ASSIGNMENT 1 – Structures

Books

Architectural Graphic Standards: See the free body diagrams on pages 1026-1027. Look for the Mmax equations to quickly determine the maximum moment, without solving any reactions. I don't think you have to memorize these, but generally understand that point loads have a smaller denominator than uniform loads, which results in a higher bending moment…meaning you will need a stronger beam or more beams.

UPDATED LINKS:

Looks like Dartmouth X removed their videos from YouTube. All the videos are now in a free online course called, “The Engineering of Structures Around Us” It is not very easy to navigate, but the videos are there and it's still free.

ASSIGNMENT 2 – Code

Books

Architectural Graphic Standards: Page 528-529 has some info on fire rated wall construction. Not a comprehensive list of different wall assemblies, but it does have some details for floor and ceiling conditions for one and two hour rated walls.

links

2015 IBC Chapter 5

ASSIGNMENT 3 – ada

Links

2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design: See Sections 305 and 404

QUESTION

For Scenario B you show 48″ for the minimum spacing between two doors opening outwards. I believe the minimum dimension for this space must be 60″ for wheelchair turn around space, not just “parking” space with the 48″ minimum. Does that sound correct? See AGS 12th Ed pg 56

Well, this is a good question. In my assignment I reference the ADA and that's definitely 48″. See 2010 ADA Section 404.2.6

Architectural Graphic Standards page 56 references ICC/ANSI 117.1 in which case the answer is definitely 60″ like you said. I checked the NCARB reference matrix and the exams reference BOTH the ANSI and the ADA so…you got me. I'm not  sure how you choose. If I were faced with this situation I would look to see if there were clues about which standard to use. Otherwise I would go with the 60″ because it meets both standards.

ASSIGNMENT 7 – Construction

ASSIGNMENT 8 – Code

Links:

question:

Is the door position compliant? I thought yes, but your answer says no. It swings in the direction of travel and when fully open does not project more than 7″.

I was trying to show the door does comply with the 7″ requirement, but does not comply with the requirement to not reduce the required width by half at any point. It is too close to the stair, and so as it is swinging open it will reduce the required width of the stair by more than 1/2. This is a requirement for corridors AND for stairs. In a corridor you will often see the doors leading to spaces recessed into an alcove to help it meet the 1/2 requirement. Same for exit stairs.

question:

Apparently for an exit stair to now meet the Code, the min width was changed from 44″ to 48″. All of my study material says 48″. Am I missing something?.

Here’s how I read the code:

Start with Section 1009 Accessible Means of Egress:
Section 1009.3 says 48” minimum between the handrails with the following exception (there are 9, I’m only showing the important one for this discussion)
Ex2. 48” is not required if the building is equipped with sprinklers.

So we are exempted from the 48”. Are there other minimums to check for?

Go to Section 1005.3.1 Stairways. The minimum width is .3 multiplied by the occupant load. Ex1 reduces this to .2  per person. BUT if we have a stair serving 48 people in a sprinklered building then our stair, by the two code sections above, would only have to be 9.6” wide. This obviously doesn’t work.

Let’s go to Section 1011 Stairways.

Section 1011.2 sets the minimum width at 44”. Ex1 allows for 36” if the occupant load is less than 50.

To sum up the minimums:

36” if serving fewer than 50 people
44” minimum otherwise
48” non-sprinklered accessible stair

Remember these are just minimums. If you have a 250 people and sprinklers your stair has to be 50” wide (.2 * 250)

ASSIGNMENT 9 – Construction

Books

Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings: I have the 11th Edition. In Chapter 24 Fire Protection read from 1143 to 1153. See Fig. 24.40. Understand how the different smoke detectors work for different stages of a fire.

ASSIGNMENT 10 – structures

BOOKS

ASSIGNMENT 11 – CONSTRUCTION

BOOKS

ASSIGNMENT 12 – ADA

links

2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design: Chapter 4 Accessible Routes. Read 405 about Ramps.

ASSIGNMENT 13 – mechanical

books

ASSIGNMENT 14 – ELECTRICAL

BOOKS

ASSIGNMENT 15 – structures

Books

Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings: I have the 11th Edition. In Chapter 24 Fire Protection read from 1143 to 1153. See Fig. 24.40. Understand how the different smoke detectors work for different stages of a fire.

ASSIGNMENT 16 – code

ASSIGNMENT 17 – acoustics

LINKS

More on NRC and STC (not the same as SAC!) at Audiomute

Acoustic Foam Panel cut sheet from the video answer

ASSIGNMENT 18 – construction

ASSIGNMENT 19 – environment

ASSIGNMENT 20 – mechanical

ASSIGNMENT 21 – plumbing

question:

I have a problem with your sketch for assignment 21… it seems that the roof drainage is getting mixed with a waste line and then you are separating again at the basement. Also, the clean out is connected to the storm water line. Based on my experience and all the books I read the sewer discharge line and roof drainage / stormwater must be separated. Please advise.

The sketch is correct, but I did mislabel the line coming from the roof as a waste line. It should be Leader or Downspout. At the right, see A – Sewer continuous up to the roof. The dashed line that intersects it is a vent from the waste lines. In the drawing it goes through the drainage line but it is a different line style indicating it’s a different pipe. I could have added one of those half circle jumps, though to me the difference in the line style was clear. Cleanouts are helpful for any kind of plumbing system, not just waste lines. You are correct about keeping waste and stormwater separate, though many cities still have Combined Sewer Overflows, where waste and stormwater run in one pipe, which can result in sewage being discharged directly to local waterways during periods of heavy rainfall.

My “sketch” is a trace from a diagram in Plumbing, Electricity and Acoustics, see Figure 4.5a on page 117.

ASSIGNMENT 22 – construction

ASSIGNMENT 23 – code

ASSIGNMENT 24 – cost estimate

Correction

The total cost of system A is $492,100. When I summed the three costs to find the total cost I mis-wrote $393,500 for the construction cost. I should have written $393,750. That would increase the total cost by $250 over what my math shows. I'll update the PDF soonish. Thanks to Kevin K. (1/09/2019)

ASSIGNMENT 25 – Acoustics

Question

Does the stud spacing affect the STC rating?
Yes. Closely spaced studs result in a stiffer wall, which is bad for STC rating. Here's a good article about STC Ratings with Metal Stud Walls.

ASSIGNMENT 26 – Structures

ASSIGNMENT 27 – building systems

ASSIGNMENT 28 – electrical

ASSIGNMENT 29 – mechanical

ASSIGNMENT 30 – lighting

UPDATE

BIG UPDATE COMING SOON (12/17)

I have received lots of questions and lots of additional information about the zonal cavity method and this assignment. I'll be posting an updated assignment, corrected calculations, some additional links and a video for this one, just need to get a good amount of free time one day. Will try to get this out just after Christmas. In the meantime, use 2400lm for the lumens per luminaire calculation (where I show 1080 * 2).

ASSIGNMENT 31 – LIGHTING

CORRECTION

In a previous version of this assignment I incorrectly said that the blue wall would look dull and grey with an incandescent lamp. I was confused about the relationship between color temp and CRI. I didn’t even have CRI in the question, just a brief note about it in the answer.

Molly R sent me a question about that and since I didn’t know I called Mike Ermann from Amber Book. Here’s a fairly accurate transcript of our conversation:

“Color temp measures one thing and CRI measures another, even though they are both measuring light. It’s the same way that cloud cover and wind are both measures of weather you can have a cloudy day that’s windy or a sunny day that’s windy or a sunny day that’s calm or a cloudy day that’s calm. So they’re actually orthogonal to each other and don’t influence one another. Same way we don’t describe temperature based on sunshine. You can have a cold day that’s bright and sunny.

The color temperature is the color the light looks when you’re staring at it. When fluorescents first came on the scene it was difficult to describe what color your fluorescent lamp was because when you look down the line of fluorescent lamps you want it to be the same color all the way down the line, but of course sometimes you see yellow, yellow, yellow, blue, yellow… and you’re like, “man, what the hell?” So we came up with Color Temperature so you can go into a hardware store and say “I need a 4000K fluorescent lamp and it will match the others in the line.

But with fluorescent lamps only certain colors are emitted, so it’s not continuous across the spectrum. It looks like it’s continuous because our eyes kind of fill in the gaps, but in reality the color of your pants might not be in that light, and if it’s not in the light your pants are going to look kind of dull, so you need the color in the light to be reflecting off your pants.

In CRI it’s not a measure of the color, it’s a measure of how many colors are present in the light. So even if you have a lot more yellow in the light than blue, if you have a blue wall and blue is still present in the light, the blue will appear the correct color, even though there’s more yellow light around.

So to your example, an incandescent lamp is a warm lamp, which means it has a low color temperature, which is a bit ironic. (The higher the color temperature the cooler the lamp and vice versa). So CRI describes how many colors are present in the light and is the more correct indicator for how objects will appear when that light is shining on them.

For lighting CRI way more important. On a scale of 1-10 CRI = 10, Color Temp = 1. BUT, in reality CRI is a little outdated and there are more accurate measures, like TM-30-15…”

– Mike Ermann
Amber Book

ASSIGNMENT 32 – construction

ASSIGNMENT 33 – structures

QUESTION

You used f = 10k in the calculation. Is that because there are 10k pulling in each direction?

Yes, the force on the bolt is the sum on one side, which should match whatever is on the other side. My instinct in solving this was to use f = 20k because there are 10k going left and 10k going right. This is not correct though. I confirmed the math/method for this question in Simplified Engineering for Architects and Builders.

ASSIGNMENT 34 – code (area increase)

ASSIGNMENT 35 – plumbing

ASSIGNMENT 36 – mechanical/construction

Correction

The R-Value for the CMU should have been 1.09 and not 1.06. I have corrected this and updated the PDF as of 9/21.

ASSIGNMENT 37 – electrical

ASSIGNMENT 38 – construction

ASSIGNMENT 39 – structures

ASSIGNMENT 40 – structures

ASSIGNMENT 41 – code (mezzanines)

QUESTION

Paraphrased from multiple: You show the mezzanine as 1/3 of the size of the room. But can't we go up to 1/2 per 2015 IBC Section 505.2.1 Exception 2? The building is Type II and has sprinklers. Or does the building not meet the voice/alarm communications system requirement? If we can use 1/3 we get 750. If we're allowed 1/2 the size of the mezzanine can be 1,125 sf.

In the question I said “equipped with a sprinkler only”. I intended this to mean that there is no voice communication system. Mezzanines by default are allowed to be 1/3 the size of the room they are above. You can increase this to 1/2 the size of the room if the building has sprinklers and an approved emergency voice/alarm communication system. I am almost positive the ARE will not try to do any tricks like this. If you get a question about mezzanines it will be clear whether the building has both the sprinklers and the alarm or neither.

I like getting questions like this one because this is exactly the point of this entire course. If you read the assignment, went to read the actual code and figured out the two different possibilities for this scenario then it doesn't really matter what the actual value is. You have already won the assignment. (1/8/2019)

ASSIGNMENT 42 – constructions/specifications

QUESTION

Should the drain pipe be Division 2 – Site Work?

I don't believe the drain pipe would be Division 2 Site Work. The CSI Divisions are generally numbered in order of construction, so Site Work, then concrete, then masonry, then metals, etc. You wouldn't install the drain pipe before the concrete foundations, so it's unlikely to be classified before Division 3 – Concrete. I put the drain pipe as Division 7 – Thermal and Moisture Protection because that is consistent with the waterproofing that would go directly against the foundation walls. Some addition research shows the drain pipe might actually be Division 33 – Utilities. See this Foundation Drainage Piping 3-Part Spec from Certainteed. This one and others have shown Division 33. I can tell you that in my exam preps I only memorized Division 00 – Division 12. (12/27/2018)

ASSIGNMENT 43 – structures

Correction

The write up for the answer still showed the moment to be 120lbs x 3ft. That was an error that was corrected when I changed the question, but forgot to change the write up. The math is correct (1215 x 3 = 3645) just the write up was wrong. PDF corrected and updated on 11/20/2018.

ASSIGNMENT 44 – acoustics

Correction

The given value in question five should be NRC = .35. The math in the answer is correct.

ASSIGNMENT 45 – construction

QUESTION

You note that the vapor barrier in on the incorrect side for NY climate because it’s supposed to be on the warm side of the wall. From what I can tell in the detail it is on warm side of the wall— it’s behind the insulation on the interior side—  straight out of Joe Lstiburek’s vapor profile 1. Am I missing something here or is it a typo?

ASSIGNMENT 46 – environment

LINKS

All the links went to the same article. Here are the correct ones (12/27/2018):

John Meyer Consulting: Cross County Shopping Center Renovation and Expansion
Lake Superior Streams: Grassed Swales
Laramie County Conservation District: Ponds

ASSIGNMENT 47 – structures

Correction

Item C and Item D had the same image. The PDF has been updated to show the correct image for D and is on the Gumroad site as of 9/14.

ASSIGNMENT 48 – code

ASSIGNMENT 49 – zoning

question

What is meant by frontages?
This will be faces of the building, indicating that there is space in front of them. In this question, right-of-way frontages means areas people can walk or drive. See earlier question #34 for more on frontages and how they can be used to increase building area.

ASSIGNMENT 50 – environmental conditions

ASSIGNMENT 51 – environmental conditions

question

How do I read that sun chart?

ASSIGNMENT 52 – construction

ASSIGNMENT 53 – construction

question

ASSIGNMENT 54 – structures

ASSIGNMENT 55 – acoustics

ASSIGNMENT 56 – DOORS AND CORRIDORS

question

ASSIGNMENT 57 – CONCRETE DAMAGE

ASSIGNMENT 58 – WINDOW DETAIL

ASSIGNMENT 59 – ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION

ASSIGNMENT 60 – WIND LOAD AND COST ESTIMATING

ASSIGNMENT 61 – READING FLOOR PLANS

UPDATE

The original page with the floor plans is no longer online. You can download the plans right here.

ASSIGNMENT 62 – WINDOW EFFICIENCY

ASSIGNMENT 63 – ELECTRICAL SERVICE