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New Mexico design help

New Mexico design help

New Mexico design help

(OP)
Just got off the phone with the plan reviewer from New Mexico.  Being from Minnesota we do very little work outside the Midwest.  He informed me that they were in a D1 seismic zone.  What does D1 mean?  Also, he informed me that we needed to have 24" min footing coverage.  Typically in MN we provide a reinforced foundation wall down to a strip footing.  Is this practice acceptable in New Mexico?  Thanks for all your help.

RE: New Mexico design help

D1 is probably a Uniform Building Code (UBC) or possibly a IBC designation.  I think New Mexico is a fairly low seismic area. IBC has designations of A through F.  With F being the worst.

RE: New Mexico design help

It sounds like some bad communication.  Maybe he means that the soils are all seismic class D.  As far as the footings, I don't think NM is any different than AZ, where I work.  I'd call him (her) again, be non-confrontational, and ask what sections of the code they're referencing.

RE: New Mexico design help

ars001,
I think that the building official is giving you the seismic zone, D1 from the International Residential Code (IRC). The International Building Code (IBC)uses the mapped spectral accelerations, S sub s & S sub 1 (from the NOAA web site) to calculate S sub DS & S sub D1. These numbers are used to find the Base Shear, V from formulas 12.8-1 thru 12.8-6 of ASCE 7-05 (and E).
I don't use the IRC but I think that it is used mostly by non-engineers that do "precriptive design" of light framed buildings. Most engineers in the west do "rational design" and use the IBC.

I Hope that this helps.

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