Nate’s Silver’s book, The Signal and the Noise (The Penguin Press, New York, 2012) was released in the run-up to the 2012 election. Silver and the FiveThirtyEight.com project were well on their way to accurately predicting most of the electoral college and Senate results and there was a good deal of interest and controversy in the political media regarding …
Author Archives: Richard J. Driscoll
How to Double Your Foundation’s Bearing Capacity
I saw a brief case study from a foundation contractor who had installed a proprietary pile system for a building in Northwest Washington, DC. Being somewhat familiar with the subsurface conditions and typical building heights in the area, I immediately doubted whether a deep foundation system was necessary. You will have to forgive my skepticism …
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Why the Design Team for Urban Projects Should Consider Support of Excavation
A while back, I looked at a small support of excavation project in a major city that illustrated some of the issues that can arise when excavation support and underpinning are not considered during the design process of an urban project, especially a small urban project. The project involved a horizontal addition to an attached single-family …
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What’s in Your Contract?
You might not think that a freelance writer would have much in common with an engineer or architect. However, I read this story and saw parallels to a big issue in the practice of engineering and architecture: If a Lawsuit Can Bury Gawker, What Could It Do to a Freelancer? It is not my intent …
Who is Scoping Your Geotechnical Services?
Most significant new constructions projects begin with a subsurface exploration. Part of the purpose of the subsurface exploration is to provide a basis for geotechnical engineering necessary to design the foundations, earthwork, pavement and utilities for the project. In addition, the subsurface exploration and geotechnical engineer’s interpretation of the conditions observed inform the construction contractor’s pricing and …
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Your Building is Probably Weightless
Well, not really…some explanation is in order. The bearing capacity is the primary design parameter for proportioning shallow foundations (i.e. footings and mats). If the average pressure applied by a footing is less than the allowable bearing capacity, then the footing area is adequate. This method has been used for over a century and actually …
Should You Have Your Geotechnical Report Peer Reviewed?
The foundation is one of the most critical components of any structure. Poor foundation design and construction can impair the serviceability of the entire structure and put adjacent structures at risk for movement and damage. The concepts, design parameters and construction considerations for a structure’s foundation system are based on a geotechnical subsurface investigation and memorialized …
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What a Building Owner Should Know About Underpinning
An environmental consultant I know once showed me a photograph of a deep excavation he had visited on a site tour. The excavation had required underpinning of a couple of brick, bearing wall buildings on the lot lines. Underpinning is the term applied to a variety of methods used to resupport a structure’s foundation, usually to …
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What Project Owners and Developers Should Know About Temporary Structures
Construction projects often require the design, construction and use of temporary structures to provide access or protection to workers or the public, to protect adjacent structures or to support temporary loads during construction. Examples of temporary structures include excavation support systems, underpinning, scaffolds, shoring, formwork, falsework, roadway decking, roof protection and on-site contractor facilities. Ordinarily, …
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Does Your Project Need a Foundation Specialist?
When I talk with people in the Architecture/Engineering/Construction industry, I often find that a lot of people working on building projects have complaints about the foundation engineering on those projects. These complaints have a few common themes: Inadequate scope or data collection for subsurface explorations and geotechnical reports; Excessively conservative foundation design recommendations; Inappropriate, incomplete …
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