Archive for June, 2009
John Minton Reviews Our Project
Saturday, June 27th, 2009We were honored to host John Minton’s visit today. John is the Chief Engineer with Hanson Structural Precast, and supplied our hollow core concrete panels. John is in the L.A. area and works in Hanson’s offices in Irwindale, California.
John Reviews Our Project
We have a tiny project with only 48 panels. During our design and planning, John was always available to answer our questions and help resolve technical issues. He starts working early so Bryan would call him between 6:00 and 6:30 am, knowing that John would probably answer on the first ring.
John and his wife, Lynanne, and son, Brian, were to attend a family event in Hillsborough and, since they were flying into SJC, they could all stop by our project site for a few minutes.
His family was very patient while John and Bryan discussed the structural aspects ahead of us.
Flattening the Camber in Our Hollow Core Concrete Panels
One of the issues that we needed to understand is how and when the camber would come out of the hollow core concrete panels. John explained that, as soon as we put the 3 inches of structural concrete over the 6 inch hollow core concrete panels, one-half the camber would come out. Then, the remaining camber would come out over a couple years.
We discussed various strategies to accelerate the flattening of the panels. John explained that the fastest way to get the panels to flatten would be to put load on the panels.
The alternatives that we have include:
1. Pour the 3 inches of structural concrete then put the remaining posts/walls in place, and then the roof. This would increase the load, and then pour the final 2-1/4 inches of concrete.
or
2. Pour the 5-1/4 inches of concrete in one monolithic pour.
We’ll need to think this one through …
Framing Three Structural Walls
Friday, June 26th, 2009Before pouring more concrete, we need to do the following:
- Frame three bearing walls below the W14×43 steel I-beams
- Install the bridges and stairs
- Cut 1-1/2 inches off the hollow core concrete panels by the stairs
- Establish the manifold locations for the radiant heating/cooling and, if required, run supply lines from the heat exchange unit to the manifolds
- Understand and design how we are going to insulate the slab from the exterior
Yeah, lots to do.
Engaging Robert Dills to Frame the Bearing Walls
Bryan had spent quite a bit of time with Robert, checking on his project sites and doing other due diligence. Robert was interested in working on our project and did excellent work. Geographically, he is located in Marin and it is fair hike to Monte Sereno.
Robert arrived with his crew in the morning and started framing. He hadn’t used Simpson Titen Heavy Duty Screw Anchors before and was interesting in trying them. Our structural engineers, Innovative Structural Engineering, specified these bolts as an alternative to drilling and epoxying bolts in place. The TIten HDs were cool.














