Blog Archives

Recordkeeping

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

Recordkeeping is quite possibly one of those tasks that you thought you were getting away from when you started framing. The reality is that recordkeeping is an important, but not necessarily major, task for the lead framer. There are three things you will want to keep records for: timekeeping, changes to the plans, and extra work.

Timekeeping

Timekeeping is easy, but you have to record it every day. If you don’t, it’s easy to forget and make a mistake that is not caught until the payroll checks come out. Most companies provide forms that can be filled out at the end of every day. You will need some type of an organizer to store your time cards and other records. For a small job, an aluminum forms folder, similar to what the UPS drivers use, works well...

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Steps in VE Review Process

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

The VE review process uses a team of individuals representing different disciplines who do not have a vested interest in the project. The teams break down a project into its basic functions and then use creativity to find different ways to perform these func­tions. The teams provide management with as many recommendations as practicable. The recommendations are then evaluated by staff offices in specialty areas that may be impacted. Management must then decide, based on all available information, whether or not to approve the recommendations.

The following steps are used in every VE review:

• Identify the major elements of a project.

• Analyze the functions these project elements perform.

• Use brainstorming to develop several design alternatives to perform those functions.

• Evalua...

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Water Sensitivity

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

Water sensitivity, denoted as indirect tensile strength ratio (ITSR), is determined according to EN 13108-20, Clause D.3. Water sensitivity is determined by test method after EN 12697-12 at a test temperature of 15°C. The available categories of requirements ITSR are ITSR90, ITSR80, ITSR70, ITSR60, and ITSRNR, where ITSRNR means no requirement.

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Guidelines for Creating a Safe Electroclimate in the Bedroom

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

The Standard of Building Biology Testing Methods (SBM) was pioneered by Bau-Biologist Wolfgang Maes in cooperation with the Institut fur Baubi – ologie und Okologie Neubeuern (IBN). The place where we spend most of our time should have the lowest electromagnetic readings possible. Based on the precautionary principle, the Building Biol­ogy Guidelines for Sleeping Areas are designed to provide optimal conditions for maintaining long­term health and apply mainly during sleep and regeneration, when humans are most vulnerable to electromagnetic influences. The recommenda­tions are based on input from medical doctors and on decades of testing experience and thousands of sleeping-area surveys.3

A Building Biology survey will measure primar­ily six parameters of the electromagnetic spectrum: a...

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Electric Fields and Insomnia

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

Several years ago, John was asked to investigate the house of a woman who claimed she had not slept well since moving in. Upon inspection of the bedroom, John noted that the electric fields registered over 5,000 millivolts on the meter. He explained that the goal for a healthy house is 20 millivolts or less. (These measurements are rela­tive, and are measured in the body using special equipmentand techniques.)

The elevated electric fields were a result of the electrical wiring in and near the bedroom. The fields were being concentrated in the metallic bed – springs, which acted as an antenna, redirecting the electric field upward toward the client...

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Deep Drains in Frost-Affected Areas

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

In colder climates, deep drains (“cut-off’ drains) are used to reduce local frost damage by intercepting the flow of groundwater and seepage water under the road structure, usually where there is a crossfall (see Section 13.4.4). The depth is usually at least the design frost depth (e. g. in Finland, this is between 1.5 and 2.2 m). Lesser depths may be used if there is very low permeability soil below. Deep drains can be installed beneath open ditches but then some gravel cuts may be needed to connect the drain and the structure. However, to ensure the fastest drainage of the road struc­ture during the thawing period, the best location is connected to the structure under the inner slope, see Fig. 13.27...

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FHWA ROLE IN VALUE ENGINEERING

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

The FHWA’s VE program applies to the federal-aid program under which authorized funds are distributed to states for state Department of Transportation (DOT) projects. According to the FHWA, the program is designed to (1) encourage state DOTs to use VE,

TABLE 10.1 Summary of Savings in Federal-Aid Highway Programs, Fiscal Years 2003-2007

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

Number of studies

316

251

300

324

309

Cost of studies including administration,

$12.54

$8.15

$9.80

$7.67

$8.42

$ millions

Estimated construction cost, $ billions

$24.81

$21.53

$31.58

$18.7

$20.48

Number of recommendations

2861

1924

2427

1794

1909

Value of recommendations, $ billions

$4.60

$3.06

$6.76

$3.04

$1.97

Number of approved recommen...

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VALUE ENGINEERING AND. LIFE CYCLE COST

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

Harold G. Tufty, CVS, FSAVE

Editor and Publisher

Value Engineering and Management Digest
Washington, D. C.

Value engineering (VE) may be defined as a systematic method for identifying the function of a product or service, establishing its worth, and generating alternatives to provide the required function at the least life cycle cost. A discipline that evolved out of the necessity for finding alternative materials for manufacturing during the 1940s, it was originally applied to projects in the Department of Defense and in industry. First adopted for highways in California and Florida in the early 1970s, it has been used with increasing success for highway projects nationwide...

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Planning & Scheduling

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

While lead framers are not responsible for developing project costs or schedules, they are asked for input into the decisions of others who must estimate and schedule construction. The superintendent, for example, might need to know if he can meet a deadline with the crew that is in place; a lead carpenter might need to know if there is enough material available to complete the job; or the framing contractor might need to know if any labor can be spared to send to another job.

To answer these questions, the lead carpenter must understand and appreciate the importance of the construction schedule and budget. This means thinking ahead and looking at the project as a whole, while also focusing on the details...

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The Earth Roof

Posted by on 25/ 11/ 15

Подпись: Fig. 5.36: The author makes a drip edge by bending two inches of a seven-inch-wide piece of flashing over the edge of the south overhang. image143In the previous chapter, I told of the double-roof system, with false or secondary rafters over the real ones, and insulation as the filling of a plank sandwich. But the new sunroom extends the shallow 1:12 slope of the main house, and we wanted to continue out with the earth roof.

If plank-and-beam is my favorite structural system for roofs, then earth is my favorite roofing material. It is quiet and cool, warm and natural, cheap and beautiful, and ecologically harmonious. Done properly, it is also the longest- lasting roof, because the earth protects the substrate from the three things that break down every other roof surface: ultraviolet solar radiation, freeze-thaw cycling, and erosion.

While I have tried hard not to stray far from the subject of alternative timber framing in this book...

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