Blog
How We Design Buildings from Repurposed Shipping Containers
In this video I cover the procedure we use to design shipping container buildings. It really doesn’t matter how big or small the building is, the way it’s designed is still the same.
Read MoreHow US Building Codes Work
In college professors never explained how building codes work. Supervisors never explained Codes to me anyplace I worked. I’m going to save you trouble and layout how Building Codes work here in the US. This is of crucial importance to us as designers. This should help if you are working from another country, or just…
Read MoreBetter Travel for the Road Warrior – Easing the Agony
In the past year, many of us have had to restrict our travel, but it still is a fact of life for many of us. It’s hard to accomplish everything over Zoom, so I found business travel to be a necessity. Even in the worst of the epidemic, I did have to make one trip…
Read MoreMy Recurring Nightmare in the House From Hell
I have this nightmare that repeats itself over and over again. It is slightly different, but the theme is the same for each one, and I wake up shaking. It’s not about my time in the Middle East, or any of the horrific things I’ve seen, it’s more mundane that makes it so terrifying. The dream is about an awful house that I can’t get out of, and the worst thing is it can really happen.
Read MoreWhen You Don’t Want To Do That Foundation Repair
Surprisingly, it’s not necessary or advisable to repair every defect in a house. Normally what I will do in that case is give a number of alternatives in my report and layout the pluses and minuses of each alternative. Many times it is flamingly obvious that repairing the house defect will cause more problems than…
Read MoreWhen Cars Go Electric, What Happens?
This past week Governor Gavin Newsom stated that California would ban gas powered cars in 15 years. Also, an article appeared in Forbes magazine on September 26. It is predicting that Tesla’s proposed $25,000 electric car would mean “Game Over” for gas and oil. That made me think. What happens when cars go electric to the…
Read MoreThis Odd Old House
When we do structural investigations of old buildings, we find surprises. However, I have never seen anything like this. This was an old “shotgun” type house in West Atlanta that was being renovated. We went to the site to make structural recommendations. The house looked fairly normal at curbside, with the exception it had a…
Read MoreSeaCon – Washington DC
The Architect on this project was Travis Price Architects, and we (Runkle Consulting, Inc) were the Structural Engineers. The project is a three story apartment building built for student housing near Catholic University. It was challenging for us because it was such a short time frame. We started design in March, and the project was…
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