dpb wrote:

Robert Allison wrote:
...

When I do things like this on my own, I always overengineer, because I
cannot properly do the calculations, so I overbuild to compensate. ...


If you don't do the calculations, how do you know you're "over"-engineered?



--

I can do the calculations on alot of things, but, from my
experience, anything I design gets downsized if an engineer looks
at it. I have worked with a lot of engineers, sometimes I use
them, some times I don't. I know generally what is required and
how to use span tables, but....

For instance, if I need to put a footer under a post load, my
footer will be much larger than what an engineer would design. I
do that "just to make sure".

Every time I take something that I designed to my favorite
engineer he always asks me "how many Abrams tanks I was planning
to support with this?".

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX