The RCC 71 is an excel software developed by the Reinforced concrete council for the design of staircase. It designs to BS 8110: 1997. It can be used to design stairs, flight and landing.Upon starting the program you might see a macros warning. Enable macros if possible.

All blue text data are editable. Data which you will be required to enter include, dimensions of the staircase, concrete parameters and loading.

You do not need to do any previous major calculation before using RCC 71.

In the Flight tab of RCC 71, there are 4 input sections. They are the;

Project Name Title 

Materials

Dimensions

and Loading sections.

In the Project title section you can input the name of the project and so on

In the materials  section you can enter parameters such as strength of concrete, strength of steel, diameter of reinforcement and so on

The dimension section is where you enter the staircase dimensions such as length of thread, riser, thickness of waist..etc. 

In the loading section, you input the imposed loading and any other additional dead loads.

The design is longitudinal so the main bars are along the length of the stairs.

The software is a free to use version. A public release version.

To download RCC 71 and other structural design excel programs 

CLICK HERE 

What is bamboo scaffolding? 

Bamboo scaffolding is simply scaffolding using bamboo stems. It is a cheaper alternative to the conventional scaffolding that uses hollow steel columns and struts.

How is bamboo scaffolding constructed?

The bamboo stems are connected together using big five inches long nails and binding wire. The column bamboo stems must be braced. The column stems are usually spaced 1.5m apart..For added strength and rigidity, bamboo struts that support the platform on which workmen will stand are bored into the wall.

 How reusable is bamboo scaffolding?

Bamboo is still reusable a few times. You can also dismantle bamboo scaffolding and erect in another section of the building if you don’t have enough scaffolding to go round the whole building.

How much bamboo stems is need for a typical building?

The number of bamboo stems a building will need depends on the perimeter of the building and its height. A typical story building that is about 6m high will need about 120 bamboo stems to construct scaffolding for it at once.

How to construct bamboo scaffolding based on its properties.

Bamboo stems are very strong in compression and rigidity. Bamboo stems good for scaffolding should be at least 6cm and above.Use bamboo stems with higher diameter for struts, beams and bracings. 

Plaster sand is usually mixed in the ratio 1:6. That is, one part of cement to six parts of sand. Calculating the amount of these materials allows 25% bulking of sand. There is not much difference between the densities of cement and sand so the density of sand will be indirectly used to determine mass of sand required. Recall that a standard bag of cement weighs 50kg and it has a volume of 0.033m³

Example;

Let’s say you want to determine the amount of cement and sand necessary to plaster a wall of area 900m² and the thickness of plaster is 15mm thick.  This is how you do it.

first determine the volume of plaster which is

AREA x THICKNESS

= 900×0.015= 13.5m³

since its in ratio 1:6, you use this information to find the volume of cement and that of concrete.

volume of cement is;

(1/7 )× 13.5= 1.93m³

therefore volume of sand is 13.5-1.93= 11.57m³

Increasing the sand volume by 25% to cater for bulking we have: 

1.25 x 11.57= 14.46m³

The volume of cement previously calculated is 1.93. Dividing this volume by the volume of one 50kg bag of cement we get:

1.93/ 0.033= 58.48 bags, approximately 59 bags.

let’s indirectly use the density of cement to approximately determine the mass of sand required

recall that a 50kg bag of cement has a volume of 0.033m³

so dividing the volume of sand previously calculated by the volume of one 50kg bag of cement ,we have;

14.46/ 0.033=439 (50kg bags).

therefore mass of sand is;

439 x 50= 21950 kg or 21.95 tons

Our calculation so far shows that 59 bags of cement and 21.95tons of plaster sand is required to plaster a wall of 900m² with plaster thickness of 15mm. ( mass of sand increased by 25% to cater for bulking).

However, plastering usually results in considerable amount of waste. Coupled with wall irregularities such as holes and joints that need filling. Let’s increase the amount of cement and sand needed by 30% to cater for this;

i.e 1.3×59 bags of cement = approximately 77bags

and 1.3 x 21.95 tons of sand = 28.54tons.

The recommended dimensions of drawing sheets for engineers, technologists and architects is given below

A0: 841 x 1189 

A1: 594 x 841

A2: 420 x 594

A3: 297 x 420

A4: 210 x 297

Borders  on drawing sheets

A minimum border of 20mm from the edge of the drawing sheet ( A0 & A1). 

Title and information on drawing sheets

Important information related to the job and drawings should be placed in the bottom right hand corner of the drawing sheet ( panel 1).

The information should consist of the following;

1. Office project number
2. Project title
3. Drawing number
4. Drawing title
5. Office of origin
6. Scale
7. Drawn by (name)
8. Checked by ( name)
9. Date of drawing.

Another panel ( panel 2) should be provided to contain necessary reference to relevant information such as units, bar schedule, revisions list of abbreviations and so on.

Reinforced concrete. RC

Blockwork. blk

Brickwork  brk

Drawing  drg

Full size.  FS

Not to scale. NTS

Diameter.  dia

Centers.  crs 

Setting out point.  SOP 

Setting out line.  SOL

Centre line  c

Finished floor level.  FFL

Structural  Floor Level  SFL

Existing level.  EL

Horizontal.  hor

Vertical.  ver

Architect

A person trained and experienced in the design of buildings and the coordination and supervision of all aspects of the construction of buildings.

Civil engineer

An engineer trained in the design and construction of static structures such as buildings, roads,tunnels, and bridges and the control of water and its contaminants.

Structural engineer

A registered engineer that majors in structural  design.

Structural designer

An experienced daughter that makes structural designs. He or she may not be a registered engineer.

Structural daughter (Draughtsman)

One who makes structural drawings. He may not necessarily be a qualified structural engineer.

Surveyor

A professional who may either be a mining or land surveyor or quantity/building surveyor.

Geotechnical engineer

An engineer who specializes in rock mechanics, soil mechanics, foundations, groundwater etc

Traffic engineer

A civil engineer specialized in road markings, signs, signals, road geometry, traffic flow theory, etc

Highway engineer

An engineer specialized in the design and construction of roads and highways.

Mason (Bricklayer)

A person who is skilled in the craft of building with units of natural or artificial mineral products, such as bricks, stones, and cinder blocks, that are usually bonded or cemented with mortar to similar units.

Contractor

A person who signs a contract to do certain construction work for payment within a specified period of time. He undertakes responsibility for the performance of construction work, including the provision of labor and materials, in accordance with plans and specifications and under a contract specifying cost and schedule for completion of the work

Carpenter

A person skilled in the art and crafts of cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork etc.

Iron bender

A person skilled in the art of cutting, bending and placing reinforcement steel.