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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 loadbearing 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 backing
• Brick: 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