doesn't solve the water intrusion problem, it merely manages it. Sometimes that's the most cost-effective thing to do. Sometimes it's like putting lipstick on a...
My comment would be this: I'm not so sure you can sell units with a CAD drawing of a structural frame. Maybe it's different in Canada. In Manhattan, the architect's offering memorandum package is what does the initial selling. Facade elevations, floor plans, finish schedules, appliances and...
My advice: you're better off with a metal liner, like Hastelloy C. Weld a pit box together, set it in a concrete basin (for double containment). But make sure your choice of metal will withstand everything you intend to throw at it.
Reason why I advise metal is because I used to work on...
Hard body impact modeling is for things like battering rams and projectiles. Soft body modeling is for things like prisoners trying to run through a wall.
The numbers you're faced with (175 and 480) tell me these wall assemblies will be pretty stout, Cat 4 (extreme duty). Cat 5 is a...
I write assessment reports for a living. I used to go by handwritten notes and then typed everything out in a Word template. Then I bought a 6th gen Ipad and loaded it with Notability and FastField Forms. Total game changer. My report is 95% complete before I start the truck to leave the site.
There is a quite a bit that can be said for working from home. I have a deal where I do steady salaried work for a national firm, and side work (different market entirely, but still SE) for myself. All of it from home. My boss talks to me maybe once a month. That arrangement came out of...
I'd tack on to the above statement as follows: At any cubic element in a wood beam in bending, the horizontal and vertical shear stresses will be equal, in order to maintain equilibrium. So if there is stress in a horizontal plane of a finite element of the wood, there will be an equal...
Good point to bring up. I used the design value of a plywood repair (roughly 300 psi) versus the published test results on maximum shear strength (not design values) for kiln dried Douglas Fir (1100 psi), since you'd be using a designed plywood panel on a piece of fir that has already failed...
I bought the paper when it first came out. This is the type of failure I see the most of in older wood structures. The basis of their 80%-90% strength ceiling was empirical testing. They tested dozens of beam set ups with different screw patterns, all with the same simulated wood split, with...
Plywood has a pretty low shear strength compared to undamaged lumber. Repairing a shear rupture in wood with a material that has a lower shear strength will help some, but it's not the best choice. Example: in HouseBoy's joist, (assuming the joist is lifted back to the point where the split...
