Is there a minimum or maximum distance in the vertical plane?
Yes. The minimum height clearance of each floor between members is 2.25”. There also needs to be access points within each floor that measure 2.5” x 1” (rectangular in shape) in order for areas to count as rentable areas. Section 8.2.d Also see Section 8.2.a for elevation requirement. There is a 1/4″ tolerance. Table 4 […]
I want to clarify the floor dead load. In section 9.5.a, the rule requires “the floor dead load should be installed while centered with the center of the base plate”. The maximum buildable area for zones 1 and 2 is not centered with the center of the base plate. Do we need to move our dead load accordingly to the center of the base plate or center it against the maximum buildable area? For zone 3, does the dead load need to be centered with the center of the base plate? We understand zone 3 can’t be 12”x8” because the load is at 3” from the center. The load will be outside the tower. However, what if our floor plan is 12”x10”. Where should floor dead loads be if we look at the floor dead loads from the plan view?
Please refer to section 8.3 and 8.7 (and Figures 2-3) for precise floor dead load locations as mentioned in section 9.5a: “Each floor dead load shall be securely attached to the structural model at the floors indicated in Section 8.7 in the direction perpendicular to shaking”.
Minimum height clearance for the floors/model?
Design guide: 2.25” is the minimum vertical height clearance for each floor (section 8.2.a). The elevation of each floor are specified in Table 4 of the Official Rules and must be within ¼” tolerance.
Clearance for floor area calculation: if the clearance spans greater than 2.5 inches will there be a deduction? Or will the whole floor not count?
Whatever region within the floor does not meet the criteria, this region is counted as non-rentable floor area. If the rest of the floor meets the criteria, the rest of the floor would still count towards your rentable income. It is not a violation, but it will just not be counted in your overall rentable […]
Can we have structural floor members in floors 1 and 14 as long as it doesn’t qualify as floor area with nonstructurals? Referring to outside the perimeter of maximum area.
No members should be placed outside the the buildable area since it will not pass the template test.