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Recent content by Zulak

  1. Zulak

    Water Storage Tanks

    I'm checking anchor bolts on a flat-bottom welded steel water storage tank that has a 42' diameter, and is 106' tall. It has (8)-1.375" anchor bolts, some slightly corroded. With the tank built in the 1950's, I'm assuming that it was only designed for wind (not seismic). The tank appears in...
  2. Zulak

    Site Class Definition

    Site Class is a soils related category, and should be provided by the Geotechnical Engineer. One with experience should be able to interpret the soils information without performing any expensive shear wave velocity tests. This is one of the reasons that I like to get a Geotechnical Engineer...
  3. Zulak

    deflection of steel truss and failure deflection distance

    A common total deflection limit of l/240 for that span would equate to a little over 2" at mid-span. While large deflections doesn't necessarily mean member failure, other factors could be influenced by the large deflections (such as roof ponding).
  4. Zulak

    Frost Depth - Railway

    PEinc, Thanks for the info. You've been most helpful.
  5. Zulak

    Frost Depth - Railway

    Does anyone have a railroad code (maybe AREA) that would have requirements on the frost depth for a concrete cantilevered retaining wall along the railroad tracks? The site is just south of Boston, Massachusetts.
  6. Zulak

    Construction Safety

    I have a client that has an existing one-story store that was originally designed for a second floor. They want to put on the second floor now, but want to keep the first floor store operational during the construction. Is there any OSHA regulations that prohibits keeping the store open below...
  7. Zulak

    garage hoist i-beam size requirement

    Pulling motors out of the race car again? W8x15 should work quite nicely. It has a little extra flange width to pull off the bottom flange. Provide some sort of restraints at the ends to prevent rotation of the beam. That will be $125, please.
  8. Zulak

    Need some good FE (EIT) Review advice?

    Get the practice exam from the company that gives the FE exam. I also found the FE more difficult than the PE, more because I took it 10 years out of college. The afternoon session was easier than the morning, so don't be discouraged at the lunch break. Start studying 4 weeks prior to exam...
  9. Zulak

    Live Load Reduction

    On a 5-story, loadbearing wall building, does the loadbearing wall qualify as a "column" or a "beam" when determining live load reduction? (I believe the equation is similar in most codes)
  10. Zulak

    Peer Review

    In the northeast US, it is required for certain size buildings to have a peer review performed. This is an independent design check hired directly by the owner, and is quite common here. For the most part, these reviews pick up minor items that were overlooked on the Construction Documents...
  11. Zulak

    Minimum Steel for Crack Concrol?

    If you're going to use #3 rebar, I wouldn't go any further than 18"oc with the rebar, since local cracks may form. That's why wwf works well because the grid spacing is close. A better way for residential construction is to add Fibermesh to the mix. Good crack control and no hassle of...
  12. Zulak

    Determining Load Bearing Walls in a center entrance Colonial

    The most information that you can obtain from an existing house is from the basement and the attic (unless you tear holes in the walls and ceilings). Go to the attic first and see if you can see the attic floor joists spliced over the load bearing wall(s). Then go to the basement and check the...
  13. Zulak

    grout testing

    I'm getting testing results from grout used in pressure-grouted auger piles, and the 7-day results reflect approximately 50% of the desired 28-day requirements, but the 28-day breaks are all fine. Is this typical of grout? Concrete usually yields approximately 70% of design strength at 7 days...
  14. Zulak

    New York City Construction

    Project is lower west side (Greenwich St. & Hubert St.).
  15. Zulak

    New York City Construction

    I've been asked to do a preliminary design on a new 9-story building in Manhattan. The building footprint is only 4000sf. My initial tendency is to use a structural steel frame, but the client had been led to believe that a concrete frame would be cheaper and faster to build. I personally...

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