Rose Building Contractors, Inc.

Determining Proper Footing Depth

2020-07-27

The footing is the support for the entire structure. Unless the property is located in a flood zone or in an area know to be problematic, in Florida we typically rely on either 1] SPREAD FOOTINGS and stemwalls, if required, meant to retain and reastrain the soil they contain or 2] a SLAB ON GRADE with monolithic footings at the slab's edges and under any point loads.

In Florida, we typically locate the BOTTOM of our footings a minimum of 12" below the virgin ground. And while it is true that we live in a relatively flat state, there are absolutely areas where the "lay-of-the-land" is hilly. Good building practices REQUIRE the surrounding land be evaluated before merely relying on the "12" below virgin grade minimum standard"! If you are intending to build on hilly land, the "12" minimum" is OUT THE WINDOW! In this situation your 12" footing depth is based on the LOWEST GRADE REASONABLY AFFECTING THE PROPERTY.

Soil migration, both surface and sub-surface, absolutely must be considered. There are several factors that cause soil migration. Some of the more common ones are 1] The natural effect of gravity is always present, 2] The surcharge of the pressure of the intended building itself and 3] WATER, both surface run-off [think rain] and sub-surface water [super-staurated soil caused by continuous rains, plumbing leaks, etc.].

Evaluate the land. Determine the elevations of 1] the road, 2] the undulations of YOUR property, 3] the surrounding properties and their affect on your property and 4] any bodies of water, natural or man made. After determining these elevations, properly consider their cumulative effect on YOUR desired structure location and set the height on your finished floor appropriately higher than the likely height of any water. Once you have the location and the LOWEST finished floor height determined, you can then evaluated what type of foundation system is appropriate for the circumstance AND - - HOW DEEP TO SET YOUR FOOTING! No "reasonable" amount of money spent in the future can correct a poor decision at this ultra-critical juncture of the construction process!!! Build with your finished floor high enough and your footing low enough. Spend the time, spend the money - build it properly while you have the chance!

Top 8 Home Updates That Pay Off

2020-05-04

What is the single update you can make to your home that would result in the most significant increase in the value of the property?

Every home-owner wants to know the answer to this question. Given how much you have invested in the property, emotionally and financially, this is a valid concern. Should you ever decide to sell your home, you would want to be sure of getting the most return for every dollar invested in the property.

Orlando Property Management shares a list of the home upgrades that are the most likely to pay for themselves.

Garage Door Replacement

If your property currently has the standard 16-by-7-foot two-car garage door, you would be well-served by replacing it with a heavy-duty galvanized four-section garage door.

These run on steel tracks, are accompanied with a motorized door opener and can be operated remotely. The impact of this upgrade is immediate and will be one of the first things visitors and buyers notice about your property.

A good-looking one is a huge up-sell. The average cost of replacing the garage door is $3,611. The average resale price is $3,520. Owners can recoup over 97% of their initial cost.

Manufactured Stone Veneer

Swapping out the vinyl siding for stone veneer around the main entryway of your home will improve its overall appeal. In place of the usual siding, adhered manufactured stone veneer may be used for the front portion of the property.

Replacing a 300-square-foot section of vinyl with stone veneer will cost around $8,900. This estimate covers the cost for corrosion-resistant lath, 2 layers of water-resistant barrier, along with, fasteners.

The average resale value for this upgrade comes out at around $8,449, meaning that owners can hope to recoup up to 94% of their costs.

Entry Door Replacement

Installing a steel door in the front entrance is another upgrade that delivers top returns on investment. These are single-color, factory-finished, 20-gauge steel doors, complete with their own frames, two-pane half glass panels, and an aluminum threshold that is fitted with composite stoppers.

The average cost of installing one is $1471 and its resale value is $1,344. Owners can expect to recoup 91.3% of the cost.

Kitchen Remodel

A minor kitchen remodel will give your home a more modern look, while bringing additional functionality to this space.

The kitchen is a potential deal breaker when selling a property, especially if you are marketing to families. It is not just useful for cooking meals, it serves for entertaining guests and as an impromptu dining area.

Highly effective kitchen upgrades include changing out old countertops, sinks, and faucets, re-facing cabinets with shaker-style wood panels, changing existing flooring, and switching old appliances for energy-efficient ones.

The average cost for a modest kitchen upgrade is $22,507 and the resale value is $18,123. Owners will be able to recoup more than 80% of their costs.

Replacing Siding

Siding around a property can devastate its appeal, along with its potential selling price. The price of an otherwise attractive house could be significantly depressed if the siding is old and worn out.

Replacing old siding and installing new factory trim at all corners and openings is a necessary upgrade. The average cost of changing 1,250-square-feet of siding is $16,000 and owners can recoup about 75% of that cost, at a resale value of around $11,000.

Bathroom Remodeling

Remodeling existing bathrooms is one of the more expensive upgrades. A basic upgrade involves changing bath-tubs, doors, faucets, toilets, and other fixtures.

A more extensive upgrade could mean installing a new vanity counter with recessed lighted-medicine cabinet and integrated sink. Or a new 30-by-60-inch porcelain-on-steel tub, along with its standard 4-by-4-inch ceramic tile surround.

Owners could also add a new bathroom to their property. This might mean converting spaces beneath stairs or spare closet space into a bathroom. A modest bathroom upgrade costs between $19,134 and $20,420. The resale value would be around $13,422, equaling recoupment of around 70%.

Window Replacement

A window-replacement is one of those upgrades where owners could get more in returns than they initially invested. Options for window upgrades include replacing existing vinyl windows or old wood windows.

For vinyl windows, the recommended option is to install low-E, divided-lite vinyl windows. This costs around $15,955 to execute. The resale value is $11,855; bringing the recouped cost to 74%.

In the case of wood windows, owners can replace their current 3-by-5-foot double-hung windows with insulated simulated-divided-lite windows with low-E windows. This will cost around $19,391 to install. Its resale value is $13,468, making around 69% of the initial cost.

Wood Deck Addition

This is a remodeling option that allows landlords to increase the total area of their home. By adding a wood deck, owners add an outdoor room, which increases living space and improves the overall quality of the property.

The average estimated cost for adding a 16-by-20-foot deck of pressure-treated wood, along with its posts, railings and balustrades is $13,400. The resale value stands at $10,050, which comes to the recouped cost of 75%.

And that is it for our list of home upgrades with the greatest potential to pay for themselves. This makes it easier for owners to decide which option is best for their property.

One thing to note. As previously stated, we have used average cost data, but these costs can vary widely per geographical area; however, the percentage return is extremely similar so the data is a very useful decision tool.

HOME ELEVATORS - A WAY TO RAISE VALUES EVEN IN A MARKET THAT GOES UP AND DOWN

2020-01-09

In Florida, much of our extraordinary real estate growth is tied to the waterfront and the coastal zone homes that line our waterways. Due to the flood zone regulations born in the 1980s, and growing harsher by the decade - our "conforming structures" are required to be built ever higher. While the debate about climate change, man-made or otherwise, rages on, we continue to build, repair, renovate and expand the structures in our coastal zones.

For several decades I have been a vocal proponent of including residential elevators in my two- and three-story home designs. Many clients have initially questioned the need for an elevator, as if it were admitting defeat. Deny it if you like, but none of us are getting any younger!

My argument has always been three-pronged:

It is relatively easy to include an elevator hoistway into a new home design and it is VERY DIFFICULT to retrofit a properly located hoistway, after-the-fact!
The elevator is a relatively minor expense, $20,000-$25,000, when compared to the cost of a 4,000sf+ 2/3 story home.
The resale target market is MUCH LARGER with an elevator! Consider this, anyone in the family with truly bad knees, a bad back, a weak heart or breathing issues benefits directly from the elevator. Then there are the savvy buyers that wouldn't even consider buying/building a home, they otherwise love, if it DIDN'T HAVE an elevator - specifically as asset value protection due to the vastly increased resale target market! (EXAMPLE: With a 3 million dollar home, the actual number of people who can afford this product (not the percentage, but the number) is, by definition, small. Think of how much smaller it gets when you eliminate those with the means, that have health issues, and/or seek asset protection!

It is a slam-dunk decision. INCLUDE THE HOISTWAY - NOW!!! Even if you don't want the actual machine, you can cheaply install temporary floors and use the various call stations as closets if you like. Locating an elevator properly in an already constructed home is VERY difficult. Remember, the access has to make sense on each and every level AND the structure must conform with the setback requirements of your lot. This is a tough combination to satisfy!

A hoistway for a residential elevator is essentially a shaft (hole) that runs from 12" below the lowest grade to the uppermost floor's ceiling level, or higher. The most common residential elevator is essentially a "stationary hydraulic forklift" with a nicely finished box and automatic doors. There are pulley-style units, but the hydraulic units are far more common and less demanding in location. There are vaccuum operated units as well, but to my knowledge, these are NOT useable (SIZE AND MECHANISM) for wheelchairs, which ultimately defeats the purpose of having the elevator! A properly sized home-run electrical circuit and a telephone line complete the requirements for the hoistway. Most of the hydraulic units only need ONE side for the machinery support and path-of-travel. The other sides can all be used for access. Elevators with 1,2,3 doors that open differently on the respective floors are absolutely doable.

The residential elevator - A SURE WAY TO RAISE THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME even in a market that goes up and down!

HOW TO USE A BUILDER'S LEVEL AND WHY!

2019-12-07

The BUILDER'S LEVEL and TRANSIT are tools that have been in existence for a long time. The main difference in the two is a LEVEL provides a method of finding a transferrable point of height [ELEVATION] and transferring that point to other locations horizontally [every point you shoot will be at the same height]; a TRANSIT allows for this same horizontal duplication PLUS allows ANGULAR divergence both horizontally and vertically. The TRANSIT is a much more sophisticated tool, but most of the routine use of either is to shoot elevations and transfer the points horizontally.

In decades past, these tools were manually leveled by way of adjustment knobs and a bubble. They also required two people - one to look through the instrument and another to use the "story pole" and mark out the required heights as called out by the person looking through the instrument. Currently, most of the tools are SELF LEVELING [once you get reasonably close] and project a laser beam, which can be visually or audibly detected, making this is now a one-man job!

Most construction projects require height elevations that must be "largely accurate!" There are two main aspects of elevations that deserve a specific definition.

The TRUE HEIGHT of your intended construction as compared to everything existing. Most properties have a survey that references an ABSOLUTE ELEVATION from a predetermined point called a "benchmark," and that predetermined point is given an exact height based on a nationally recognized system of heights/elevations. Currently, NAVD is the accepted and required referrence. [The North American Vertical Datum of 1988 ( NAVD 88 ) is the vertical datum for orthometric heights established for vertical control surveying in the United States of America based upon the General Adjustment of the North American Datum of 1988. NAVD 88 was established in 1991 by the minimum-constraint adjustment of geodetic leveling observations in Canada, the United States, and Mexico].

In the past we used a system called NGVD and there is an adjustment to convert from one to the other, but the adjustment is NOT uniform. As I remember it, in Florida the adjustment was about 10" [overnight everything was magically 10" LOWER than it was the day before]. Both systems referrenced "sea level" but the sea level was different in various areas for various reasons and there was erosion, subsidence, plate movement due to earthquakes, etc. The change from NGVD to NAVD was an attempt to correct the inaccuracies using better technology and NAVD is the required reference point.

OK - I mentioned two issues - once we have the benchmark we need to know what height our structure is meant to be RELATIVE TO THE BENCHMARK. A transit or level is used to transfer the benchmark to our structure. Once we have that height transferred, we want to make whatever adjustment is required to locate what on the engineered plans is referred to as "0.0." Everything we build will be based on this 0.0' elevation, which is often but NOT NECESSARILLY the top of the first floor. Example: if the 1st floor walls are 10' high and the slab height is called out as 0.0', the top of the wall will be at elevation 10' - if 0.0' equaled 17'-4 1/2", the actual height of the top of the wall will be 27'-4 1/2." There often are MANY different heights called out on a project and they ALL have a reference to 0.0' which has a reference to the benchmark!

YES, it is complicated and YES, it really is that important! If an error is made bringing in the benchmark the entire project will be wrong, sometimes with horrible consequences!

Let's work on the exterior grade of the site - If you set your laser level to a height of 48" at the 0.0' point and you want a 6" drop immediately adjacent to the structure, you want the tape to read 48"+6" = 54" from the projected laser. If you want a 2" pitch away in 12 feet (a pretty standard grade) you find a point of 12 feet from the building and the tape should read 48"+6"+2" = 56" from the projected laser. This means you stepped down from the slab @ 0.0' to - 6" immediately adjacent and then moving 12 feet farther out you dropped to - 8". This can be and often is done 25+ times around a site for proper drainage. For a large project, that number might easily exceed 250 elevational shots - thank God for the laser level!

REMEMBER: Once you set your laser level to a fixed point at 0.0,' if the measurement is LESS than the height of the laser, your point is HIGHER than 0.0.' If the measurement is MORE than the height of the laser, your point is LOWER than 0.0'!

HURRICANE FORTIFIED HOMES

2019-11-25

I truly thought this was going to be an interesting article - I was mistaken!

The fortifications specifically mentioned in the article are code required or LARGELY done already, by better builders!
Ring shank nails to hold down the roof sheeting - why would anyone NOT use ring shank nails?
A continuous load path, truss to footing - this is the way the structures are required to be engineered now.
Sealing of the joints in the plywood roof sheeting - - - REALLY, how about a complete PEEL & STICK dry-in?
Better builders have been doing this for years - it's called a secondary water membrane.

I was hoping for something better! How about MORE clips [one on the inside and one on the outside EACH individually meeting the uplift requirement] on each truss to plate? THIS WOULD BE A BETTER STRUCTURE!

The truth is we have competing principals in construction. On one hand, we want to value engineer the structure to be as cost effective as possible, on the other hand we want to build a better structure. Perhaps engineered roof trusses would be MORE HURRICANE RESISTANT if instead of spanning the entire home [most are 2-point bearing], they were 3 or 4 point bearing. This would require the trusses to be supported AND ANCHORED DOWN in multiple spots. This would increase the cost by requiring load bearing footings and vertical load paths in the center of the structure - BUT it would seem to increase the uplift resistance throughout the truss! I'm not necessarily recommending this, I'm merely pointing out the POTENTIAL additional strength if we were willing to 1] spend more on the construction and 2] forgo some "potential" design aesthetics.

This is the caliber of article I was hoping for! Principals of better building are definitely important and we all should strive to BUILD BETTER!

LARGE HOMES - IT'S THE AMERICAN WAY

2019-09-14

I found myself engrossed in an article by MSN Money titled "The U.S. is in the top tier of house sizes internationally - and not just because of McMansions". The article is mildly interesting and quoted some rote statistics like

The average American home is in the 1600-1650 square foot range
Their research showed our homes are 600-800 square feet larger than comparable homes in other wealthy countries.

European countries were the main thrust of the divergence and the article stated that Europe didn't have the available land and has much tighter zoning restrictions and a penchant for more urban living as they didn't embrace the automobile as America originally did. Europeans also have a tendency to "make-do" and "re-purpose buildings" rather that build new. The article credited the establishment of the FHA in 1934 as a main driver of American home ownership and also credited our large supply of available land, roadways and relatively lax zoning regulations. I find nothing here to disagree with.

What struck me is what the article didn't say!

The American home is by far the largest and most valuable asset of the average American family. The American home is the ONLY way most Americans can participate in FINANCIAL LEVERAGE. This is an enormous force for wealth building. The financially savvy individuals and business fully understand the ramifications of leverage, many average American do not. Fortunately, this has not precluded them from taking advantage of it's power to build family wealth and drive our economy.

Leverage is the act of controlling an asset with a large value by using a relatively small amount of money. As the large asset appreciates, the yield on the small investment is multiplied significantly. Many home loans require only 5 percent of the purchase price as a down payment, even a true conventional loan required only a 20 percent down payment. The net effect is that the leverage is at least 5x and often 20x. [Example: Let's take a modest home that sells for $100,000 with a $5,000 down payment (5% down). At the historical average of at least 3% appreciation compounded annually, in only 5 years that home is worth $115,927.41, so it has equity of $20,927.41 (the $5,000 deposit + the appreciation). A larger [more valuable] home would have increased more in dollars, though the percentages would be the same. The point is, there is no way the average American family, with dismal savings rates, could possibly match the leveraged wealth created by home ownership! This is only a 5-year example. When looked at over decades the results are absolutely astounding and of course, the mortgage is paid off so the value is net-net the wealth of the family!

There are other economic principals at play here as well. As land becomes scarcer, it's value increases. When the value of the land increases it requires a LARGER home to amortize higher cost of the land. The percentages stay relatively the same [in a given area, the land is "X" dollars per square foot of home]. When larger [more expensive] homes are built, they cause the value of the existing homes to increase as well, feeding the cycle of wealth building through leveraged ownership of appreciating assets. SCARCITY is why we have different values in different areas of the state or country. When there is no more land left, the value of the land increases wildly, when there is a large supply of available land, the "best land" sells first and/or for more money - - - eventually when there is no more land, even the worst piece of property in the worst area will find a buyer.

There are absolutely contrarian views to this. The world view [European view] that Americans are "whatever they think we are" - who cares? The green movement preaching "doing with less for the sake of society". The millennials who largely aspire to return to the cities for the decidedly urban "happening experience". And, of course, the "TINY HOME" people who are fascinated with a few hundred square feet that can serve as a sleeping quarters, kitchen and living room by way of brilliantly designed oddities. These are ALL people who will NOT benefit from the leverage of "traditional" home ownership. Then there are the nay-sayers who caution "don't become house poor".

Best advice is to make WHATEVER sacrifices are required to buy the biggest home possible in the best possible neighborhood (school district, picturesque land, roads, and comparable properties). There are intangible perks to this as well - the pride of home ownership and the tendency of owned homes to be clustered by other owned homes, as rentals are clustered by other rentals -- this has the effect of providing a "more stable" neighborhood and everything that goes with it!

The "American Dream" is a reality - buy or build a home, and do is as soon as you can!

I Disagree - Wood is NOT Your Friend in Florida!

2019-07-29

This article in Sunday's paper describes the tremendous volume of multi-family FRAME construction and it's financial allure. I argue that this is terribly wrong and extremely shortsighted. WOOD IS NOT YOUR FRIEND IN FLORIDA!

Take a look at the 3 - 4 story buildings featured in the article - look at the porches. I am gratified that I will have essentially an endless stream of customers seeking to fix their rotten decks in the years to come! Multi-family frame construction is more dangerous, inherently weaker, far more prone to leaks, and absolutely WILL have a shorter life.

Of course, there are framed structures that have lasted for centuries. There are framed structures that are actually more resistant to fire than steel - but THAT IS NOT WHAT WE ARE BUILDING HERE! The framed buildings that have lasted were, for the most part, constructed of very large dimensional lumber of a high quality [Douglas Fir or equal], not the southern yellow pine and spruce used in our current construction details.

Florida has the absolute worst lumber in the country. Aside from the limited choice of species, anyone that has ever gone to the store to buy a few boards knows how difficult it is to find a couple of "good boards" - damn near impossible!

Frame construction is essentially a series of hinged joints and even our tremendously enhanced building codes do not defeat the end result - we are still relying on nails. The only aspect of the assembly that adds "real strength" to the structure is the diaphragm of the walls, roof and floor systems. Without plywood or some other sheeting, a framed wall, roof or floor is extremely weak!

The thick dimensional timbers of old northern buildings could and have resisted through - burning that would have melted steel skeletons - oh, they might be very charred on the surface but not burned through, whereas steel looses it's rigidity and the building topples in high heat.

In their drive to meet the market, builders are choosing frame construction because IT IS CHEAPER - but only in the short term! These structures will be weak, deteriorating in a relatively short span of years. Moisture WILL find it's way into the building envelopes, either through poorly designed details or poor workmanship or material failure due to climate/weather. ONE SINGLE PIECE OF FLASHING, improperly installed could destroy much of a fairly large building, especially if it causes a slow to be seen defect!

Just one porch deck with a railing foot that is screwed down onto the deck rather than side mounted to the beam could allow water in. And the usual detail for railing attachment is four screws. Think about that - how many "potential leaks" are there on a framed building with exterior porches and railings? Even if there are no mistakes, which is unlikely, and no water intrusion due to violations in the building envelope, how long will it be until the climate/weather allows some moisture to affect the wire lath holding the stucco to the framed building? Once a bit of rust appears on the wire lath, it will run like a cancer and the stucco will explode from the lath, allowing water to enter in increasingly copious amounts. It's a matter of when, not IF, it will happen!

You don't need to go any farther than the headline of the article to realize that these builders are NOT seeking to build the "best" building possible! Of course they will meet the required building codes and will look beautiful when newly completed, but do you think they are using the "best" caulk and paint? These "now beautiful" buildings will be slums in a short time, if constant maintenance and expensive repairs are not continuously made. NO, WOOD IS NOT YOUR FRIEND IN FLORIDA!!!

Well Grounded Logic Says DON'T Raise the Old Home!

2019-06-25

Like most folks, I was struck by the photo of the heavy construction in this article. As I read the article, I realized how terribly misguided this particular effort is in most cases. It is certainly a misguided effort in this case.

The article quoted $225,000 of work to complete this project and I suspect the final cost will be somewhat higher. The article also made clear that a new home would be considerably more money - this is true, but SO WHAT?

This family will end up with a home that is "architecturally odd," at the least. Assuming this project goes smoothly (and that is a very big assumption) the home will have very old wiring, very old plumbing, very old air conditioning, non-impact windows, a roof that is on the back 9, truss attachments that are likely woefully short of the new codes and everything else in the home will be significantly dated as well. So is the 50% savings worth it? I say NO WAY!

While the act of raising the home addresses the flooding issue, it does nothing to address wind mitigation and a home that is an additional 14' in the air will be subject to greater exposure and higher wind speeds!!! This folly is at least partially paid for with government grant dollars - very wrong!

I mentioned above "Assuming this project goes smoothly."

Homes that are built on grade like to stay there! When moved, the floors tend to crack a bit, the walls tend crack a bit, the AC condenser that used to sit on a pad on the ground must now be elevated on some sort of stand, the electric service will need to be changed and the new service will almost certainly require arc-fault breakers which when put on old wiring can be VERY problematical, to say the least. I suspect these folks will have a minimum of an additional $50,000 in unbudgeted issues.

The smarter way to do what they are trying to accomplish is to augment the existing 1st floor as structurally required (underpinning load bearing points in the foundation and adding filled cells and piers, where needed) and make it a GARAGE with interior stairs up to the new living level BUILT ON TOP OF THE OLD HOME. This protocol leaves intact the utility services to the home (sewer, water, power, cable, gas), uses most of the existing floor slab and walls and if pressed, you could even save the cabinets; and yields a NEW HOME built to code for what is net-net, not that much more money!!!

This is far smarter and a much better use of funds. The result yields an asset that is actually worth owning.

If your home is in a flood-prone area and you want to explore a SMARTER alternative, give Rose Building Contractors a call at 727-596-2390.

FLASHING - the first line of defense against water intrusion!

2019-04-27

It happened again this week - I saw two projects that were very badly compromised, due to water intrusion. The fix was both difficult and expensive, which is heartbreaking considering that doing it correctly initially is both cheap and easy. You just have to pay attention to the basics.

FLASHING is a term used to define a material that provides waterproofing. As our technical prowess has improved throughout the ages, the materials and methods used for flashings and flashing systems has definitely kept pace; however, the basic concepts have remained largely the same since the dawn of construction.

The advent of sheet metal [lead, aluminum, tin, copper, steel, etc.] has made flashing, almost any detail, relatively easy and straight forward. Many common sizes and shapes are available right off the shelf, and custom sizes and shapes can easily be manufactured by most metal shops.

Aside from remembering to install flashing, it is of utmost importance that flashing be correctly installed,to avoid the flashing from actually funneling water into the structure you are trying to protect.

Here's what you need to know:

START AT THE BOTTOM / LOWEST POINT AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT OVERHANG / EXTENSION - ALWAYS!!!!!

From the low point, you merely shingle the material, placing the next higher piece OVER the piece below it. This step is universal!

MOST ELEMENTS SHOULD BE FLASHED. All roof-to-wall joints should be flashed. All roof valleys should be flashed. All deck-to-wall joints should be flashed. All windows should be flashed. All belly bands should be flashed - the list goes on! If it is a joint and water can possibly get in - it should be flashed! Flat metal sheeting, angle flashing, and Z-Flashing are the most used shapes.

ANGLED ROOF FLASHING SHOULD BE PROPERLY BENT. One of the most often seen defects on stucco structures is an angled roof flashing that is NOT properly bent and extended out of the stucco. This condition always ends in damage to the structure caused by water that is funneled inward. The addition of a simple Z-flashing properly installed over windows and doors prevents a ton of problems and who would disagree that a properly designed metal pan placed under a door prevents almost all threshold leak issues!

No amount of caulk can ever match a properly installed flashing!

How to “BUILD STRONG” using Structural Diaphragm

2019-03-24

In construction we are constantly faced with “how to connect [A] to [B]”. A-to-B could be almost anything and we are ALWAYS faced with using both a material and an attachment method that carries or transfers the intended applied load and does not compromise the material we are using to accomplish that task.

After calculating the forces to be overcome [gravity being a big one, but only one of many], proper choice of materials is obviously the starting point. In many situations this is straight forward – there are span tables that provide a professional with a matrix of values showing what type of material, in what size can span what distance in a specified use [floors are different than roofs, etc.]

Almost nothing is impossible – but at what cost structurally, visually, practically, economically??? In construction we have a true friend in the “DIAPHRAGM”! A diaphragm is a structural element designed to transfer in-plane shear forces to other elements. Diaphragms can be horizontal elements like floor systems or slabs, they can be vertical elements like walls, or even sloped elements like roofs.

What diaphragms all have in common is that they are rigid shapes, securely fastened that resist forces applied to them! EXAMPLE: A wood floor system, comprised of assembled joists and properly sheeted with plywood acts to resist forces APPLIED TO THE WALLS that the floor system is attached to! The floor system strengthens the walls! The same can be said of a properly designed roof system.

Look at any stud wall. It has a bottom plate and a top plate and a line of studs that are nailed to both plates. The bottom plate is usually screwed or nailed to a wood or concrete floor. If we were to STOP at this point, the stud wall is weak and can easily be lightly pushed and significantly deformed. Once the top plate is secured to a roof system or floor above, the walls get much stronger. Covering the stud wall with plywood, properly nailed to the plates and the studs increases the strength of the wall tremendously!!! Drywall, stucco, plywood are all materials that act to create a rigid shape from the simple stud wall and all of these materials increase the wall’s ability to be used as a diaphragm.

Steel and other metals can be used to create diaphragms even glass has properties that are useful in diaphragm construction. The list is long, but all diaphragms have commonalities that cannot be disregarded – they must be assembled correctly to function as designed! The materials must be as specified, and the methods of attachment must be strictly followed. Adhere to these simple requirements and reap the miraculous benefits of THE DIAPHRAGM!

Rose Building Contractors, Inc.

Determining Proper Footing Depth

Top 8 Home Updates That Pay Off

Garage Door Replacement

Manufactured Stone Veneer

Entry Door Replacement

Kitchen Remodel

Replacing Siding

Bathroom Remodeling

Window Replacement

Wood Deck Addition