“A man does not plant a tree for himself, he plants it for posterity.”
– Alexander Smith
When planting trees around your property and near your buildings, think in the long term. That small tree will eventually become big, maybe even really big. We get calls related to foundation problems and wall cracks caused by the roots of big trees which were placed too close to the building many years before. Tree roots can exert excessive pressure on the building foundation and walls and lead to structural damage, foundation movement, and water infiltration. Unfortunately, to prevent additional damage to the building the big beautiful tree that has been around for so long typically has to be removed.
Leaks into buildings where wood decks connect to the wall are a common problem in the Mid-Atlantic region especially in coastal areas that are prone to heavy storms and high winds. When deck flashing systems are improperly installed, or not installed at all, water penetration at ledger boards can cause wood rot and corrosion of metal connectors. These issues typically result in mold growth and possibly even a deck collapse, creating a life safety risk.
So how do you know if your deck is at risk? First, perform a visual inspection. If you find that your ledger board is attached “on top of” your siding, or if you see that the ledger board is detaching from the wall, you should have your deck inspected by a professional. You should see a piece of thin metal sticking out from between the decking boards and the ledger, as well as a piece of metal below the ledger and above the siding
ETC is pleased to post the newest member of our professional family….Matthew Connor Afroilan. He weighs in at 6 lbs, 13 oz and is 19.5 inches long. Proud, engineering-mom Alicia is doing well and loving her new bundle of joy!
Mr. Matthew Conner will be pleased to assist you with your engineering needs in the year 2035. With his prompt response time (arriving 2 days early), we expect his schedule to fill up quickly.
Congratulations Alicia and Kristian! He is a real cutie!!
Keep on the lookout for Japanese Knotweed – it is on the list of the top 100 worst weeds, worldwide. Locally, it has spread from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, so those in the Mid-Atlantic region should be alert and remove this pervasive weed. The plant is so tenacious that it is known to cause damage to concrete and grow through asphalt pavement. This weed is so nasty it even caused delays during some of the construction for the London Olympic venues.
Read more about this damage causing plant and how to get rid of it on these two links
Since the first discussion of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, engineers were active participants in the preparations for these games to start, but their accomplishments were merely the backdrop for the athletes. Structural and other engineers worked non-stop to provide the Olympians with venues to perform their 26 sports, seating for hundreds of thousands of spectators to watch the events, space for about 20,000 journalists, broadcasters, and photographers in need areas to recount the action for us, and transportation infrastructure to get them all where they needed to go. Tens of thousands of new members of the construction and structural engineering field were hired to complete this task. The Olympics had a budget of 9.3 billion Euros (11.4 billion US Dollars) to plan and support the games.
Curious as to what buildings had to be built? The most prominent structures are the Olympic Stadium, Olympic Village, Aquatics Center, Velodrome, Media Transportation Mall, and two Media Centers. The Olympic stadium is a sunken concrete bowl with a 170-foot high roof housing 25,000 seats in the lower tier and 55,000 seats in removable upper tier. The MPC, one of the media centers, is a 300,000 square foot green office and the other media center, IBC, is a 550,000 square foot studio/office. After the Olympic Games, the London Development Agency plans for both of these offices to be available for creative industries and higher educational use in hopes of creating new, permanent, jobs.
When placing new concrete, the contractor or supplier may instruct you to wait an odd number of days before testing it to see if it is strong enough. That number will probably be 28 days. Why? Is it because the supplier’s favorite month is February or because 30 sounds too casual?
As the days add up after the concrete has been placed, compressive strength increases. The question is how did the concrete industry pick 28 days and not 27 0r 29? It’s because at day 28, the strength of the concrete is about 99% of its maximum value and after this day increases in strength are expected to be miniscule.
After one day of setting, the concrete generally reaches 16% of its maximum strength, at day three it’s usually about 40%. By day seven the concrete’s strength is usually around 65% of its design value, and at day 14 it would be expected to be around 90%. After 28 days, the concrete is typically at 99% of its intended strength. It’s clear that the concrete gains strength rapidly in the initial days after casting, but it may take over a year to reach its full compressive strength.
What a fun treat to spend time with several of ETC’s first-rate clients outside of the office. Nice to put business aside for an evening and enjoy the stories of family, old times and dare I say politics ?! No! I promise, no politics were discussed…..however I do believe we solved a few of the world’s problems in a mere couple of hours!
The best part of my job is getting to enjoy the company of others. ETC has the best group of “others” I know!
In the future we might be able to “see” the health of a building by scanning the paint with a handheld device. We would be able to tell how a building is deflecting and understand better why a defect is occurring. It looks like it might be a while before this technology is commonplace, but with the speed at which technology comes to market, it could be sooner than we think.