Last week, Lebanon Opera House, the nonprofit arts and culture organization that operates the performing arts venue of the same name, kicked off its celebration of the theater’s centennial with a grand reopening following a multi-million dollar renovation project. The project featured modernized searing, an expanded lobby and improved artist-support spaces, along with an interior …
Author Archives: Richard J. Driscoll
Structural Engineering Considerations of Renovating a Timber Frame Building
Many buildings constructed in the nineteenth century and earlier are timber-frame structures. Builders used plentiful old-growth timber and adapted European construction methods to the new world. While the behavior of timber braced frames are fairly complex, these buildings were built without the aid of structural engineering calculations and design standards. To ensure that the building …
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Soil and Rock Anchors for Resisting Lateral Loads in Buildings
Soil and rock anchors, sometimes collectively referred to as ground anchors, are tension elements consisting of a tendon composed of prestressing strands or a reinforcing steel bar that is grouted in a borehole. Ground anchors derive resistance to load through the bond strength between the grout, the tendon and the soil or rock in which …
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Construction Beyond Boundaries
With high property values and space at a premium, construction in cities and urban suburbs usually involves redeveloping or expanding the built-up area of a previously occupied lot or collection of lots in an established neighborhood. To maximize the utilization of land, projects are often designed such that the built-up area, including buildings, accessory structures, …
Contract Project Assistant Wanted
Richard J. Driscoll, Consulting Engineer (RJDCE), a diverse structural and foundation engineering and construction risk management practice in Lebanon, New Hampshire, is seeking an independent contractor to serve as a project assistant or entry-level engineer on a project-by-project basis. The immediate need is for someone to accompany an experienced engineer to observe, measure and document …
Should a Building Blow Down During Construction?
After an unseasonably warm day, a cold front passed through the New York City metropolitan area on the evening of Monday, 06 December 2021. Along with much colder temperatures, the cold front brought high wind gusts. In Jersey City, New Jersey gusts approaching 60 miles per hour were reported. Around 8:45 pm, the Jersey City …
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Will Your Contractor Read the Drawings?
To the uninitiated, a lot of everyday building construction with wood framing and concrete foundations looks pretty similar. However, from a structural engineering design perspective, they could be quite different. Light commercial and multifamily buildings, as well as many custom homes, are more complex and subject to greater load demands and code requirements than simple …
Happy Infrastructure Week. No, Really.
It is finally infrastructure week in America…and we can now retire the infrastructure week jokes that necessitated the rebranding of United for Infrastructure’s annual event. Today, President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a five-year, $1.2 trillion investment in the country’s transportation, electrical, telecommunications, water and wastewater facilities. According to the …
Unfamiliar Risks Excavating Near Existing Structures
Most excavations for building and bridge foundations, utility installation, site grading and other applications are made on relatively open sites with few constraints. These excavations are usually kept stable by cutting the sides on a stable. The geotechnical design of these temporary slopes is usually nothing more than conforming to prescriptive regulations from the Occupational …
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Your Building Project Needs an Architect
Construction is a field with numerous specialties and specialists. As such, most construction projects require that the owner or developer assemble a team to ensure that people with the correct specialized knowledge and skill are available to complete the project. Most significant projects have two teams; one team designs the project while the other constructs …