This topic includes information related to asbestos assessment performed prior to construction. Asbestos is natural mineral used in a variety of building materials from the late 19th century and in to the 20th century. Asbestos assessment is a process that evaluates existing conditions of a structure to quantify the existence of this hazardous material.
This topic includes information related to environmental assessment performed prior to construction. Land development decisions impact the natural environment. Environmental assessment is a process that evaluates existing conditions of air, water and land to understand these potential impacts. Understanding what impact a new development may have on existing conditions, allows for solutions that improve existing conditions to be included as part of the land development plan.
This topic includes information related to traffic assessment performed prior to construction. Land development decisions impact transportation. Traffic assessment is a process that evaluates existing conditions to understand these potential impacts. Understanding what impact a new development may have on existing conditions, allows for solutions that improve existing conditions to be included as part of the land development plan.
This topic includes information related to the common work results of geosynthetics used in a variety of civil and site development existing condition applications. Geosynthetics generally include a wide range of polymeric products; geotextiles, geogrids, geonets, geomembranes, geosynthetic clay liners, geofoam, geocells and geocomposites. They function as designed for specific applications such as, separation, reinforcement, filtration, drainage and containment.
A popular but false notion is that mold (a fungus) only grows within dark, wet spaces inside a building. In actuality, mold spores can be carried from the outdoors into a building by people, ventilation systems, and even pets and open windows. Once inside, spores can mature into visible colonies if proper conditions are met -- moderate temperature, available moisture, and a food source.
Fresh water infiltrates into the ground from precipitation and melting ice. Infiltrated water that moves through soil and rock prior to meeting the groundwater table is considered unsaturated flow, evident in varying degrees of soil moisture. The groundwater table is defined by the first depth at which all soil and rock void spaces are completely filled with water, at atmospheric pressure. Water below the groundwater table behaves as saturated flow, where the soil and rock voids are completely filled with water, and pressure increases with greater depth. Groundwater will move from areas of greater to lesser hydraulic pressure along flow nets which can be predicted by understanding the types of soils present, and determining the elevation of the groundwater table at specific site locations. Flow nets will often transition groundwater back to the earth’s surface by connecting into lakes, rivers and springs. Groundwater is the source of well water for millions of people, and represents about one fourth of the world’s total freshwater supply.
Landfills store waste materials at an engineered and self-contained site to decompose in a controlled setting. The term “landfill” implies a simple earth excavation filled with garbage. While crude waste disposal practices occurred over many previous decades, modern landfills are carefully prepared structures with many common design features. Many landfills safely serve a secondary function such a recreational park or golf course when their maximum capacities are reached. Most landfills are solid waste landfills that receive municipal refuse originating from homes, businesses and institutions. There are some specialized landfills that receive specific industrial wastes including liquids. Even within solid waste landfills, liquid containment is essential because of leachate production. Leachate is an organic waste liquid, a by-product of solid waste moisture and decomposition, mixed with any precipitation or groundwater infiltrating through the landfill. Modern landfill designs will include a bottom layer, a leachate recovery system, a surface cap, and gas release capability, as methane is generated within landfills as organic wastes decompose.
The purpose of a Geotechnical Investigation is to determine the engineering qualities of the soils or rocks at a site, and how their location and depth affects an envisioned construction project. The presence of any buried organic materials with poor engineering qualities, obstructions to earthwork, and the depth of the water table are also important to identify during a geotechnical investigation. Prior to initiating expensive field work, an initial sense of soil conditions for specific localities may be obtained through government soil surveys that have been recorded for most of the United States. Geotechnical investigations prepared for adjacent construction projects are another potential source of available site information.
There are two major categories of Surveying: geodetic and plane surveying. Geodetic surveys consider the surface of the earth as being accurately curved, whereas plane surveys assume the earth is flat, which is functionally accurate for the short distances involved in almost all construction work. There are many categories of plane surveys, which are referenced to an accepted level plane such as mean sea level or the North American Datum.
This topic includes information related to colored concrete finishing of cast in place concrete during construction. Colored concrete finishing is achieved by broadcasting and working in a dry color pigment to the surface of hardening concrete, prior to other finishing processes. Colored concrete finishes are often combine with stamped concrete finishing and exposed aggregate concrete finishing.
One of my college friends, Lisa Starling, recently had an audition in Los Angeles for a new role in a daytime soap opera. She had been working in local theater on the East Coast for two years, and was really glad to have this fantastic opportunity in California.
With the advent of high rise buildings, fire safety has been of particular concern for architects over the last 100 years. Architects must understand the basics of fire and smoke and the risks associated with creating tall buildings. The spread of toxic smoke that results from fires has been shown to often cause more damage than the fire itself, and it is responsible for more injuries and fatalities.
