The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

Overview

Construction of residential buildings in coastal zones presents challenges to the builder not usually found in more inland locations.

For all coastal residential buildings, these challenges may include the following:

  · Various connection details require additional inspections
  · Careful surveying is required to place the building within property line setbacks and above the Design Flood Elevation (DFE)
  · Special care which is required to ensure that all elements of the building will withstand the large forces associated with high wind speeds and coastal flooding
  · Difficulty of providing durable exterior construction in a moist, sometimes salt-laden, environment
  · The requirement to protect and, usually, place utilities above the DFE

In constructing coastal residential buildings on elevated pile foundations, builders face additional challenges:

  · Difficulty of constructing a driven pile foundation to accepted construction plan tolerances
  · Difficulty of building on an elevated post-and-beam foundation, compared to building on continuous wall foundations
  · The additional care that must be taken in constructing a building envelope that will withstand the intrusion of air and moisture under the effects of high wind speeds

This course discusses the construction aspects of the above challenges, as well as basic aspects of the coastal construction process and is divided into the following sections:

  · Foundation Construction
  · Structural Framing
  · Building Envelope
  · Appurtenant Structures
  · Utility/Mechanical Equipment

Fact:

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) regulations state that for buildings in V zones, "a registered professional engineer or architect shall develop or review the structural design, specifications and plans for the construction, and shall certify that the design and methods of construction to be used are in accordance with accepted standards of practice" for meeting the provisions of the NFIP regulations regarding buildings in V zones.

The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of twenty-five (25) questions at the end of this course to earn PDH credits.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Attained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

  · General understanding about pile foundations and potential bearing capacities of various USDA soil classifications
  · Determine pile capacity using the "Pile driving resistance for Drop Hammer Piledrivers" formula
  · Learn about critical inspection areas that require special attention
  · An overview of structural framing and discussion of top structural frame issues for builders
  · Methods to transfer shear forces and transfer wind uplift tensile forces
  · Provide an overview to critical inspection areas of the building envelope and top building envelop issues for builders
  · Provides special guidelines for appurtenant structures
  · Provides guidelines for utility and mechanical equipment

Designers should refer to pertinent sections of the IRC 2000, in addition to those of the IBC 2000 cited here.

Additional reference sources should also include one or more of the following sources in high wind zones:

  · American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) Wood Frame Construction Manual for One and Two- Family Dwellings (WFCM)
  · Southern Building Code Congress International Standard for Hurricane Resistant Residential Construction (SSTD 10)
  · Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and other structures (ASCE-7)

State Board Acceptance

This course can be used by professional engineers to fulfill PDH requirements mandated by state and provincial licensing boards. Decatur Professional Development is an approved provider of continuing education in all states that pre-approve course providers. In all other states that mandate continuing education for engineers, it is the individual engineer's responsibility to determine the suitability of activities for PDH credit. The state boards typically accept online* courses that cover technical, managerial** or ethical content and which are relevant to the practice of engineering. The course must have a clear purpose or objective with a content that will maintain, improve or expand the skills and knowledge of the licensee's field of practice. For questions about your mandatory PDH requirements, visit the website of your state licensing board.

*Online courses are accepted by all state licensing boards that mandate continuing education. Other than New York (which limits online courses to 18 PDH) and Iowa (which limits online courses to 6 PDH), there are no limits placed by other states on the number of hours that can be earned through online continuing education. Consult with your state licensing board if you have any questions about the acceptability of online courses.

**The New York State Board of Engineers does not accept general office management courses, but will accept project management courses that are offered by an approved provider and that are technical in nature and contribute to the engineer's professional practice.