The Florida Building Code requires the smoke detector in the supply, to protect against fires in the HVAC system and outside air. Area detectors protect inside. NFPA gives additional guidance on placement in supply or return.
I'm a building plans examiner in FL, and the energy code requires the capacity of the installed equipment to be no more than 115% of the load. Typical load calculations are ~80%SHR, while the capacity is always figured at 70% SHR. This gives a unit which has less sensible capacity than load...
The CO2 gets absorbed by new trees, so it is somewhat carbon neutral. Long term growth, 10 yrs? is better for soil nutrients than plowing every year for other crops. Wood waste would get burned anyway at wood products mill.
Just some random comments. Fiberglass sailboats may not have a good ground to the water, although I've read articles recommending grounding the mast. Also, I was biking the Blue Ridge Parkway up around Mt Mitchel when a thunderstorm hit. Crouching along the side of the road was OK, but if I...
I am working as a plans examiner, and have seen several designs using interior shear walls. These are generally connected to trusses parallel to the shear wall, but not necessarily directly over the shear wall. I have started requiring a sign off by the truss engineer, as well as a foundation...
I'm working as a plans examiner in north central Florida. We have expansive clay in some locations, and the comon fix seems to be cast in place concrete piles. The troble is, no one wants to really take the time or expense to obtain soil borings and actually do a rational engineering desigh...
I know this has been discussed many times, and I have read all of those discussions I could find. I agree with the same method as JAE and UcfSE. I often use buildings of all heights method because many residential buildings aren't rectangular. In those cases I also look at Case 3 shown in...
Thanks DRC1,
Thant's a good sugestion. I hadn't thought about the pier holding together during the pour. Even a switch to structural brick would be an improvement. It is common now, to make it look historic.
Thanks, I do need to get it on paper. The bricks piers sit on a concrete foundation and would be above ground. It just seems like the load is on a brick veneer, which isn't entirely true because the brick sits on the concrete. Intuition isn't always right, but it's dangerous to ignore it...
I'm biding on a remodel/rebuile of a small historic house (1200 SF). The architect has specified brick faced piers on foundation pads with rebar and tie downs. The pier is to be constructed by laying the brick in an open box shape and filling it with concrete. The bricks will have tabs that...
Fences up wind of the site reduce the wind speed which reduces the entrainment of dust. It was usually about 50% density. The amount of area downwind of the fence is proportional to height, but I forget how much. Maybe 10 times the height? You can also water or mulch or use commercial sprays...
Thanks, I can buy that. But what bothers me is that Table 2310.2A for horizontal wood structural panel diaphrams has a foot note that states the values are already increased for short term loads from wind, and should be reduced 25% for normal loads (ie. a 33% increase for wind.) This is...
In the Florida Code, Tables 2310.2A,B. give values of allowable shear for walls and diaphrams as a function of panel thickness, nailing etc. The footnote at the bottom of table A (but not B)states that these values are for short-term loads from wind and must be reduced 25% for normal loading...
