What Should I Expect from a Façade Inspection?

What does a typical facade inspection entail?

The façade inspection begins with a kick-off meeting that includes the building user and maintenance personnel to obtain historical building information regarding the building envelope including re-roofing, previous repairs, additions and known deficient conditions.

Based on availability, existing documents will be collected and reviewed – plans, elevations, wall sections, specifications, and shop drawings for the original construction as well as any additions or modifications affecting the building envelope and previous inspection reports.

Plans and elevations are reproduced to aid in the inspection and reporting process. When previous façade inspection reports exist, study of them can identify areas where damage, both visible and concealed, may be likely as well assist in prioritizing inspection areas.

Read more about facade inspection on our website!

Utilize the IEI Advantage for Your Facade Inspection!

Did you know that a structured self-inspection of your building can prevent problems before they start and before anyone gets hurt? What may appear as an insignificant defect can turn into a big problem if ignored.

IEI’s state-of-the-art techniques provide a very thorough condition assessment and facade inspection. The time to know the true extent of any deficiencies is now, not after closure of downtown streets or worse, personal injury, death, and/or property damage occurs. Contact us today!

Why Should You Care about Facade Inspection?

How important is routine façade inspection?

During hurricane, tornado, and severe thunderstorm season across the United States, we’re reminded how important it is to anticipate façade failures before they happen.

During Hurricane Irma in 2018, façade failures caused street closures in Atlanta despite the storm being downgraded to a tropical depression. Even though wind speeds were relatively low for a tropical storm (40mph or lower) and building facades are required by local ordinances to be designed for a minimum wind speed of 90mph, many buildings still suffered damage.

Am I Required to Perform a Facade Inspection?

Unlike 12 other major metropolitan areas, Atlanta has no façade ordinance law requiring periodic inspections to help ensure public safety from falling building façades. For these other cities, it unfortunately took an injury or death to encourage enactment of a façade inspection ordinance.

The lack of an ordinance, however, does not relieve building managers and owners from liability. The International Property Maintenance Code Section 304.1 requires “The exterior of a structure shall be maintained in good repair, structurally sound and sanitary so as not to pose a threat to the public health, safety or welfare.”

Read more about facade inspection on our website! 

Utilize the IEI Advantage for Your Facade Inspection!

Did you know that a structured self-inspection of your building can prevent problems before they start and before anyone gets hurt? What may appear as an insignificant defect can turn into a big problem if ignored.

IEI’s state-of-the-art techniques provide a very thorough condition assessment and facade inspection. The time to know the true extent of any deficiencies is now, not after closure of downtown streets or worse, personal injury, death, and/or property damage occurs. Contact us today!

 

Consequences of Putting off Major Parking Structure Restoration Projects

If problems are ignored, the harsh environment in garages, including corrosive deicing chemicals, freeze-thaw cycling, and the stress of thousands of vehicles traversing the deck, will quickly accelerate deterioration into hazardous conditions.

Many see the outwardly rugged nature of a parking structure and assume that they are indestructible and require little maintenance. Unfortunately, this is simply not true.

Many parking structures lack a true building envelope, and instead leave their structural components exposed to the elements. This leads to deterioration before construction has even completed. This deterioration is often ignored until a critical failure has occurred, resulting in much higher maintenance costs and risk of property damage, injury, or even death.

Don’t Defer Routine Parking Structure Maintenance!

Reactive maintenance represents the cost of doing nothing. If routine maintenance is deferred for too long, the costs will add up, leading to a situation in which maintenance costs outprice those of demolition and construction of a new structure. This leads to a smaller amount of parking spots for your facility, and potentially unhappy visitors.

If you own or operate a parking structure, a good maintenance program is required to prevent costs from adding up exponentially down the line. A plan should be developed to account for the structural, operational, and aesthetic components of the parking structure’s design. Maintenance should be performed proactively rather than reactionarily!

Read the full article on our website!

The IEI Structural Engineering Advantage

Our engineers at IEI specialize in parking structure restoration. We’ll walk your facility and let you know of any conditions that require immediate attention and what maintenance activities you can perform now to extend the life of your facility. Give us a call today!

Don't Put off Routine Parking Structure Restoration Projects!

There are many factors that influence the prediction of how long a parking structure will last and at what point you will need to tear it down and rebuild.

Parking structures are unique in that the structure is directly exposed to the elements, unlike a building structure that is protected by a Building Envelope. Exposure includes moisture, freezing temperatures, deicing salts, thermal expansion and contraction, and dynamic vehicle loads.

All these elements work to degrade the structure and start doing so even before the structure is open to patrons. After that, degradation accelerates over time. The only way to extend the life of a parking structure is with maintenance, the cost of which can be minimized with proper timing and help you avoid parking structure restoration projects.

Whether your parking structure is a multi-level garage or a few below-grade levels under a high-rise building, proactive condition assessment and diligent maintenance are imperative.

Read the full article on our website! 

The IEI Structural Engineering Advantage

Our engineers at IEI specialize in parking structure restoration. We’ll walk your facility and let you know of any conditions that require immediate attention and what maintenance activities you can perform now to extend the life of your facility. Give us a call today!

 

Why Regular Structural Building Inspections Are so Important

Are you up to date on your building inspections?

When is the last time you had a thorough roof and facade inspection done by a professional company?

There are currently 12 cities in the United States with ordinances that mandate periodic inspections of building facades, most of which are located in the Midwest. However, across the country, many building owners and managers elect to partake in voluntary facade inspections for both safety and long-term financial reasons.

Drone Technology for Structural Building Inspection

Drone technology has become a great asset to structural building inspection techniques. Drones equipped with infrared cameras can quickly and efficiently document large areas of a building and capture the footage for later inspection.

Thermal imaging is best utilized after sunset. Dry insulation cools off faster, so the areas that have been penetrated by water will remain brighter when viewed through an IR camera.

Read the full article about structural building inspection on our website!

Utilize the IEI Advantage for Your Structural Building Inspection!

IEI’s state-of-the-art techniques provide a very thorough condition assessment. The time to know the true extent of any deficiencies is now, not after the restoration contractor has started work – which would lead to change orders and damaged reputations. Contact us today!

Why are Structural Condition Assessments Performed?

Structural building inspections are critical for any commercial or residential building. Regular assessments should be done for:

• Code compliance (Laws and ordinances)
•  Building user observations
•  Real estate Due Diligence surveys

According to International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC), “the exterior of a structure shall be maintained in good repair, structurally sound and sanitary so as not to pose a threat to public health, safety or welfare.”

There are currently 12 cities in the United States with ordinances that mandate periodic inspections of building facades, most of which are in the Midwest. However, across the country, many building owners and managers elect to partake in voluntary structural building inspections for both safety and long-term financial reasons.

Did you know that a structured self-inspection of your building can prevent problems before they start and before anyone gets hurt? What may appear as an insignificant defect can turn into a big problem if ignored.

If you have tried several repairs unsuccessfully, call in a progressive collapse expert. Specialized equipment is necessary to thoroughly investigate and take guesswork out of the equation, so make sure you call a company with the proper experience to investigate the source and cause of an issue.

Read the full article about structural building inspection on our website!

Utilize the IEI Advantage for Your Structural Building Inspection!

IEI’s state-of-the-art techniques provide a very thorough condition assessment. The time to know the true extent of any deficiencies is now, not after the restoration contractor has started work – which would lead to change orders and damaged reputations. Contact us today!

Indications You Need Parking Structure Restoration

Parking structures are an integral part of cities all across the country, providing visitors and their vehicles with a place to park and shelter from the elements. They also often provide access to offices and housing.

The challenging part of maintaining a parking structure is the onslaught of environmental stressors like moisture, expansion and contraction, carbonation, and everyday wear-and-tear. Vehicles regularly entering parking structures cause dynamic loads, and leave oil, water, and other debris behind, not to mention the salt and de-icers in winter climates that are left behind during inclement weather.

Facility managers have a tough job when it comes to maintaining parking garages and protecting them from deterioration. How can you avoid costly repairs?

• Ponding: Standing water is a huge issue in parking structures that can cause a tremendous amount of damage over time if not addressed early. Drain installation can prevent future, larger problems.
• Expansion joint failure: Detecting expansion joint problems and reacting quickly to make repairs is very beneficial in the long run. Failed joints provide another avenue for water to reach the reinforcing steel and connector plates.
• Horizontally or vertically cracked concrete: Concrete that has spalled or is cracking represents areas of potential structural damage that needs to be addressed. Cracks let water reach the structure’s reinforcing steel causing it to erode.
• Exposed rebar: If you can see rebar, it deserves immediate attention. Introduced to water, rebar corrodes and expands up to eight times its original size. This is due to water penetration into the concrete.

Read more about protective coatings and parking structure restoration on our website!

Avoid Costly Repairs by Maintaining Your Parking Structure

Water is the number 1 cause of parking structure deterioration. Water-saturated concrete can freeze, expand, and spall. Combined with oxygen, water can also cause corrosion of the concrete reinforcing.

Exposure to deicing salts accelerates this process. As reinforcing steel expands as it rusts, this process also leads to concrete spalling. Spalled concrete provides less cover or protection of the reinforcing which leads to further (and accelerated) deterioration if not repaired in a timely manner.

The IEI Structural Engineering Advantage

Our engineers at IEI specialize in parking structure restoration. We’ll walk your facility and let you know of any conditions that require immediate attention and what maintenance activities you can perform now to extend the life of your facility. Give us a call today!