This page documents a guidelines in the MaterialWiki project. It is a generally accepted standard that all editors should follow. However, it is not set in stone and should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception. When editing this page, ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Material research guidelines

For each material within this project, contributors should include information from the following 5 categories: material specification, material applications, material background, environmental impact, and life safety & class ratings. Contributers may also generate 2D and 3D diagrams/drawings of the material and its use in construction. The contribute material template below will copy the required information into a new material for you.

• Material specifications
  • Master spec number
  • Manufacturer(s)
  • Name or series
  • Model number

• Material application
  • Traditional material applications
  • Emerging/innovative material applications
  • Physical properties
    • Finish
    • Surface forms/shapes
    • Dimensions (Height, Width, Depth)
  • Acoustic properties
  • Structural properties
    • tension, compression
    • primary structure, secondary structure
    • non-structural
  • Installation and maintenance
  • Cost analysis
    • price/sf or applicable cost measurement

• Material background
  • Place of origin / raw state / composition
  • Harvesting / manufacturing process
  • History and cultural significance

• Environmental impact
  • ecological footprint
  • LEED (point and category qualifications)
  • recycling / biodegradability opportunities

• Life safety & rating standards
  • Testing methods (e.g ASTM, UL, NFPA, UBC or other testing methods)
  • Coefficient of friction

• References
  • Notes
  • Student contributions
  • Student Name, Semester Year, University Name

• See also
  • Similar materials
  • Building references
  • Additional resources

Material research guidelines archive

Review previous guidelines here.

Contribute a material

Add a new material in 5 steps

1. Create an account at MaterialProject.org, verify your e-mail address, and log into your account.
2. Check to see if your material already exists at MaterialProject.org. If a page for your material exists, consider enhancing the article's content with your knowledge.
3. Create a new page for your material.
   1. Use all lowercase letters for your material's page name unless the trade name for the material includes capitol letters. (e.g. use "concrete block" not "Concrete Block")
   2. Create a new page by typing your material name in the search box to the left and then click Go.
   3. On the search results page, click the create this page link to create your new page.
4. Copy and paste the code below into your new page.

   {{subst:contribute material}}

5. click Save Page

Suggest a material

Suggesting a new material to the MaterialWiki project is a relatively easy process. Users that suggest a new material do not need to have any special knowledge about that material and are really just adding the material to our material wish list. There are a few steps we encourage you to follow as you are suggesting a materials.

before you suggest a material

• Check to see if your material already exists in the MaterialWiki project.
• Check the material wish list to see if your material has already been suggested.
• Refer to the material research guidelines if want to contribute a new material and you have knowledge about that material.
• Refer to the suggest a material guidelines below after you have completed the steps above and know that you really want to suggest a material.

suggest a material

please note: this process requires that you are a registered user of the MaterialWiki project

• Create a new article for your material.

• material names should be entirely lowercase
• material names should be the generic industry term for the material unless the material is only available through one manufacturer.

• Copy and pages the suggest a material code below into the new page.
• Save the new page to import the template

suggest a material code

{{Needs editor
|type=material 
|editor=No one
}}