Blog Archives

. HOW TO BUILD SAFE RAILINGS THAT WILL MEET CODE

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

To make porch railings and stair handrails both safe and legal, you need to know the basic rules and regulations that dictate how they’re built. The specs here cover most areas of the country, but codes do vary from region to region, so always check with your local building department.

■ In most regions, any deck higher than 30 in. off the ground needs a railing.

■ Stairs with more than three risers (three steps) need a handrail.

■ Stairs that are 44 in. wide or more need a handrail on both sides.

■ The height of a handrail, measured from the nose (the front edge of the stair tread), should be between 32 in. and 36 in. The handrail should extend the length of the stairs.

■ The width of a handrail must be between 1 in. and 2 in. so that it’s easy to grab.

■ The railing height on a deck guar...

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STORM DRAINAGE SYSTEMS

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

Gutters, which are discussed in the previous section, are just one component of the complete storm drainage system. However, important economies can be achieved in the construction of entire storm drainage systems.

Following are guidelines for storm drainage systems:

• Use performance requirements in place of prescriptive standards in all components of storm drainage design.

• Consider detention/retention basins, especially when regional management is preferred.

• Use less expensive alternatives to corrugated metal and concrete pipe.

• Consider precast structures if available from local suppliers.

• Reduce the use of manholes and inlets by increasing spacings between structures, or by replacing them with curved pipe sections, tees, and wyes where appropriate.

Traditional stormwat...

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INSTALLING A BATHTUB

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

After framing the three-walled alcove around the tub, attaching 2×4 ledgers to support the tub lip, and cutting an opening in the subfloor for the drain assembly, dry-fit the tub and check for level in two directions. If the tub rocks after its lip is supported by the ledgers, remove the tub, apply 30-lb. building paper over the subfloor, and pour 1 in. to 2 in. of mortar. Place the tub in the mor­tar before it sets, so the mortar will conform to the shape of the tub. If the tub is made of cast- iron be sure to have at least three workers on hand to move it.

Drain and overflow assembly.

Before the final installation of the tub, preassemble the tub’s drain and overflow assembly and test-fit it to the tub open­ings. Slip-nut couplings make adjusting pipe lengths easy.

Once the tub back is ...

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Steel-Pipe Posts

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

Steel-pipe posts are frequently used in urban areas and have the advantage of being readily available. They require special fastening hardware, and an earth plate when directly embedded, to prevent the post from rotating from its intended position. Standard steel pipe, schedule 40, galvanized, is readily available from plumbing supply wholesalers. The maximum sign panel areas that can be mounted on the 2-in – and 2.5-in­internal-diameter (51-mm and 64-mm) standard steel pipe are listed in Table 7.6.

Round steel supports, made from standard schedule 40 pipe, that have an internal diam­eter (ID) of less than 2 in (50 mm) can be embedded directly into the ground to a depth of at least 42 in (1070 mm) and provide acceptable performance upon impact...

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STEP 6 Install the Railings

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

Most codes require railings only when a deck is more than 30 in. off the ground. But you may want to build a rail on a lower deck any­way, for appearance if not for safety. The basic structure of a typical deck or porch railing consists of posts, rails, and balusters, which are also called uprights or pickets.

Even with basic PT lumber, many designs are possible. For example, you can eliminate the bottom rail, extend the balusters down, and fasten them to the rim joist. You can

include a 2×6 “cap” installed over the tops of the posts and over the top rail. And you can use a chopsaw to bevel one or both ends of each baluster to give your work a sleeker appearance. There are even decorative FT balusters, along with shaped top and bottom rails that are grooved to hold baluster ends...

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Shakedown Models

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

New concepts have been developed to determine the long term mechanical be­haviour of unbound materials under repeated loadings. All these concepts are pre­sented in a special issue (Yu, 2005) of the International Journal of Road Materials and Pavements Design.

The shakedown concept applied to pavements was introduced first by Sharp and Booker (1984). The various possible responses of an elastic-plastic structure to a cyclical load history are indicated schematically in Fig. 9.8. If the load level is sufficiently small, the response is purely elastic, no permanent strains are induced

Fig. 9.8 Classical elastic/plastic shakedown behaviour under repeated cyclic tension and compres­sion. Reprinted from Wong et al. (1997), @ 1997, with permission from Elsevier

and the structure return...

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Timber Framing Hybrid

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

Let’s return to Chris Ryan’s garage to see a method of making girts from a pair of two-by-eights instead of a single eight-by-eight. Chris had seen that Russell Pray used a similar method on the gables ends of the garage at Earthwood and he modified Russell’s method slightly, so that he could use doubled two-by-eights all around the building at the girt level. The advantages were twofold: i) he was able to save on cost, as two two-by-eights are only half as much wood as a single eight – by-eight. And, 2) Chris could install the two-by-eights working alone, whereas hefting long heavy eight-by-eight girts up over the eight-foot-high posts would require a crew of helpers.

This hybrid method of timber framing is very strong...

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Roman hydraulic knowledge and knowledge transfer

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

An observer of the vast array of Roman technical achievements can only be surprised and disappointed at the lack of technical documentation left by the Romans. With the exception of Vitruvius, whose technical descriptions are sometimes precise (the water mill), and sometimes extremely vague (the aqueducts), there is simply no body of tech­nical literature as we know it. We have extensively cited Frontinus’ book on the aque­ducts of Rome, a remarkable work. Yet it is much more of a precise and documented “audit” report than a manual for the guidance of future builders. Pliny’s The Natural History is precious and perhaps an exception, but it has little to do with hydraulic works...

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Setting window and door trimmers

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

Before sheathing around windows and doors, the trimmers need to be set. Plumb a trimmer on either side of the window with a 2-ft. or 4-ft. level. The top or bottom of the trimmer may need to pull away from the king stud a bit for it to be plumb. Once the level bubble reads plumb, nail the trimmer in place with one 8d toenail on each side, top and bottom.

If the window is 4/0 wide, for example, measure over 4 ft. from the plumb trimmer and make a mark on both the header and rough sill. Pull the trimmer away from this king stud, set it on the 4-ft. marks, and toenail it to the header and to the rough sill with one 8d nail on each side—top and bottom. Measure from corner to corner and side to side to make sure the opening is square and parallel (see p. 87)...

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Square Steel Tubes

Posted by on 21/ 11/ 15

Square steel-tube sign supports are used in many localities. They provide four flat sur­faces for mounting sign panels, facing different directions, without special hardware as required by some support types. Square-tube supports can be purchased from a number of manufacturers and are available with %s-in (11-mm) holes or knockouts at 4-in (25-mm) centers on all sides [26, 27, 28]. The square tubing is available in!4-in (6.4-mm) incre­mental sizes from 1.5 in X 1.5 in (38 mm X 38 mm) to 2.5 in X 2.5 in (64 mm X 64 mm). Maximum sign areas for various square-tube sizes and strengths are illustrated in Table 7.5.

Square tubing can be driven directly into the ground using a drive cap with sledge or power equipment...

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