Foundation Design with SketchUp

[Medeek]

Version 1.0.0 - 07.03.2016
- Created Medeek Foundation Plugin, utilizing SketchUp's Ruby API.
- Added slab on grade foundation type (rectangular outline only).
- Added garage curb and interior footing options.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=1b5e9234-04a5-4e6f-bd4d-ec3006a2f6a4

https://www.qrvr.io/p/K7bzyt

The thing that would make this plugin particularly useful is if the user could define a polygon outline for the foundation, that will be next, then onto stemwall foundations.

 

[Medeek]

My wife kindly pointed out that the interior footing might not extend the full width or length of the building, very good point. To correctly specify an interior footing you also need a start and end point, so five inputs total to define this feature:

Direction: X Dir or Y Dir
Footing Width:
Footing Depth:
Start: Measured from first selection point that defines foundation outline.
End: Measured from first selection point that defines foundation outline, must be greater than Start length.

An example of a partial width interior footing:

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=c6935965-9939-43cd-b682-ffaf67a8a1cd

The problem with the basic UI is that it only allows for one interior footing. If I webdialog this input menu I can show the layout of the foundation in plan view and allow for an unlimited number of interior footings as well as have footings running in both the X and Y direction. The possibilities are really endless.

The same methodology would apply for an arbitrary polygon shaped foundation.

 

[Medeek]

The ability to go back in and easily edit a foundation without having to recreate it will be crucial to the success of this plugin.

Version 1.0.1 - 07.05.2016
- Enabled partial width interior footings for slab on grade foundation.
- Addressed minor bugs with UI geometry menu: Interior footing depth can now be specified.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=44ac26c8-b403-4a9b-9840-365887260a23

Interior footings quickly complicate things but a well designed html UI should clarify things greatly and make it much more intuitive. That will be the next objective.

 

[Medeek]

If an exclusion area is simply a hole in the slab then it is probably easiest just to push/pull a hole in the slab. However, if the exclusion area is a large opening with footings required at the perimeter then that is a different matter. It might look something like this:

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=2348e047-381b-4cb9-94fe-5b8dc8155413

Note how the opening bisects the interior footing, which does potentially complicate any algorithm that would generate the hole and perimeter footing. I will have to give this some more thought...

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.0.2 - 07.08.2016
- Added stemwall foundation type (rectangular outline only).
- Enabled post and pier interior floor beam(s) with a strip footing.
- Added brick ledge option to stemwall foundation.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=0b7542df-71cd-4908-8aef-731c9bb95f8a

The interior floor/footing assembly is grouped as a component so that adding extra floor beams or moving them is easily accomplished.

 

[Medeek]

When the user selects a type B footing (stemwall foundation) a keyway is inserted between the stemwall and footing:

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=242c0e7d-db46-43b7-baf6-ce322a842e4e

 

[Medeek]

I'm trying to determine which is the preferred method of blocking out a stemwall foundation for garage doors where a slab will be poured in the garage. I've seen it done both ways. Option 1 does not typically block all of the stemwall out and seems to be more common in locations where the frostline is deeper (24" or deeper). Option 2 completely blocks out the stemwall at the garage door and then a thicken edge is poured where the slab meets the footing at the garage door. From a structural point of view which is the better method and also from a construction point of view what are the pros and cons?

Option 1:

Option 2:

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=9052ff81-b3c2-4aef-b40a-39a8be9e520b

 

[Medeek]

I should point out I've also seen a sort of a combination of the two options where the blockout does not extend to the footing but a thickened edge is employed at the slab/door interface and the thickened edge is typically 2x the slab thickness, or called out as a minimum dimension of 8".

Option 3:

 

[Medeek]

The blockout methods seem to be all over the board, I've even talked with some of my engineering friends and the response is mixed there as well. I guess I just need to provide the option for any of these three configurations within the plugin. Sometimes I feel that I get bogged down in the details but I hope some of this level of detail is appreciated.

The other issue I'm having with slabs within garage spaces is the slope of the slab. I'm trying to determine if is worth trying to incorporate a slope into the slab as it would actually be poured. As far as I know there is not a minimum slope specified for garage floors in the IRC 2015 or earlier only this fairly general statement:

The area of the floor used for parking of automobiles or other vehicles shall be sloped to facilitate the movement of liquids to a drain or toward the main vehicle entry doorway.

Typically the garage slope is 1/8" per foot or 1:96, how critical is this to you the user of the plugin? Flat would be easier to program but then your blocked out entries on the side of a garage would be only theoretical.

 

[Medeek]

Here is a quick study on a garage slab that slopes 3" over about 24':

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=e4d46f5d-d5cc-4ba9-9439-39b3fe281e00

What to do with the slope at the garage door? I've flattened it out but that leaves a line in the slab.

At the side door entrance the right side of the slab is about 3/8" higher than the left side. Entrances that are parallel to the slope will have this property (problem?).

At the rear of the garage the slab is 6" below the top of the foundation and at the garage door it is 9" below the top. Perusing through different plan sets I've collected over the years this seems pretty typical for the slope (1/8" in 12").

I think I should probably make the slope an option so those that want to model it can.

Rather than make the slope a percent grade or degrees I think it would be easiest to let the users specify a total rise or drop for the entire slab.

 

[Medeek]

My new job has kept me away for the last few weeks so that getting anything done on the plugins has been a real challenge. Even so I've been giving some thought to stepped footings/foundations and would like some input from the designers and architects out there on what is common practice and what they would like to see available for this sort of feature within the plugin.

View mode here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=f83f65ea-35e6-46f7-9d6c-f0b09b13a663

Note that I messed up on this model the exterior cripple/pony walls should have only had one top plate so that the combined top plate from the shallow sections and the single top plate would have created the typical double top plate.

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.0.3 - 08.28.2016
- Enabled interior bearing wall(s) with strip footing.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=89ee7df4-f895-437f-be51-553aa55bee08

I still need to enable the ability to add framed openings into the interior stud walls. Interior stud/bearing walls can be created with single or double top plates and can be full span or partial spanning as shown in the image above.

Also note that the studs are aligned from the right side of the stemwall foundation edge so that they line up directly under the floor joists.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I really like this.

How do you model the wood structures? Do you define each individual line for each beam, or do one and then copy+move each one or is there another shortcut?


EDIT. Nevermind, just realized that this is the Medeek Foundation Plugin through the Sketchup Extension Warehouse.

Thank you!

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.0.4 - 11.27.2016
- Enabled rebar and mesh reinforcement for slab on grade foundations.

Footing reinforcement is #3 - #8 bar.

Slab reinforcement is welded wire mesh or #3 - #5 bar.

European metric sizes are available in the metric mode.

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.0.5 - 12.01.2016
- Enabled reinforcement for stemwall foundations.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=ef2187c3-eec9-487f-ae38-601f128390f1

 

[tarbellb]

I wish I had more foundation work/interest, seems like you are building a very useful tool.

Keep it up, I am sure some folks here will stumble on this and find it helpful.

psss. maybe you can start doing a easy plug-in for SketchUp for beam loads next....

 

[Medeek]

Within the Truss Plugin when you create rafter roofs with glulam beams you can use the engineering function to analyze the beam. This function automatically transfers the data to the beam calculator here:

http://design.medeek.com/resources/beam/beam_calculator.pl

I still need to add more configurations into the beam calculator (ie. multispan beams).

 

[Medeek]

Has anyone ever seen a stemwall/floor constructed in this manner?

This method seems to be fairly popular in Oregon, I've never seen a floor/stemwall constructed this way anywhere else.

 

[slackdaddy1]

Where would you get all the Pressure Treated TJI Joists ? And wouldn't they be expensive ?

Nick

Has anyone ever seen a stemwall/floor constructed in this manner?

This method seems to be fairly popular in Oregon, I've never seen a floor/stemwall constructed this way anywhere else.

 

[Medeek]

The 1/2" and 5/8" anchor bolts, washers and some standard nuts.

View models here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/8d99457a-d1a4-488f-bea7-eeddfe8a8b67/Anchor-Bolts

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.0.7 - 03.19.2017
- Added 1/2" and 5/8" Dia. Anchor Bolt option to stemwall and slab on grade foundations.
- Anchor bolt lengths are nominal 10", 12" and 14", square washers are 2"x2" or 3"x3".

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mo...8371d7d5e/Anchor-Bolts-in-Stemwall-Foundation

The anchor bolt, washer and nut are three separate files that are loaded in as components. Then the nut and washer components are inserted inside the bolt component and exploded so only the solid group(s) remain. Its pretty amazing what you can do with a robust API and a little bit of Ruby code.

It took me most of today to figure out how to do all of this since I'm in uncharted territory but now that I've got it kind of figured out it opens up the possibility for a host of other things (holdowns, windows, doors, vents etc...) for this plugin and the others I'm working on.

 

[Medeek]

The cosmetic threads actually render quite nicely as does my rebar material/texture. I just realized I have not added any custom materials into the foundation plugin.

As you can see from the image the orientation of the J-bolts is the same regardless of the wall, however it would not be a couple more lines of code to orient them all facing in or facing out or some other combination. Curious how the contractors actually install these, is the orientation important?

 

[Medeek]

The ICC codes call out a minimum of a one vent within 3 feet of each corner. It shouldn't be to much trouble to create the openings in the stemwall and place some vents:

For a rectangular building (4 sides) should I place 4 vents or 8 vents? Provide only the openings or also provide a generic foundation vent (lightweight geometry?)

Moving an opening is actually very easy within SketchUp, when it comes to a solid wall like this.

What is the typical header thickness between the top of the vent hole and the top of foundation?

Vent size seems to be 16"x8" for most vents I've seen.

With regards to vents there are the cheap plastic ones you can get a Home Depot or Lowes and and then there are a whole ton of more expensive louvered metal manufacturers of vents and flood vents.

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.0.8 - 03.23.2017
- Added crawlspace vent option to stemwall foundations.
- Added a "Materials" tab within the global settings; Auto material assigment (colors and textures) is now an option.
- Enabled materials for all foundation types.

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.0.9 - 03.25.2017
- Added slab foundation type (rectangular outline only).
- Enabled full and partial width interior thickened slab footings.

 

[Medeek]

I think I've got the slab reinforcement working now. I haven't tested it enough to determine if its really robust enough to release another update but I'll keep testing.

I owe Sdmitch big time for this one. I've integrated his rebar trim function into the plugin to create a new module that trims the slab rebar or mesh. I am still trying to figure out exactly how the magic is done but most of it is over my head.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/7d64c1ab-bb1a-47a2-9fb4-4cf3553e7cec/Foundation-4

A mesh reinforced slab though can get quite heavy with the polygon count so it may only have limited usefulness.

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.1.0 - 04.14.2017
- Added polygon outline tool for slab-on-grade and slab.
- Enabled perimeter rebar, anchor bolts, and slab reinforcement for (polygon) slab-on-grade foundations.
- Enabled slab reinforcement for (polygon) slabs.

 

[Medeek]

I think I've got the slab reinforcement working now. I haven't tested it enough to determine if its really robust enough to release another update but I'll keep testing.

I owe Sdmitch big time for this one. I've integrated his rebar trim function into the plugin to create a new module that trims the slab rebar or mesh. I am still trying to figure out exactly how the magic is done but most of it is over my head.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/7d64c1ab-bb1a-47a2-9fb4-4cf3553e7cec/Foundation-4

A mesh reinforced slab though can get quite heavy with the polygon count so it may only have limited usefulness.

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.1.1 - 04.23.2017
- Added polygon outline tool for stemwall foundation.
- Enabled perimeter rebar, anchor bolts, vents, and internal footings for (polygon) stemwall foundations.

View model here:

http:https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mo...adcd-7406fef4e9df/Stemwall-Foundation-POLYGON

The next improvement would be a web_dialog input so that more than one internal footing can be specified at a time.

 

[Medeek]

The trim tool in the Truss Plugin comes in quite handy when dealing with more complex foundation geometry:

For this foundation I used the stemwall (rectangle and polygon) function and the slab (polygon) function. I had to trim the garage stemwall and also manually create the smaller interior post/beam assemblies. I also adjusted the position of some of anchor bolts once I cut the doors into the garage stemwall.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/4ed9f28d-11e4-4166-b698-b3cd734cd2a1/Foundation-7

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.1.2 - 05.06.2017
- Added "Circle Segments" option within the global settings, rebar and mesh polygon counts can now be controlled.

In this example I set the segment number to "5".

The global setting circle segment number will default to 24.

 

[Medeek]

The foundation of the that goofy donut house:

 

[Medeek]

Version 1.1.3 - 06.03.2017
- Added "FPSF" option to rectangular slab-on-grade foundations.
- Added an insulation layer in the global settings under the "Layers" tab.

 

[Medeek]

An FPSF with 2" foam insulation along the wall and vertically. 2.5" foam insulation at the corners with the following horizontal dimensions:

A = 12"
B = 24"
C = 40"

The rectangle foundation is easy, the polygon shaped foundation will be more challenging.

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/ab622b36-cc2f-43f8-baa4-f93ceec80741/FPSF

One thing to note is that if dimensions A or B exceed 24" then some form of protection for the horizontal insulation is required (ie. conc. slab, pavement, PT plywood).

 

[Medeek]

- Added "FPSF" option to rectangular stemwall foundations.

 

[Medeek]

Added "FPSF" option to polygon slab-on-grade foundations:

 

[Medeek]

Added "FPSF" option to polygon stemwall foundations.

Now I've thoroughly beaten the FPSF option to death, the only thing I might add in later is a global setting to change the insulation color to pink, blue or white.