Structural reviews

PURPOSE: Structural Engineering handles structural concerns outside of the normal design scope. This includes upgrade scope of work, structural reviews, stamps and post installation letters (PIL).

WORK QUEUE REPORT: 

ENGINEERING - Needs Structural Review

TRAINING MATERIALS:

SLA EXPECTATIONS:

• Structural Reviews: 1 business day SLA from time of assignment 

NAMING CONVENTION:

N/A

MAIN STRUCTURAL reviews SOP

DETAILED STEP BY STEP:

Completing Structural Reviews

1. Select the job in the list from the “ENGINEERING - Needs Structural Review” queue in Salesforce

   1. Accept the job to bring it into your name by following step D below.

   2. If the Preliminary Structural Review step isn’t in project assistant, head to “Tools” then click the “Stage” dropdown under “Generate Conditional Stages and Steps” and select “Design and Engineering” then “Preliminary Structural Review” then “Next.” 

   3. Refresh the page afterward, not just the tab in Salesforce.

   4. Once the Structural Review step is in project assistant, click the dropdown on the left of the word “DESIGN,” then click the dropdown on the right next to “Preliminary Structural Review,” and click “Accept” to put it into your name.

2. Open the survey images, proposal, and project notes to know what needs to be reviewed

   1. Open the survey images

      1. Click on the “File Browser” tab next to project assistant.

      2. Click on “Field Pro Images” just below the tabs on the far right side.

      3. Scroll click on “View Summary” next to the site survey folder(s) that have images (noted by a red bubble indicating the number of images in the folder) to view the installation images in a new tab. 

      4. Alternatively, you can click on the folder itself to see the list within salesforce if the images are not appearing in the new tab.

   2. Open the proposal

      1. Click on “Chatter” next to project assistant

      2. Scroll down until you see a post starting with “V2 built by rep - Monthly Production:”

      3. Click “Expand Post”

      4. Scroll click on the link next to “Customer View:” to open the proposal in a new tab

   3. Open the project note(s) from the Design team

      1. Click on “Notes” next to “File Browser”

      2. Under the “Department” column, find the most recent one that says “Design”

      3. Under “Project Note Name” click on the link (starting with “PN-”) to go to the project note

      4. If the project note doesn’t have the details for the review, click on “Details” then click on the number next to “Design” on the right side. Scroll all the way down (press “End” on your keyboard to go there immediately), go to the “Engineering” section, and look in the “Structural Review Details” field to find the details to complete the review

3. Scrub all information to determine what the next step is

   1. If the rafters fail calculations

      1. Check if the designer missed a knee wall

      2. Double check the size they used in their calculations

      3. Run calculations in Forte per step “B” below

   2. Run the calculations in Forte

      1. Head to https://forteweb.com/account/login and press “Need to register?”

      2. Fill in the information and use your ION email

      3. Once you get in press “New File” at the top and name it “Rafter Calcs”

      4. On the left side press the green “+” button and under “Roof” select “Roof Joist”

      5. You will now enter the information for the calculation using the tabs at the top, going from left to right

      6. For “Member Info” make sure the “Member Pitch:” is accurate to the pitch recorded in the survey and all other settings can stay the same

      7. In “Spans & Supports” put 1.5’ for the left overhang (for the eave) and then enter the spans according to the survey and/or Google Earth measurements. All other settings can stay the same.

      8. Under the “Loads” tab, the “Dead” load will be 13 psf for a regular roof, 9 psf for a barn structure, and 20 psf or more for roofs with tile. For ballast jobs, start at 11 psf and add the ballast weight to that. In the “Snow” section, enter the snow load from the design tool. If the tool gives a ground snow load and says that a snow load reduction is allowed, enter 0.7*(ground snow load). For example, many jurisdictions in Virginia give a 10 psf roof snow load, so the ground snow load would be 0.7*10 = 7 psf.

      9. Skip “Holes” and “Location Analysis.”

      10. For “Product Selection” choose “Commodity Lumber” if you’ve got regular 2x or 4x rafters, or TJI if you’ve got TJI joists. Under “Product Series” select the width (2x, 4x, or 6x) and the grade. If the project is in the West, select DF No. 2, if it’s in the east, select SPF No. 1./No. 2. Under “Depth” select the depth of the rafters. Under “Spacings” select how far apart the rafters are. For “Plies” select “1”

      11. In the “Solutions” and “Report” tabs you’ll see the result of the calculation. Check for failing values (indicated in red) and see the “Result” column for the percentage they’re failing at. Live Load Defl. can go down as far as L/180 and Total Load Defl. can go as low as L/120 per the IBC. Most likely you’ll see a failure in the Moment.

      12. If the rafters are failing, go back to the “Product Selection” tab and change the “Plies” to 2 to test if a sister upgrade will work. If you do this and it then passes, first double check that a sister upgrade is possible. If there are boards in the way or the attic access is too small, we won’t be able to upgrade. Otherwise, you can call out a sister upgrade. 

   3. If the issue is that there is a cracked rafter or truss member, we’ll have to do a sister upgrade.

   4. If the issue is with the sheathing, tell the designer that for most significant issues the SOP is to recommend a reroof and replacement of the sheathing and if it’s really severe we’ll require it.

4. Make recommendations, answer questions, or make a special service object as needed

   1. There are a few possible results of the review. All notes are to be left for the designer in the “Structural Review Details” field when completing the Structural Review in Project Assistant. Here’s a breakdown of those and how to handle each:

      1. The rafters could pass without upgrades and the designer missed information that they need to be trained on. If this happens, leave a note letting the designer know.

      2. The rafters may fail and could need sister and/or collar-tie upgrades. If you’ve determined this is the case and that an upgrade is possible, make the scope of work for the upgrade to be added to the SpS.

      3. We may not have enough information so we might need to call for a resurvey. We want to avoid this as much as possible so try to scrub all information to make sure there’s nothing you missed. If you’ve determined that crucial information such as rafter size, spacing, and span, is missing, then we can call for a resurvey by leaving notes for the designer.

      4. The project may need to get disqualified. This requires approval from the Structural Engineering Manager. If this is the case you’ll just let them know and leave a project note detailing the outcome of your review.

5. White glove check

   1. Check that you’ve used the correct size, span, and spacing in the calculations

   2. Check that your communication is clear and concise

   3. Check that you’re putting the notes on the right account

6. Complete the job in the project assistant

   1. Head to the “DESIGN” section in Project Assistant.

   2. Press “Complete” for the Preliminary Structural Review step in project assistant.

   3. Click “Complete Structural Review Step” in the popup that shows up

   4. Make sure your name appears in the “Structural Review Completed By” field

   5. Select the correct situation in the “Structural Review Result,” whether an upgrade is required or not

   6. Leave your notes in the “Structural Review Details” field

   7. Press “Next”

   8. If an upgrade is required a special service will be created on the next page. Use the excel Scope of Work tool to get the scope of work and materials needed to fill in those sections on this page

   9. Leave a project note