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60 psf stairs connection calculations

seekingguidance
Hey there world, could someone please advise me on demonstrating 60 psf stairs connection calculations on a set of drawings. I just need to see what this looks like. I figure the calculations are good as long as I have the appropriate details.
 
Mar 5, 21 11:29 am
Wood Guy

If you don't know how to show the required calculations, that means you don't know what the calculations are and you should not be designing structural aspects of buildings. 

I guess I admire your dedication to crowd-sourcing everything about designing buildings here on Archinect, but you're getting into life safety territory--it's time to hire a professional.

Mar 5, 21 11:52 am  · 
2  · 
t a z

Also 60 psf is clearly only DL for some as yet unspecified stair construction. Stair LL should be in the ballpark of 100 psf.

Edit - buy this:  https://www.aisc.org/Design-Gu...

Mar 5, 21 1:41 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

via GIPHY

.

Mar 5, 21 1:46 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

If you don't know, then you should not be offering that service.  Tell your client to hire someone who does not crowd-source important parts of their docs.

Mar 5, 21 11:58 am  · 
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rcz1001

HIRE A LICENSED/REGISTERED STRUCTURAL ENGINEER (PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER WITH THE STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE) AS A PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT TO DO THOSE PORTIONS OF THE DOCUMENTS FOR THE PROJECT.

Sorry, had to ALL-CAP it to drive the point home. This should have been something that is outlined in a written contract. You should be using written contracts for ALL projects. It's too litigious of a world to be using verbal / informal contracts. Word of advice, don't offer services you are not qualified by knowledge and experience to do yourself and require that you may use professional consultants and their fees will be in addition to your fee and that the client pays for it.

Mar 5, 21 12:34 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

"I figured" famous last words

Mar 5, 21 12:43 pm  · 
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rcz1001

Others can suggest more details on how to outline contracts better but the point is 1) not to offer to do as part of your scope of work in the written contract that you can't do yourself, and 2) when professional consultants such as engineers are required, you will not be stuck with the engineer's cost and that the client will pay for that and that the cost invoiced to the client may reflect the cost of additional services of engineers. You are not an engineer and do not possess the engineering knowledge and skills. Why? You are asking how to do it. If you know how to do something, you don't ask other people how to do something you already know how to do. That's the obvious proof.

Mar 5, 21 12:47 pm  · 
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Is my memory failing me or does the OP seem to be asking questions like this often with similar responses?  


Wouldn't he/she have learned by now?

Mar 5, 21 1:14 pm  · 
1  · 
rcz1001

It seems to be familiar and after reading (okay, re-reading that thread that midlander pointed to), it's definitely familiar again. I don't always remember the user name of some bozo that I didn't bother to think about in awhile.

Mar 6, 21 12:44 am  · 
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Wood Guy

I can't keep track but I clicked on "history" next to OP's name and it showed their multiple questions along similar lines.

Mar 6, 21 12:10 pm  · 
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rcz1001

It's been a year since we visited this topic. I have a simpler solution, close up shop and get a job working as an employee of an experienced architect or building designer (perhaps, one that may be certified as a CPBD). It is better than bumbling your way through. 

*** Stop here if the rest is TLDR ***

If you live in a location where you can get experience under either an architect or a CPBD (certified professional building designer via AIBD), you might get some good experience that way and gain more knowledge and skills on how to do this stuff better and not have to ask all these questions in hope to fulfill your obligations for your client. 

We're not paid to be your professional consultant so why should we teach you. If you want to be taught, go to school (college/university) and learn. We are not doing your job for you. If you fail, hopefully, the client learns that you are not qualified and drop you from the project and hire a real professional before building the project and let the community around you know to not commission you to design anything so you get the point that it is time for you to close up shop and get a job with an architect or a CPBD so you learn what you don't know. After maybe, 5-10 years of experience here, maybe get a job at an engineer's office for a year or two in each of the following domains, structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering, and then some work in construction in the trades for a few years. You can reduce the amount of time working for an architect or CPBD to say 3-5 years if you get some construction experience. It's an idea that I think is valuable knowledge even if you don't pursue an architect license. If you do work for an architect, log the AXP hours with NCARB (if you can where you are at in terms of getting enrolled in AXP via NCARB). It's a suggestion if you decide later to pursue licensure through any one of the states that may allow you to get licensed without a NAAB accredited degree. 

My suggestions in this post don't explicitly apply to your immediate situation with the client but I think you are getting in over your head on stuff you are not competent at because of what you don't know. This can and eventually *will* get someone killed if you keep doing projects you are not competent at doing. This is a serious job you are working on. I know enough to do the work I do but I am not particularly trained with teaching. 

I hope you best but if you are being asked to do shear calculations to determine if the fasteners you are specifying are adequate for the loads required but you don't know how to do it, I do suggest an engineer. 

I think you lack a lot of knowledge and experience. I started in the profession of building design on a less ideal basis and that working for an architect or building designer would have been more ideal and I understand the frustration of learning on your initiative and the effort it takes to learn but I did take some college classes to learn some things but it didn't teach everything I needed to know but it helped. A hybrid of didactic and autodidactic learning is my approach to learning what I did learn so I spent additional time learning the stuff that I couldn't get at the college locally where I am at. This is why I know stuff about engineering calculations and how to do it and identify which equations to use to calculate. However, there is a line where I do involve engineers and even when I run through the "calcs" myself, I may still have an engineer for obvious liability reasons. Therefore, my calc is informal and that's usually okay so you aren't trying to hold up a 4-ft. deep glulam beam with a 15 ft. tall 4"x4" would post. If you have any good sense, you know a 4x4 supporting a roughly 4-ft. deep glulam beam is probably not a good idea. 

Mar 6, 21 1:26 am  · 
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