Blog Archives

SELECTING SMA GRADATION AND SIZE

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

No matter the method applied when designing the SMA composition, the first step that must be taken is establishing the maximum particle size in the aggregate mix. The following factors should be taken into account when considering this issue: [23]

6.1.1 In Which Course?

Due to the outstanding performance of SMAs in surface courses, they have also been used in intermediate courses (e. g., in the United States, Australia, and recently Germany). Normally mixtures with larger maximum particle sizes (e. g., 0/19 or 0/22 mm) are selected for that purpose when they are permitted by local regulations. So far, aside from possible economic obstacles (high cost), it has not been stated that SMA is unfit to be used in intermediate courses...

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Locate and drill bolt holes

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

Anchor bolts sometimes come out of the foundation at odd angles. You can straighten bent bolts with a length of pipe, as shown in the photo at left. Then set long, straight, pressure-treated sill boards in place for mark­ing and drilling. You can use a square and a tape measure to lay out the bolt hole locations

Подпись: A long pipe straightens a short bolt. A length of 1-in.-dia. pipe straightens any bolts that may have been bent during (or since) the foundation pour. [Photo © Roger Turk]ІІІІШІІІІШШШШШШШШШІІШІШШШМШІМШІІІШІІІІІІШІІІШШІІІШІІШШШШШШШШІІІІМШШШШШІІШШШШІІІШШШШШШІІІІІІІІШШШШІМШШІІІ

POSITIONING SILLS ON THE FOUNDATION

Подпись:Locate and drill bolt holesSiding without sheathing

Locate and drill bolt holes

Nut and washer

Sill

Locate and drill bolt holes

Anchor

bolt

Locate and drill bolt holes

Concrete

foundation

ABC

Sill plates can be set flush with the edge of the foundation (A) and the siding nailed directly to the wall...

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Techniques ENSURING PROPER DRAINAGE

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

Techniques ENSURING PROPER DRAINAGE

WE NEED WATER. We just don’t need it in our base­ments or under our floors, causing dampness, mold, and rot. We may not be able to hold back the Mis­sissippi when it floods, but we can control most of the rainwater that falls around our homes. Follow the guidelines below and you’ll stand a good chance of keeping water on the outside of your foundation.

1. Don’t build on the lowest part of the lot.

2. Seal all holes around the pipes that go through the concrete.

3. Install perforated drainpipes at the bottom of the concrete footings around the outside of the founda­tion (see the photo at left).

4. Coat the foundation walls with a suitable damp-proofing or water­proofing treatment...

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Water supply from Dur Untash, in the land of Elam

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

Elam, in the Susa region, is a very ancient civilization that developed expertise in hydraulic works starting in the IIIrd millennium BC. Three abundantly flowing rivers descend from the Zagros mountains and cross the region: the Kherka, the Ab-e Diz, and the Karan. Elam knew a brief period of glory when, between 1260 and 1160 BC, it took advantage of the weakness of the Babylonians to ravage lower Mesopotamia. Along with other spoils, the black stone on which is engraved the Code of Hammurabi passed through Susa at this time.

During this period Untash-Gal, sovereign of Elam between 1275 and 1240 BC, built a new city some forty kilometers to the southeast of Susa, next to the river Ab-e Diz; he gave the city his name in calling it Dur-Untash...

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Efficient Houses Need Fresh Air

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

■ BY MAX H. SHERMAN

I

hear it all the time: "Houses are too tight." "Houses didn’t used to make people sick." These assertions seem well founded: The most serious chronic illness of American children is asthma, and the Environmental Protection Agency lists poor indoor-air quality among its top five environmental threats. Are tight houses poisoning us?

There’s no disputing the cause-and-effect relationship between tight houses and indoor-air pollution. In theory, the solu­tion is simple: If you build tight, you must ventilate right. In practice, though, ventilat­ing right is complicated and controversial.

In 2003, I chaired an American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) committee that passed the country’s first residential ventilation standard...

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

The Affordable Housing Demonstrations show that active participation by local government is essential in encouraging the production of housing at prices opening the market to those needing housing. In establishing a climate supporting the production of affordable housing, local government must:

• Support the concept and specific activities at the highest levels, including elected officials and the principal executives of the participating agencies. Only their active advocacy of the program concepts and their direction to subordinate staff will assure that the message gets to the people who actually administer the various affected programs.

• Reach out to the local home building community, and respond to any overtures from these builders to develop the mutual trust and activities needed t...

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Make Yourself At Home

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

A good dwelling offers more than shelter and security. A truly good house evokes a sense of home. Our sense of home comes from within us. It emer­ges when we enter an environment with which we can identify. This sense is not exclusive to one’s own house. It can surface whenever we feel safe enough to be completely ourselves — beyond all insecurity and pretension.

A house founded on pretension and insecurity will seldom, if ever, make us feel anything more than pretentious and insecure. For a place to feel safe, it must first earn our trust. It must be honest, and an extra couple of thousand square feet tacked on in a vain attempt to conceal our insecurity is not hon­est.

Home is our defense against what can sometimes seem like a chaotic and demanding world...

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Preparing to Install a New Roof

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

Daily temperatures on a roof or in an unventilated attic can swing from 50°F to 150°F, thereby caus­ing tremendous expansion and contraction of roof materials. Improving ventilation under the roof, as shown in "Roof Venting,” on p. 76, can prolong shingle life somewhat, but the key to a long-lasting roof is the quality of the materials.

In the long haul, shingles with a 30-year war­ranty are a smarter buy than 20-year shingles because they last significantly longer, even though they cost only a little more. And most of a job’s cost is the labor.

WHEN IT’S TIME TO TEAR OFF

Short-term, you can save money by installing a new roof over an old one if local codes allow. However, new roofing applied over old (see p...

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Designing SMA Composition

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

Stone matrix asphalt (SMA) mixtures and courses made from them have many strengths. Naturally, these mixtures must be well-designed, but that attribute has various shades of meaning. A review of publications on this subject has not revealed a method that is clearly “the best.” There is as wide a variety of design methods as there are approaches to the roles of particular constituent materials.

Having decided to place such a mixture, a civil engineer faces a challenge. It is not an easy material to deal with, neither during design nor construction. The first essential task is to achieve the proper SMA composition. All the remaining aspects of SMA construction—namely, production, transportation, placement, and compac­tion—are affected by this first step...

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Step 4-Nail Joists in Place

Posted by on 13/ 11/ 15

Three 8d common (2%" x.131) or three 3” x.131 nails, two on one side and one on the opposite side.

 

Three 16d common nails or four 3" x .131" nails into each joist.

 

Rim joist

 
Подпись: xw

Double plate

 

Stud

 

Turn joists crown up and nail into place.

 

Step 4-Nail Joists in PlaceStep 4-Nail Joists in Place

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