Textbook suggestion request 3

[TechBear]

I have a PhD in physics and would like to learn more about civil and structural engineering with an eye to building a house. Can you give me any suggestion on good textbooks I could read?

In particular, I'm interested in fire and earthquake resistant building, such as concrete rebar or wood frame+ stucco construction.

thanks

 

[JStephen]

"Structural Engineering Handbook" has a broad overview of a lot of different topics if you're just curious.
For actual house design, you'll be way ahead just to hire somebody that does that routinely.

 

[dik]

I don't know if they still do, but, CMHC in Canada used to publish a small book on wood frame construction... I'll see if I can dig up a copy.

Dik

 

[TechBear]

Thanks. my idea is to hire a structural engineer, but I want to be able to understand what is going on, and work on the design too. that is why I'm looking for real textbooks that structural engineering students would read as part of the coursework. it seems several universities keep the textbook choice hidden on their public websites, and also sometimes a professor will not choose the best textbook available.

 

[jayrod12]

The book Dik is referencing is now a PDF on their website Canadian Wood-Frame House Construction

 

[sandman21]

The best wood book; Design of Wood Structures. AWC will have alot of PDF's for home construction, AWC I am trying to think of a simple concrete book for concrete, the ones I know would need someone to teach you whats important. If you plan to "work" on the design expect to be charged for the training and rework.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

"Residential Structural Design Guide - Second Edition" available 403 page (free) download from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Just published - October 2017.

This is an update to the First Edition: "Residential Structural Design Guide - 2000 Edition"

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

http://www.VacuumTubeEra.net

 

[kipfoot]

I think the book SlideRuleEra recommended is perfect for you. If you want to know more than the broad topics in this book, and once you have an engineer you're working with and show him or her that you're curious and not a P.I.T.A. then (s)he'll lend you a few textbooks for steel, concrete, and wood.

Much like a tradesman, there will be a price to do the work. If you want to help, the price goes up.

 

[dik]

OP: Found it... it's 44meg in size and cannot upload it.

Dik

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Breyer's Design of Wood Structures textbook is my go-to reference for wood design textbooks. Skimming through the Residential Structural Design Guide I'd say that if you read that first and then picked up Breyer's you would be all set.

You can also get a lot of the wood design codes for free as a view-only PDF:

http://www.awc.org/codes-standards/publications/nds-2015

And, of course, most building codes are available for public viewing (either online or at your local town office).

Professional Engineer (ME, NH, MA) Structural Engineer (IL)
American Concrete Industries

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanConcrete/

 

[dhengr]

TechBear:
There used to be a set of books by Harry Parker, pub’d. by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. with titles like “Simplified Design of Reinforced Concrete,” “Simplified Design of Structural Steel,” “Simplified Design of Structural Timber,” “Simplified Engineering for Architects and Builders,” and some others. We used these back in the early 60's for some basic engineering courses for Architecture students and I have seen some later eds. than what we used. I don’t know if, or when they may have quit publishing these, but they gave a good basic explanation of the various subjects. Today the bldg. codes and stds. have gotten so complicated that they are more difficult to follow and understand than the fundamentals of the particular bldg. material and its basic design and bldg. process.

 

[JoelTXCive]

In Texas, on a 'normal' house, a structural engineer will often design the foundation and beam setup (wood or engineered lumber). The rest of the house is just pure prescriptive building code with no design or analysis. (unless there are windstorm engineering requirements or other special circumstances)

It can be overwhelming to try and learn the all the nitty gritty details on every aspect of construction. At some point in time, you have to trust that the contractors and trades know what they are doing.

I would focus on learning about the major items (foundation design & main structural elements such as beams). Then do your best to hire quality contractors for the rest.

Here is a handy little document that I just found this weekend on load paths and how they move through a structure.

Link

http://www.beamchek.com/AcrobatFiles/IntroLoadPath.pdf

 

[TechBear]

Thanks everybody for the reading suggestions. I just wish you guys used metric I'm a European immigrant...

I don't plan to pester the engineer, by the way, I really want to learn myself, so that I don't need to pester the engineer. I even considered going back to college, but degrees in USA are quite expensive. so I plan to keep reading textbooks.