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This is my competition... 1

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XR250

Structural
Jan 30, 2013
5,409
Soldier beam detail for 6ft. of backfill on a 10ft. wall. This was literally a sealed drawing.
Besides the fact that it was drawn with crayons, I can't imagine the 6x6's have a chance of working and those particular baseplates do not have any shear value according to Simpson. The good news is it sets the bar pretty low for standard of care :)

Pier_tuex9m.png
 
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I think the note to "IMPROVE DRAINAGE CONDITION" is doing a lot of the work on this detail. If you remove the water from behind the wall, the posts are just feel good factor.

Please note that is a "v" (as in Violin) not a "y".
 
Isnt the soil pressure more at the bottom? 1-5/8" anchor at the bottom, 2 at the top.

At first it said 'Footy", lol.
 
I knew a stress engineer that would do that type of analysis, except his analysis did not look as professional.
 
JStructsteel - well, the installer is supposed to assume a bracket goes on each side at the bottom.
 
LionelHutz,
Those type of brackets only have one anchor bolt, in the center, underneath the post.
 
Regardless, the base plate has no tested shear value by Simpson and for good reason. The bottom is slotted.
 
XR250, I see this sort of thing all the time, as I'm sure that you do too. By this sort of thing, I don't mean this exact application for a failed CMU basement wall, but I just mean a quick and dirty hand sketch lacking a lot of detail, and including some questionable info.

For this particular detail:

I don't have a gut feeling for whether or not the 6x6 wood posts will be strong enough. I would have to run the numbers.

The Simpson post base... GEEZ... you're right, it's a joke. Like you said, it is a proprietary product that has no tested or rated capacity in shear, so it's worthless in this application. What has the world of engineering and construction come to? A couple of decades ago, probably without thinking twice about it, an engineer would have maybe spec'd a couple of 4x4x1/4" clip angles (1 each side of the post) with a through bolt, and of course with each anchored to the floor. That engineer may or may not have then run some numbers to verify the solution would work, and maybe to figure the max spacing for the capacity of the connection, etc. Now days, it has to be a piece of light gauge crap. Why? Because if it can't be had at Home Depot, then it just can't be had, at least not by the numb nuts that are doing construction these days. My dad was an accountant, but he could have built this in his sleep, and he would have known the local metal shop where he could get the steel clip angles cut and punched any way he wanted them. Now days, if you ask a builder to use something he can't get at Home Depot, you might as well be asking him to launch a rocket to the moon.

Moving on, you gotta love the generic 5/8" anchor bolt. I guess any type and any length will do.

The top connection leaves a lot to be desired. I won't get into it.

Can you fault the engineer? I would say yes, a little bit, because there is minimum standard of competence and quality of deliverable that should be non-negotiable. But, on the other hand, you probably shouldn't expect much more or better for less than a handful of Benjamins, which is probably the fee that was collected for this feeble effort.
 
gte447f said:
But, on the other hand, you probably shouldn't expect much more or better for less than a handful of Benjamins, which is probably the fee that was collected for this feeble effort.

I know his rates and they are rock bottom. I do expect more though. Even the contractor looked at this and said, "uh, no" and hired us to design a proper repair.
 
XR250, I'm with you. In principal, I expect more also. But in practice, I expect exactly what we have here, unfortunately.
 
I had to look up the ABU66Z. Oh, that - I used some of these in the horse barn. Classy.
 
I see the ABU66Z is the part number of a bracket. That does seems a rather poor choice.

It seems to me that the base to floor attachment is one of the most important parts of this so the bracket and details of both the floor and post attachment should have been specified.

It also seems to me that a bracket in front of the post would be better than anything attached on the sides.
 
First time I've seen a sealed drawing like that. I got a 'shop drawing' that looked like somebody from my son's kindergarten class drew (and drooled on) it. That was the most enjoyable shop drawing rejection I've ever done.

What part of NC are you in? A friend just moved to Raleigh, and is trying to convince me to do the same. If that's the standard of care down there, I might just have to think about it...
 
Near Raleigh. I believe this guy may have retired-ish. Got a call from one of his former customers today. Wanted to add a 50 ft. long shed patio roof to the back of a $2,000,000 brick veneer home. Wanted to secure it to the wall with Titen screws into the brick only. Apparently, that is what he was used to doing. I politely passed on the job.
 
I don't really see an issue with a hand sketch being sealed for field engineering (or even regular engineering, if it is a bit cleaner than the one shown). No comment on the contents of the sketch though
 
I have no problem with a hand sketch, ever. I am totally fine with hand sketches. Heck, all of the old hand drafted drawing sets I have ever seen are boatloads better than all of the CAD drafted drawings I have seen the entire time I have been working (22 years).

In this case, it's the content that is the problem, not the fact that it is a hand sketch.
 
I don't have a problem with a good hand sketch or drawing, either. This one isn't bad, but even if the content was good I'd rank it very low on what I consider acceptable. But that's just me.
 
phamENG said:
I don't have a problem with a good hand sketch or drawing, either. This one isn't bad, but even if the content was good I'd rank it very low on what I consider acceptable. But that's just me.

I agree.
 
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