Ah, the mythical load-bearing wall. The act of touching it wrong will destroy your entire house. Your friends and neighbors will laugh and ridicule you because like dragons and demons you are expected to accept that they exist, and hope you never encounter one. Back to the question. A load-bearing wall is any wall that …
Author Archives: Ian Marr
What are the different types of loads on buildings?
The typical loads are: In structural engineering there are other loads that need to be accounted for by code (per ASCE 7), if they do or could exist: All of these are calculated in different weighted combinations. And then there are special case loads for ice, waves, or explosives.
How can you tell if your driveway was built with cheap materials (rocks)?
Well, driveways are made with cheap materials. The difference is how it is built. Typically, you want 3″-4″ of concrete thickness in your driveway. 6″ if large trucks drive on it regularly. If your driveway has rocks larger than a golf ball you’d want to add about the same thickness. But, rocks are okay as …
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What is the difference between ancient Roman cement and modern Portland cement?
Romans use what is called saltwater cement and we use portland cement. Both are the binder for concrete. We can tell by analysis of roman concrete what the composition is but there is debate about the formula used. This is likely because like modern cement there is a large number of combinations and proportions that …
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Is aluminum roofing better than shingles?
Firstly, there are different types of both aluminum roofing and shingles. Aluminum shingles – some people like the look, many don’t. They are fairly fragile to impact but otherwise can last 10–15 years. Inexpensive. Aluminum requires precautions when touching other metals. Aluminum sheet or standing seam roofing – very distinctive look. Considered one of the …
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Does adding glue inside a screw hole strengthen the connection of a wood screw?
Okay, there are several things at play here. Screws are a mechanical fastener that cuts into the wood and holds because you’d need to either pull the plug of wood out also or pull hard enough for things to sufficiently deform for the screw to slip past. Now, in each case the screw will likely …
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Why aren’t more homes built out of cinder blocks since they’re cheap and stronger than wood?
On the surface that sounds reasonable, but the answer requires more. As several others have mentioned cinder blocks are different from CMU (concrete masonry units) but still the price is similar. A block may cost about $1.00 ea while wood studs are $2–3 ea. You need one stud every 16″ plus bottom plate, double top …
Are skyscrapers now being made out of wood? Why would construction companies do this?
Historically there have been a number of factors limiting wood framed high rises. First, has been combustibility. With such large populations that have to pass through such narrow areas such as elevator and stair cores an increase of possible fire made such designs unfeasible. North America and Europe had hard caps on wood framed buildings …
Why don’t home builders put sod on the roof instead of shingles?
You’ll get a lot of simple single point answers on this, but there are a lot of reasons for and against. Let’s start with a simple pro and con list: Pros Cons So basically, you do have an aesthetic, but you’ve more weight and water issues vs better thermal qualities. Most of these number will …
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How concrete alternatives like ferrock are dealt with? How it can be transported from the mixing plant to the building site, is transporting and mixing ferrock or other materials similar to concrete or not, are they easier than concrete to deal with?
Firstly, ferrock is concrete, just with a different aggregate make-up. It is applied like concrete, transported like concrete; it is concrete. So, ferrock is concrete with a sizable content of waste iron and silica. The strength varies greatly depending on the proportions used, but, generally, it comes in at 5,000psi – 7,000psi at 7 days. …
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