I'm trying to help a contractor with a residential remodel. The existing house has a 9'-0" high 8" cmu block exterior wall (reinforcing unknown at this time). They want to add to the wall height with 2x6 wood studs to make this a 2 story house. The trick here is that in a certain area of the...
We are working on an existing concrete framed building and the owner wants to add a floor to the building, but wants to use steel framing. The existing roof level framing and concrete columns were designed for the added future loading (we have the building drawings). But what about splicing a...
I have a question regarding a gravel and clay mix and how/if the gravel effects the actual design PVR (potential vertical rise) of the soil profile. Assume that the clay, having some PVR, is actually mixed with gravel in the actual in-situ soil profile. Does the presence of the gravel (or any...
Can composite steel floor girders be used with noncomposite steel floor beams? I guess my question is, does the whole system have to be composite construction, or can just the girders be composite? Obviously, all of the decking will be composite deck. Thanks for any info!
Wondering if anyone could describe or point me in the direction of a detail for the connection of the top of a CMU wall to the bottom flange of a wide flange steel beam. The beam and the wall are running in the same direction. The centerline of the wall and the the beam web would be in the same...
I am wondering if I could get some input from the community about how you determine whether to use a wide flange column or an HSS column.
We are currently looking at a 3 story building that will have some moment frames for the MWFRS. The architect likes the use of HSS columns.
In situations...
Is there a code section (IBC Chapter 21, ACI 530) that specifically gives height to thickness ratios. I have a contractor that changed from 6" cmu to 8" cmu without consulting anyone because the owner raised the wall height from approximately 11' tall walls to 13' tall walls. The reason he...
Please help me to understand something that I know I should understand better.
Floor live loading in most areas of a residence is to be 40psf per IBC 2009. Yet I can think of many examples of everyday items that would cause loading greater than 40 psf. A bed that sits on 4 feet for instance...
We get a fair amount of calls from people needing engineered foundation plans for a pre-engineered metal building.
In our proposals for these we typically always include to do a site specific soil investigation, but many times lose the job because of this.
Seemes like there is always somebody...
I posted a version of this question in the foundation engineering forum, but go no response. I'm wondering how expansive underlying soil needs to be before removing a certain depth of it and replacing w/ non-expansive fill is warranted. In my area most homes are built on monolithically poured...
I have a question for experienced foundation engineers regarding SOG on expansive soil.
I need to design a residential SOG. The soil analysis gives Plasticity Indicies of 29 from the surface down to about 10', then 32 from 10' down to 15'.
I went through the WRI method for slab on grade design...
I am having to analyze some old steel open web joists. I don't have the joist designation, unfortunately. From my research, I found out the building was constructed in 1946. I don't have the "80 Years of Open Web Steel Joist Construction" by SJI and I'm not sure the joists in question would...
We have a question going around the office..if a wide flange beam is braced on the compression flange (in this case the top flange) by bar joists, but an upper structure (raised aisle) is also attached to the beam at about midspan that will impart a torsional moment, will a web stiffener below...
Can anyone tell me what the ASTM designation is for the steel plate used in making built-up members, such as the columns and rafters in pre-manufactured buildings? I need to know the ASTM designation (A??). I need fy = 50ksi material. Any help is appreciated!
