Getting Dirty in the Crawl Space

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Upcoming Field Trip

On Thursday, I get to crawl around in the following crawl space.

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Prisoners Have It So Rough

I was out in the field earlier this week at one of my prison jobs doing a punch list. The GC was telling me about a neat program they will have at this jail. Each housing unit holds 96 inmates (assuming double bunking). There are 3 flat screen tvs mounted up high. Inmates are given special ear phones and can "tune in" to a specific tv. That way inmates can listen to Oprah and not be distracted by Judge Judy on the other tv.

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Recycling Tour

Boo Jr and I went on a tour of a recycling plant that specializes in waste construction materials. It was sponsored by a professional organization that I belong to and was open to family memebers. Boo Jr said the best part of the tour was all the yummy food!

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Tesla Unvails First Mass-Produced, Highway Capable Electric Car

March 26, 2009

HAWTHORNE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) —Tesla Motors is now taking orders for the Model S, an all electric family sedan that carries seven people and travels 300 miles per charge.

The Model S, which carries its charger onboard, can be recharged from any 120V, 240V or 480V outlet, with the latter taking only 45 minutes. By recharging their car while they stop for a meal, drivers can go from LA to New York in approximately the same time as a gasoline car. Moreover, the floor-mounted battery pack is designed to be changed out in less time than it takes to fill a gas tank, allowing for the possibility of battery-pack swap stations.

The floor-mounted powertrain also results in unparalleled cargo room and versatility, as the volume under the front hood becomes a second trunk. Combining that with a four-bar linkage hatchback rear trunk and flat folding rear seats, the Model S can accommodate a 50-inch television, mountain bike *and* surfboard simultaneously. This packaging efficiency gives the Model S more trunk space than any other sedan on the market and more than most SUVs.

“Model S doesn’t compromise on performance, efficiency or utility -- it’s truly the only car you need,” said Tesla CEO, Chairman and Product Architect Elon Musk. “Tesla is relentlessly driving down the cost of electric vehicle technology, and this is just the first of many mainstream cars we’re developing.”

Tesla expects to start Model S production in late 2011. The company believes it is close to receiving $350 million in federal loans to build the Model S assembly plant in California from the Dept of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program.

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State of the Firm (2008)

The President of Forest Animals A/E gives an annual State of the Firm address to discuss the financial performance of the previous year and to talk about our goals and projections for the coming year. Normally, it starts off with some hoopla with music and fun, but this year was different. With the state of the economy and layoffs only a few short months ago, fun and games weren't appropriate.

The presentation always starts off with a movie of highlights from the past year's projects. I'm always on the lookout for one of my projects. Our president then got into the numbers. We discuss our gross and net revenues, the percentage which goes to consultants, percentage spent on marketing, the number of proposals sent out vs the numer of interview vs the number of wins, etc. In most aspects, 2008 was actually a record year for us as we grossed over $60 million, just slightly more than last year. We would have broken the record by a much greater margin if we didn't have that drammatic slow down during the last quarter.

Looking into the future was a big topic of discussion. Typically, we average about a $100 million backlog of work. For 2009, it has reduced down to about $35 million. These are jobs with a signed contract that we still have the green light to work on. We do have about another $70 million worth of work that we have been awarded but have been told not to work on yet until the Owner (typically state or local government) know what their funding situation will be. A county government isn't going to build a new elementary school while facing a budget shortfall and is contemplating laying off teachers. Our president feels that the stimulus package should help move more of the "B" column back over to the "A" column. A doomsday scenario would be to actually "lose" jobs out of the "A" column. "Stop working on that new jail job. We don't have the funds to pay you any more."

The President gave us a pep talk/quick in pants to try and boost our morale. The slowdown in work has affected some more than others. I'm sure those that are light on work (certainly not me) are worried that they'll be next to be laid off. Our president told everyone that we should not slow down to drag these projects on so we can look busy. We need to continue to work efficiently so we remain profitable. If people are going to slack off in that manner then they can leave and work some place else. It was a little bit of tough love that makes good business sense.

We looked at patterns from past recessions and learned that most recession last about 18 - 24 months. It looks like this one will last 24 - 30 months. The layoffs we made were to position ourselves for this current economic climate. We needed to trim down so we could be leaner and meaner. Some of the belt tightening that had already been announced was salary freezes and suspending thr company match for the 401k. Additionally, they announced a much less extravagent company picnic and Christmas party, tighter restrictions on company credit cards, and spending less money sponsoring scholarships and conferences.

In conjunction with the stimulus package, we're looking into some new marketplaces for our A/E services. One new market will be federal/military work. Norfolk (navy) is just down the road, and there are plenty of military bases in VA and NC. Forest Animals A/E used to do federal and military work in the past but got away from it for some reason. We're actively looking for a "rain maker" to help us develop relationships and win projects in that market place. We're also looking into partnering with performance energy contractors to conduct energy audits of existing buildings. Renovating/modernizing government buildings and making them energy efficient was one thing consistantly mentioned in his stimulus package. I think we will be well positioned to take part in that.

The meeting wrapped up confirming our committment to green design. Our firm is the leader in green design in this part of the country and is one of the leaders in green design in the entire country. Sustainable design is the future and we've been doing it for years. I left the meeting feeling more optimistic about 2009 and even more so for 2010.

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Field Report

I was out the in the filed all day yesterday visiting three different job sites. The first thing I do when I go on these all day trips is stop at Mc D's and pick up a sausage mc griddle and a coffee. The first stop I made was at a major jail addition. They've made a lot of progress since the last time I was out there a couple months ago. The site was pretty muddy from all the recent rain. Good thing I had my work boots on. It's amazing seeing a job that you've spent so much time on come to life. The Contractor had many of the Housing Unit Mechanical Rooms installed so I was eager to see how they turned out. The biggest complaint the jail had about the original design was how congested and inaccessible the existing mechanical rooms are. It was a Hurculean task because not only did I need to improve the original design, I had to add an additional 10 pounds of shit into the 5 pound bag. I was very impressed with how well it turned out. Joe Maintenance Guy has pretty good access to the ERUs to service the filters, motors, and coils.

After a couple hours on site at the first job, I drove on to my second job - a courthouse renovation/expansion. This job is almost complete and will likely be my last visit to the site. All of the walls are painted, the carpet and tile on the floor is installed, etc. The only work being now is the controls, security electronics, and TAB work. I noticed a few issues with equipment access, which I'm always a stickler for. What is the Contractor thinking when he installs a VAV box with the control panel smack up against a wall? Even if my drawings showed it that way (which they didn't) for God's sake don't install it that way! Send me an RFI so we can figure out what's the best way to install it. I look at a lot of the architectural stuff too as well as my mechanical work. I notice little features like the judge's desk being lined with Kevlar so the judge can hide under his desk in case there's a gunman in the courtroom. The jury box has flat screen panels that rise out of the railing so the jurors can review evidence. Courthouses are getting pretty high tech.

On to my third job. Got to my final destination around 2:15 and finally grabbed lunch. The last job is an academic building for a new community college campus. One of things that jumped out at me was the wood ceiling tiles in the main lobby. They look so rich and warm! Another thing I noticed was the results of my efforts to incorporate my mechanical design more seamlessly into the architecture. All of the drywall has long since been put up and many of the rooms have been painted. The third floor is almost completed too. Cabinetwork and lab sinks have been installed in many of the classrooms. There's even a classroom to simulate a dentist's office to train dental hygienists. I left my last site around 4:30 so it was getting darm by the time I left. Got home around 5:45. I'll spend a good chunk of today writing up my site visit reports.

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Out in the Field

I'll be out in the field all day today to visit my own "prison improvement" project. I will also swing by my courthouse renovation/addition, and my academic building that are also under construction. Gotta keep an eye on those sneaky evil contractors!

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My Annual Review - Areas of Improvement

In my first post, I tooted my own horn and talked about how awesome an engineer I am. Here are the areas of improvement that we identified. What's great about our performance reviews is that it's a conversation between the employee and his/her supervisors. I identified and shared some of my own weaknesses. It wasn't just my boss telling me, "Boo, you need to get your ass in gear." Not only do we identify our weaknesses, we come up with a plan on how to fix and improve upon those weaknesses.

One area that I need to improve in are control diagrams and sequences of operation. They are the detailed instructions that are programmed into the equipments' control panels. For example, if the temperature in a space is too hot/cold then these valves open/close, these dampers open/close, these fans turn on/off, etc. A lot of the controls that we do are tailored for each individual project and are not simply boiler plate instructions. I rely on SL and VP to help me do those. I have improved compared to last year, but I still need to continue to improve in that area. Improving with this controls and sequences just comes with time and experience.

In a similar vane, sometimes I get a little too wrapped up in the details of my project, start wandering off into the weeds a bit, and start to lose site of the big picture. Having well detailed and organized drawings are great, and I need to maintain that level of detail in my drawings and specs, but I need to keep my "eyes on the prize". Here's an example of what I mean. I might spend a lot of time figuring out the most efficient ductwork layout or call out all the various options and accessories I want to see specified on a piece of equipment, but if you asked me at that point how I planned on a certain system being operated, sometimes I can't give you a really complete answer. I guess it would be like writing a novel without figuring out what the story is going to be about. One thing that I started doing over the past year that should help in this area is writing a systems narrative. It explains in plain English how the systems operate and the many design assumptions I made. I originally started this to help me out managing my projects that were in construction. Sometimes it's well over a year between the time I design a project and when a question might come up in the field. By having this narrative handy, it helps me to remember "what the hell I was thinking" when the Contractor calls me up and asks "Why did you design this this way? Wouldn't it be better if you did it this way instead?"

The last area of improvement that we talked about was my ability to delegate. I like things done my way. That way I know it's done right. I am a very efficient worker (despite all the time I spend on Yada) and typically produce more work than my fellow coworkers. But with the size and quantity of projects that I am responsible for, I sometimes have our junior engineers helping me out. Because I am so wrapped up in the details (see above), I don't give as much thought as I should as to how to divide up the work. Only one person can work on a drawing at a time, so I can't layout ductwork if a coworker is drawing something else on that same drawing. The tasks that I assign don't have enough thought or logic behind them in regards to time management and overall project efficiency. Let's face it. It takes time to plan and that takes time away from me being "productive". But if I want to "move up the ladder" and take on more responsibilities, I need to do a better job in delegating my work. I see two keys in achieving this. First would be train the junior engineer I work with in "The Bunny Method". Every engineer likes things done a certain way. When the drawings are done, it should look like they were done by one person and not like a troop of monkeys. If the junior engineer understand how I like things done, it will minimize the amount of rework. The second, most important, and also most difficult thing is to teacher the junior engineers to take ownership of their work. Taking ownership is easier if you have a lot of time and effort invested in a project. The design phase for the projects I work on sometime last more than a year. These same projects may take well over a year to build as well. It's hard for anyone to take ownership of their work and give 100% all the time if they're only doing bits and pieces and helping out here and there. I need to teach them to see the forest for the trees as well.

In my final post, I will talk about my future career goals at Forest Animals A/E.

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My Annual Review - Performance Appraisal

As I mentioned over on the Yada forum, I recently had my annual review at work. At the review, we talk about my performance of the past year and about short and long term career development goals.

There were three other people at my review - one Principal In Charge (PIC), the vice president of engineering (VP), and the studio leader for the mechanical department (SL). Even though VP is the person I generally consider to be my "boss", SL was the one that led the review.

As most of you know, I'm a mechanical engineer for an architectural/engineering firm. I design HVAC systems for buildings. Not only design these systems, I create the drawings and write the specifications that the Contractor uses to build said systems. I can have the best design in the world, but it doesn't mean "squat" if the drawings and specs are lacking.

Besides SL, I'm the other senior mechanical engineer in the Studio. You can assign me a project, and it will be done correctly, and it will be done on time. My forte is the thoroughness and the level of detail of my drawings. Even the Evil Contractor once wrote a letter to my company president saying how great my drawings were. My projects tend to have few RFIs and even fewer PCOs. And when I do screw up (because NO ONE's drawings are EVER perfect), it's usually an "omission" and not an "error". An example of an omission would be forgetting to show a fire damper in a fire barrier. The Owner would have had to pay for that fire damper anyway. He's just having to pay a premium for it because the Evil Contractor charges a lot for my mistakes. An example of an error (and I've made a few in my career) would be specifying the wrong voltage for a piece of equipment. So the equipment has to be sent back to the factory (pay a restocking fee), order the correct equipment (at a higher price), and the project ends up getting delayed.

My other strength is my organizational skills. I pioneered and developed a "paperless project binder" that is now the SOP for the company. Because I keep everything so organized, I am better able to respond to issues when they arise. You would never know I was so organized if you looked at my desk most times.

I didn't do any jail feasibility studies over the past year, but technical writing is also a strength of mine. My writing skills are also apparent in the e-mails and MOCs that I write. That was one of the things that the PIC mentioned during my review.

SL said that my performance improved slightly compared to last year. That's a nice achievement since I consistently perform at such a high level of work. That's one neat thing I've noticed over the years. I am continuously learning and improving. Over the years, I've developed a "system" for keeping my projects organized, and it has served me very well.

Because it was well apparent that I do such a good job, the majority of the time was spent discussing my future career goals. I'll talk about how that went down in a future post.

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Green Meeting

I've got a big meeting today to talk about what may the first LEED certified jail in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Rumor has it that another firm is also designing a proposed LEED certified jail too, so I hope that ours gets certified first and/or has a higher ranking (certified/silver/gold/platinum). This will be my first LEED job, and boy, is it a doozie - a 600 bed prison with future capacity to expand to 1,000 beds.

My job has lots of duties. Sure, I spend a lot of time sitting at my computer drawing ductwork and piping, so it's good to get out of the office every now and then. Sometimes it meens going out in the field and checking in an on the evil and sinister Lord Contractor to make sure he's not up to any dirty tricks. I'll be doing that on Thursday. But today is a big meeting a couple hours away from the office. There will be a big group of us going to this meeting, so we'll have lots of conversations going during the ride to and from. The meeting is to discuss which green strategies we're going to persue in our effort to become LEED certifed. Jails and prisons are occupied 24/7/365 and use tons of energy and water. There are some design strategies that we can't use due to security reasons, so it will be a challenge. Part of the meeting is to also remind the Owner that even though some of these measures initially cost more, they typically have a good payback (within 3 - 5 years). I know we plan on doing a vacuum plumbing system to reduce water consumption. It will be cool if we end up doing a grey water system as well.

I used to get pretty nervous when it came to public speaking (especially in school). It has gotten a lot better. I think practice makes perfect and it certainly helps when you know what the hell you're talking about.

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Out in the Field

I'm actually going out in the field tomorrow to my courthouse that under construction (the one that I've been posting pictures of). It's horribly behind schedule because the contractor and his subs are totally inept. Our MEP CA guy has been hounding the mechanical sub lately about the improper installation of fire dampers. He flat out asked the guy if all he's done was residential work and if this was his first commercial job. If I remember the schedule correctly, the job should be about done now, and the contractor will be getting into liquidated damages soon.

Anyway, what I was really going to write about was how much I enjoy going out in the field. Staring at the computer all day laying out ductwork, writing specs, and drawing control diagrams starts to be a drag sometimes. Going out in the field is a great change of pace. Going to courthouses are cool because some of them are really old. I get to crawl around in the attic or in a crawl space or basement and pretend I'm Indiana Jones. Haven't come across any snakes or rats yet. I saw some court documents from the 1600s at the courthouse I mentioned earlier. Visiting jails is also kind of neat. It's a little scary at times though. I remember one time I was at a jail and was up on a ladder with my head above the ceiling checking out some sanitary piping. A coworker of mine was holding the ladder for me. We were in the computer lab and class was about to start. The inmates were sitting in the chairs along the wall waiting patiently for us to finish. I heard one of the inmates mumble something about "I'll show you who the bus driver is" or something like that. Another inmate at a different jail had a pretty neat chess set made from toilet paper.

The best part of going out in the field is seeing my design come to life. I spend almost a year designing some large projects. That's a long time to be staring at the same building on your computer. It almost becomes one of your kids. It's part of you. Going out in the field is like watching your child being born over a several month time frame. If you're lucky to have a good contractor, he mostly installs the stuff just like you drew it. Seeing your design in real life helps you visualize it in your head better during the next project. Sometimes the contractor does things a little different and you go, "Hey! That's cool! I'll have to layout that ductwork or piping that way next time." Of course, sometimes you get a crummy and/or crooked contractor. That can be fun too because it becomes a game of "Find out where the contractor skimped on things and didn't install things correctly." You get to learn the dirty tricks that contractors do after a while.

I also try and look at things from the mainenance guy's perspective. It think my designs have improved over the years. If my design isnt too good, the contractor might be able to install it OK but it might be a pain in the ass for the maintenance guy to go back later and change the filters.

I've also become more of an architect over the years. I try hard to minimize exposed ductwork and piping. And really big on symetry too. I remember feeling totally pissed with myself that a couple of slot diffusers weren't centered properly in a large locker area. I looked at my drawings and the contractor installed it just like I told him too.

So I'll take some pictures at the courthouse tomorrow and post some more on my blog later on.

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Career Day

I volunteered at my son's school to present for Career Day. I signed up for it way back in December. Being that I already did a mini-career day presentation for my son's Kindergarten class back in the fall, I signed up to give my presentation to the 4th and 5th graders (elementary school is K - 5). The kids of a list of occupations to choose from and rank their preferences for those they wish to attend.

I've been super-busy at work so I didn't have much time to put together a presentation or otherwise prepare. I used a lot of the Power Point presentation I had used last year for the Explorer's presentation (high school kids). I modified a number of slides to make them more age appropriate (simpler vocabulary). I jazzed up some of the other slides by adding some pictures. My ace in the hole was the game show equipment that I had. My job let me borrow the buzzers that we use during training at work. I was also able to use a Jeopardy-style template for setting up the questions and answers. My plan was to present for 15 minutes and do the game show for the last 15 minutes.

As I was making my way to the school, I noticed a helicopter flying low in the air. I was thinking, "Wow, that helicopter is flying pretty low." And then, "I wonder what that helicopter is up to?" And finally, "Holy shit! The helicopter is landing at the school!" I felt a little deflated thinking, "How can I compete with a Black Hawk helicopter with game show buzzers?" I was checking out all the other presenters as we waited in the Library before embarking to our assigned classrooms. There was a doctor with a skull. Other occupations has boxes of stuff for their presentations as well. The school had a nice continental breakfast for us while we waited for school to start.

There were about 30 presenters in total, and all of the grades participated in Career Day. We had two 30 minute presentations, had a half hour break, and then had two more presentations. All of mine went well. The main problem with the first presentation was how I divided up the teams for the game show. I had marked colored Xs on the back of my business cards. The idea was to have the red team go to this corner and the blue team go this corner, etc. But there were more kids than I expected so that threw the color distribution off. It wasted time getting the kids to cooperate so I could move the kids around and get an equal number on each team. We were able to get through only about half of the Jeopardy round before the bell rang to move on to the next session. I adapted my tactic during the next sessions and simply assigned teams by where they sat to start with. The kids did really well answering the questions. Many of the questions and answers came directly from the presentation so they had to pay attention. The competition between teams really made for a fun time. I got better with my presentation as well as the progressed. I didn't really have any time to prepare and just winged it.

The kids had some pretty good questions too. It was really rewarding doing the presentation for these kids. I really wanted to explain what engineering is all about. Most kids think that engineers build things and have to know all about gears and stuff. I put a heavy emphasis about how engineers can help save the environment and that we don't sit in front of a computer all day. I'll definitely sign up again to do this next year.

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R U Smarter Than a 5th Grader

These are questions I plan on asking at tomorrow's career day presentation. Some of the answers are from the presentation. Others are just "general knowledge". How many do YOU know?

1. What does PE stand for?
2. What does HVAC stand for?
3. What does GPM stand for?
4. What does HP stand for?
5. Name a subject an engineer needs to be good at.
6. Name a member of the building design team.
7. Name a type of building an engineer would design.
8. Name a skill that a good engineer should have.
9. Buildings account for ____% of total energy consumption.
10. Name a product that helps conserve water.
11. Name a benefit of saving energy.
12. Mechanical equipment accounts for ___% or a building’s total energy use.
13. A good engineer needs to have good writing skills… True or False?
14. Engineers do not need to know about computers… True or False?
15. Engineers sit at a computer all day… True or False?
16. Engineers are creative... True or False?
17. Floor plans are ____________ for Contractors to build a building.
18. Engineering is the application of _______ and ___________ by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to people.
19. Engineers draw _____ plans.
20. Engineers don’t design equipment, we design _______.

Final Jeopardy!

1. What is the average annual utility bill for a typical elementary school?
   

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An Engineer's View of Christmas

Click on the picture to enlarge.

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Life as an Engineer

I do my fair share of bitching and complaining about contractors (usually in jest) on some of the forums I frequent. This Dilbert comic from yesterday's paper sums up my job perfectly.

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Old, Creepy Boiler

This one is for you, FrequentFlyer.

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Training this afternoon

In this course you will learn how to develop life-safety and fire protection drawings, by focusing on the LS-Series and FP2-Series. You will learn the standardized format for all architectural life-safety drawings, legends, symbols for designated life-safety elements, code reference tables, nomenclature, and UL-assembly details. You will learn how to "read" your fire protection drawing, and how to coordinate this drawing with your architectural life-safety drawing. You will be made aware of critical fire-protection elements (e.g., main service entrance, horizontal piping, and risers; exposed sprinkler piping, heads, and inspector’s testing locations; and fire pump location) that could affect the aesthetics and plan layouts of your design

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Engineering Tip #1: Waterless Trap Primers

The Problem

The water seals in traps are needed to prevent sewer gases from entering buildings, but because this water is exposed to the air, it is subject to evaporation over time. Also, poor venting or windy conditions can cause water seals to be siphoned or blown out. A trap primer injects water, either directly or indirectly, to the trap to maintain the water seal indefinitely.

2003 IPC requires traps be protected from evaporation. Traditionally, this meant providing a trap primer. But as everyone knows, trap primers are a royal pain in the ass because of maintenance and repairs. They also waste a lot of water.

The Solution

The Trap Guard® sets watertight inside the drain and stays open when water is flowing but closes when the water stops. When the Trap Guard® is closed, it successfully resists any emission of sewer gas, even if that gas is under significant pressure. It uses a flexible tube made of a space age, Elastomeric TM material that is treated to roll up when water is not passing through but is flexible enough to open and permit water flow, from an intermittent drip to fire-hose type flows.

Trap Guard® is compliant with the Standard Plumbing Code and the International Plumbing Code Contact us at 800-262-5355 for code approval in your area. For additional information on testing for flow rating and durability, please click here.

Advantages

• Initial cost plus installation is much less expensive than alternative solutions.



• It eliminates sewer gas emission and backup of raw sewage into living or working areas.


• Trap Guard’s space-age, Elastomeric™ material has been proven in plumbing industry uses for forty years and has been used in non-plumbing critical applications for almost fifty years of continuous use without degradation.


• Maintenance-free except for occasional flushing.


• Successfully tested with common cleaning solutions and other chemicals.


• Functions despite lodging of common debris (mop strings, food residue, etc.).


• Resistant to lime scale and microbiological growth.


• It eliminates the headaches of specifying and installing trap primers.


• Eliminates the requirement to consider or specify a trap primer – with its associated costs

Click HERE for more FAQ.

Click HERE for more applications.

Click HERE to watch the product in action!!!

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New Courthouse Project

This is a new 3-story, 90,000 sq ft courthouse job I've just started working on.

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