Scott Roebuck, senior regional project manager for The Dolben Company, is getting ready to build eight 24-unit garden apartment buildings in Maryland.
“It’s a no-brainer for slab construction for apartments,” says Scott. “I can take all that savings and put it into amenities that make our apartments more beautiful and more livable.”
FPSFs are now approved in the 2003 International Building Code and 2003 International Residential Code for protecting slabs-on-grade, crawl spaces and walk-out basements of heated, semi-heated and unheated buildings that are:
- Multifamily — slab-on-grade
- Commercial — stores, malls, hotels, motels, hospitals, clinics, warehouses, schools, churches, etc.
- One- and two-family homes and townhouses
- Seniors housing with single-level living
- Housing for people with disabilities
- Remodeling additions that are quick and disturb less soil
These applications are fully approved by the International Code Council (ICC) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). ASCE publishes standard 32-01 Design and Construction of Frost-Protected Shallow Foundations.
Other Educational Programs
NAHB has been getting the word out in other ways, too. Staff members conducted educational programs for ICC building officials in Rochester, NY, in 2000; at ICC hearings in Cincinnati in 2001, Nashville in 2002, Kansas City in April, 2003, and in August in Annapolis, MD; in October to the New England Building Officials in Amherst, MA, and in November to builders and building officials in Boise, ID.
NAHB Web Site
The NAHB Web site (NAHB.ORG; search on “Frost” or “FPSF”) contains general information, an introductory slide presentation and an advanced presentation with notes to go with the slides. Download these and give your own presentations.
A full-color brochure on designing FPSFs — "Energy-Efficient Resource-Efficient Frost-Protected Shallow Foundations" — can be downloaded and printed. There are links to NOAA climate data tables, how to order ASCE 32-01, research and development, construction examples, additional resources, codes and standards, and more.
Coming soon, Structure magazine will publish an article by Jay Crandell, who supervised the research and development of FPSFs at the NAHB Research Center, wrote the Design Guide for FPSFs and organized development of the ASCE standard 32-01.
The magazine is a joint publication of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA), ASCE's Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) and the Council of American Structural Engineers (CASE), and reaches more than 25,000 active structural engineers.
For more information, e-mail Dick Morris or call him at 800-368-5242, x8444.
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