A contractor asks why the engineer’s shear wall schedule shows a heavier wall at the center of the building than at either end, when the walls look identical on...
A steel beam can pass every strength check on paper and still perform poorly in the field. The cause is often not the size of the section but the...
A homeowner reading a structural calculation package for the first time will often notice what looks like a contradiction. One page adds the dead load and live load directly....
A homeowner in a coastal hillside community asks a reasonable question: “My neighbor’s engineer said wind controlled the design of his addition. Mine says it is seismic. Which one...
A design team is midway through schematic design on a five-story residential building. The architect prefers wood framing for cost, the developer is concerned about combustibility and long-term movement,...
A contractor submits a permit set for a two-story addition. A few weeks later, the plan checker returns a comment: “Provide structural calculations supporting the framing shown on the...
A developer breaking ground on a five story wood frame residential building over a concrete parking and retail podium has already made the hardest decision: the building type. What...
A plumber runs a new drain line through a row of floor joists. An electrician bores a path for a circuit. An HVAC contractor notches the top plate to...
Elevated office vacancy in major markets has pushed developers in Los Angeles, Houston, New York, and London to look hard at converting underperforming office buildings into residential units. Cities...
Walk into the crawl space of a house built before the 1980s and you will often find the same condition: a short stud wall, maybe two feet tall, sitting...