Fundamentals
Gym and Fitness Floor Loads Explained
A gym floor carries heavy racks, dropped weights and people jumping in time. The static load is only the start; impact and rhythm matter as much.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Workflow & tools
Load Takedown for a Change of Use
Turning an office into flats, a shop into a gym or a house into a clinic changes the imposed load. Here is how to rerun the takedown and what to check.
Sam Rivera··10 min
Fundamentals
Ponding Loads on Flat Roofs Explained
Water on a flat roof is a load that grows as the roof deflects. Each 25 mm of depth adds about 0.25 kPa, and the feedback loop is the real danger.
Sam Rivera··10 min
Codes & standards
Snow Drift Loads at Roof Steps and Parapets
Wind piles snow against anything that sticks up from a roof. The drift can carry three or four times the uniform snow load, over a few metres.
Elena Marchetti··11 min
Fundamentals
Handrail and Balustrade Loads Explained
A barrier load is a line load applied sideways at the top of the guard, and the real design problem is getting it down into the slab edge.
Elena Marchetti··12 min
Fundamentals
Hospital and Imaging Equipment Loads
A hospital floor is a set of very different zones, not one rate. Scanner masses, shielding, vibration criteria, and the loads hanging from the soffit.
Elena Marchetti··11 min
Load paths
Lift Machine, Shaft and Pit Loads
A lift touches the structure in three places: the head, the rail brackets, and the pit. Dynamic factors, shaft walls, and why pits float.
Sam Rivera··12 min
Fundamentals
Library and Archive Storage Loads
Shelved paper is heavier per square metre than almost anything else a building holds. Static stacks, mobile shelving on rails, and why deflection governs.
Sam Rivera··11 min
Fundamentals
Assembly and Crowd Loads Explained
Assembly floors are where people really do reach the code value. Unreduced rates, synchronised movement, barrier horizontal loads, stages and stairs.
Elena Marchetti··10 min
Load paths
CLT and Timber Frame Load Takedowns
The method is the same, the proportions are not. Timber self-weight is a quarter of concrete, so live load dominates and connections govern.
Sam Rivera··12 min
Fundamentals
Construction Loads, Shoring and Reshoring
The heaviest load a slab carries usually arrives before the building is finished. Wet concrete, props, stacked pallets, and how load shares between levels.
Sam Rivera··11 min
Fundamentals
Swimming Pool Loads on a Suspended Slab
Water is 9.81 kPa per metre of depth, permanent and exact. Depth profiles, tank self-weight, balance tanks, and why an empty pool can govern.
Elena Marchetti··10 min