Book Description

Concrete can be a pretty unforgiving building material. Ask any of the builders who come into your store and they'll usually have a horror story to share about a concrete job gone awry and how much it cost them.Basic Concrete Engineering for Builders may be one of the only books available today that explains how to avoid common concrete problems with foundations, slabs, columns, and more. It gives step-by-step explanations on how to plan, mix, reinforce and pour concrete. It also shows how to design concrete for buildings -- the calculations, the tables, and the rules of thumb, with examples and insight into the working knowledge that every builder needs.Most builders don't end up specifying requirements for structural concrete work. That's the job of an engineer. But most builders working with concrete need a good general understanding of the concepts behind structural concrete engineering. They need to know about: surveying, foundation layout, formwork, form materials, forming problems, aggregates, admixtures, reinforcing, mixing and placing requirements, pumping, creating joints, curing, and testing the concrete's strength. They need to know basic design for walls, columns, slabs, slabs-on-grade, one- and two-way slabs, elevated slabs, equipment pads, pre-cast walls, retaining walls, basement walls, crib walls, reinforcing beams and girders, driveways, sidewalks, curbs, catch basins, manholes and other miscellaneous structures, as well as how to calculate the reinforcement needed for these structural components. You'll find all this information in this book and on the software included in the back.Includes Free Engineering Software: A CD-ROM is included with easy-to-useengineering software for designing simple concrete elements for beams, slabs and columns.