All things RBC

[Mybrick]

Thanks John for clarifying that. That number on the jw.org site on my personal account is my number that I used it to identify myself as a member of an RBC design team which has a license to use the new WT CAD. I have been approved to view the Branch's designs for Kingdom Hall floor plans on the jw.org web pages. And as I gain more privileges more doors will be opened on the site. Like John said keeping your personal profile updated as to your skills and availability, making sure you have your safety training and your identification current will produce results.

 

All RBC's design teams are under the gun to get the paperwork done, plans completed and building permits issued so if you would like to help just get in touch with you local RBC Design team. If you like to help in the actual building and remodeling work get in touch with the Trade overseer in the field you want to participate in or if you've updated your profile they will get in touch with you as needed. Food service and Safety are relatively easy for those who are physically challenged. There is lots of paper work to be done in Purchasing also. We have a warehouse which stores the items which will be needed later and these all need to be organized and kept neat. If you are available please let your local RBC know and maybe they will have a job just for you.

[Brenda]

Br Rick, is there work in the Purchasing or similar departments for sisters...without husband...or is that all handled by brothers?

[Mybrick]

You have to get in touch with you local RBC and find out for your self. There is no gender bias in Jehovah's organization. All are invited to participate. Brother's usually take the lead in matters but sisters and brothers are needed in all departments.

[Brenda]

OK thanks...I am on the Vinyl/Siding crew now.  In fact, going to one in Gaffney, SC this week, Thursday - Sunday.  But thinking I might like to try another department.  

[Mybrick]

Share pictures. Its always interesting to see who's doing what and see the final result. By the way have fun.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Mybrick

[Margaret]

may I ask, when you log in and look for the number in lower right, is it actually all numbers or a combination of letters and number?

[Mybrick]

As I recall it is all numbers. I have to log into my account to make sure. But according to my fogy memory at the moment its numbers.

[Margaret]

then I guess I can log in but have no number as yet.

[Mybrick]

By the way I learned something interesting this weekend. Our fearless leader, head of our design department, changed congregations at his CO's request and as it turns out that disqualified him to be our fearless leader. When you change congregations you become a no body which has to go through the same process of qualifying to join RBC. You have to be in good standing with the congregation and be regular in the field service. Then that body will approve your volunteer form and forward it to the RBC for assignment. As it turns out he qualified with no problem. I almost turned to our RBC committee member rep and said " Ok Don what are we up to today?" but I kept my mouth shut. It was tempting though. We always enjoy a good laugh when we get together.

 

So if you change congregations remember to fill out a new volunteer form and have it resubmitted to your local RBC so you can stay abreast of what's going on in your neighborhood.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Mybrick

[Qapla]

When you go to jw.org there is a "login" link in the upper right. Once you log in, providing you have set up an account, you will have a personal ID "number" in the Lower right - mine is 8 character long and has only 1 number, the rest are upper case letters

[Mybrick]

Thanks John, I told you my memory was foggy at the moment. I haven't had a chance to log in to check, I've been busy reading and asking about the situation in Crimea with Svetlana.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Mybrick

[Margaret]

Yippee then I have one, all capital letters and one number

[NancyG]

A sister in the RBC's interior design department encouraged me to learn autocad [which I am taking a class now with my husband, where our Watchtower conductor teaches it at the local community college] so that I can help out with our local RBC. I'm really excited about this new way to expand my service to Jehovah, because after pioneering for a total of 16 years, I'm no longer able to physically do it because my cerebral palsy has really slowed me down as I've gotten older. I always thought I would have to wait until the New World to participate in the physical building work for true worship, but now I'm finding out there is plenty of work to do for Jehovah using my mind and computer skills.I've even been told there's so much to do on the RBC that it can keep you as busy as a full time job all year round! I can never be happy in this system just twiddling my thumbs waiting for the end to come,  so I can't wait to be able to jump into this work with both feet!

 

So, please give me  any ideas, suggestions or tips that can direct me in what I should learn or do to help me better serve my brothers and sisters.

I  wanted to ask what software are other RBC interior design teams using in California and elsewhere. Here in Illinois, Google Sketchup is used but  they are searching for anything that may be better.

Nancy 

 

 

[Mybrick]

Well sister, its funny you should ask as I was just brushing on my Revit skills. I've used the program in the past but haven't had much call to use it lately until the Branch made it known they are looking for people with Revit skills. A sister I work with in the RBC design team and around in the same office for work uses Revit all the time and is a whiz at it, put her name into the mix and she just received a call to come in for an interview locally in hopes to go back east for a little while to help out and in the mean time I've been asked to fill in her big shoes.

 

I've in the past joined on a web tutorial site called "lynda.com". They will give you access to all their content library of files on a large varity of software programs. You can join monthly for $25-$37 per month for as many months as you require and the turorials are available 24/7 so you can view the video's as many times as you need. The price difference is wheither you want access to practice files or not. You can even sign up for a year subscription if you think you need that. It cost a little less for each month if you choose that route. Personally I just use the service monthly and cancel my subscription when I've mastered my software enough that I can go on my own.

 

As far as software is concerned AutoCAD is the software of choise and Autodesk who make AutoCAD will give you the entire program for free use for a month as a trial. With Lynda.com you should be able to get the basics down within that month if you apply yourself. But that means using each day as a class to use your time wisely. The tutorials are easy to follow and understand and they walk you through each step of the way. You can start with the basic's and work you way on up to advanced concepts at your own pace.

 

After you get to the point you feel you can move forward. Please get in touch with your local RBC design department and let them know you want to join their happy crew and if you are accepted the Branch is giving WT CAD " Watchtower CAD" licences for free to design team members.

 

WT CAD is based on IntelliCAD software and has the Branch's tweek to meet our needs for Kingdom Hall design with the ability to colaborate with any one on the globe about Kingdom Halls or any thing the Branch may assign you to do to further Kingdom intrests no matter what language they speak or standards they use. European measurements and the like. Metric measurements and sysbols they understand. Thats the MECS platform the Branch has incorporated into their

WT CAD. It won't take much to slip right into using WT CAD as it is very similar to and intigrates with AutoCAD seamlessly.

 

So the only thing holding you back is either taking a college class, Lynda.com, or meet someone like me who has the desire to teach. Or you can do as I did in my beginings and buy a book. Studiously read each chapter and do the lessons at the end to sink and set it into your head. Practice, practice, practice.

 

Its actually really fun to work with CAD of any kind and especially working for our heavenly father along with our brothers and sisters. I'm crazy busy with RBC design work and wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

As I mentioned "Revit", is a modeling program which allows you to build a virtual model of anything your little heart desires. It's also taught on Lynda.com. It is another program of Autodesk and a different beast than AutoCAD and it takes a different mind set to master, but don't be afraid to look into it. Its not that hard to learn. And it is the wave of the future as far a design goes as it keeps track of everything going on in a building under construction. All the materials, doors, windows pipes, wire, HVAC, everything. And when your done with your design you can use this info to figure the cost of building, create a time schedule, and build a building meeting all the local codes, even energy effiency calulations can be done right in the program and meet energy codes which are now called "Green Codes". You can take a virtual walk through the structure and populate it with furniture, specific paint colors, pictures and plants if you so desire. Its a really cool tool to use to visualize something which isn't really there. And you can place that structure anywhere in the world, on a beach, mountain, park any where because you can set the location with GPS cordinates and the software will track the sun and factor this info into your energy model to let you know if its going to be too hot or too cold or just right for your ideal home. Give you any ideas? I plan on using it on the other side of this system to help meets my needs and the needs of others. Have to wait and see if we have electricity or not but you get the idea.

 

Hope this helps or at least gives you ideas of where to go from here.

[NancyG]

Thank you my brother. Yes, your suggestions both informed and encouraged me. We have seen lynda.com but we weren't sure whether we should try it or not. In 4 weeks I'll be done with a semester of autocad. As a student I'm able to download autocad and Revit for a free trial that lasts 3 years.But this summer I think I'm going to and try lynda.com with my free version of Revit and Autocad.

Thanks again!!

[palmhat]

Thank you my brother. Yes, your suggestions both informed and encouraged me. We have seen lynda.com but we weren't sure whether we should try it or not. In 4 weeks I'll be done with a semester of autocad. As a student I'm able to download autocad and Revit for a free trial that lasts 3 years.But this summer I think I'm going to and try lynda.com with my free version of Revit and Autocad.

Thanks again!!

Me too! I have been using Autodesk Inventor for the past 5 years and just love solid modeling. It is like getting paid to play. I am presently getting my house in order for in preparation for increased activity after retirement in June. I am chompin' at the bit.

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[Mybrick]

I forgot to mention it won't hurt to go somewhere where someone is building in your area and take time to look at the building under construction. I'm a very visual person and I like to see an example of what's going on. I've been involved in building construction since 1968 and have seen many ways of doing the same thing, and I kinda forget that design is not just knowing the software but also the way buildings are put together.

So I recommend you get familiar with the way building is done from the ground up.

Starting with what kind of foundation is being used. Will there be a raised floor or a slab floor used. If a raised floor is used many of the plumbing features such as sewer drains can go in after the foundation wall are put in place. The only exception is where the sewer line has to go thru the foundation wall, an opening must be left so it can pass through. If it's a slab floor then all this sewer plumbing must go into the ground before the slab is poured. Also have to look at water and electricity to see if those will be accessed underground thru the foundation or not.

Speaking of electricity a grounding rod must be placed within the concrete foundation called a UFER ground. A man with the last name of Ufer discovered that electricity can be absorbed better in concrete than in plain dirt so it was incorporated into the electrical code to have a UFER ground. This is especially important where lightning is very bad and buildings are struck. A UFER ground is just a metal rod, anywhere from 20 to 40 feet of it that has an electrical wire attached to it and this is buried in the footing of the foundation.

Then take notice of the way the wood members are attached to the concrete foundation. There are bolts of different sizes and steel straps that are embedded into the concrete to be nailed or bolted to the bottom wood member or bottom plate, if you prefer, to attach the building to the foundation. The purpose of the larger bolts is to attach to shear panels of plywood or OSB board, to make sure the building won't blow over in a strong wind or fall off the foundation during an earthquake. In my area we have to design for an 80 mile an hour wind and we live in a zone 4 earthquake zone and there are established tables in our building code that gives us the size of bolts to be used on these shear panels and the number of nails that must be nailed into the panel to withstand these forces, and the number and placement of regular anchor bolt along each wall to hold them in place. Concrete nails can also be used in place of bolts on interior walls on slab floors.

The walls must tied with steel straps to the roof to make sure a strong wind won't pick up the building off its foundations or separate the roof from the walls and blow away. Like an umbrella in a wind.

Windows and door ways must be built to withstand the weight of the roof above and any snow or water load that might occur. These loads are called live loads as opposed the dead load of the weight of the materials themselves. Even the foundation footing will have to support the weight sitting on it so depending how many floors and whether you have to deal with frozen ground or not the foundation also has to be designed to carry the load and be down into the ground enough to avoid the earths movements during freeze and thaw actions.

Look at water lines and sewer drain lines as they run thru the walls. Copper, galvanized pipe and even plastic tubing are being used to deliver water now. I prefer copper. Some residential homes are being required to have some sort of fire sprinkler systems now in California due to wild fire issues or the ability of the fire department having access. Some cities worry about the fire spreading from building to building quicker than the fire department can respond and this also plays into this issue of fire suppression in residential housing.

Look at how electrical is supplied to each room. How next to water sources we must be protected from electrical shock by special receptacles or breakers in the service panel. How the walls are insulated from the elements. How HVAC it delivered to each room to provide our comfort zone. Everything is supposed to be sealed so the wind can't penetrate in and take away our heating or cooling. This sealing around windows and doors, even outlets in the wall or pipes and wires running through the walls, are sealed to prevent wind and pests from entering.

Energy efficiency is a driving force here in California. We have insulation requirements. Lights in kitchens and bathrooms must be at least 50% fluorescent lighting. LED lighting seems to be the wave of the future now as it uses the least amount of energy and lasts the longest. And you can get it in bright or warm colors. I recently purchased a led light bulb for my brake lights and it has a 21 year warrantee, wow. The cities are now using LED street lights and in parking garages because they get the job done with the least amount of cost in energy. And the garage lights are dim able so they don't have to be on bright all the time.

We are required to use motion sensor lights in homes now because people don't remember to turn off the lights when they leave. Energy consumption is a driving force.

The state is looking at requiring special plumbing to reclaim water from sinks and showers to help in water conservation by using it to water your lawns and gardens. They've installed special electric meters to read when you use electricity so they can charge you not only the amount you use but also the market value of electricity at the time you use it.

Look at the roof design. Is it a truss design or "cut and stack" where each member is custom cut and installed. Is the roof sheeted with plywood or spaced 1x6 boards referred to as open sheeting. Most roofs these days will use plywood because it gives more support to the buildings shear force durability. But where shear is not a problem, spaced sheeting can be used for wood roofs where it's more desirable to have the roof dry out after a rain or snow. Composition roofing is the norm here, mostly because of cost but also it has the highest rating in wild fires, even better than tile roofing. And it's lighter than most all the others. Fire codes here prohibit most wood roofs now unless they are chemically treated to resist fire which drives up the cost.

As you can see there are many aspects of building that are involved in construction that must be considered long before you even start to build. I've only touch a few of the things we have to look at. These areas I've mentioned are mostly related to residential construction and commercial construction has many more things that must be addressed, which is what our Kingdom Halls are, commercial buildings.

We not only have the state codes to comply with but local codes also apply. The cities have their own agenda that must be endured because the founding fathers usually put into city charters how they want the city to look and where they want to growth of the city to take place in an orderly fashion. Then if that's not enough you must satisfy the building officials and planning departments individually as the state always has a code written in that states plainly the local folks have the last say, period!!! They can cause more trouble and expense than all the codes combined.

Many a plan has gone back and forth between our design department and the convening authority, whether building, planning, health, environmental or fire departments, it's enough to make your head spin sometimes.

That's just a smattering of why our job is under appreciated, misunderstood and reaching out for more assistance than all the other departments combined. So any that want to reach out to join our happy and maybe a little crazy at times group, are very very welcome. I met a sister last weekend who is in the sheet rock department who wants to join the design department. She seams to think it might be easier, it certainly is very interesting and fun, you just have to work a different part of you body.

I should mention we need brothers and sisters who can work the software and do the actual drawing. We who have the experience will handle the codes and departments and get the permits so the building can take place. All this information involved can be picked up as you go and then you can pull a little of your hair out down the road and join the ranks of the rest of us who have to deal with the issues.

Wow, I have to sit down off my soap box, I'm out of breath.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Mybrick

[palmhat]

This Intel is greatly appreciated. While I now know why I've not been called, I can knowledgeably prepare myself for increased activity. Please keep it coming.

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[Margaret]

Can anyone tell me if RBC estimating uses a program? Is there a public equivalent that I can start to learn from?

[Mybrick]

Personally I don't know but I can ask our estimator. I know there are secular companies which do estimating because I've had their books in the past. RSMeans and Reed books I've used. If you do an internet search you can find them.

I did a quick search myself online and I found several including an apple app for cost estimating. I just don't know if the branch recommends any particular company or software.

[Mybrick]

I just finished another weekend of design and our department will be printing up a submission today to go to the building department. This particular building had so many design challenges it was decided to just knock it down and start fresh.

The hall is home to two English, two Spanish, one Punjab, and one ASL congregations. It will have cameras and monitors for the audience and stage so all in ASL attendance will be able to see anyone sign their comments. The hall is wired to be able to view any video the Branch has for the deaf to enjoy as a congregation right off the jw.org web site.

The number of congregations will be changing as the city is purchasing a new piece of property that will have a double hall on it to relieve the congestion of having multiple congregations in the same hall. Our town and close surrounding area has just over a quarter million population with twenty four congregations in six halls and full houses at that. So it's time to do some reorganization soon and form new congregations and have new locations available.

I live in Modesto, California and this town is referred to many times on TV during different shows. We've been in the news a lot over the years for several reasons, mostly not good reasons. We've been the six o'clock news for many high profile murders like "Scott Peterson" and women who were not only killed but beheaded and their heads showed up at Yosemite National Park. We have a full blown office of the FBI permanently based here. Some have said Modesto is the town to get lost in, permanently. We had a brother loose his life a few blocks from my house just changing the locks on a police action eviction. On the other hand George Lucas, the creator of the "Star Wars" series was born and raised here and attended the same schools as some of my kids. So we have a lot of individuals in our area who are now associating with our congregations for good reason.

An other nice thing about this hall is that it will be able to view our next Annual Meeting if invited. Two 50" monitors are mounted on the two places where you would normally put the year text and they still do in as many languages as the branch has. The sound desk has a laptop which can control the internet access and display any material or text necessary on these two monitors.

We were able to utilize LED lighting on the hall and parking lot lights and knock down the electrical consumption each month down almost by half so this hall will not only be comfortable but very economical to run each month which will be a wonderful thing for the brothers in these hard times. In the past several years the whole city has gotten together financially to build each new hall necessary so the burden isn't shouldered alone by the congregations attending the hall alone. That has been a wonderful blessing all by itself.

I've been given my next project to design the electrical for the next hall already and hopefully be able to have it ready for our next RBC design weekend the 17th and 18th of this next month. We use an online cloud service to draw in and it's available to all in our department, including the RBC committee heads, 24/7 so all are on board to the progress of plan development.

We had a great influx of new talent in our department this last weekend. We had a few new ones join who are just learning the new WT CAD and a few who are new to construction who are using their new skills to draw their own Kingdom Halls so they not only learn the program but they get acquainted with building construction enough to be able to ask intelligent questions of things they've always taken for granted and never paid attention to before. We've loaned them a laser which measures between spaces with up to 1/16" accuracy so they are having fun with new toys and learn something new. Everyone was enjoying themselves and laughing so much I had a hard time getting anything done this weekend.

I have always talked to myself while working through difficult things and this weekend I had a lot on my plate and we were so shoulder to shoulder that several new ones were laughing at my out loud frustrations. I have over the years kept my out bursts to things like "Waskley Wabbit" when something eludes me, and "Dag Nabit" when something frustrates me. This weekend several pointed out how much I talk to myself which got laughs, and one sister called me a bad influence in jest because she caught herself saying "Dag Nabbit" during the month since our last meeting together. Everyone laughed out loud to that confession. One brother said he heard engineers are like that, talking to themselves all the time, I'm not an engineer.

In our group there aren't many that have hands on experience in construction from the ground up. Myself and our design department head have the most overall experience and he was unavailable this weekend so I was extremely busy answering questions and directing. We have a structural based sister who handles the most of those sheets, a brother who is normally a glazing designer who consistently handles drawing the plumbing and HVAC sheets, a sister who is a professional decorator and handles the look and feel of our projects and I usually get stuck with the electrical design because I'm alone in that department who knows the installation and calculations of electrical design. We also have access to a brother who does our Title 24 reports who is on the CA state board that regulates the states energy laws which is where we get Title 24 requirements, so we have access to much talent in our design department. But the best is we have fun doing all that hard work.

The only reason I happen to have this knowledge about electrical is because I personally decided to learn all I could about it in my designing of restaurants which I love to build. That restaurant experience is also why I know so much about all aspects of building design and construction. We all have the collective experience and knowledge of the contractors in our area who we talk with, who could draw the plans themselves if they only learned to use the software. These contractors are always invited and several are right there along with us when we get together to draw. We have brothers who are current and former building inspectors who check our sheets before they leave the house to go out to their respective city plan checks so our plan check comments are few and usually easy to take care of.

Oh by the way, we enjoyed the best strawberries and Mexican pastries this weekend. Several sisters in our group know of a tasty pastry shop in the town we draw in and they shared these treats with us. Yum! There is a Mexican restaurant within walking distance from our drafting office so I eat there quite often for lunch. Also Yum!

Well that brings me to time to go to my normal job so I'm off to work.

[Qapla]

I am scheduled to work at our current RBC project this weekend. There is an existing KH on the property and they will be holding their meeting Sunday.

 

We have tied in their sound system to the new work area so we will be able to hear the Special Talk - since that is scheduled for this Sunday.

[Mybrick]

Hey John if you get a chance post some pic's of your project.

[Gi-Gi]

I don't know if I missed it but there is suppose to be a letter read at all congregations about the RBC in a week or two. Anyone know?

[Mike]

Yup. (lips sealed)