Amber Book - Construction

Question 1

What is the typical application for softwood?

Answer 1

Structural lumber

Question 2

What are some typical applications for hardwood?

Answer 2

Flooring, furniture, trim.

Question 3

What are some benefits of quartersawn wood?

Answer 3

• Warps less when drying
• More consistent graining (better looking)
• Hold paint better
• Weathers better

Question 4

What is Glulam?

Answer 4

Glue laminated wood. Smaller strips of wood laminated together with glue. Very expensive. High tensile strength laminate (fiber reinforced plastic) can be added between layers to make stronger.

Question 5

What is CLT?

Answer 5

Alternating layers of perpendicular wood stacked and laminated together giving 2-way dimensional strength.

Question 6

What are LSL and OSL?

Answer 6

Laminated Strand Lumber and Oriented Strand Lumber. Both use shredded wood strands that are compressed into rectangular lumber. Cheap, but not very strong. LSL just has longer strands than OSL.

Question 7

What is PSL?

Answer 7

Like LSL and OSL it uses wood strands, but in PSL (parallel strand lumber) the strands are all parallel, leading to higher strength. More expensive than other strand lumber.

Question 8

What is LVL?

Answer 8

Laminated Veneer Lumber. Simply layers of plywood are laminated together to make a structural member.

Question 9

What is wood-plastic composite?

Answer 9

Exactly what it sounds like. More weather resistant and doesn’t warp much, but needs more frequent support due to its flexibility from the plastic. Apparently also stains badly.

Question 10

How many layers (or “plies”) are likely to be in plywood?

Answer 10

An odd number. Because you want the direction of the grains to alternate each layer.

Question 11

What is “Exposure 1” rated plywood?

Answer 11

Means it can be exposed to the elements for a short amount of time. Exterior rated can withstand more.

Question 13

What are the IBC requirements for determining the amount of vent space in an attic?

Answer 13

• Minimum vent area is 1/150th of attic footprint
• Minimum 1/300th for the vapor barrier

Question 14

Generally, what is the equation for determining the depth of a steel beam/joist? Decking? Triangular trusses? Rectangular trusses?

Answer 14

1/20th of the span.

Decking = 1/24th

Triangular Truss = 1/4

Rectangular Truss 1/8

Question 15

Which open-web steel joist can span the longest?

Answer 15

DLH - (Deep Long Span) up to 150’

LH up to 90’

K (most common) up to 60’

Question 16

What is one give-away of a steel moment connection?

Answer 16

That the flanges are welded

Question 17

What is cambering?

Answer 17

Pre-bending a beam, so that when a force is applied it will flatten out.

Question 18

What is a Girt?

Answer 18

Horizontal elements spanning between the vertical columns to attach curtain wall panels.

Question 19

What is the drying time of concrete?

Answer 19

28 days

Question 20

What is the most commonly used type of concrete?

Answer 20

Type 1

Question 21

What are the maximum sizes we want aggregate in concrete?

Answer 21

Less than 3/4 the distance between rebars

Less than 1/3 the slab depth

Question 22

How can one get super clean edges from concrete?

Answer 22

Use self-consolidating concrete! This has a higher ratio of smaller aggregate particles so it can be used for finer edge details

Question 23

What is the most available grade of rebar?

Answer 23

Grade 60! This has a tension rating of 60,000PSI

Question 24

How much should you overlap rebar that you’re splicing?

Answer 24

30x the diameter.

(For Example, 30” overlap for #8 rebar)

Question 25

What are the steps in pouring a slab-on-grade?

Answer 25

1. Level soil
2. Add gravel
3. Wax/Plastic
4. Formwork
5. Welded wire reinforcing
6. Pour
7. Skreed/Level
8. Flatten it more (trowel)
9. Curing. Keep it damp for at least a week
10. 1/4 depth control joings (minimum)