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FRAMING A PLATFORM FOR A FORCED-AIR HEATING UNIT

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

Подпись: SIDE VIEW

FRAMING A PLATFORM FOR A FORCED-AIR HEATING UNIT FRAMING A PLATFORM FOR A FORCED-AIR HEATING UNIT Подпись: І FRAMING A PLATFORM FOR A FORCED-AIR HEATING UNIT FRAMING A PLATFORM FOR A FORCED-AIR HEATING UNIT FRAMING A PLATFORM FOR A FORCED-AIR HEATING UNIT

FRONT VIEW

36 in.

Some furnace rooms need a platform so the heating unit can receive combustion air from below.

FRAMING A PLATFORM FOR A FORCED-AIR HEATING UNIT

FRAMING A PLATFORM FOR A FORCED-AIR HEATING UNIT

my carpenter-daughter, you can hop right up on the plates and start lying the walls together. Otherwise, it’s best to work on a sturdy ladder.

The corner marks you drew on the plates earlier now serve as guides when railing off the top plates. Make sure that the double top plate is on these lines and that the top plates of both walls are touching. If necessary, toe­nail a 16d nail up through the top plate of the through wall into the double top plate of the butt wall to draw everything together, as shown in the photo at left. Nail two I6d nails through the lap into the intersecting wall.

TOENAIL THE TOP PLATE...

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Wood Insulated Concrete Forms

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

Wood insulated concrete forms (WICFs) were invented of necessity in Europe follow­ing World War II. Massive rebuilding was required and there was a shortage of conven­tional building materials. Waste wood was plentiful, and insulating forms made by mix­ing mineralized (clay impregnated) wood chips with cement proved to be a good way to conserve both precious fuel and scarce con­crete. These wood and cement masonry units had many excellent building properties. They were lightweight and noncombustible, had a high strength-to-weight ratio, and were di­mensionally stable, insulative, and resistant to freeze-thaw, rot, insects, and fungus growth. The resulting structures were more durable, energy efficient, and economical than struc­tures built by prewar methods...

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Safety items on the job site

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

• Keep a first-aid kit on the job site at all times.

• Keep the sun off your body. It may be okay to wear tank tops, shorts, and sandals to the beach, but these are not okay to wear on a construction site day in and day out. You won’t stay cooler by letting the hot sun beat directly on you. Wear long-sleeve shirts, jeans, good shoes, and a wide-brim hat when the sun is shining. If you are especially sensitive to the sun, keep a bottle of sunblock handy. (If you aren’t con­vinced of the value of protecting yourself from the harsh sun, ask an old carpenter with skin cancer to find out what he thinks about it.)

• Don’t wear loose-fitting clothing or jewelry that can get caught in a power tool. If you have long hair, tie it up for the same reason.

• Drink lots of water...

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Reinforced-Concrete Flat-Slab Bridge

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

For short simple spans (up to 30 ft or 9.1 m) and for somewhat longer continuous spans (interior spans up to 55 ft or 16.8 m), reinforced-concrete flat slabs provide a minimum – depth bridge. Figure 4.5 shows a schematic of this bridge type. At a slab depth of about 2 ft (610 mm), the slab begins to become uneconomical, with too much of the section required to support itself.

Falsework is required to construct the slab. Where space is available beneath the struc­ture, scaffolding may be used. If the bridge is over a stream, or over a highway or railroad

TABLE 4.2 Approximate Maximum Span for Various Types of Bridges

Подпись: Approximate

maximum

Type span, ft (m)

Reinforced-concrete flat slab, continuous 55 (17)

Composite steel beam (36-in series), simple 100 (30)

Precast prestressed-concrete voided box...

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STEP 9 SHEATHE THE WALLS

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

I lived through the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Northridge, California, in 1992. It made me believe in wall sheathing. A 6.8 quake is not a big one, yet a number of people lost their lives. More lives would have been lost if critical areas in buildings had not been sheathed with ply­wood or OSB. The buildings that held up best were small, single-story wood-frame houses, such as those built by Habitat. Many were knocked several feet from their foundation, but they didn’t collapse on their occupants.

Unlike drywall, stucco, and most exte­rior siding, plywood and OSB wall sheathing provide both lateral (horizontal) and verti­cal strength. Sheathing helps hold buildings together and makes a house windproof, which is important if you live in an area where cold winds are a reality.

Be...

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Siding Often Determines the Type of Housewrap

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

When you’re using vinyl siding, which comes with built-in drainage holes and fits on the wall loosely, an ordinary smooth­faced housewrap provides good drainage. But with tightly fastened board siding, any water trapped between the siding and a smooth housewrap will sit and eventually could make its way through the housewrap and into the framing. Remember, although many housewraps are good at resisting bulk water, they should not be considered waterproof.

In these cases, it’s a good idea to choose a furrowed rain-screen housewrap. Its embossed texture provides just enough air­space for liquid water to drain away before it has a chance to penetrate the membrane (see "Rain screen and housewrap com­bined," p. 76).

When applying stucco, choose a house – wrap designed specifically for stucco...

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CHARACTERISTICS AND SELECTION OF BRIDGE TYPES

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

The type of bridge and the span layouts are interdependent. Bridge type cannot be selected without regard to the length of spans, the ratio of adjacent span lengths, and whether spans are to be made continuous.

Table 4.2 lists common types of bridges and the maximum span lengths below which they may be an economical choice. The maximum spans tabulated are approximate, and are presented as a guide only. They are subject to increase as technology advances. Similarly, increases in specified live load may tend to reduce the maximum span. The economic competitiveness of a particular bridge type varies with regional availability and workload of fabricators and specialty contractors, yearly fluctuations of labor and material costs, and other factors...

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Cultivating Coincidence

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

On all the buildings I’ve done with old barn timbers, I would catalog the pieces that I’d been able to procure, using a legal pad or clipboard. I’d record the sectional dimensions of each piece, its useful length, and its condition. Then I would match the cataloged pieces to my plan, to see how I could make the available pieces mesh with what I needed. Sometimes I’d have a few timbers left over — I’d save them for the next project or make them available to another owner-builder — and sometimes I’d have to seek out certain timbers to make up a shortfall...

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Other Alternative Building Systes

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

Straw Bale

Although straw has been an important com­ponent of natural building for centuries, straw bale is a relatively new form of alternative con­struction that appears to be an innovation of the early settlers of the Nebraska plains, where unsuitable soils and a scarcity of wood made necessity the mother of invention. The high insulative value of straw bale (between R-33 and R-57, depending on the type of bale and the testing facility) and the aesthetics of the thick walls have quickly made it a popular al­ternative building material.

Because much of the straw grown in the United States is heavily sprayed with pesti­cides, we recommend looking for straw that

Other Alternative Building Systes

One of many 800 year old structures in Germany...

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Finishing Basement Walls

Posted by on 16/ 11/ 15

Basement walls are usually masonry, rarely plumb, and often damp. If you want fin­ished basement walls, here’s a skeletal outline of the principal steps (see Chapter 14 for insulation tips).

1. Eliminate external sources of water such as clogged gutters, inadequate drainage, and improper grading. Repair foundation cracks that could admit water.

2. Trowel or roll a cementitious coating onto foundation walls to damp-proof them. Using construction adhesive, install rigid foam insulation panels to isolate cool foundation walls and prevent condensation. Cover the panels with a plastic water­proofing membrane.

3. Erect wood-frame or light-steel stud walls within—but not touching—

the foundation walls. Use pressure-treated sole plates on wood walls...

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