Sim Day Results: Egress

Grade: Borderline Pass

How I felt during: A little confused at first, but determined

Why confused? I couldn't figure out what the furthest travel distance was in the existing space and I was taking a ton of time trying to measure different routes. Well, it didn't matter anyway, because along with all THREE solution examples, I got it wrong. In fact, I still disagree and I'm sure many other candidates would as well. Another pre-revamp, I suppose. Also, the restrictions really left only one reasonable layout, which took me a while to figure out. 

{ How I Did }

• I chose the incorrect "furthest common path of travel" in the existing suite. (All three examples also got this wrong and 2 passed despite)
• Because of the above, my calculations for Travel Distance to Stair 1 and Travel Distance to Stair 2 were off, but correct for what I had. (Again, still doesn't constitute a failing solution)
• Where I would say I tipped into Borderline Pass was this: I miscalculated my Occupancy for one of the 4 suites, which affected my occupancy load per stair.

2287 SF / 50 (Exercise Room) = 46

I *somehow off in la-la-land* got 12...

However, I noticed this same mistake on several sample tests and graders would note that despite a math error, if the candidate still demonstrated knowledge of how to actually apply the correct method of determining load per stair, they were not automatically FAILED.

Now, combine these errors... I don't know what to take away as far as correct grading, but I will learn from it!

I am happy that I have overcome the hurdles of laying out my spaces and understanding the difference between "common path of travel" and "distance to stair 1 & 2."

Now exiting, 

Carolyn

A little re-cap (from memory)...

I'm springing a little pop-quiz on myself tonight. 

If you'd like to do this, read through my blog posts to date, let it all gel overnight and tomorrow. Tomorrow night, number a paper (or Word Document) from 1-10. Then write down the (10) tips from my posts that will help you (from memory!!). OR better yet, re-cap from your own test prep!

Directions:

List 10 tips, strategies, and facts that you've identified and retained over the past month. 

1. Lighting: Calculate wattage allowed before going all symbol-crazy on your plan (watts per SF X total SF) and keep track of watts as you add fixtures. 
2. Egress: To determine the travel distance to each stair, remember to add your farthest path traveled within the existing suite to to the common path of travel to each stair. 
3. ADA Restroom: 36H rim std lav, 34H rim ada lav, 15H t.o. seat std toilet, 17H t.o. seat ada toilet, 24H to rim std urinal, 17H to rim ada urinal, 34H t.o. grab bar, 40H to b.o. mirror, 40-44H to operating parts of wall-mounted accessories. Oh, and 30X48 access in front of sink/urinal. 
4. Systems Integration: Pay attention to ceiling height changes with regards to ductwork!
5. Millwork: draw blocking in the wall and OVER-label everything!
6. Egress: use the "grid-block" space planning method to divide your floor into designated spaces (find SF of a grid block and divide each required SF to determine roughly how many grid-blocks). 
7. Life Safety: 1-hour rated walls belong suite-suite, suite-public corridor/lobby, and assembly-suite corridor, should have acoustical properties, and extend to the underside of the deck. 
8. Lighting: Assign DLV (dimmer low voltage) to low-wattage fixtures when laying out switching plan. 
9. Life Safety: You need a Fire Extinguisher both in the shared lobby/corridor AND in the tenant space (usually they'll have a space with enough SF requiring TWO and they should be located no more than 75' from the further occupant. 
10. Space Planning: Pay attention to plumbing trenches, don't forget to locate required electrical outlets/data as required, and highlight the program as you go!

There are more, but these are my faves!

Happy re-capping! 

Carolyn

Egress Exercise - How I did!

PASS!

But... I did this with serious help from my wonderful husband and a wee learning-all-over-again-because-I-never-get-to-do-this-curve. While I know what I'm doing, I freeze on the time limit, which is (1) hour.

Staying true to my inner toddler, I stomped downstairs and begged Andrew for 20 minutes of engineer logic. 1 hour of training wheels later, he was letting me ride off into the sunset of exit stairs and dotted lines and calculations! Wee!

See a list of strategies and approaches I found helpful in completing this exercise quickly and accurately in this post! 

How I did:

• All spaces meet minimum SF requirements
• All walls drawn to columns, not mullions
• All doors recessed into spaces, so as not to protrude more than 7" into corridor
• All Rooms labeled with Name, SF, and Occupancy
• All Occupancy totals rounded UP!
• All corridors 60" and dimensioned
• All turning circles for ADA clearance placed at corridor changes of direction
• Attention paid to dead end corridors
• Diagonal drawn across space requiring 2 exits, calculation done, dimensioned doors distance from one another

Could work on:

• Pay attention to dead end corridors - mine conformed to code and so did some of the solutions... the graders marked this as wrong (?) or they just said "watch it, kid!"
• Didn't do that whole ADDING farthest path of travel to common path of travel to each stair. Oops!

Helpful to do and the grader's do look at it.

• I scribbled my little "grid block" strategy on the side of my plan
• I scribbled some calculations on the side of my plan

They say to hand in everything: trace, post-its, calculations. 

Between this review and this one, I feel a lot stronger. Repetition with plan practice is key. Using strategies that work for you is also key. I love having this blog of references, tips, and facts - it's easy to study briefly during lunch at work or on a night when I'm not feeling motivated to pull out the plans, but I want to review what I've done. After all, you can't do a test every night (unless you buy all of the practice tests!). I'm actually looking forward to my simulation test day. 

Feeling better,

Carolyn

Egress Exercise: A Smart Approach

A few strategies to keep in line with the clock...If you're like me, you know all of this but creating an accurate plan within an hour is tough!

cute calculator from anthropologie

• Before you even start, roughly determine each space's Occupancy using the provided minimum SF in the program. Doing this early on gives you an idea of which space will need two doors! HINT: it's usually the Assembly space!
• Write Space Names into chart on vellum - an on-sheet checklist!
• Using your grid lines on the plan, find the SF of (1) grid block; Divide by (2) for half block. My husband taught me this logical method!
• Next, divide the minimum SF provided for each space by (1) grid block SF to determine how many "blocks" & "half blocks" per space. This allowed me to lay out the entire floor in less than TWO MINUTES!

{ EXAMPLE }

A 1200 SF minimum cafeteria

Block SF = 325 SF

1200 / 325 = +/- 3.75 grid blocks 

• Recessed doors = 15 SF (5' wide by 3' deep) which can affect the SF of your space. If it helps, add door SF into each minimum SF before drawing out spaces so you don't risk going under the minimum. If you have a 1280 SF rectangle without your recessed doors drawn in, you can now place your 5' wide by 3' deep recess without losing 15 SF.

{ EXAMPLE }

1250 SF minimum cafeteria

1250 / 15 = 84 (>49) = (2) doors 

2 x 15 SF = 30 SF 

1250 + 30 SF = 1280 SF Min

• Sketch rough wall-lines using "blocks"created by the grid on trace paper over plan.
• Slide your trace under the vellum test sheet to trace final plan.
• Write in Space Names & Actual SF as you go.
• Add doors recessed 3'-0" in from corridor with 12" on push side and 18" on pull side (see above).
• Calculate actual Occupancy factor with your actual SF by referencing the provided Occupancy Load Chart
• Then continue with your "travel distance," "door placement and reasoning," "stair distance," and load per stair. Divide by (2) if there are (2) stairways.
• If you have an odd total divided by 2, it will look something like this:

59 / 2 = 29.5

Translate to: 29 for stair #1 and 30 for stair #2

• Remember: the total travel distances to the stairs =

farthest path of travel within the existing suite

+ 

common path of travel to each stair once in the corridor

More lessons learned in my "How I Did!" post!

Now Exiting Safely,

Carolyn