By Stefan Nespoli, PEng Setting the Stage of Uncertainty Consider a nine-story high-rise multi-unit residential property constructed circa 1990 with a failing concrete brick façade. Due to areas of brick cracking and walls out of plumb, the owner had originally engaged a contractor to perform retrofit helical brick tie installation. For a variety of reasons—including … [Read more...]
Evaluating the Adequacy of Siding Attachment
By John C. Wylie, REWC, PE; and Derek A. Hodgin, RBEC, PE, CDT, CCCA Introduction There are six sides to a building that engineers, architects, and consultants must consider during the design phase of a project. A key element is the design and installation of the exterior wall cladding on four of those six sides. Over the years, the construction industry has been introduced … [Read more...]
Welcome to IIBEC Interface
You are now reading articles from the first issue of IIBEC Interface: the Journal of the International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants. We have a new masthead, a new logo, and a new name. Our institute and our journal have come a long way. Originally incorporated in 1983 as the Roof Consultants Institute (RCI), the association’s first newsletter was launched … [Read more...]
Reading Between the Contour Lines of the Wind Speed Maps: Giving Tornadoes Their Due
By Bruce A. Hall, RBEC, Assoc. AIA, CDT; and Matt B. Phelps, PE, PhD Introduction In the United States, extreme wind events occur each year, causing substantial physical harm to people and damage to the buildings they occupy. This article will provide design and construction-related professionals with U.S. inland historical data and suggested design options via possible … [Read more...]
Wind Uplift Pressures on Low-Slope Roofs, Fourth Edition (2018)
The fourth (2018) edition of this monograph, authored by Stephen Patterson, RRC, PE, of Roof Technical Services, Inc. and Madan Mehta, PE, PhD of the University of Texas at Arlington, is a publication of the RCI Foundation and is now for sale at RCI’s online storefront at https://tinyurl.com/ybbuzko9. The price is only $45 for members and $50 for nonmembers. The monograph is … [Read more...]
ABBAE Reports Condo Window Crack Caused by Exterior Impact
Allana Buick & Bers (ABBAE), an architectural engineering firm specializing in forensic investigation and engineering of curtainwalls, exterior façades, and other building envelope assemblies, was hired by the Millennium Tower Association to study a cracked window glass in Unit 36B of the San Francisco residential high-rise that some suspected of being caused by settling and … [Read more...]
Townhouse Construction Outperforms Other Building Sectors
According to statistics of the U.S. Census Bureau, analyzed by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), townhouse construction continues to outperform many other building sectors. Given the demographics of renters entering the for-sale market, as well as ongoing land constraints and the growing demand for walkable neighborhoods, this trend should continue. In the … [Read more...]
Recent Experience Questions Storm Predictability Designation Value
The National Weather Service called the rain dropped in September 2018 during Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas and Virginia a “1000-year” event. Upward of 50 inches of rain fell in some areas of the Carolinas, equivalent to 8 trillion gallons of rain. The classification of 1000 years refers to probability, not history, because it has a 0.1% chance of occurring in any given … [Read more...]
MRA Seeking Top Survivor Home of the Year
The Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA) is seeking stories from homeowners with metal roofs who survived Mother Nature’s wrath for a chance to earn the title of MRA’s Top Survivor Home of the Year and a $1,500 grand prize. To enter, homeowners simply need to submit their story in 200 words or less about the challenge their home withstood during 2018, along with a photo via the … [Read more...]
RCI and RCIF Kick Off Choctaw Academy Initiative
By Tara Wilson Pictured on the cover of this month’s RCI Interface is the last remaining structure of what was once the Choctaw Academy in Georgetown, Kentucky. The Academy was the first federally funded, racially integrated, non-missionary, and non-military school for Native American boys in the U.S.—an institution that brought together students from 18 different tribes, … [Read more...]