The Traveling Engineer

Having 150 of your closest friends can put a load on your home's structure. Add a water ptoblem and poor footings, and you might have a problem

Shelf foundations are the old timer way of doing foundations. Add that to drainage problems and block construction and things get more interesting

When the dishwasher floods, sometimes that means it's time for a remodel. I designed a beam and told her about how to avoid issues from mold

Talked to a new friend today. This dude is originally from India and is a mechanical engineer. He's finishing his basement and is putting an external door in the foundation.

The client needs a basement entry. It needs a lintel, a retaining wall and a stamp. Here is how I saved them thousands

In this episode, we have a worried homeowner that wanted to know if the crack in his wall between the master bedroom and master bath meant that his home was structurally flawed. The result was good - and I explain why in this quick pod

Steel is an under utilized building material in residential construction, and when you're opening old homes up, steel can be worth its weight.

If you're a local, you might have heard a song about a house that was built on sand. Here's a hint: the house doesn't do well. I ran into one of those today. The garage had some issues. The foundation had a number of cracks and the garage walls and ceilings showed separation and shear stresses. Here's what I told the client

Structural piers can solve problems when it's the right situation. When they become spears, that's a big structural problem

Sometimes homes on hills can be saved, and sometimes not. This one was good news.

So the client wants to finish the basement. They want to add a 5 foot window and move a sliding door

Old house? Need a garage door opener? Beware what you cut when you install the opener

What happens when you enter the court room? For starters, the rules change. It's not about if it's broken.

Today I also did prep work as legal support for a deck related lawsuit. I love doing this

So now project homes start for 900k. Awesome

1978 was great. That's what they said at graduation, but for construction it really wasn't so awesome. This inspection had a collapsed roof that nearly killed a number of workers

What do you do when your beautiful home is beautiful, but has a 90s floor plan? When the interior walls are structural but the home isn't open? And when you can't move?

I was hired to assess the structural damage in a garage fire. Here is what I learned

It's a trend. My client at noon is renting his basement. So was the client at 10 am. It's that kind of world now. Here's how I helped him move forward on that goal.

Thank goodness for home Inspectors. They are generalists and have to know everything about everything. And thank goodness for the guys who acknowledge that they don't. That's excellent service .

Stairstep Cracks in masonry are always unsettling. Here is what I told the client

I visited on office warehouse today. 3100 Sq ft and built in the 50s. Crazy Walls and mazey configurations. What's Structural? We got that answered

Note to contractors everywhere: stay away from the top and bottom 2 inches of the joist

Sometimes it's about the structural stuff. And sometimes it's about providing greater value

Sometimes getting the drainage right can save a lot of grief.