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Question related to construction

4 replies [Last post]
Tue, 2009-10-27 14:43
John Drokovic
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Joined: 9 Oct 2009
Posts: 24
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Could you please help me with the definition of the following terminology?

a) pre-cat foundation
b) pre-engineering/pre-fab building (i.e. electrical bldg, sub-station)
c) pipe-rack modules (off-site fabricated)
d) stick-built structural steel

What do these all items have in common?
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Replies

Sun, 2009-11-29 15:46
#1
Samer Zawaydeh
User offline. Last seen 5 years 39 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 3 Aug 2008
Posts: 1664
Groups: Civil Engineering, Regional Representatives
Dear Shahul,

The answer of Se de Leon is excellent. Concrete Slabs that rest directly on the ground is called "slab on grade".

I googled it and found the following definitions as well;

A horizontal placement of concrete directly over a prepared earth substrate
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slab_on_grade

A type of foundation with a concrete floor placed directly on the soil. The edge of the slab is usually thicker and acts as the footing for the walls.
www.startremodeling.com/construction_glossary.htm

Slab-on-grade foundations are a building engineering practice whereby the concrete slab that is to serve as the foundation for the structure is ...
www.accu-crete.com/cs/services/glossary_of_terms.html

A concrete slab that is fully and evenly supported by an substrate such as the ground. Sidewalks are slabs on grade.
www.concretenetwork.com/countertop_glossary/indexr-t.html

A concrete slab that is less than 4 feet below the surface.
www.pexsupply.com/glossary.asp

Concrete slab foundation built on ground level. No crawl space or basement.
www.greatinspector.com/faq-term-structural.html

With kind regards,

Samer

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Mon, 2009-11-23 16:59
#2
Se de Leon
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Joined: 15 May 2001
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Hi Shahul,

My 2 cents.

Slab on grade is synonimous to slab on ground. I prefer to use slab on ground because the word grade has a technical definition which may or may not be the actual ground itself depending what building code you are using.

I hope this helps.
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Wed, 2009-11-18 05:56
#3
Shah. HB
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Joined: 25 Nov 2008
Posts: 773
Groups: GPC Malaysia, GPC Qatar, Planning, Claims & Contracting, TILOS
Samer,would you please explain about slab on grade what does it mean?
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Thu, 2009-11-05 12:17
#4
Samer Zawaydeh
User offline. Last seen 5 years 39 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 3 Aug 2008
Posts: 1664
Groups: Civil Engineering, Regional Representatives
Dear John,

This is standard teminology. Here are the answers:

a) pre-cast foundation
Answer: This means that the foundation is casted at one place then it is transported and lifted in place at another. When you have multiple modules, and to save time, contractor use this method. Like for a 1km fence, or lighting poles, etc.

b) pre-engineering/pre-fab building (i.e. electrical bldg, sub-station)
Answer: When you use computer software to create your custom tailored building, like a factory; you can specify the number of bays, height, width, loads, location, etc and then special computer softwares can provide you with the design and shop drawings and it will be sent later to a fabrication shop for fabrication and treatment and shipping to site. These buildings can be made from steel, wood or precaste concrete.

c) pipe-rack modules (off-site fabricated)
Industrial facilities require that fuilds are transported from one site to another. The pipes are carried by structural steel (usually) members. These members are called pipe racks. Fabrication is done at factories and installation is done at site. Hence the term (off-site fabrication)

d) stick-built structural steel
This term is used to describe the structural steel columns and beams. Usually when you have a building like a car park made out of structural steel, while installation is taking place, you will notice that the columns are like vertical sticks, and the beams are like horizontal sticks.

Hope that the information will help.

With kind regards,

Samer
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