Fundamentals Libri GmbH Fundamentals of Building Construction Materials and Methods Handbook

Why does a brick wall leak when every brick in it is perfect?

Why does a steel beam that carried 730 kip-feet on Friday buckle under one walking ironworker on Monday?

And why are the most expensive failures in construction built by people who were trying to do a good job?

Most references hand you rules. Rules lose the moment someone with more authority tells you to do it differently. This handbook hands you the reasons, so you win that argument in thirty seconds and the building gets built right.

What you walk away able to do:

- Look at a wall section and know, before anyone breaks ground, whether that wall will drain or fill with water- Size a joist, a header, a beam, a footing, or a pile from scratch, with every step shown and every unit tracked, so you never take a number on faith again- Spot the defect in the one hour it is still visible, before drywall, cladding, or concrete buries it for the life of the building- Defend a flashing detail or a cover dimension in a value-engineering meeting using arithmetic the room cannot dismiss- Trace a failure past the thing that broke to the decision that caused it, so you fix it once instead of three times- Pass a licensing exam with 320 problems worked the way the exam asks them- Inside: 80 worked examples, 320 practice problems with full answer keys, 80 technical illustrations, 13 real failure case studies, span tables, formula summaries, and a 218-term glossary.

Scroll up and get your copy. The first mistake you prevent will pay for it many times over.