By Dennis Collin
It is not immediately obvious when using Revit steel connection detail components on how to allow for grout between a column base plate and its support.
Consider a steel column situated on a concrete pile cap with a base plate detail added. Looking in section we can see that the plate is flush to the concrete, but we would need a 25mm gap to allow for grout. Adding an offset to the plate for the grout can be achieved by editing its type of property settings.
To offset the plate, select the properties palette and click Edit Type Parameters, then choose ‘Edit...’
Within the plate layout settings, change the Column Shortening option to ‘value’ and adjust the shortening extension value to be the Plate Thickness, PLUS the required gap for the grout.
Once applied, the offset will apply to all base plates of that type if done within Type Properties, which would be the usual case.