Structural engineering is the process used to determine
which building materials will be used in a specific way, to carry
building loads safely. The picture below provides you with a structural
supporting beam that's going to be used to hold up a large section of
the roof.
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Structural Engineers
A structural engineer is someone that you would hire to provide you with
all of the structural engineering, needed to assemble a building safely.
The structural engineer will use complicated math formulas to figure out
different lumber and foundation sizes.
When you look at a set of building plans, you will find all of the floor
framing joists sizes, beams, roof rafters, concrete footings and more.
Engineers are allowed to provide you with stronger building components,
but aren't allowed to provide you with weaker ones.
For example, if a 2 x 12 is questionable, most engineers will request
the next lumber size up (2 x 14). I said most engineers, because there
are plenty of engineers whose job depends upon being economical. You
will find a lot of this on large construction projects.
Structural Engineering And Stair Design
A structural engineer will provide the stair builder with all of the
sizes for their stair stringers, treads, risers and any other framing
supports. Without structural engineering, we would need to rely on the
Carpenters past experience, with success and failures.
Eventually the system of trial and error would create better engineers,
but it would also lead to more failures. Structural engineering reduces
the amount of risk and structural failure of building components.
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