Visit our website at http://www.conspectusinc.com/publications.htm to view or download A1030-Floor Slab Flatness & Levelness 10.07.01.
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What is an AW60 window and how will it perform? The window performance classes and performance grades set by the North American Fenestration Standard provide a simplified method for specifying the minimum performance for air infiltration, water penetration, and structural capacity. Learn what the ratings mean to specify the correct window performance for projects.
Visit our website at http://www.conspectusinc.com/publications.htm to view or download B2020-Exterior Window Ratings 10.05.01.
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What functions must an air barrier perform? It may be more than the obvious. Learn about the types, functions, performance, difficulties, and details for air barriers to be effective. Air barriers must be carefully selected to provide the correct expected performance. Carefully crafted details and specifications are required to ensure expectations are met by the installed assembly.
Visit our website at http://www.conspectusinc.com/publications.htm to view or download B2010-Air Barriers 10.04.01. Each Tech Tips file is titled using the UniFormat system and assembly designation to facilitate filing and future reference.
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Who is involved? What roles do they play? What contributions do they make? And when do each contribute? The CSI Specifying Practice Group explored these and other questions about the specifying process at the April 1, 2010 meeting.
If you have an opinion, join the group. Everyone that reads or writes specs is welcome and it is FREE. Participation, controversy, and disagreement are encouraged so we can learn from one another. The group meets for one hour the first Thursday of every month.
The perception is that architects and engineers make the product selections. Is the perception reality? Perhaps. But there are thousands of choices to make, and many factors influencing those choices. Architects tend to focus on products affecting the visual and spatial experience of the project. Mundane and commodity products receive scarce attention, if any. So, who makes those decisions?
Explore the meeting discussion presentation. Add your own opinions by leaving a comment at the end of this posting.
Owners may have significant influence on product selections and what is ultimately specified. Because of other facilities and maintenance experiences, owners tend to have strong opinions, especially about products that have not performed well. Poor performance and failures tend to generate design standards that must be met for future construction projects.
Specifiers, whether independent or in-house, exert a great deal of influence on product specifications. Specifiers usually keep the corporate memory of what works and what does not. The specifications reflect the memory and the designers' selections. The mundane products, ignored by the designers, are relegated to the specifier.
Contractors and subcontractors buy the products. Forcing builders to buy outside their normal supply chain will exert pressure on the designers to review substitution requests. And when builders can show owners significant first cost savings, those pressures mount.
Manufacturers, Distributors, and Product Representatives can play a significant role in influencing product specifications for construction project. This group works with the designers during the early stages of the project showing potential product applications and offering advice on product selections. The same group also influences the builders' product selection process during bidding and construction, especially when delivery times become critical.
So there are many players with changing roles depending on where the project is in the design and construction process.
Read additional notes about the meeting and listen to the meeting recording at the CSI Blog.
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