eastern iowa flooding - its all gone1

huangyhg

eastern iowa flooding - its all gone!
as many of you have seen on the news, the flooding here in eastern iowa has been of epic proportions.  i don't want to get into the debate of whether it was truly a 500 year flood event or was merely exacerbated by miles of levees.  i am writing to ask for your opinions and guidance.
the small firm that i co-own was wiped out when the flood waters rose to nearly 18 feet above flood stage.  unfortunately, like many others in the area, we foolishly believed the original predictions of 11 feet above flood stage, which would have been 3.5 feet below our floor elevation.  as we watched the river level rise quickly and the local news crew float past our office windows in a boat, we knew we were in trouble.
we have found temporary space and are continuing to serve our clients.
needless to say my engineering library was covered in an interesting pink mold when we were able to return to see the damage.  now, i could just replace the texts i had, but considering that i was still using references from college, i decided i should do a little updating.  granted i did need to buy the new steel code, but this wasn't exactly what i had in mind.
if you could all chime in on your favorite "must haves" for commercial building design, i would greatly appreciate it.  i work with designs in lt gauge steel, wood, steel and masonry.  i also design concrete foundations & floor slabs. i found a thread from '05 with some suggestions, but i assume there are some new posters who would have their own two cents to add.
thank you in advance for your time.
find a job or post a job opening
bubbaj>
sorry to hear that! it would be a real loss to lose all of your accumulated libary. it takes a lifetime to build a good one.
obviously, any pertinent codes are a must: ibc (2006?), asce 7, aci 318, nds, aisc steel manual, etc.
personally, i would still get a copy of the aisc green manual as well as the black manual at this point.
i personally still refer to my salmon& johnson steel text and salmon & wang conrete text from college though college was a while ago.

the popular "must-have" for concrete now-a-days is the macgregor book. pretty complete.
sorry to hear of your misfortune.
i just got my 2005 nds today.  if you do wood, you have to have it.
don phillips