Forum Archive: Engineer

We are very close to buying a house (former carriage house) in Carroll Gardens, but after meeting w/ the inspector, of course we are totally spooked! Major problems include shoddy, DIY plumbing and boiler, but here’s my question: there is about a 2″ gap between our potential home and a new condo built next door. The gap has rendered a bathroom window useless, therefore needing a vent, and it’s not a big enough space to ever get in to do repairs–is this too serious to overlook? Should we run, or assume that problems will be able to be dealt with another way?

I just found this site http://passivehousebklyn.net/building-systems/ where they describe the system they use to cool the house and I am just curious to hear the other brownstoners opinions. Is this correctly sized. What do you think?

Any experience automating a brownstone? We are working on a renovation and we are thinking about wiring the house for the 21st Century with some automation but we are not sure how crazy we should go. I would appreciate any feedback if somebody has done something similar.
We are looking for recommendation of systems that could work, mistakes to be avoided…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_automation

I have a few unrelated leak/water issues going on at my townhouse that I need fixed. My question is whether I need an engineer or other professional to try to diagnose the cause/source of the leak or should I just hire a recommended roofer/masonry repair person. On of the leaks into the interior is, I suspect, coming from the masonry tops of two low ledges on the roof above. I think the masonry or whatever is under it is no longer waterproof though there are no obvious cracks or breaks. The other leak is from a flat roof near a new exhaust vent and I can’t see any holes or tears in the 3-year old roofing. I’d also like to know whether two other roofing/flashing spots need to be replaced (paint peeling may indicate water) but these are completely separate from the other two issues. Does this warrant an engineer or other specialist? There are no structural issues, just water damage inside.

I was replacing the hardwood floors of the 1st floor (basement for DOB) in my brownstone and I found that some of my beans or joists had being eating by the POWDERPOST BEETLES. The most critical one is supporting 3 beans and is attached to 2 others beans next to a non-working fireplace. The floors I removed were not uneven.

–I’d really appreciate any advice on how to replace or reinforce- this bean.

This is a link to some pictures

http://s423.photobucket.com/albums/pp314/juanchodiaz/bean/?action=view&current=8422f727.pbw

The measurements of the weaken wood bean are 4×8 6 foot long (this is a real 4 inches wide and real 8 inches high, 100 year old piece of wood).

This is the basement floor, bellow there is a 7-foot high cellar, and above there is the parlor floor and a second floor as well. The house has a brick frame.

I had some general contractors to take a look at it but I would like to have the opinion of an engineer or somebody that has experience replacing/ fixing beans or joist from brownstones and knows how to calculate the load of a beans.

Bellow are the advices I was given already.

Option 1

Leave the old bean, put 2 new 2x 8 Douglas fir wood bean 10 inches away from the old one and attached the bean with galvanize top flange joist hanger. My doubts are: 1a) is Douglas fir strong enough? 1b) should a stronger grain or use engineered laminated wood bean instead?
1c) Are galvanized top flange joist hanger strong enough or should I have an iron shop to fabricate a special L shape flange and use bolts to tight this new bean.-

Option 2

Same as option 1 but use a metal bean instead of wood. This option is very expensive and I’m not sure if it’s worth it. Is this bean carrying a big load since it’s holding 3 other beans (floor joist) and there is 2 more floors above in the brownstone that justified to use metal?

Option 3

Reinforce the old bean with a C channel underneath and have a special iron hanger to hold the C channel to the lateral beans beans. I did not found any iron shop that wanted to do that yet.

Any advice would be very much appreciated since I’d like to have my floors back.

Thank you in advance.

I am in a late 19th century double-wide brownstone coop (yes, I live in a “double-wide”). Anyway, about 15 years ago (before my time), the building had some movement and an I-beam was placed in the basement and apparently all was good – our floors are certainly not level, but no one seems to mind much. However, recently, someone in the building stated that he thought the building had shifted again. The board wants to bring in a carpenter…which seemed odd to me. Question: who would we call? I thought an engineer would be able to tell us of there are any structural/movement issues. So, Brownstoners – is it an engineer we need to contact? Do you have any recommendations of anyone who works with these buildings?

We are currently deciding the approach for the renovation with planned extension for the house we will be closing in April. We are speaking with architects and contractors.

While it is clear that for the scope of work we have in mind that a structural engineer is necessary, the prices mentioned by architects vary widely. Some say around 5k, other 10k to 15k. The main structural work is reviewing the existing structure and an a three to four story extension. Do these quotes sound high or appropriate.

Less clear to me is the role of a mechanical engineer. In our case he would be dimensioning the heating and AC system. Some architects quote this as a fee in the 15k range which seems to me like a lot for the work involved. Other saying the HVAC contractor will actually dimensioning the heating/AC system as part of his work. I am curious to hear opinions on involving a mechanical engineer or not. Any positive/negative experiences?.

Hi,
I’m looking for a structural engineer to design and draw for an extension and a plumbing engineer to design a sprinkler system.
Any recommendations would be very helpful and does anyone know how much it could cost?

A new client approached me regarding a 26 unit coop she bought into in Williamsburg. They anticipate suing the developer as numerous issues with code violations are becoming apparent. (Leaky windows, lack of fire walls, exhaust issues, etc.) Any recommendations for inspectors, especially those comfortable with engaging in litigation? I am reaching out to my professional allies but would like to hear from anyone who successfully sued their developer and actually got the repairs made.