Site visit-‐Week 10
Block work wall Formwork concrete benches Retaining wall
Looking front onto the building, I could see the construction of a retaining wall with reinforced steel bars which later will be filled with concrete. Behind the retaining wall, there were concrete benches, which got their shape through ply wood form work. In front of the retaining wall, there is an agi drain to ensure that water is drained away from the retaining wall. On the sides of the building, the concrete is patterned. This is due to when the form work boxes were made, Oregon was used and when the concrete is poured, it leaves an imprint of the timber. Looking at the whole construction site, LVL is used everywhere , especially for form work. The reason being is that LVL it is resistant, light and cheap. LVS is lots of different veneers glued together in the same direction. This is how LVS differs from ply wood as ply wood has veneers facing in all different directions to create a two dimensional element. Another structure that stood out was the block work retaining and load bearing wall. It was built as a masonry wall with hollow concrete blocks laid in a checked pattern.
Roof sitting on four timber columns. Rod bracing impeded in the timber Rod bracing works in tension and works best tied as an x shape, its much stiffer and saves money and materials
Primary structure of the building consists of steel beams and four timber columns. The top of the column has been cut to allow the steel beam to slide on top of the column. The steel beam is bolted in three places to the column creating a pin joint. The reason it is not a fixed joint is because bolting steel allow for a bit of movement
Roof The roof system consist of steel beams, galvanized steel purlin, flooring, batten then the roof sheets it that order. The purlins are Z shaped secondary structural members, with two purlins joined at every member. A key element of Z purlins is that they can lap on top of each other. Z purlin
Wall system The walls consist of battens, sisalation, framing, insulation and plasterboard -‐The span between two walls is six meters. The walls that allow for spanning, need extra reinforcement. -‐Arrow props can be seen on the site which are temporary structural members which hold up concrete until it has been cured. Concrete cures and achieves 90% of its strength within two weeks , so arrow props are only needed for two weeks. Arrow props are very common in concrete construction Retaining wall
LVS form work LVS is temporary
The retaining wall consist of Z ties, which are inclusive of a washer and a nut, which stops the wall from blowing out. The nut works by withstanding tension.
The exterior wall consists of tongue and groove cladding. The planks are screwed down through the tongue so you cannot see the screws. This is known as ‘hidden fixing’ Examples of waterproofing found in the building -‐Waffle membrane on the retaining wall -‐The windows are corked -‐Flashing on top of box gutter and over cladding -‐internal wall 25 mm higher than exterior floor -‐spoon drain-‐prevents water form the oval entering the site. This is important as the building is below ground level -‐agi drain which prevent water from entering retaining wall -‐sisalation on exterior walls