Estimating Center

Required Information for Determining UL Designs & Thicknesses.

When estimating, one of the first items that you need to do is determine the UL Design. The following information is needed so that we may provide you with the most accurate and competitive designs and thicknesses.

• Identify the Assembly Type; i.e. floor or roof 
  • If you have beams supporting a floor, we need to know the depth of the deck; Example -1-1/2, 2 or 3 inch fluted decking. If you have corrugated decking, it will be specified as 9/16, or 1 inch.
  • What is above the deck?; i.e. concrete or insulation? (if used)
  • If concrete, we need to know the type of concrete; i.e. Normal Weight, Lightweight or insulating concrete. Then we need to know the concrete thickness at the ‘thinnest point’; Example, a 2 inch fluted deck with 5-1/2 inches of total Normal Weight concrete has 3-1/2 inches of concrete at the thinnest point.
  • If insulation, what is the type and thickness of insulation; i.e. mineral & fiber board, polyisocyanurate, polyurethane, or polystyrene. Is there a layer of gypsum board directly over the deck?
    If we are dealing with vertical columns, we just need the column designation (See Items 2 and 3).

• Identify the Type of Steel; Refer to the attached Steel Shape Designation Sheet 
  • Wide Flange Floor Beams*
  • Wide Flange Columns**
  • Hollow Structural Sections – Columns**
    Miscellaneous Shapes; i.e. steel angles, channels, plates, or rods
    * Wide Flange Floor Beams are positioned horizontally and support a floor or roof assembly
    ** Wide Flange and Hollow Structural Section Columns typically span floor to floor and are positioned vertically

• Identify the Steel Size(s); Refer to the attached Steel Shape Designation Sheet. 
  • Wide Flange Columns are typically designated as “W-Shapes”; Example – W10x49.
  • Round (Pipe) Hollow Structural Sections are typically designated as “HSS Shapes”; Example – HSS 12×1/2.
  • Square and Rectangular Hollow Structural Sections are typically designated as “HSS Shapes”; Example – HSS 6x6x½, HSS 8x6x1/4.
  • Wide Flange Beams are typically designated as “W-Shapes”; Example – W8x24.
  • Steel Channels are typically designation as “C” or “MC” Shapes; Example – C8x11.5 or MC8x20.
  • Steel angles are typically either single or double angles that are designated by the length of each angle leg; Example – L4x3x1/4 for a single angle or LL 4x4x1/2 for a double angle.
• Identify the Hourly Fire Resistance Rating(s) 
  • 1, 1½, 2, 3, or 4 – hours.
  • These are generally found within the construction documents and is based on the determined Model Building Code type; i.e. Type 1A, 1B, IIA, etc.
• Restrained or Unrestrained Assembly. 
  • This is generally found within the construction documents.
  • This can also be determined by contacting the structural engineer on the project.
  • If you do not know, then the assembly is considered to be unrestrained.
• Identify if the application is an interior or exterior application. 
• What CAFCO^® / ISOLATEK^® Product are you seeking to use? 
  • Will the product be concealed or exposed to view?