Structural Design Basics: How to Read Architectural Drawings

How to read architectural drawings and locate structural members for residential design.

About this event

Struggling to understand structural engineering basics?

Our 30-minute Live Residential Design webinar series is the perfect way for any design professional in the residential construction industry to improve their understanding of structural engineering.

You’ll get to follow along with our Director of Customer Success, Connor Conzelman as he walks through how to best read residential architectural and structural drawings and where to locate important information on the drawings. This will ensure that you can confidently complete your next project!

Join Connor Conzelman on Wednesday, March 15th, 2023 from 1 pm to 1.30 pm Eastern Time (ET) to learn more about how to read an architectural drawing or a working plan from the eyes of a structural engineer and locate structural members so you can start designing!

In this webinar, we will cover:

• About the house and what it looks like
• Skimming through the plan
• Locating structural members: -- Locating applicable codes and standards within the drawing -- Locating beam, column, footing, etc. schedules -- Details for specific installation instructions
• Discovering how each portion of the drawing applies to ClearCalcs structural analysis software

Webinar Summary

The webinar titled "Structural Design Basics: How to Read Architectural Drawings" was presented by ClearCalcs Director of Customer Success, Connor Conzelman. The webinar covered the basics of structural design and how to read structural drawings. ClearCalcs is a cloud-based structural engineering platform that helps users be more accurate using FEA analysis. The webinar also discussed real-world examples of home designs in Taos, New Mexico.

Conzelman explains that important design information in structural drawings includes design loads, installation instructions, specified materials, member schedules, and member geometry. He then provides a visual example of the difference between architectural and structural drawings, before diving into the page nomenclature and how to read and navigate through structural drawings.

Conzelman explains the importance of including a sheet index in structural drawings, which helps navigate through the different types of sheets and their sequence numbers. He also emphasizes the significance of the general structural notes section, which provides crucial information about codes, loads, soil PSF, connections, and materials used in the design. Conzelman advises against blindly copy-pasting notes from past jobs and encourages readers to carefully review each line to ensure its relevance to the current project.

Conzelman then discusses the importance of grid lines in structural drawings, which help line up the building and levels. He explains how load linking can be used effectively with grid lines to track down posts and foundation plans. Conzelman provides a quick look at setting up load linking in ClearCalcs for a ridge beam, assuming it starts at a post and goes 15 feet out to the end.

Conzelman then moves on to locating structural members and their associated member schedules within the drawings, emphasizing the importance of using the sheet index to navigate through a large drawing set. He provides an example of how to locate a specific beam and its size, as well as demonstrating the use of ClearCalcs' member selector feature. Finally, Conzelman discusses the details symbol and how to find and read the actual detail in the drawings.

Conzelman demonstrates how to locate and interpret symbols in structural drawings, using an example of a deck joist and beam. He also previews an upcoming feature in ClearCalcs that will allow users to access code standards directly within the platform, saving time and money on updating physical code books. Conzelman concludes by answering a question from a participant about accessing codes and standards as a designer.

Conzelman also addresses how to find building permit information and codes and standards, suggesting contacting local building departments or purchasing the necessary books or PDFs online. He mentions that ClearCalcs is currently working on bringing US codes and standards in line with their platform and offers a student version of their software. The webinar concludes with a reminder to provide feedback and stay tuned for next month's webinar where they will dive deeper into designing structures using drawings.