chinagringo
Feb 25, 2011, 6:23 PM
Post #5 of 13
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Re: [Bennie García] Masonry construction and earthquakes
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I do not see the purpose of directing all this animosity towards robt65 just because he is choosing to build to his own personal construction standards! After all, it is his money and his family that he is trying to provide properly for. Granted there have been some generalizations made by he and others that would seem to indicate that they were not personally satisfied by the norm for construction techniques. It is a somewhat lame justification when techniques are justified by stating things have always been done this way. Using that line of thinking would have put a halt to improvements & advancements made throughout the building industry over the years. Some of the traditional methods were developed because the materials available were limited and not because it was the ideal answer.
Having just gone through a complete study of ICF (insulated concrete form) homes, I learned that this construction technique resulted in a super energy efficient home with superior sound proofing, one of the highest energy ratings for all construction techniques, a home of superior strength against earthquakes and hurricanes and a superior rating for insurance rates. While it does vary from one manufacturer to the next, the basic concept is that you have a concrete core wall (with rebar) anywhere from 8 inches to 12 inches thick surrounded inside and out with foam. The reason I bring this up is that in many ways, you end up with a wall that is somewhat similar to walls in Mexico. You also have many of the same issues with wiring. Since many states do not require that wiring be encased with conduit (including New Mexico), you have two options: 1) running conduit for all wiring inside of the concrete core OR 2) you cut channels for all wiring throughout the interior foam wall. Running all wiring through a well planned matrix of conduit in the interior core does offer certain benefits but also takes away the flexibility of adding circuits after the fact. When people offer up the "superiority" of NOB standards, I would point out that romex is typically run in these channels and in this state, they do not require that the romex in the channel is protected with a metal sheet or some other material to prevent screws from compromising the electric circuit. After studying this situation and the various options, it was my plan to really calculate a well planned matrix of internal conduit and if I found that my planning wasn't adequate, I would resort to the channel technique with a metal sheet covering to minimize the opportunity for sheet rock screws or other fasteners to penetrate the electric circuits. These same issues could conceivably come into play with plumbing lines and it was also my plan to protect any vulnerable areas. By the way, my contractor thought I was crazy and over-thinking something with a low percentage of occurrence! Then again, it was my way or the highway.
Regards,
Neil
Albuquerque, NM
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