Lots of Seattle homes have cracked foundations, especially the older homes, many of which are 100 years old or more. For many of those homes, these cracks are not a serious problem. The cause of the cracks is usually a combination of poor quality, unreinforced concrete, along with soil that […] Read more »
Hodge-Podge Of Additions & Remodels
Many of us love the older homes in and around Seattle, despite their often all-too-obvious flaws. Case in point, this engineer’s home is, in some ways, a hodge-podge of additions and remodels. There is almost nowhere where the walls are perfectly plumb, or the floors completely level. Even so, the […] Read more »
Bridge Safe For Fire Trucks
This is a fairly interesting piece of design we encountered. The owner of a home near Carnation has a 50 foot long bridge crossing a stream as a part of the driveway leading to his house. It’s a private bridge, not owned by the state, and as such, has not […] Read more »
Couple’s Home Had Nothing Wrong
We originally visited this fine family home, about a month ago, to help them with problems that a plumber had created in an upstairs bathroom. Plumbers do tend to hack away at floor and wall framing to fit their pipes, often to the detriment of the floor’s serviceability. At any […] Read more »
Beams To Replace Bearing Walls
This gentleman was in process of doing some DIY remodeling, and desired to remove some walls, and in some locations, to remove ceilings as well, to create vaulted space. The walls were structural bearing walls for the most part. CSES provided design and detailing for new beams to replace the […] Read more »
Deck To Support Solar Panels
This fellow wants to build a covered deck to support solar panels in his rear yard. He has an existing deck, but that was in pretty bad shape. We provided a design which included repairs where necessary, and added structure to form the roof that supports the panels. The sketch, […] Read more »
More Room For Kids To Play
This family’s house is small, and they need more room for the kids to play as they grow up. I made a visit to their home, and discussed their options. They have a fairly typical attic, and the center part can be upgraded with enough head height for the children […] Read more »
Complex Multi-family Project
Sometimes, what may seem at first to be the simplest of problems turns out to be involved and complex. This is one such case. This multi-family project had been red-tagged because a contractor was installing railings without a building permit. The complicating factor is that the railing system is proprietary, […] Read more »
Unusual Framing
As a part of a second story remodel for this client, we investigated some rather unusual framing, including sloping braces and offset walls. These were discovered after the contractor had begun the remodel work, and we needed to provide an assurance that the unusual conditions would not affect the final […] Read more »
Clunky Little Garages
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 »