2.2 Selection and Use of Evaluation Statements

The evaluator shall determine the building type using the following procedure:

1. Identify the lateral-force-resisting system using text and drawings, including whatever components are available and effective to constitute a system. Prepare floor and roof plans, and elevations and sketches of the lateral-force-resisting system.
2. Select one or more of the 15 common building types which best characterize the structure (see Sections 2.2.2 and 2.2.3 below). Structures with multiple lateral force resisting systems (different lateral systems in orthogonal directions, or structures where the system changes from level to level) may require the use of two or more building types. In the case of hybrid structures or other buildings that cannot be adequately classified using the 15 building types, the alternative analysis procedure shall be used, or the building shall be placed in SPC "1."
3. Reproduce from the Appendix the list of evaluation statements. These statements shall be used for all types of buildings. Some statements on the list may not be appropriate. These statements may be marked "NA" as "not applicable." The Appendix also contains the set of evaluation statements that address foundations and geologic site hazards, and nonstructural elements.

The general procedure involving use of the set of evaluation statements presented in the Appendix consists of the following steps:

1. Evaluate the basic building system according to the evaluation statements in Article 3;
2. Evaluate the vertical systems resisting lateral forces according to Article 4 (moment frames), Article 5 (shear walls) or Article 6 (braced frames) as appropriate. For buildings with a combination of vertical systems, each system in the building must be evaluated;
3. Evaluate the diaphragm or horizontal bracing system according to Article 7;
4. Evaluate the structural connections according to Article 8;
5. Evaluate the foundation and possible geologic site hazards according to Article 9;
6. Evaluate the nonstructural elements that involve immediate life-safety issues according to Article 10; and
7. Evaluate the critical nonstructural components and systems according to Article 11.

If a statement is found to be true, the condition being evaluated is acceptable according to the criteria of these regulations, and the issue may be set aside. If a statement is found to be false, a condition exists that needs to be addressed further, using the specified analysis procedures. Analysis procedures are given in Section 2.4. Each statement includes a reference to a particular section in Articles 3 through 10 where additional procedures for the resolution of the issues are given. The evaluator shall assemble the list of deficiencies and the results of the analysis and proceed to the final evaluation in Section 2.5.

The evaluator shall determine the type(s) of building being evaluated, choosing from among the following 15 common types:

1. Building Type 1—Wood, light frame. These buildings are typically small structures of one or more stories. The essential structural character of this type is repetitive framing by wood joists on wood studs. Loads are light and spans are small. These buildings may have relatively heavy chimneys and may be partially or fully covered with veneer. Lateral loads are transferred by diaphragms to shear walls. The diaphragms are roof panels and floors. Shear walls are exterior walls sheathed with plank siding, stucco, plywood, gypsum board, particle board or fiberboard. Interior partitions are sheathed with plaster or gypsum board.
2. Building Type 2—Wood, commercial and industrial. These are buildings with a floor area of 5,000 square feet or more and with few, if any, interior bearing walls. The essential structural character is framing by beams on columns. The beams may be glulam beams, steel beams or trusses. Lateral forces usually are resisted by wood diaphragms and exterior walls sheathed with plywood, stucco, plaster or other paneling. The walls may have rod bracing. Large exterior wall openings often require post-and-beam framing. Lateral force resistance on those lines may be achieved with steel rigid frames or diagonal bracing.
3. Building Type 3—Steel moment frame. These buildings have a frame of steel columns and beams. Lateral forces are resisted by the development of flexural forces in the beams and columns. In some cases, the beam-column connections have very small moment resisting capacity but, in other cases, the connections of some of the beams and columns were designed to fully develop the member capacities. Lateral loads are transferred by diaphragms to moment resisting frames. The diaphragms can be of almost any material. The frames develop their stiffness by full or partial moment connections. The frames can be located almost anywhere in the building. Usually the columns have their strong directions oriented so that some columns act primarily in one direction while the others act in the other direction, and the frames consist of lines of strong columns and their intervening beams.
4. Building Type 4—Steel braced frame. These buildings are similar to Type 3 buildings except that the vertical components of the lateral-force-resisting system are braced frames rather than moment frames.
5. Building Type 5—Steel light frame. These buildings are pre-engineered and prefabricated with transverse rigid frames. The roof and walls consist of lightweight panels. The frames are built in segments and assembled in the field with bolted joints. Lateral loads in the transverse direction are resisted by the rigid frames with loads distributed to them by shear elements. Loads in the longitudinal direction are resisted entirely by shear elements. The shear elements can be either the roof and wall sheathing panels, an independent system of tension-only rod bracing, or a combination of panels and bracing.
6. Building Type 6—Steel frame with concrete shear walls. The shear walls in these buildings are cast-in-place concrete and may be bearing walls. The steel frame is designed for vertical loads only. Lateral loads are transferred by diaphragms of almost any material to the shear walls. The steel frame may provide a secondary lateral-force-resisting system depending on the stiffness of the frame and the moment capacity of the beam-column connections. In "dual" systems, the steel moment frames are designed to work together with the concrete shear walls in proportion to their relative rigidities. In this case, the walls would be evaluated under this building type and the frames would be evaluated under Type 3, Steel Moment Frames.
7. Building Type 7—Steel frame with infill shear walls. This is one of the older type of buildings. The infill walls usually are offset from the exterior frame members, wrap around them, and present a smooth masonry exterior with no indication of the frame. Solidly infilled masonry panels act as a diagonal compression strut between the intersections of the moment frame. If the walls do not fully engage the frame members (i.e., lie in the same plane), the diagonal compression struts will not develop. The peak strength of the diagonal strut is determined by the tensile stress capacity of the masonry panel. The post-cracking strength is determined by an analysis of a moment frame that is partially restrained by the cracked infill. The analysis shall be based on published research and shall treat the system as a composite of a frame and the infill. An analysis that attempts to treat the system as a frame and shear wall is not permitted.
8. Building Type 8—Concrete moment frame. These buildings are similar to Type 3 buildings except that the frames are of concrete. There is a large variety of frame systems. Older buildings may have frame beams that have broad shallow cross sections or are simply the column strips of flat-slabs.
9. Building Type 9—Concrete shear walls. The vertical components of the lateral-force-resisting system in these buildings are concrete shear walls that are usually bearing walls. In older buildings, the walls often are quite extensive and the wall stresses are low but reinforcing is light. Remodeling that entailed adding or enlarging the openings for windows and doors may critically alter the strength of the modified walls. In newer buildings, the shear walls often are limited in extent, generating the need for boundary members and additional design consideration of overturning forces.
10. Building Type 10—Concrete frame with infill shear walls. These buildings are similar to Type 7 buildings except that the frame is of reinforced concrete. The analysis of this building is similar to that recommended for Type 7 except that the shear strength of the concrete columns, after cracking of the infill, may limit the semiductile behavior of the system. Research that is specific to confinement of the infill by reinforced concrete frames shall be used for the analysis.
11. Building Type 11—Precast/tilt-up concrete walls with lightweight flexible diaphragm. These buildings have a wood or metal deck roof diaphragm that distributes lateral forces to precast concrete shear walls. The walls are thin but relatively heavy while the roofs are relatively light. Tilt-up buildings often have more than one story. Walls can have numerous openings for doors and windows of such size that the wall behaves more like a frame than a shear wall.
12. Building Type 12—Precast concrete frames with concrete shear walls. These buildings contain floor and roof diaphragms typically composed of precast concrete elements with or without cast-in-place concrete topping slabs. The diaphragms are supported by precast concrete girders and columns. The girders often bear on column corbels. Closure strips between precast floor elements and beam-column joints usually are cast-in-place concrete. Welded steel inserts often are used to interconnect precast elements. Lateral loads are resisted by precast or cast-in-place concrete shear walls.
13. Building Type 13—Reinforced masonry bearing walls with wood or metal deck diaphragms. These buildings have perimeter bearing walls of reinforced brick or concrete-block masonry. These walls are the vertical elements in the lateral-force-resisting system. The floors and roofs are framed either with wood joists and beams with plywood or straight or diagonal sheathing or with steel beams with metal deck with or without a concrete fill. Wood floor framing is supported by interior wood posts or steel columns; steel beams are supported by steel columns.
14. Building Type 14—Reinforced masonry bearing walls with precast concrete diaphragms. These buildings have bearing walls similar to those of Type 13 buildings, but the roof and floors are composed of precast concrete elements such as planks or tee-beams, and the precast roof and floor elements are supported on interior beams and columns of steel or concrete (cast-in-place or precast). The precast horizontal elements may have a cast-in-place topping.
15. Building Type 15—Unreinforced masonry (URM) bearing wall buildings. These buildings include structural elements that vary depending on the building's age and, to a lesser extent, its geographic location. In buildings built before 1900, the majority of floor and roof construction consists of wood sheathing supported by wood subframing. In large multi-story buildings, the floors are cast-in-place concrete supported by the unreinforced masonry walls and/or steel or concrete interior framing. In buildings built after 1950, unreinforced masonry buildings with wood floors usually have plywood rather than board sheathing. The perimeter walls, and possibly some interior walls, are unreinforced masonry. The walls may or may not be anchored to the diaphragms. Ties between the walls and diaphragms are more common for the bearing walls than for walls that are parallel to the floor framing. Unreinforced masonry bearing wall buildings (TYPE 15) shall be assigned to SPC 1. No further analysis is required.