How to get started 2

[000007]

Hello,
I am looking for literature to get started on learning the knows and hows of custom home design. I am a transportation engineer, I do not have much experience in the area of structures other than what is required in school. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[sdz]

A house is a complicated structure! More so than many of the industrial structures I have designed. Fortunately much of the complexity is covered by various building regulations, industry specifications, etc. If what you want is to design and build your own home start at your local library.

 

[CSEllc]

As SDZ stated, a house is a complicated structure. Many of the homes I design the structure for take longer than the design of most office buildings.

I would recommend having a structural engineer do the design rather than you trying to do it especially if you have little or no structural experience. What might appear as a small oversite or not properly tracing the loads correctly could cost you more than the design fee in repairs and/or aggrevation.

But if you insist on doing it yourself, you should:
1. Get a copy of Design of Wood Structures by David Breyer. It is an excellent reference book and will show the actual design of the members. I believe it is up to the 4th edition, but I could be mistaken.
2. Get a copy of the National Design Specification from American Forest and Paper Association
3. Become familiar with the "latest" in I-joists and engineered lumber. You should also get a design guide from Trus Joist, Georgia Pacific, Louisiana Pacific and/or Boise Casacade. You might also want to invest in a good wood design program.
4. Pull out your old structural analysis textbook(s) and notes and review.
5. I assume you have a copy of the AISC manual of Steel Construction, in case you need to size a steel beam size or two. And let's not forget about columns. (PS Lally columns are not steel columns.....lallys are approximately 16 gage steel filled with concrete. They have a capcity of approximately 10 kips depending on length.)

Also, there are other situations or issues that are not explained in textbooks and reference material but you "pick-up" over time. For example, allow for shrinkage of the dimensional lumber in flush framed conditions and don't mix and match dimensional lumber with engineered lumber. (also due to shrinkage).

 

[000007]

SDZ and CSEllc,
Thank you both very much for the info.
It seems a i have work to do.