The goal of this course is to teach the student how to inspect the structural systems and components of a house in South Africa.
This course covers soil types, their performance characteristics and the effect they have on substructures and superstructures. It also covers construction methods of substructures and superstructures to accommodate soil conditions, and how they age and fail.
And, in keeping with InterNACHI's commitment to Continuing Education,
this course is open and free to all members, and can be taken
again and again, without limit.
Reminder to members: InterNACHI's Code of Ethics
1.10 requires that you comply with all government rules and licensing
requirements of the jurisdiction where you conduct business.
InterNACHI's courses and Standards generally exceed the Standards of
Practice that you are required to abide by locally.
Objective:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to demonstrate an understanding of soil types, their performance characteristics and the defects they can cause in substructures and superstructures.
The student will also be able to demonstrate an understanding of common types of of substructures and superstructures, including identification of defects related to how they age and fail.
Topics include:
What is Soil?
Heaving
Subsidence
Quiz #1
Collapsible Soils
Compressible Soils
Dolomite and Limestone Settlement
Soil Shear Strength
Quiz #2
Fill
Inadequate Compaction
Moisture in Soil
Quiz #3
Case Studies
Tree-related Problems
Tree-related Problems
Quiz #4
Substructures
Site Preparation
Foundation Function
Quiz #5
Raft Foundations
Pile/Pier Foundations
Non-bearing Foundations
Quiz #6
Foundation Cracks
Inspecting Foundations
Heaving and Subsidence
Quiz #7
Shrinkage Cracks
Crazing
Corner Cracking
Reactive Aggregate
Quiz #8
Reinforcement Steel Corrosion
Rising damp
Quiz #9
Efflorescence
Concrete Surface Damage
Flaking and Spalling
Dusting Concrete
Problems Related to Placing Concrete
Quiz #10
Superstructure
Glossary of Terms for Superstructures
Quiz #11
Inspection of Superstructures
Cracking in Masonry
Quiz #12
Crack diagnosis
Inspection Considerations
Quiz #13
Conclusion
Course includes:
4 CE credit hours;
94 quiz questions in 13 quizzes;
100-question final exam (drawn from a larger pool);
instant grading; and
a downloadable, printable Certificate of Completion.
Upon completion of this course and passing of
the 100-question final exam (drawn from a larger pool), the student can
download and print their own Certificate of Completion which is auto-generated in their own name.
The student's (InterNACHI member's) information is recorded on
InterNACHI's servers for membership compliance verification, and
automatically logs completion into InterNACHI's online Continuing
Education log. It counts as four InterNACHI Continuing Education hours.
Some features which make InterNACHI's courses superior to existing continuing education options:
The course is free for all InterNACHI members.
The course is written in pure XHTML code for quick
loading. The course loads fine on old computers and loads fast, even
with dial-up.
The course is designed using a hierarchal menu
coupled with a sequential page navigation. This provides the student
with the option to easily repeat areas of weakness.
The course permits the student to start, stop and restart any part of the course as often as desired.
There are a variety of images within the course, including diagrams, illustrations and pictures of actual roofs.
The illustrations can be enlarged for clearer viewing by clicking on them.
The text is integrated into InterNACHI's Inspector Glossary. Rolling over blue-colored terms provides their definition.
The final exam uses multiple-choice questions that reference the images.
The course's quizzes and final exam have numerous advantages over traditional exam systems:
The course, quizzes and final exam incorporate
built-in intelligence which identifies and strengthens each student's
unique subject weaknesses.
Not only is each question weighted with regard to
score, but each answer is weighted, as well as the correctness of each
answer being weighted.
Answers to easy questions are weighted such that the
student is penalized, in terms of score, for answering incorrectly, but
rewarded modestly for answering correctly.
Answers to difficult questions are weighted such that
the student is rewarded, in terms of score, for answering correctly,
but not penalized for answering incorrectly.
Answers to questions regarding basic safety, or
questions every inspector should know the answer to, are weighted such
that the student is severely penalized, in terms of score, for answering
incorrectly.
Upon passing the final exam, the student can print out a Certificate of Completion which is auto- generated in their own name.
The student's (InterNACHI member's) information is
recorded on InterNACHI's servers for membership compliance verification,
and automatically logs completion into InterNACHI's online Continuing
Education log.