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Fore Ocean City Maryland
It was a true pleasure supporting and playing in the annual Ocean City Development Corporation (OCDC) golf tournament. This dedicated group of professionals works hard each year to ensure a economically sound and socially healthy downtown Ocean City, Maryland for residents and also for those just enjoying some time off.
With fundraising outing such as this one….there’s no doubt more great things are coming to Ocean City. ETC looks forward to many more successful events with this gang.
Taking Green to a New Level
The next time you are in Baltimore, check out the 2,000 square foot living wall covering at One East Pratt Street. We wonder if the window washing crews will have to learn to trim the plants to help maintain the wall, because most landscapers do not work on the side of buildings.
Gutter Talk
Autumn is here and soon all those colorful leaves you’ve enjoyed will be clogging your roof gutters. Gutter cleaning time is fast approaching and the earlier it’s done after the last leaf has fallen in your neighborhood, the less unpleasant it will be. Dry leaves are fairly easy to remove. Fermented leaf sludge is just nasty.
The best way to clean gutters is to have a roofing contractor do it. Roofs are dangerous places and ladders are even more so, in the hands of the inexperienced. If you insist on doing it yourself, here are a few basics to consider.
- Inspect your ladder. Go to this website for details http://www.laddersafety.org/LadderTypes/ExtensionLadders.aspx
- Carefully follow the instructions printed on your ladder. If your ladder doesn’t have any printed instructions, sell it for scrap and buy a new one.
- Have a helper hold the ladder. Better yet, send the helper up. Keep an eye out for falling helpers and/or gutter slop flung by disgruntled helpers.
- Look for wasp/hornet nests before you set the ladder up. They get cranky when disturbed.
- Wear gloves. Cleaning out the debris doesn’t need further instruction, but while you’re there, look for evidence of leaks, especially at joints. If you fix a leak with one of those magic TV sprays that can make a boat out of a screen door, let us know how it works.
- Look for evidence of poor drainage (such as standing water or water stains). Also look for water stains on the fascia behind the gutter. Gutters will occasionally overflow during especially heavy rains and they should be installed with outer edges slightly lower than the backsides so water spills out the front rather than onto the fascia
- Look for backed-out fasteners (especially gutter spikes). The spikes should have been positioned to penetrate rafter ends, but they’re likely as not to only penetrate the fascia board, which in most cases is only about one-half-inch thick. That’s not enough “meat” to hold a spike and driving one back in won’t fix the problem.
- Check the condition of shingles from your vantage point at the gutter line. Uplifted, torn, missing, or otherwise compromised shingles will be far easier to spot from there than from the ground. Damaged shingles should be repaired or replaced by a contractor as soon as possible.
While you’re on the ladder anyway, you might as well check the condition of other building elements (especially wood fascia, trim, etc.) that you can safely reach. A simple check for rotted wood would be to probe it with a knife blade. A pocketknife should penetrate no more than about one-quarter inch under moderate hand pressure. You should also look for insect damage, bird nests in dryer vents, dislodged soffit vents, cracks, bulges, stains, or any other condition that seems out of the ordinary
Paved Paradise & Put Up a Parking Lot
An emerging idea is to put solar panels in parking lots, instead of on roofs. Perhaps you have seen the solar panels at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. If you have a big enough parking lot, a significant amount of electricity can be generated and the cars can be parked in the shade of these solar array carports. Check out this article with more information.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444914904577619821383361402.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
Pavement Fashion Makeover
Is yellow, green, or blue the new black in pavement fashion? It might be if the researchers that are looking into making parking lots more eco-friendly have anything to do with it. By changing the color of asphalt from black to a lighter color they hope to reduce the heat island effect in cities that big parking areas can contribute to.
The Root of Some Evil
“A man does not plant a tree for himself, he plants it for posterity.”
– Alexander Smith
When pl
anting 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.
Is Your Deck At Risk?
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
MATTHEW HAS ARRIVED
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!!
Weeding Out Problems
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
http://www.journalofcommerce.com/article/id51640/–concrete-busting-weed-can-threaten-projects
http://www.mdinvasivesp.org/archived_invaders/archived_invaders_2009_09.htm
Gold Medal Engineering
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.
Pouring Concrete vs Pouring Rain
Unpredictable summer thunderstorms can wreak havoc on a concrete pour. Rainwater can cause a new concrete surface to become soft, which in turn decreases the abrasion resistance and strength of the concrete, while increasing the tendency for dusting and cracking to develop. The key to preventing damage to the concrete surface by a rainstorm is proper preparation and timing. Before a storm occurs, a protective enclosure can be built around the work site with wood and plastic sheeting. If you get caught without protection, once it starts raining, it’s best to wait, let the rain pass, and pull or push the surface water off the edge of the slab before completing finishing. Contractors should never work the rainwater into the freshly placed surface or broadcast dry cement on the wet surface in an attempt to soak up the water.
Just because it starts raining during or soon after a concrete pour, does not necessarily mean that your project is doomed. It all has to do with timing, and at what stage in the curing process the concrete is in. If the rain occurs when the concrete is fresh (about 2-4 hours after mixing), the surface should be protected from the rain. If the finishing process was recently completed, rainwater may not cause damage as long as it is not worked into the surface and the slab is left untouched. If the concrete has stiffened to the point where it is ready for grooving and grinding (typically 4-8 hours after mixing), damage due to rain is usually no longer a concern.
After a rainstorm, damage to the concrete should be assessed. A visual survey can be performed to note any obvious defects. A simple scratch test, using a screwdriver, can be performed to compare the relative surface scratch hardness of any areas in question to those slab sections known to be of good quality. A quantitative approach includes removing several core samples and checking them in a lab with an electronic microscope. (See our previous blog entry from February 17, 2012 about petrography)
If the surface quality of the concrete is found to be compromised, remedies are available. Isolated repairs can be made immediately after a storm by using the some of the same concrete that was used for the concrete placement itself. If small areas of a thin slab are damaged, it may be more economical to remove and replace full depth sections. If there are large areas in a thick slab with damage, a thin application of a repair mortar could be applied after the damaged concrete is removed.
Cleaning Solutions!
Removal of Rust Stains from Concrete:
It’s hard to find a building today without concrete surfaces stained by rust. Rust stains can adversely transform the aesthetics of a beautiful building. How can rust stains be removed? Let’s find out!
Once rust staining has occurred, it is important to remove the stains without altering the color or finish texture of the concrete. Two techniques which can be implemented are dry methods (i.e. sandblasting, wire brushing, grinding, etc.) and wet methods (i.e. waterblasting, chemicals, etc.). If surface texture is not a priority, the dry methods can be a quick and cost-effective way to remove stains. If the final finish is important, as is commonly the case with architectural concrete, chemical treatments are recommended.
Mild stains usually can be removed with an oxalic acid or phosphoric acid solution, applied to a saturated concrete surface. Deeper stains typically require a poultice, which absorbs the chemical solutions and then forms a paste over the stain. Older buildings require more attention with stain removal because the chemical treatments may remove other contaminants in the concrete, creating a lighter color than the adjacent concrete.
The rule of thumb when putting a cleaning solution on your stained carpet or clothes applies with concrete. Be sure to test different chemicals on small, inconspicuous areas to evaluate the treatment. Also, the longer you let a stain sit, the more difficult it is to remove, so seek help quickly when rust stains appear!
