OK thanks for the quick feedback, appreciate it.
Am still shocked nobody's making 6" bond beam block now, especially in a city where every extra inch of wall thickness is a big deal.
I designed a 6" CMU block wall with bond beams at the usual locations (lintels, floor levels, top of wall, etc.)
Unfortunately the Contractor cannot get 6" CMU bond beam block anywhere; I've also made some calls and can't find any in stock, seems the block manufacturers in my area (NYC) will...
Definitely agree about the FE software- a few years back I modeled a complicated wood roof with hip rafters, valley rafters, etc. that had to be modified as part of a renovation, and because of the complexity of the proposed changes I didn’t feel comfortable just doing hand calcs. It took ages...
A really steep roof would be like one of those old cool A-frame structures- and as far as I know the rafters on those go all the way down to a stem wall/foundation, avoiding the need for ties or a diaphragm at the eaves.
For a very steep roof, say >45 degrees, I would consider that the wind load perpendicular to the ridge is resolved through the triangulated rafter structure- rafters in tension and compression like a triangular truss, with the proper detailing at the ridge and eaves to transfer the force across...
RE: how loads get to the shear walls, in the US I usually see the roof sheathing nailed to the rafter at the gable wall. The top plate of the gable wall is nailed to the bottom of the rafter flush to the outside. The wall sheathing is placed up against the rafter and sheathing panels are nailed...
Agree with MotorCity.
Are you looking at an FE model of the roof? In my experience when trying to make a model of a complicated roof system unexpected load paths come up that are usually ignored in standard design practice (simple hand calcs for wood structures) or are tricky to account for in...
What do you typically do about frost protection for architectural landscape elements that are non-structural in the sense that they aren't supporting walls, columns, roofs, etc.?
These could include low concrete walls for sitting or separating areas of a garden, short retaining walls, etc.
The...
Thanks for the quick reply.
In my experience the authorities in my city are careful to ensure deck foundations are frost protected, plus this is a steel deck structure (for fire reasons), and I don't think it's going to be as flexible/forgiving as a wood deck if there's foundation movement...
I'm designing a small retaining wall in the backyard of an attached rowhouse (neighbors on both sides, shared party walls)
I've attached a sketch of the detail.
The retaining wall surrounds a lowered patio and also supports two columns for the deck above.
The frost depth is 4 ft., and I want...
@KootK
Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
RE: the connection between the CMU wall and the concrete girt:
The structure will be fully shored at this location to remove floor loads from this wall. The wall will be laterally braced against out of plane movement.
The Contractor cuts a 6" deep...
It's an older CMU wall (~60 years old) and according to our probes it's unreinforced and ungrouted.
I assume hollow CMU with face-shell bedding only.
With these assumptions the current wall works for gravity and wind but when it doubles in height the tension stress in the mortar is too great...
We are removing an existing floor plate that braces a 12" thick CMU wall in the out of plane direction.
As a result the CMU wall's unbraced length will double and the wall will no longer work for wind loading.
I want to add a horizontal girt to stiffen the CMU wall at the same elevation as the...
@phamENG:
Yes, unfortunately I haven't found a lot of good/definitive info on the topic of live loads on occupied roofs, including on this board.
I am surprised since green/occupied roofs have become so trendy in the last 10+ years.
I totally agree with your point about leaking. I think...
@phamENG:
Thanks for the quick reply.
I disagree with your reply, though, because I have always understood green roofs to be dead load. After all the weight of the green roof can vary greatly between different roof systems and can be much larger than 100 psf.
This is backed up by Section...
I find Occupied Roof Live loads to be very inconsistent in the ASCE/IBC and would appreciate your input!
What live loads do you use for a residential occupied roof (single-family)?
ASCE 7-16 Table 4.3-1 allows for a live load at the roof same as the occupancy served, which for a house would be...
