Blog Archives

STACK VENTS, VENT STACKS, AND RELIEF VENTS

Stack vents, vent stacks, and relief vents require more information for sizing. Specifically, you must know the fixture-unit load on a drain before you can determine vent sizing and developed lengths. Once you have calculated the fixture units, a sizing table can be used to give you your sizing information. The table shown in Figure 5.31 is the type of table that would be used to de­fine the requirements of stack vents, vent stacks, and relief vents. Like the other tables, this one is self-explanatory. To prove this, size the diameter and maximum length of a vent stack that will serve 20 fixture units with a drain di­ameter of two inches. Assume that you want your vent pipe to have a diame­ter of one and a half inches...

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Stage 5: Testing an Aggregate Mix and an Asphalt Mixture

So far, we have carried out a series of tests. Let us sum up all the data at our disposal as follows:

• Air voids in the compacted coarse aggregate VCAdrc

• Initial (or adjusted if needed) content of binder

We have also made a series of compacted SMA samples. Now it is time to determine the following features for them:

• Bulk density of the compacted SMA sample

• Maximum density of the SMA mix

• Content of air voids in the compacted SMA samples (Va)

• Content of VMA

• Content of air voids in the coarse aggregate of the aggregate mix

(VCAMIX)

Among these features, only VCAMIX is a new one. It is vitally important to under­stand the differences between the terms VCAdrc, VMA, and VCAMIX. All of them describe voids in an aggregate mix or one portion of the aggregate mix...

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GENERAL PREPARATION

Exterior trim can be applied in many different ways, depending on the design of the house and the type of siding. For wood shingles or clap­boards, use trim boards that are thicker than the siding, and apply trim to the sheathing before putting up the siding. For flat shiplap and board- and-batten sidings, apply trim boards over the siding. In general, try to use the same materials and installation methods that were used on the house originally.

Solid-wood exterior trim should be a rot – resistant species such as redwood, cedar, or hard pine and sufficiently dry to avoid shrinkage, cup­ping, and checking. For those reasons, avoid sugar pine, knotty pine, hemlock, fir, and the like...

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Techniaues BUILDING CORNERS AND CHANNELS

LIKE HEADERS, OUTSIDE corners and channels can be built in a number of different ways, and pref­erences tend to be regional. The most common con­structions are shown in the illustration below. A two-stud outside corner works well in most cases, but if you are planning to install clapboard or fiber-cement siding directly to the studs (with no exterior sheathing), you’ll need more backing at the outside corners. A blocked-up corner provides more backing and makes good use of 2x offcuts.

In addition, all of these outside corner configura­tions provide backing on the inside of the wall for drywall or other wallboard.

Channels (sometimes called tees) are most easily made w;th a flat stud or blocks nailed between two regular studs. I place a crowned or knot-filled stud between two good studs...

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D. Chalking Lines Duplication Method

This method is probably the easiest to use. To find the lengths of rafters, you make an actual size drawing of the rafter on the floor and then measure the length.

All the information you need to use this method should be on the plans. First you will need the pitch. (See Method C mentioned previously.) Second is the span, which is the distance from the support on one side of the rafter to the support on the other side. Third is the width of the rafter, the length of the roof overhang, and the size of the exterior wall.

Steps (shown in Line Chalking Sequence illustration):

1. Chalk a straight line longer than the length of your rafter, which would represent the bottom of the ceiling joist if there were a ceiling joist.

2...

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BLOCKING IN BATHROOMS AND CLOSETS

Nailed between studs, blocking provides solid backing for items such as towel racks, closet shelves, and safety grab bars. Blocking ensures that the mounting hardware for those devices can be anchored with screws driven into solid wood, so that you don’t have to worry about racks, bars, and shelves pulling loose.

It’s smart to include blocking when marking up wall plates. Cut blocking boards from 2x scraps. As shown in the illustration at right, blocking is installed so that the face of the 2x is flush with the edges of the studs. To help locate blocking, use these standard heights for common bath, kitchen, and storage fixtures:

■ Towel bars: Near the tub and vanity, center blocks 54 in. above the floor.

■ Toilet-paper holder: Near the toilet, center blocks 24 in. above the floor.

■ Toothb...

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A SIZING EXERCISE

Подпись:A SIZING EXERCISE
Let’s do a sizing exercise to illustrate how the tables from a codebook might be used to determine the size of piping needed for various vents. When you set up a vent sys­tem, you must know how far a vent is al­lowed to be from the trap it is serving. If you look at Figure 5.27, you will see the re­quirements for one of the major plumbing codes. The table is easy enough to understand. If you have a fixture drain that has a diameter of 1.5 inches and a trap size of 1.5 inches, with a grade of a quarter of an inch per foot, the trap may be as much as five feet from the vent. With this particular code, the dis­tance would remain the same, even if the trap size was only one and a quarter inches in diameter, so long as the drain remains as a 1.5 inch diameter.

Size of fixture drain (in)

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INSTALLING FLASHING PAPER

Flashing paper is available in several forms, the most convenient being fiberglass-reinforced rolls either 6 in. or 9 in. wide. (These strips are some­times called felt splines.) There’s also a plethora

INSTALLING FLASHING PAPER
of peel-and-stick flexible flashings; but because they’re expensive, they tend to be used mainly as cap flashing for the tops of doors and windows. Foil-faced flexible flashings like Polyken® Foil- astic, for example, adhere aggressively and seal head joints so water can’t back up behind them.

Uncased windows are commonly used in reno­vation when it’s desirable to install casing that matches an existing style. Since precased units offer a limited range of casing styles, many builders install uncased windows and buy appro­priate casing from a local mill.

Flash the rough sill before insta...

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INSTALLING BUILDING PAPER

Installation techniques for housewrap and build­ing paper are much the same; in this chapter, both materials are often referred to generically as building paper.

Before starting, survey the sheathing and knock down protruding nail heads and wood sliv­ers that could puncture the paper and admit water.

Installation is two-person job, especially if you’re working with 9-ft.-wide rolls of Tyvek. As one person unrolls the material, the other aligns and staples it. Start at the bottom of the wall, overhanging the bottom edge of the sheathing by about 1 in. Position the building paper, tack an upper corner in place, roll out about 8 ft., and raise or lower the roll till the edge of the building paper is roughly parallel to the bottom edge of the sheathing...

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Happiness Is My Own Bedroom

Подпись: [Photo Larry Haim)

CONTRARY TO WHAT PEOPLE MAY

think, having a lot of brothers is not always fun. I know. I am the only girl in a family with six children. When there are so many kids, vou need a big house, but our family could not afford one.

We used to live in a very small house with just two and a half bed­rooms. This may sound funny, but there were only two bedrooms, plus a space next to the washer and dryer where my oldest brother slept. My parents and baby brother slept in one of the bedrooms, and the other bed­room was for my other three brothers and me. My oldest brother didn’t have much room next to the washer and
dryer, but at least he didn’t have to share a room with three brothers.

Sharing a room with so many

O t

brothers was not much fun for me or for them...

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