Moving Foward -BIM

     During my site visiting for this semester, I tried to think what the construction sites would be in 10 years. I was wondering if there will be a lot of changes in construction field. Then, I realized that there would not be a lot of changes in construction field. 2-D drawings would be needed for the crews and CM to communicate. I think equipment and materials would also  be remaining in the same in several decades. One thing I expect is the wide usage of BIM even though we still need 2D drawings.
  
      By chance, I was able to read a book "BIG BIM little bim" by Finith Jernigan. The author says BIM is not a piece of software. It does not need to be a 3D model. It is not a project phase. However, it could be any of these and could be shared with others. According to the book, the definition of BIM can be said that managing projects to get the right information to the people waning it at the right time.
      One of examples of BIM in this book is Children's Theater of Delmarva. The organization that planned to have this building needed to raise money and generate public interest.So, the organization asked the author's team to visualize 3D model. It was successful. After people saw 3D model and their detailed plans, they started to show their interests and it was possible to raise money to build Children's Theater. Using BIM, it was possible to chart the way forward in detail. It also enables to study organizational structures, operations issues, and physical requirements in depth, early (260).This is one good example of giving right information to the right people when we use BIM.

     When I learned how to use Autocad 2007 few years ago, I just thought drawing software was just a tool that helps architects draw 2D drawings faster and more precisely. A lot of things have changed.New software came out. I doubted that 3D software would be a part of construction. Now, including 3D models, Building Information Modeling tends to be a part of construction process. After learning how to handle Revit and Naviswork, I realized that 3D+time is a really strong tool in construction field. It should be a part of construction process to manage the overall construction process.     

      In my opinion, BIM will be widely used in several decades. That does not mean it will get rid of the necessary of 2D drawings and the methods that are currently used. When we apply BIM to the construction project, there will be more advantages. Because of high cost for using BIM, I do not think it will be used in small residential construction even after several decades. However, it is true that there are a lot of advantages when we use BIM in huge commercial construction projects. 

 

Commercial Construction Process

I traced a commercial building since last summer. The building will be Holiday inn in Christansburg. After slab on grade was done, the framing and exterior sheathing process was fast. It is 5th tall building. I wanted to see the inside of the building, but it was hard for me to go inside of the building. The following pictures are in chronological order of the construction.

Residential Construction Processes

The following pictures are the residential construction site that I visited from July 2010 to December 2010.
I was able to see from the F.D. to roofing system. The construction process was pretty fast during summer. After they completed F.D. walls, joist was installed. After joist, they started installing floor sheathing with sheathing material which is called Advantech. Framing was followed. And then, pre-fabricated Trusses were installed like other residential buildings. For the roof system, it was separated two roofs as behind and  front-side.  The back-side of the roof is shingles and the front roof is metal.

Cellulose Insulation Production

Blow-in insulation was used for exterior walls of my residential construction site. It is more efficient than any other insulation materials because of its small gaps. In addition to that, it is environmental friendly due to the fact that it is made out of recycled paper. Here is the pictures of the residential construction site, and a video explaining the production processes with the advantages.

Thermax Sheathing

Dow PIR Thermax Sheathing - This is thermal sheathing that was used in residential construction site. This was installed where there is a high chances of fire such as the wall that an electric box is set up. 

The core which is the glass-fiber reinforce PIR foam will not melt when exposed to fire. It will form a strong char which will prevent severe degradation to its core. It will also prevent flame spread.

The aluminum on each side will act as effective moisture vapor retarders.

H-clip usage (20 Gauge Galvanized Steel Clip)

This is an image of galvanized H-clip. As we learned in class, it was used in construction site to hold the sheathing materials and make 1/8" gaps all edges to allow for expansion and contraction. When I researched the price of this material,  mostly it costs        $17.00 / 250pack.
Link : http://www.capitolsupply.com/catalog/pc716-250-pack-7-16-steel-cs718233.html?cid=AFFSAS&SSAID=204502

 

Below picture shows the real example of H-clip's usage. This is a part of exterior wall. As you could see, 

installing H-clips allows OSBs to have approximately 1/8" gaps between two sheathings. 

This is an picture of roof sheathing from inside of the residential house. Along the blue lines, there are clips.

Pump jack scaffolding details

I was pretty interested in pump jack that was used in the residential construction site. It was safe and easy to use in small construction site. A plank is simply raised by using workers' foot to pump the jack. Here is the detailed description from a website. It is mostly composed of aluminum poles, pump jacks, wall braces, and work benches.

-Maximum Capacity : 500 lbs
-Maximum height : Wood poles: 30' height
                             Metal poles: 50' height.
From <http://www.wernerladder.com/catalog/files/rc154.pdf>