Property Construction House
Posted on October 2, 2012
Tags: misc
1 Search request
- Search request for Block: XXXX, Lot: XX, “house and street addr , NY zip add”.
- Requesting Any and all open or closed permits, surveys, plans and violations regarding septic and well.
- Information regarding presence of an underground oil tank including permits, remediation reports, environmental reports.
2 Insurance
3 Construction
graph BT;
A["Concrete Foundation"]-->|"Anchor Bolts"|B["Mud Sill lumber"];
X["Columns/Posts"]-->C["Beams"];
B-->CC["Header Joists"];
C-->D["Joists"];
CC-->|"Ends of"|D;
D-->E["Subfloor"];
E-->G["Hardwood Floor"];
subgraph drywall
E-->F["Plates"];
F-->H["Studs"];
H-->I["2xPlates"];
end
3.1 Foundation
- Brickblock walls or poured concrete foundation
- These are a level base to build off
- MudSill aka the Sill rests on top of the concrete foundation
- Mud Sill is made out of treated lumber so it doesnt rot from moisture
- Layed around the entire perimeter of foundation
- Tied to foundation with anchor bolts
3.2 Floor
- Joists are layed horizontally but turned on to their edge, and are the base structure of floors
- recent innovation uses I-joists (which sorta resembles steel I-beams)
- Beams are layed like joist but aligned orthogonally to Joists
- Joists sit ontop of Beams
- Made out of dimensional lumber or LVL (laminated veneer lumber)
- Columns or Posts
- Vertical structures that hold up Beams
- for a 2nd floor, typically put 2 “top plates” on top of posts, similar to mudsill on foundation.
- Subfloor - Subfloor sit ontop of Joists
- Sheets of plywood
- you put your fancy hardwood floors on top of the subfloor
- you put your Plate on top of your subfloor
3.3 Wall
- Separating Wall frame
- Studs - vertical wood for building fake wall, should not rely as support
- Studs sit on top of a stud layed horizontally flat called a Plate which sits on top of the subfloor
- Plate is layed flat like a mud sill
- 2x4 or 2x6 dimension
- spaced out 16’’ or 24’’
- sometimes fastened together as studpacks to help carry loads
- Studs sit on top of a stud layed horizontally flat called a Plate which sits on top of the subfloor
- Typically put 2 layed Plates on top of Studs
- Studs - vertical wood for building fake wall, should not rely as support
4 Electrical
- 120 V standard AC circuit, 2 phase meaning using a 4 wire line we can get 240 V
\[ \{1W,2W,...999W\} \in 120V \]
Just to emphasize voltage does not determine power or wattage.
From the distribution panel, each circuit breaker is in parallel with each other.
However the canonical textbook diagram of a parallel circuit doesnt work here, because it shows all parallel circuits sharing the same return path(the same neutral);
this is called “Mixing neutrals” Which is Not Allowed.
A better model for visualization is Multiple self-directed loops with
the 120V distribution panel power source in the center, and
each circuit with its circuit-breaker as a separate self-directed loop
graph TD
PowerSrc120V --> Live1
Live1 --> Load1
Load1 -->Neutral1
Neutral1 --> |Circuitbreaker1| PowerSrc120V
PowerSrc120V --> Live2
Live2 --> Load2
Load2 -->Neutral2
Neutral2 --> |Circuitbreaker2| PowerSrc120V
4.1 Understanding neutral
- Neutral may be 0 V, but it DOES have current
- The reason you dont get shocked is because the earth gives it 0 V
- Counterexample proof: If you cut the neutral, the neutral half connected to the load will be hot, the neutral half connected to the ground will be 0V.
4.2 Understanding appliances and Current
- Motto: Current is drawn, not supplied
- 3000W appliance will draw (3000W/120V) of current
- Appliance will typically have labels showing 5V, 25V, 120V, 240V for Voltage needed
- Appliances typically show Watts or VA(Volt-Amperes); VA = Watts for DC circuits
- DO NOT mistake VA for VAC, VAC is just Voltage + hinting it is a AC circuit
- Appliances with labels showing amps is SHORT-HAND for MAX-RATED amps it can take before burning out the internals.
Example:
You may see power-adapters show 25V 5.5A
The power-adapter converts 120V to 25V; it Does NOT convert the Amp to 5.5A.
5.5A is the MAX-RATED Amp the power-adapter can take before the high current burns out the internals.
4.2.1 Example Label of appliance
Typical label will choose one of each section below Voltage, Max-Amps, Power
- Voltage: 12 V, 12 VDC, 12 VAC
- Max-Amps: 5A
- Power: 20 W, 20 VA
Example: (12 VAC - 5A - 20VA) transformer secondary
4.3 Wires
\[R=\rho \frac{L}{A} \tag{R resistance of wire, L is Length, A is cross-section area}\]
- Bigger Cross-section of wire => Lower Resistance
- Also means more current
- Analogous to bigger cross-section of pipes => More water flow
- Also means more current
- Longer length of wire => Higher Resistance
Why do thin wires melt/catch on fire?
- Small cross-section wire => High Resistance wire
- Big load electrical appliance drawing High power => High current drawn
- High current flowing through thin wire causes it glow hot like a light-bulb filament(which also have high resistance)
Solution: Higher Gauge wires.
4.4 Overloaded socket
\[\frac{1}{R_{\text{total}}} = \frac{1}{R_1} + \frac{1}{R_2} + \frac{1}{R_3} + \ldots + \frac{1}{R_n}\]
- All appliances in a circuit are in parallel
- Plug in 2 appliances in a typical socket, they will be in parallel
- Plug in 4 appliances to two sockets and they will all be in parallel to the same circuit
It is mathematically proveable:
\[\forall k: R_{\text{total}} < R_k \tag{parallel circuits}\]
This means plugging more appliances to your electrical sockets LOWERS the overall load resistance of the circuit
- lower load resistance => higher current drawn
- too high current running though wires will make them glow hot like a lightbulb
- Circuit breaker will activate when you turn on a microwave, boiler, hair dryer,etc at the same time.
4.5 Old home
- Lightswitch - you may see one with no ground and only 2 wires. One is the line, the other is load.
- There is no neutral for this switch, so how does electricity return? Well obviously the neutral must be colocated with the load aka lights/lamps.
- To install a smart switch, you either pull a neutral and ground from the ceiling lights or from a nearby electrical socket.
- But DO NOT pull a neutral belonging to a different circuit breaker (termed “mixing neutrals”)
4.5.1 Broken switch
- Cut off neutral case
- In this scenario, if you probe the neutral, it will be hot with 120 V
- You may have to trace the neutral wire to some light fixture or wall to find where is the disconnect.
- In this scenario, if you probe the neutral, it will be hot with 120 V
- Cut off neutral and ground
- In this scenario, you should probe the light switch before doing anything because the switch can shock you just by touching it.
5 Water supply
- kirchoff law analog is continuity law \(Area_1 \times Velocity_1 = Area_2 \times Velocity_2\)
- Since pipes have same cross section area, whenever we have a junction, water flow will be halved in a 3-way pipe with 1 input, 2 output. (basically showering while using sink will decrease flow of water by half)
6 Plumbing air vent pipe
- Analogous to how circuits use ground as a reference point, drains need a route to air’s atmospheric pressure as a reference point.
- eg. try drinking through a straw poked through a coconut with no air gaps. 0 pressure differential means you cant drink.
- In plumbing, traps (like P-traps under sinks) are designed to hold water, creating a seal that prevents sewer gases from entering your home. If the system isn’t vented properly or another fixture drains too quickly, it can create suction (negative pressure) in the pipes. This suction pulls water out of the trap—just like the liquid in a siphon hose—breaking the seal and allowing bad odors or gases to come through.
Without venting there are 2 side-effects: Siphoning and “Thumb on Straw” effect which are opposites in behavior
- Ordering: WaterFixture > P-Trap > Vent and Drain
- The Vent should always be after the P-Trap not before, because think about it, the WaterFixture is the “Vent” and adding another Vent between the WaterFixture and P-Trap does nothing
7 HVAC
- C is the Commons aka return path for Smart functionalities, (informally may be considered neutral)
- Measuring C wire against ground will give you 0V
- You must measure the C wire against R to get 25V to see if it is working properly
- Notice: Look at the R wire INSIDE the thermostat, IT SPLITS THE WIRE to an “ALWAYS ON Smart_Bells_and_Whistles” and the switch ON_OFF heater.
- Understandably much confusion: R paired with neutral W as the heater circuit, then what paired with the neutral C wire? Apparently, it was also the R but you just couldnt see it since it was in the thermostat.
- Initially 120V powers the thermostat ONLY and the Smart_Bells_and_Whistles, not the heater
- “R-C wires” powers your fancy smart functionalities
- Person switches thermostat to ON
- “R-W wires” powers your actual heater circuit when switch is ON
- The thermostat circuit closes the heater relay and supplies the 120V to the actual heater
- The Default-open-relay is a logical “AND” that couples the “R-W circuit” with the “Actual_Heater”
- Red - R - 24VAC
- Red - Rh - 24VAC (dedicated to heat call)
- Red - Rc - 24VAC (dedicated to cooling call)
- Green - G - Fan on
- White - W - Heat call
- Yellow - Y - Cool call
- Blue or Black - C - Common
If we included a Y-wire in the above diagram, we would draw the Y like the W but direct it to a new relay resulting in a diagram showing 2 relays with W-wire controlling the heater relay and Y-wire controlling the cooler relay.
8 Scams to avoid from Car dealer
- Loan origination fee should never be more than 2%, typically 1% and less
- This is the fee for making a loan
- eg: 10000 loan should NOT have a 1000 loan origination fee, at most it should be 200
- The loan’s interest rate or APY is inflated by the salesman, You have all Legal rights to argue down the interest rate.
9 Steel framing
9.1 STUFL
- S : Studs | (for joist or rafters) include wall studs, joists, rafters which are the same shape. All studs have returns or lips. Standard return size 1/2” or 5/8”
- T : Track | Track is for the top and bottom plates of a CFS wall or as the rim track of floors and rafters
- U : U-channel | U-channel is for bridging, blocking, and custom applications. U-channel members do not have returns or lips
- F : Furring Channel | Furring Channel is used as purlins, bridging and backing. Also furring can be used as framing for suspending ceiling assemblies
- L : L-Header | L-headers are used in load-bearing wall framing as headers.
