Plumbers in general do their job well, and can be a boon to you when something is flooding or stopped up. Or, I suppose, if you want your plumbing to be improved, more modern… However, they must typically be supervised, or you might find you require repairs to some of […] Read more »
Removing Fireplace Monstrosities
Some of you bloggers out there may live in a house built during the 1950s to 1970s. A few of those houses have an ugly, awful gigantic brick masonry fireplace, that probably dominates your main living space, and makes any kind of decorating difficult. This was a fad that I […] Read more »
Narrow Homes In Seattle
More and more, new homes constructed in Seattle are of the narrow type. Typically, a developer will buy several older, run-down homes, which are often on larger lots. They will then revise the lot lines and build three homes where there might previously have been two. Now, some of you […] Read more »
Converting A Basement To Recording Studio
A remodeling contractor we know often brings us small bits of design work. Typically he requires only a short site visit, some advice, perhaps a few calculations, and something to show the building department that what he wants to do is feasible and conforms to the current building codes. I […] Read more »
College Structural Drawings
The building you see here is part of a local college campus. The buildings are maybe 40 or 50 years old, and very little is available in the way of recorded structural drawings. Luckily, in this case, pretty much everything we needed to know is visible and accessible, even without […] Read more »
CSES Almost Ghostbusters
It was a lovely, breezy, sunny day as I drove out to Redmond on another engineering mission. The gentleman who owns this home had purchased it less than one year ago. Within a few months, he had become worried, because one corner of his house seemed to be rising mysteriously. […] Read more »
Anchor Bolts For Holdowns
Some of you may think we engineers lead lives of danger and excitement, similar to race car drivers or ace pilots. Well, in reality, there are times when we have really boring tasks to attend to, in addition to the adrenalin charged excitement of our normal day to day work. […] Read more »
Need Deck Roof 4A Bar-B-Q
Our beautiful Pacific Northwest can be fickle when it comes to enjoying your deck. This June’s extra dollop of rain convinced this family that the should provide a roof over their deck, so they could enjoy their beloved family bar-b-q come rain or shine. CSES designed the deck roof for […] Read more »
Complex Home Remodel For Contractor
A contractor known to CSES took on a home remodel job that has turned out to be much more complex that was anticipated. The house is located in West Seattle, in a nice, quiet neighborhood with lots of trees. Not much of a view, but a great place to walk […] Read more »
Distressed Property Inspection
This house belongs to a group of homes, euphemistically called “distressed properties” which means they are now owned by the bank, which is trying to recover something in the eventual sale. CSES was asked (by one of our real estate professional friends) to visit the site, perform an inspection, and […] Read more »