We use the following analogy when the owner of the company gets mad because we engineers are on CAD. "When you sit down to write out a proposal, you don't start with a pen and a legal pad. You type it up yourself." You older generation guys need to stop looking at CAD as a job and more as a...
Here's the situation:
Load bearing masonry building, precast hollow core plank for floors originally built in 1969. The building is currently an assisted living facility and will be updated with new assisted living apartments. The new layouts do not have plumbing/HVAC fixtures in the same...
I've designed a number of buildings as you've described. I double up the joists where the track runs parallel with the joists and hang the track from each joist where the track is perpendicular. I support the track at approximately 10' on center in both directions (12' shouldn't be that much...
I once contacted a grating manufaturer to see if the grating could be used to cut down the unbraced length of the beams. They said no way. I wouldn't count on the grating for any type of lateral stability.
Although I've never designed one, I've seen a tension ring type of design used. It's done by connecting cables to the tails of the hip rafters which resist the horizontal thrust of the roof.
