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Learn The Basics Of A Residential Structural Design Before Finalizing Any Floor Plans.

To start building a house, the knowledge of residential structural design, is necessary. We need to know
what the forces that act on a house are. All parts of the house have some sort of force acting on them.

Load bearing structural members are designed to accept the load acting on them. Non load bearing structures transfer the load to load bearing structures.

All these loads are transferred to the ground by the structural walls.

There are two types of vertical loads which act on a house.

They are live loads and dead loads. Live loads are any loads that can shift, such as people, furniture, snow, water etc.

Dead loads in a house are those that do not move, such as the weight of the roof, floors, walls, built in cupboards and other fixed furniture.

WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF A LOADING FORCE:

If a wooden beam is loaded by keeping the smallest dimension parallel to the loading force, it can be seen
that the beam will have a noticeable deflection.

If the beam is loaded such that its largest dimension is parallel to the loading force, the deflection will be minimal or unnoticeable.

Therefore beams are placed in such a way to ensure that the load acts parallel to the largest dimension of
the beam.

Just imagine a simple house with a flat roof and four walls. The vertical forces that act on the roof are supported by the vertical walls. The forces are directed from the roof via the walls to the ground.

This Forms The Basis Of A Residential Structural Design.

The structural design follows the load path due to gravity. A house consists of vertical, horizontal sloped systems. Loads are supported by columns or load bearing walls.

Floors take the loading forces due to the weight of the building, people furniture and transfer them to the columns or walls.

In a similar way, the roof also takes the loading forces and directs them towards the columns or walls. The columns or walls transfer the load to the ground, through the foundation.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF LOAD SUPPORTS IN A HOUSE:

For a house to have stability, it should have sufficient strength to transfer all the loads acting on it, safely to
the ground. This achieved by using a few different methods.

The Different Support Systems Used In Residential Structures Are:

* Load Bearing Walls

* Columns And Beams

* Light Structural Framing Elements

Load Bearing Walls:

In a house design in which the walls are load bearing, they should be strong enough to withstand all the
loads acting on them. In designing such walls, a factor of safety will also be included.

The inherent weak spots in a load bearing wall are openings such as doors and windows. When designing such walls, the decrease in strength due to the openings, have to be taken into consideration.

The wall should be strong enough at these points, to support the weight of the floor and roof above. The
walls transmit the loads to the ground.

Load bearing walls are usually made of solid masonry or concrete.

Column And Beam Structure:

These houses use columns and beams to bear the load on the house. Many different methods are used to attach or join them to one another. Care should be taken to see that the joints are secure.

The beams transfer the load onto the columns. The columns will then transmit the load to the ground. The cross section of the beams and columns are calculated using various formulae.

A factor of safety is also incorporated when they are being designed. Beams and columns are made using different materials such as wood, concrete and steel.

Light Structural Framing Elements:

This type of house construction uses a combination of load bearing walls as well as columns and beams.
It uses a number of light structural elements to form a box like grid.

The framed exterior acts like a load bearing wall, while the interior elements act like numerous columns and beams.

Wherever there are openings for doors or windows, it is appropriately strengthened at these places.

Wood is mostly used for construction of these type of houses.

The Right Residential Structural Design Is Of Critical Importance In The Overall
Design Of A House.

The structural design is the basic building block of a house; which has to withstand all the forces acting on
it. Even the failure of a single load bearing member, can lead to catastrophic failure of the house.

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