FOUNDATION AND STEEL BUILDING ANCHORAGE
STEEL BUILDING FOUNDATION INFORMATION
A foundation engineer should design steel building foundations, including pier sizes, grade beams and floor slabs. In addition, the engineer will do excavation procedures, drainage, form work, reinforcing steel requirements and concrete proportioning. This will provide a solid foundatin for your steel building, expedite the work and reduce costs.
Excavations should be level, smooth, and compact. Cave-ins can be prevented when utilizing the walls of the excavations for concrete forms. OSHA and local building codes ( laws governing shoring of excavation) need to be reviewed and adhered to, to prevent accidental cave-ins. In cases where ground surface is not level, the bottoms of the foundations should be in steps coinciding with the piers. Footing should extend below any fill material.
A well excuted excavation will provide a good floor slab finish by keeping the correct elevation throughout the slab. By pouring the concrete in square sections, shrinkage cracks can be minimized. The foundation corners and piers need to be sharply formed with straight sides and level tops for proper alignment of the base angle.
FOUNDATION CHECK
Steel building foundation construction and anchor bolt settings are critical to successful erection. Foundation errors are the most costly and troublesome problems to correct in steel building construction. The following procedures can help eliminate costly errors.
Measure diagonal dimensions for equal length.
Set up a transit or level rod to obtain the elevation at all columns and posts.
Verify the location of all anchor bolts against the “Anchor BoIt” drawing fumished by Steel Building Manufacturer (Capital Steel Industries is not a steel building manufacturer). All dimensions must be identical.
STEEL BUILDING ANCHOR BOLTS
Anchor bolts need to be placed accurately in accordance with the anchor bolt setting plan. Check the concrete forms and anchor bolt locations prior to the pouring of the concrete. A template can be used to hold all anchor bolts in place to remain plumb and in correct location. Lastly, a final check needs to be made after the completion of the concrete work and prior to the steel erection. Necessary corrections can be made before erection saving time and money.
BUILDING SITE PREPERATION
To ensure delivery of your steel building prepare the building site for semi-truck access to your site. All obstructions, overhead and corridors, must be clear and the access route enforced to sustain heavy wheel loads.
A comprehensive safety program should be in place for the work force that adhere to OSHA and local building guidelines. This includes, the unique conditions of the site, building materials, and appropriate “Safe Work’ practices.