Examining Intense Fire Damage Gets A Second Look at Tech Conference
Laura Rice spends time observing damage to the wall
Every year, Degenkolb hosts their annual Technical Conference in San Francisco, California as part of the company commitment to life-long learning. Engineers are given the opportunity to present educational topics of their choice; new up and coming technology, lessons learned from a past project, maybe a technique that saved their client time and money.
Devon Lumbard and Laura Rice presented on their work at a parking garage in Oakland, California that was damaged from a fire at an adjacent residential property that was under construction. The fire, occurring on July 7th, 2017, was so hot it caused large portions of the exterior walls to spall and fall off the parking garage.
The team was brought in to perform visual observations and later, conducted a more detailed investigation and load testing of slabs. Laura says she “spent days (literally) on the scaffolding on the wall looking over every inch of it,” using the sounding hammer, and observing the removal process to make sure that all the damage was removed, both surface level and any underlying issues that could cause future damage.
Through their presentation, Devon and Laura discussed the difficulty in identifying the extents of damage and implementation of repairs that are required to returning the fire damaged wall to its pre damaged state. In the future, Non-Destructive Testing tools are additional options for identifying damage as well when assessing fire damaged concrete.
For more information on this project, contact Devon Lumbard at dlumbard@degenkolb.com or 510.250.1260.
Devon Lumbard observes the fire damaged wall
Non-Destructive Testing: What’s it all about?
Silver Schmidt rebound hammer Resipod
Degenkolb recently invested in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) equipment to provide our engineers with information about as-built conditions for their projects.
These new tools operated by Paul Degenkolb will assist the Project Managers and project teams in their facility assessments. The firm, currently testing a handful of tools in the field, intends to grow a resource library for use in evaluation procedures.
The Tools
The Silver Schmidt rebound hammer measures surface level strength of concrete, whereas the Pundit PL200 is an ultrasonic tester intended to determine pulse velocity in concrete up to several feet. The Resipod is a surface resistance meter; the higher the surface resistance, the more the concrete protects the reinforcing steel from corroding. The tools in the Degenkolb NDT library, and accompanied by the Mavic sUAV (Drone), give the engineers and operators the benefit of easier real time access to parts of a structure that are not in safe reach of an unaided person.
The NDT program gauges the apparent condition of a structure to determine if the construction drawings represent the building structure, or if the condition meets normal standards for the type of building. While the NDT program does not provide detailed testing and reporting, it gives Degenkolb’s engineers more insight into field conditions aiding in more rapid evaluations.
Project Uses
Andrew Scott, Principal and Forensics Practice Area Leader approves of the opportunities ahead. “We are excited to deploy these tools on our forensic engineering projects and have already found uses in fire investigation, as-built assessment, and repair of structural deterioration.” With the new and updated tools, Andrew sees an increase in capabilities for future projects.
After implementing the NDT program at Degenkolb, the next step is using the tools on projects. Paul Degenkolb, trained in the uses of each tool, and Jorn Halle, Senior Principal and Healthcare Practice Area Leader, have selected buildings to test the new program. Sampling 30 different buildings into question and inspecting 10 areas in each, the NDT techniques will be used to evaluate general conditions of concrete and to provide Non-Destructive Information (NDI) results on levels, coverage and spacing of reinforced steel throughout the buildings.
Non-Destructive Testing helps assess damage, measure capacities and can improve the decision making process. In-house NDT capabilities gets Degenkolb to the end-point faster, reduces uncertainty and enables project teams to keep moving forward.
Want to know more about Degenkolb’s NDT program and capabilities? Contact Andrew Scott, ascott@degenkolb.com.
Devon Lumbard, Principal, CV
Loring Wyllie, Senior Principal, CV
Apple Valley Library Roof Replacement, Insurance Claim
180 Grand Office Tower and Garage, Fire Damage Assessment and Repair
Parma Workbook: Get Us Back In!
Resolving complex property claims with your insurer.
Presented at PARMA 2017, Anaheim, California
Note from the authors:
We developed this workbook as a guidepost for Risk Managers embarking on building loss claims. This book is based on our experiences – good and bad – to provide a logical approach, identify common pitfalls, share hard-earned lessons and help you fulfill your duties with more clarity, consistency and effectiveness.
Disclaimer
This Workbook has been prepared for informational purposes for professionals in the insurance industry. It’s not legal advice and cannot be relied upon as legal advice. No liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein, nor shall the authors, or any employer or entity with which the authors are affiliated be liable for damages or loss resulting from its use, including but not limited to actual, consequential, or incidental damages, whether foreseeable or unforeseeable.
To the best of our knowledge, the information contained herein is accurate as of the date of publication; however, the authors and their affiliated employers/entities do not assume any liability whatsoever for the accuracy and completeness of the information provided herein. All information in this Workbook is provided “as is” with no guarantee of any kind and without warranty of any kind, express or implied. The hypothetical situations discussed herein are general in nature, and the suggested responses are not meant to be the only solutions to the issues raised and do not encapsulate the universe of possible responses. The Workbook is not to be regarded as providing an opinion about any individual claim as real-world claims will have intricacies not contemplated herein.
View the full document online or Degenkolb_Engineers_Parma2017_Online
