Many charming old Seattle houses have these clunky little garages, often built into the hillside below the home, and usually made of unreinforced concrete. Many of them are failing in some manner. Often they are not used, because the were built when Model T and Model A ruled the road, […] Read more »
Apartment Building Dry Rot – CSES Engineering
Sometimes modern is not better. This newer apartment building suffers from dry rot deterioration in a number of spots, because of a lack of attention to detail in the waterproofing and flashing. You may have seen buildings covered in plastic, as parts of this one are. It’s not necessarily artwork, […] Read more »
Fireproofing A Hydroplane Shop – CSES Engineering
An addition to your home can be troublesome. Building department staff really just try to do their jobs and be helpful, but sometimes that leads to conflicts between what you want and what is possible. Trying to do things both right and cheaply, this man asked me to come out […] Read more »
Home Might Slide Down The Hill – CSES Engineering
This gentleman bought this house for its fabulous view, but was a little concerned that the home might slide down the hill. I think you can see why. CSES provided the engineering to stabilize the foundation, which was pretty badly undermined, right adjacent to the steep slope. Things are a […] Read more »
Cracks In Basement Wall – CSES Engineering
This happy couple are in process of finishing off the basement, to provide more room for their family, and to prepare for a possible second story addition. They were concerned about a number of cracks in their basement wall, and whether those indicated that something more serious was going on. […] Read more »
Garage Wall Knocked Out – CSES Engineering
You think you have bad luck? This poor fellow inherited a home from his father, who did not keep insurance up to date. So the house was not protected, and was in a bad part of town. Then, of course, a drunk driver lost control of her car and knocked […] Read more »
Considering For Purchase Mercer Island
These photos are of a house which our client was considering for purchase. It is a large home on Mercer Island, and the house stands on the top of a steep embankment, on the edge of a green belt, with a wonderful and peaceful view of the raving and a […] Read more »
Capitol Hill Home Cantilevered
An older gentleman owns this fine old Capitol Hill home in Seattle. Many homes in this neighborhood are over 100 years old, and are getting to be a little creaky, as may happen to us all. The home is a little unusual in that the rear section of the upper […] Read more »
Erosion Control On The Hillside
Even the rich sometimes need a little help from us. This poor fellow’s pool, overlooking Puget Sound, was in danger of sliding down the hillside. The soil supporting the patio around the pool was eroding away, and cracks beginning to form. The problem was that the yard had been built […] Read more »
Letter To The Landlord
Some landlords can be hard to convince to pay for upgrades – or even to fix what is broken! A contractor was called after extensive dry-rot deterioration was discovered. He was balking at the repairs, even though a couple of families were put in harm’s way by deteriorating framing. CSES […] Read more »