Greg_NY61

Just like to add something, the I-joist was invented sometime in 1969, by 2005 probably 1/2 the industry was using I-joist  and 10 years later they just came up with this code?

Someone mentioned they switching back to conventional lumber... I never switched to anything else, I have been stick framing all my homes 250k or 1m price tag and I never had any issues, never squeaky floors  if installers know what they doing, etc. So the lumber had tendency to shrink a little... big deal. Everything shrink and everything moves in the house with seasonal change, so I wouldn't worry much. I would worry about Chinese sheetrock which melted all the wiring and duct work in the wall, the Chinese cabinets that people install like its going out fo style, look at the Lumber Liquidators and all that mess with the formaldehyde flooring they been selling... I rather deal with some shrinkage (you know which one LOL) and a few squeaks than worry about all that other crap that we put into our homes.

As the fires go, and this video they did, anything will burn under most circumstances, especially when you stack 20 hay bales under the deck 1' from the deck which will never happen in the basement and if you have unconditioned basement the fire can occur at the electrical meter because of wire malfunction or at the furnace or a water heater which would be a gas related, but in that case the whole house would go up. 

So how far does this code can go? Today they decided to fire rate TJI's, what is next? 

With that said, if you look at Gov statistics most fires on first or second level and hardly ever in the basement. Main source is the kitchen while cooking and kitchen  is also one of the leading causes of injuries from fire. The rest common causes of fires is at night when carelessly discarded cigarettes, sparks from fireplaces being without spark screens or glass doors, and heating appliances left too close to furniture or other combustibles.  

TJI joist manufacturers started to make TJI joist with what they call  Flak Jacket protection. It's a special coating they apply that provides much better fire resistance and it meets the building  code requirement (the 503.1) so no sheetrock is needed if used on the first floor. They also say that the TJI can be drilled and cut and no special coating needs to be applied to cut area and lalala.The also mention that it will still provide cost efficiency but somehow I doubt that. 

http://www.buildeazy.com/house_property_makeover/treehouse_10_07_p1.html

Richard, have you seen this video? I had it saved in my favorites. Dan Bauman talks about this things

I need 2 sheets just for my energy calculations.  A simple 20'x14' addition off the back of a one story,  slab foundation and roof trusses,  13 sheets and one month of plan check time.

Scott, how long does it takes for them to do a plan review and issue a building permit. I know each town is different but what is approximate average is?

The reason I'm asking this, a while back  I was visiting my uncle in LA, its a pretty good area the houses not that big but in 1m neighborhood. Someone was doing an addition a few houses down, nothing special, a typical add-a-level approximately 500 SQFT, the shell was up and roof was partially framed.... I was there for 2 weeks and I didn't see anyone on that job. My uncle said the job just stopped and there was an issue with the plans. I thought they started with no permits and got nailed, but one day I saw the Homeowner outside and I stopped by to say hello, and the Homeowner said there were a few changes made and they waiting for the building department....  So I thought around here this would get resolved with a letter or a call from an architect in most cases within a day or 2, especially after building permit was already issued.

Joe,

I heard that from a few contractors I talk with on the different blog, they said building departments want to see everything and have every detail on the plans. Around here the drawings are very simple, page for each: Foundation, each  floor, roof , elevation, schedules and general notations... Sometimes if there is more detail to the structure there will be a cross section page. As the additions go, some will squeeze everything on one or 2 pages. Around here the moto is the less you include, the faster you get the plans approved and if they want to see something specific, you add a page with detail. Most places you get a permit for a new house in a week or 2. 

Larry, I'm 110% with you on this... we can only hope.

Greg,

 

FWIW, The Floor Living Areas are individually available as attributes of the Exterior Rooms.  In fact if you haven't deleted that Label it can be seen just by turning on the "Room Labels" Layer.

 

With the proper macro you can get the Total of all Rooms.  I do that in a couple of my Packages:

 

A.  Living Area Package .......................I'm only charging $30 for this package. 

  1.  Displays all Floor Living Areas

  2.  Displays the Total Living Area

  3.  Exposes those Values as variables that can be used in other Macros

 

B.  Site and Building Area Analysis

  1.  Includes the functionality of the Living Area Package

  2.  Calculates Property and Buildable (inside setbacks) Areas

  3.  Calculates Totals of each Special Room Type

  4.  Calculates Totals of Driveways, Sidewalks, etc.

  5.  Calculates and Displays Site Coverage, FAU

  6.  Exposes all those values for use in other macros.

 

There are a lot of other things that can be done - as I've demonstrated.  Sure, we can ask CA to provide their "Global Macros" for all sorts of things - but you will never get the ultimate flexibility that way.

 

Eventually, with the right "Open Doors" to the Model data we can have "Add-Ons" by 3PP for all sorts of Engineering Apps. 

 

IAE, I want CA to concentrate on enhancing the 3D and 2D functionality in Chief - and just provide the access to the data and some of the higher level capabilities of scripting.  We could even design our own "Input Screens" to add dynamic data to the Plan - things like Consultants, Contractor, etc.  CA doesn't have unlimited programming assets so we have to pick what we want them to do and maybe one of those things is opening the door so others can provide the Add-Ons.

Joe I understand that perfectly well, what I'm trying to say is that what you offer in package A that should be part of the software (please don't take this the wrong way, I'm ok with you making money since you came out with it not them...I'm just saying). The rest of the stuff i.e impervious surface coverage,setbacks etc, that information is more leading to engineering and zoning department and around here all that is part of the survey. On some plans Architects will have a small detail of property tucked in the corner someplace on the front page showing the lot and house outline. The rest like  driveways, sidewalks, etc SQ footage is estimated per layout in the field, you never find that on the plans, unless client requests all that information for whatever reason.

Here is an example what some architects will include on the plan, and this architect  who I been working with for over 20 years, is the only one who includes a separate page for site plan, most will add a small image of what you see without any dimensions, just the outlines pf property line, setback line and house outline in the corner someplace.

Joe, maybe for Christmas you gonna feel bad enough for us who don't know macros any better and  put  A package out there for us to use who needs it. :-)

Thanks again Joe, for all that you do.

Hey Greg,

 

Check the video again. I added the text 'Area =' and 'SF' in the TEXT BOX not the macro. The macro reads 'referenced.area.round(2)' no quotes . When you open the Rich text box with the leader line you select the macro and enter that text before and after the %macro%  text box reads 'Area = %macro% SF'

 

Hope that helps

 

AND remember I've presented the absolute simplest macro, and as you can see by the rest of the thread there's much more to it and I am still failing to keep my interest up but the simple stuff seems quite useful as is.

I saw that Larry... Thank you!!!

Of Course it would have been better if Total area :1st floor, 2nd floor , garage was available with the software. I am surprised it is not and yet this being portrayed as a professional design software, and that is one of the important features to have which is part of every drawing. I can understand they skip Lot area % calculations, etc which most users don't use and I personally never seen that data on any project I was involved in.

But if I was doing this for a living like some of you guys do here, I would raise hell for not having that macro available.  Joe is a knowledgeable Architect and obviously he knows this programing language better than most... they should give Joe a job and pay him to teach some of the programmers who suck payroll there if they cannot come up with a macro that will do that, because I don't see a reason why this macros are not there to begin with or any other important feature for that matter which guys here been asking for years to be added or improved. 

Great job Joe!

Thank you Joe!!! I knew I was missing something there. Thank you very much!

Larry, look in the picture what happens when I add the following text to the macro code you showed in the video. The text shows up where it should, but something stops the calculation from being executed. There has to be some type of a command to execute the calculation script, if someone knows and is willing to share, at least this puzzle will be resolved and we don't have to type in Area= ,,,,,SQF

Foundation is missing.

Greg,

 

Do you have any programming experience?

Are you familiar with Ruby syntax?

 

I don't want to give away something that I spent a lot of time putting together.  I also am not really interested in teaching a Chief Ruby training course.  However, if you have a real desire to invest in learning how I could do an online meeting to explain the basics of how I accomplish this. 

 

I will be offering several packages for sale.  See my post in Offering Services https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/5324-roof-area-schedule-package/.

Thanks Joe!

Can't say I have much experience on Ruby syntax, but on need to know bases I have some experience with Java,HTML, and some on Intel 64 and IA-32 Architecture (self-education of course) therefore if I find the time,  I don't mind learning how to make a basic ruby entry and the reason for asking, I was just curious to know the process of how this data is being created and how and where this data is being stored and entered to get the results.... Thats all.

I been looking into some ruby programing but in Sketchup (which is a little different then doing % this or that% to get a area calculation, guys on the forum there always share and post entire Ruby programing scripts plugins they create, but most of the scripts they write and the plugins they create they share them for free so users can use them so I never really got into the depth of it.

You have a great deal of knowledge and I respect that and I hope you make a million dollars on the macros you create, I just don't need to display this sophisticated schedules and being a builder for almost 30 years and working with many different architects to whom I give my drawings which I make from scratch for a spec homes to fit onto a given building envelope and they enter all the schedules... but on the general note,  I have never seen a plan with so much information as you guys show in your schedules, or include framing details on the plans, etc, even a good friend of my was building a house  a while back (32k SF including the basement and I just looked at the plans) there is 21 Pages of layout and cross sections and 11 Pages of structural details and cross sections and there is not one note on any given area calculation other than 1st floor SF 2nd Floor SF, Basement and Garage .... I guess on the east coast we do things differently and having the Width/Length and Pitch/Overhang a few clicks on the calculator I can have the roof area and material list probably faster then it would take me to create a schedule and a note and enter it into a plan.

Thanks again Joe, you knowledge is always appreciated.

Richard, Thank you for taking the time and explaining this. It really helps understanding how this works.

Thank you again!

Thank you Yussef for taking the time and show the steps in detail!!! Great help!

Here we always put them in the block, because the crawl space is insulated. 

Do you guys install vents into a rim joist on remodeling jobs only? Or that is how you design crawl space ventilation for new construction also?

Thank you Richard, it does help ! I never even looked for them in the library since I don't do or use schedules at all, so windows always worked fine for me. 

I been using regular window (stripped) and resized to block size 16x8. I hope it helps.

https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/4961-walk-in-tub/

Joe,

What is the macro to set up this schedule and how do you set it up? Could you share it please or if you got the time a nice video tutorial would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance!

Thank you Yusuf...Great Video!

This one is updated, you might like this one better

CAT6 Duplex New.calibz

See if your foundation layer is on

Since everyone is pitching in to "Create a Buzz" and help out obtaining new Manufacturer catalogs... they will be available free of charge to its members?