Week 4

1. Week 4 Basic Building Construction

2. Objective • This chapter discusses basic building construction; building components, how they go together, terminology, and the drawings that show them

3. Introduction • The ability to interpret plumbing or mechanical systems drawings will enable you to check • If the fixtures and appliances you have specified have been acknowledged • If all is in place to receive them • Communication with tradespersons will be facilitated if the designer has a working knowledge of construction vocabulary and building parts

4. Introduction (cont’d.) • A building consists of • Substructure: everything below grade, or ground • Superstructure: everything above grade • Structural engineers • Design the foundation • Determine the size of and distance between all structural components needed to support the building’s stresses and loads

5. The Foundation • The base upon which a building is placed • Provides a level surface to build on • Forms the basement walls, carries the building’s loads, or weights, and keeps moisture-sensitive materials off the ground to prevent rot and insect infestation • Foundation plan: shows walls, footings, grade beams, and pilasters • Basement plan: shows these elements plus interior

6. The Foundation (cont’d.) Figure 7-3 Basement plan. It shows the same information as a foundation plan plus interior spaces.

7. Foundation Terms • Concrete: mixture of cement, water, aggregate, and possibly admixtures • Aggregate: blend of sand, rock, crushed gravel, and cinder ash • Admixture: chemical that makes concrete stronger or more workable • Footing: widened bottom of a foundation wall, pier, or column

8. Foundation Terms (cont’d.) • Structural member: carries the weight of other components • Beam: horizontal structural member • Grade beam: portion of a slab that is thicker than the rest • Pier: short post found under buildings, as in crawlspaces or porches

9. Foundation Terms (cont’d.) • Post: vertical, structural member outside a wall that supports beams • Column: vertical, structural member outside a wall that supports beams • Pilaster: post or column attached to a wall • Strengthens the wall where heavy beams will rest

10. Foundation Types • Slab-on-grade (monolithic foundation): concrete slab on the ground • T (spread footing or perimeter foundation): wall built on top of a footing, which is a wide base • Piers and columns: vertical structural members on square footings that support beams • Other types: stepped footings, piles, wood, brick, and stone

11. Foundation Types (cont’d.) Figure 7-8 Pictorial showing grade beam, post, pier, column, foundation wall, and footing.

12. Foundation Materials • Cast or poured concrete and concrete block are the materials most commonly used to make foundations • Concrete masonry units (CMU): precast item • Concrete block: available in different shapes, sizes and weights • Typically manufactured in lengths of 16", heights of 8" and widths of 4", 6", 8", 10", and 12”

13. Foundation Materials (cont’d.) Figure 7-18 A concrete block wall. It is strengthened with reinforcing bar (rebar) and a bond beam, which is a course of bond blocks.

14. Wood Construction Figure 7-20 Components of a wood skeleton–framed house

15. Wood Construction Terms • Dimensional lumber: wood used for framing • Engineered wood products (EWP): wood veneers and fibers that have been laminated to produce longer-spanning, load-bearing • Oriented strand board: wood product made of layers of wood and glue pressed together to create 4' 8' panels

16. Wood Construction Terms (cont’d.) • Beam: umbrella term for a horizontal load-bearing member of wood, steel, and/or concrete • Girder: large beam that supports smaller beams • Rafter: inclined beam at the roof • Joist: horizontal beam in ceilings and floors • Lintel: beam over a door or window

17. Wood Construction Terms (cont’d.) • Trussed rafter: fabricated member placed at the roof, consisting of an upper chord, a lower chord, and a web • Trussed joist: fabricated member with parallel upper and lower chords • Stud: vertical load-bearing member inside a wall • Cripples: short studs placed above or below a wall opening

18. Wood Construction Terms (cont’d.) Figure 7-38 2-D and 3-D views of a wood-framed wall.

19. Wood Construction Terms (cont’d.) • Plate: horizontal board • Bottom plates evenly distribute loads placed on them • Top plates tie studs together • Sheathing: vertical covering of boards on exterior walls that goes under the final finish • Decking: horizontal covering of boards on the roof or floor

20. Wood Frame Types • Post-and-beam • Timber framing: oldest framing method and was the method of wood building used throughout the world for 2,000 years • Skeleton • Balloon • Platform

21. Masonry • Bond: arrangement of brick or blocks in a wall • Mortar: mixture of cement, sand, and water that hardens used as binding agent • Wythe: continuous vertical section of a masonry wall, one unit in thickness

22. Masonry Veneer: non-load bearing, aesthetic masonry facing attached to, and supported by, a structural backing Brick: rectangular mass of clay hardened by heat

23. Masonry (cont’d.) Figure 7-64 Brick laid in walls. Cavity walls enable the positioning of header bricks.

24. Masonry (cont’d.) • Stone: rock or hard mineral matter • Glass block • Acrylic block • Structural clay tile • Terra-cotta • Four masonry wall construction types • Solid, cavity, faced, and veneer

25. Steel Terms • Arch: bent truss • Rigid frame: consists of two columns and a beam or truss • Prefabricated components: made into units and assembled at a factory • Two types of steel construction • Steel skeleton and large-span construction

26. Construction Drawings • Title page or cover sheet • Survey • Structural discipline drawings • Architectural discipline drawings • Heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, ventilation (HVAC) and plumbing discipline drawings

27. Summary • Buildings are made of wood, steel, and concrete • Components are made on site or fabricated in standardized sizes in factories • Techniques and systems have evolved throughout the years in step with technology advancements • Understanding buildings’ basic construction is necessary to competently draft drawings that describe them