Week 4

Basic Building Construction

Objective

• This chapter discusses basic building construction; building components, how they go together, terminology, and the drawings that show them

Introduction• The ability to interpret plumbing or

mechanical systems drawings will enable you to check – If the fixtures and appliances you have

specified have been acknowledged – If all is in place to receive them

• Communication with tradespersons will be facilitated if the designer has a working knowledge of construction vocabulary and building parts

Introduction (cont’d.)• A building consists of

– Substructure: everything below grade, or ground

– Superstructure: everything above grade• Structural engineers

– Design the foundation – Determine the size of and distance between all

structural components needed to support the building’s stresses and loads

The Foundation• The base upon which a building is placed

– Provides a level surface to build on– Forms the basement walls, carries the

building’s loads, or weights, and keeps moisture-sensitive materials off the ground to prevent rot and insect infestation

• Foundation plan: shows walls, footings, grade beams, and pilasters

• Basement plan: shows these elements plus interior

The Foundation (cont’d.)

Figure 7-3 Basement plan. It shows the same information as a foundation plan plus interior spaces.

Foundation Terms

• Concrete: mixture of cement, water, aggregate, and possibly admixtures

• Aggregate: blend of sand, rock, crushed gravel, and cinder ash

• Admixture: chemical that makes concrete stronger or more workable

• Footing: widened bottom of a foundation wall, pier, or column

Foundation Terms (cont’d.)

• Structural member: carries the weight of other components

• Beam: horizontal structural member• Grade beam: portion of a slab that is thicker

than the rest• Pier: short post found under buildings, as in

crawlspaces or porches

Foundation Terms (cont’d.)

• Post: vertical, structural member outside a wall that supports beams

• Column: vertical, structural member outside a wall that supports beams

• Pilaster: post or column attached to a wall– Strengthens the wall where heavy beams

will rest

Foundation Types• Slab-on-grade (monolithic foundation):

concrete slab on the ground• T (spread footing or perimeter foundation):

wall built on top of a footing, which is a wide base

• Piers and columns: vertical structural members on square footings that support beams

• Other types: stepped footings, piles, wood, brick, and stone

Foundation Types (cont’d.)

Figure 7-8 Pictorial showing grade beam, post, pier, column, foundation wall, and footing.

Foundation Materials• Cast or poured concrete and concrete

block are the materials most commonly used to make foundations

• Concrete masonry units (CMU): precast item

• Concrete block: available in different shapes, sizes and weights– Typically manufactured in lengths of 16",

heights of 8" and widths of 4", 6", 8", 10", and 12”

Foundation Materials (cont’d.)

Figure 7-18 A concrete block wall. It is strengthened with reinforcing bar (rebar) and a bond beam, which is a course of bond blocks.

Wood Construction

Figure 7-20 Components of a wood skeleton–framed house

Wood Construction Terms

• Dimensional lumber: wood used for framing

• Engineered wood products (EWP): wood veneers and fibers that have been laminated to produce longer-spanning, load-bearing

• Oriented strand board: wood product made of layers of wood and glue pressed together to create 4' 8' panels

Wood Construction Terms (cont’d.)

• Beam: umbrella term for a horizontal load-bearing member of wood, steel, and/or concrete

• Girder: large beam that supports smaller beams

• Rafter: inclined beam at the roof• Joist: horizontal beam in ceilings and

floors• Lintel: beam over a door or window

Wood Construction Terms (cont’d.)

• Trussed rafter: fabricated member placed at the roof, consisting of an upper chord, a lower chord, and a web

• Trussed joist: fabricated member with parallel upper and lower chords

• Stud: vertical load-bearing member inside a wall

• Cripples: short studs placed above or below a wall opening

Wood Construction Terms (cont’d.)

Figure 7-38 2-D and 3-D views of a wood-framed wall.

Wood Construction Terms (cont’d.)

• Plate: horizontal board– Bottom plates evenly distribute loads

placed on them– Top plates tie studs together

• Sheathing: vertical covering of boards on exterior walls that goes under the final finish

• Decking: horizontal covering of boards on the roof or floor

Wood Frame Types• Post-and-beam

– Timber framing: oldest framing method and was the method of wood building used throughout the world for 2,000 years

• Skeleton– Balloon– Platform

Masonry• Bond: arrangement of brick or blocks in a

wall• Mortar: mixture of cement, sand, and

water that hardens used as binding agent• Wythe: continuous vertical section of a

masonry wall, one unit in thickness

Masonry

Veneer: non-load bearing, aesthetic masonry facing attached to, and supported by, a structural backingBrick: rectangular mass of clay hardened by heat

Masonry (cont’d.)

Figure 7-64 Brick laid in walls. Cavity walls enable the positioning of header bricks.

Masonry (cont’d.)• Stone: rock or hard mineral matter• Glass block • Acrylic block • Structural clay tile• Terra-cotta• Four masonry wall construction types

– Solid, cavity, faced, and veneer

Steel Terms• Arch: bent truss• Rigid frame: consists of two columns and a

beam or truss• Prefabricated components: made into units

and assembled at a factory• Two types of steel construction

– Steel skeleton and large-span construction

Construction Drawings• Title page or cover sheet• Survey• Structural discipline drawings• Architectural discipline drawings• Heating, ventilation, air-conditioning,

ventilation (HVAC) and plumbing discipline drawings

Summary• Buildings are made of wood, steel, and

concrete• Components are made on site or fabricated

in standardized sizes in factories• Techniques and systems have evolved

throughout the years in step with technology advancements

• Understanding buildings’ basic construction is necessary to competently draft drawings that describe them