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Looking for public domain structural drawings

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milkshakelake

Structural
Jul 15, 2013
1,178
Are there websites out there with legal and publicly available structural drawings? Preferably with no confidentiality or intellectual property clauses so I don't have to worry about ethics problems.

I found something like that for civil drawings, but not structural. But more resources for civil drawings would also be helpful.
 
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What do you intend to do with any drawings you do find?

I know you asked about websites, but......

Depending on the jurisdiction, any engineering drawings from local projects may be readily available and free of charge at the local city hall engineering department.

Such drawings are usually considered public domain under a freedom of information statute. If not free, there maybe a modest fee.
 
To add to what MotorCity said, some jurisdictions will even have all drawings used to issue permits available on their websites.
 
As a follow on to MotorCity, most public construction, plans and all, is announced on City websites (sandiego.gov here). I have a gorgeous set of plans for the new restrooms at a park here. Sometimes EIR's will announce where to find plans.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I actually went to a city agency today and paid $2 for a concrete repair drawing.

@Jae: Thanks. I'm pretty familiar with steel/concrete but I'll keep these in mind.

@MotorCity: I intend to learn from the drawings and put them into practice. Since I'm in a big city, going to city agencies and dealing with the bureaucracy and lines of people to get a single drawing is a whole day of work, so I was hoping that there would be websites for this stuff.
In particular, I've been having a hard time with deep excavations (40'+) and wood mid-rises. I read tons of references, consulted engineers, and posted here, so I know my design is decent, but it's always good to see what others have done as a starting point.

@dauwerda: I was looking for that type of website. I wouldn't want to get stuff from private practices and "steal" their stuff, but if it's public works, I'll dig in like it's the gold rush.

@BUGGAR: I'll check that out. Thanks for the reference.
 
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