Dipstick Schools are offered at a conference room at a hotel in Norfolk, VA once a month year-round. The Dipstick School is an intensive 2-day course covering

(1) How to operate and maintain your Dipstick (this is the easy part)

(2) How to measure a floor in accordance with ASTM E-1155 (How to get F-Numbers)

(3) How to use the Dipstick to help you in other ways – measuring curling, measuring joint deflection under load, making Elevation studies and 3-D topographic maps, etc.

 

This is hands-on training. At the end of the course, there is a test.

Graduates are certified and receive a diploma. The diploma basically means that the Face Company is confident that you can measure and report the Flatness and Levelness of a floor properly IAW ASTM E 1155 without outside assistance.

 

Course Fee:

The full registration fee of $795 (U.S. Dollars) per attendee is payable in advance and includes the cost of the school, operator’s manuals, DipFloor® software, 1155 Helper® software, handout materials, as well as lunch at the hotel both days.

 

Tax Deduction:

Treasury regulation 1.162-5 Coughlin vs. Commissioner 203F2d307 states that certain education-related expenses including registration fees, travel, meals, and lodging are tax-deductible, if incurred to maintain or improve professional skills.

 

Hotel Accommodations:

A limited number of rooms are reserved at the Dipstick® School locations. The Hotel we use is the Doubletree by Hilton Norfolk Airport Hotel at 1500 North Military Highway. For preferred treatment and special rates, please mention you are attending a Face® Dipstick® School.

 

Cancellation:

50% refunds up to 2 weeks before the course. Because we must plan and schedule school facilities and equipment in advance, no refunds will be made after 2 weeks before the course starts. But if you cancel and receive no refund, you may attend one of the next three scheduled schools at no charge.

 

Course Schedule:

On the first day, the course will begin at 8 AM and will run until about 6 PM (including lunch). This includes a mandatory practical exercise of Dipstick® Data Collection at the school site in the late afternoon and evening of the first day. These Data Collection sessions are done in two person teams. Because of this schedule, you should plan to stay at the hotel. The second day of the course will run from 8 AM to 5 PM. This is an intensive course covering many subjects in considerable detail in two days. You should plan accordingly, and do not schedule any return flights before 7 PM the second day.

 

You Should Bring:

If your company owns a Dipstick®, you should bring it to the school. If you have access to a Windows® laptop, you should bring it also. This will enable you to process and analyze the data collected on the Dipstick®. Companies sending more than three students should send multiple Dipsticks®. If you do not own a Dipstick, we will pair you up with someone who does have one. Call us for details (757) 449-2931.

ASTM E 1155 is the Standard Test Method for measuring FF and FL, and it is used worldwide.  This is only one of a number of different methods used around the world to measure floor flatness and levelness, but it is the most widely used method, the method with the tightest controls, and the method with the greatest success in predicting the utility of the floor from the perspective of flatness and levelness.  Literally billions of square feet of floor have been measured with Dipsticks to get F-Numbers.  If the measured F-Numbers are good, inevitably (without exception) the people who later on use the floors always say that the floors are good.  If the measured F-Numbers are excellent, far above average, the users of the floor always report later that “this is a great floor.”  And the opposite is true, too, when the measured F-Numbers are poor.  ACI says that F-Numbers are the best way to measure floors.

8:00 AM 0830 INTRODUCTION

Handouts: Dipstick Operator’s Manual, Software, agenda, etc.

Review class schedule for both days

Including any flights on Wednesday

Who is not staying in this hotel?

Sign-up sheet

 

8:30 AM 09:30 UPDATE DFDC

Check & Update versions of DFDC on Students’ Dipsticks, restore settings, update laptops

 

9:30 AM 12:15 ASTM E 1155

(Break at 10:30-10:45) (Students sign up for lunch using hotel menu)

What is “Flatness”? How we measure “Q’s”

What is “Levelness”? How we measure “Z’s”

· How many Q’s and Z’s do you get from each line?

Number of data points required by ASTM E-1155

· Large Slabs

· Small Slabs

Restrictions on line placement by ASTM E-1155

· The 2-ft/600mm boundary – how to calculate when it applies

· Parallel and perpendicular vs. 45° lines

o What each is best for

o Special restrictions on parallel and perpendicular lines

o When 45° lines are required

· Other restrictions on line placement

How to measure small, large, long narrow slabs, and broad rectangular shaped slabs

Practice in laying out floors for measurement

 

12:15 1:00 PM LUNCH

 

1:00 3:00

How to measure “L” shaped slabs and other shapes

 

3:00 P.M. USING THE DIPSTICK

Using the Dipstick Operator’s Manual

· Walk through each chapter to see where information on various topics is located

How the Dipstick® works

Dipstick operation & maintenance

Setting up the computer (Chapter 6)

The batteries in the Dipstick kit (Chapter 7)

Loose or partially charged batteries

Assembling and zeroing the Dipstick (Chapters 1 & 2)

Organizing your data into Surfaces and Sections (Chapter 4)

 

 

 

Collecting data (Chapter 4)

· How to start a new Job

· How to turn a Dipstick

· What to look for

o Odd & Even Readings

o Graph that looks like the floor you just walked (LOOK at the graph)

Producing Reports (Chapter 5)

Setting up your laptop or desktop PC using the DipFloor Software

 

4:00 – 6 PM Practical Exercise in measuring a floor (At Seminar Site)

Because a large open floor is not often available, a paved picnic area or parking lot is often used as a surrogate floor

· Different teams measure different sections

· Several different sizes and shapes of “floor slabs” are measured

 

Evening of 1st Day

Homework assignment to lay out three different floor slabs on paper

 

 

 

Agenda – Day 2 of 2

 

8:00 A.M. PROCESSING DATA

Review the homework

Downloading data from the Tablet to a PC or Laptop

Producing a Combined Section Report

Producing a Project Summary (Overall) Report

How to collect data on a job that will last for months

Merging Data from several different Jobs into one Job

Printing the reports

Interpreting reports

Viewing multiple runs

Editing Dipstick data

· Making a Run “Not count”

· Moving a Run to a different Section

· Measuring FL on a sloped floor

Making and using your own Test Track for validating Dipstick accuracy and precision

Gap under Straight Edge Reports

(Break at 10:30-10:45) (Students sign up for lunch using hotel menu)

 

11:00 A.M. ADVANCED DIPSTICKING

Data Collection Bias

· What it is

· What it affects and by how much

· How to calculate and remove it

 

 

 

 

How to prove that you have the correct data and the other guy does not

Unzeroed Dipsticks

 

12:15 1:00 PM LUNCH

 

False Readings

How to tell if you have one (6 Ways)

How to fix them (3 Ways)

Making and using a Test Track to check the calibration for free in 5 minutes

Practical Exercise (At Seminar Site)

 

Other Data Collection Techniques

· Comparing data from multiple Runs to improve the FF & FL of floors you are producing (Contractors)

· Collecting and processing data for an Elevation Study or 3D Graph (If time allows)

· Collecting and processing data for Fmin (If time allows)

· Collecting and processing data IAW British Standard TR 34 (If time allows)

o Free Movement Floors

o Defined Movement Floors

Troubleshooting

 

3:00 3:30 PM PRE-EXAM REVIEW

 

3:30 5:00 PM EXAM

 

Review and discussion of the examination

Awarding of certificates

 

5:00 P.M. COURSE ENDS

Watch this Video to Learn More About the Face F-Number School

The 2 day course costs $795 per person

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