RETROFITTING CONTRACTOR SERVICE
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Driveway Repair
For those of you who live in areas where weather conditions affect the condition of your home over time, retrofitting may be necessary. It’s important that your home is fit to withstand the worst windstorms that may blow through your neighborhood from time to time. How do you know if you need a retrofit? One of the first things you should do is check with your city for local building codes which vary in each part of the country. A good indicator of a storm-ready house is when it was built. Older homes may not have been built to the same standards years ago.
A study showed that Florida homes built after 1996 suffered significantly less damage from Hurricane Charley in 2004 than homes built before 1996. Hurricane Andrew did enough damage to force a building code change in those areas.
Be sure to inspect your home or hire a licensed inspector or structural engineer to perform a thorough inspection for you. They will be able to check how areas like your roof have been secured and if they how much windstorm damage they can withstand. Newer windows and garage doors have been manufactured to take the heat when it comes to winds pelting. The professional will check these areas and the foundation of your home to make sure they are up to code or be able to recommend what you need to have retrofitted to comply with current standards.
Foundation Underpinning Retrofit
Foundation underpinning is structural support added to the foundation of an existing structure. Underpinning can be done for a number of reasons and is usually performed by a construction firm that specializes in foundations. While installing foundation underpinning can be costly and often time consuming, it can be very important for structural integrity and safety and may even be required by law.
One common reason for foundation underpinning is damage to a foundation like cracking or severe weather damage. In these cases, it may not be necessary or possible to replace the foundation entirely but some extra support may be needed.
Underpinning is used to arrest the damage and stabilize the foundation so that the structure above will stay safe. Underpinning is also done as a form of retrofitting when new information about a structure or the land it was built on emerges, or when law changes. In earthquake-prone regions, many older structures are not considered earthquake safe under the law and need to be retrofitted for example.
Underpinning might also be needed if soil conditions under structure change or if the results of a soil test reveal that previous information about soil stability was wrong.
Commercial Retrofitting
Some of the same principals apply to commercial retrofitting as with residential but the most popular types of commercial retrofitting today are deep energy retrofits to achieve bigger energy savings and other benefits at equal or lower cost, driving much larger savings (more than 50%), than conventional, shallow retrofits.
Retrofitting existing commerical buildings for energy efficiency is one of the greatest opportunities facing the building industry. More than a trillion dollars is currently flowing out of our buildings in the form of wasted energy. It’s estimated that over the next 40 years, at least a $1.4 trillion dollar value will be gained from deep energy retrofits using whole systems design. This extensive process often involves meeting LEED’s certifications set forth by the U.S. Green Business Council that will not only save businesses money but the environment as well.
Hillside Retrofitting
This procedure is applied to homes built on very steep hillsides where basic seismic retrofitting is usually not sufficient enough to resist strong earthquakes. Each retrofit is a unique situation and has to be designed by a professional structural engineer. The basic idea is to attach the house very securely to its foundation at the top of the hill to prevent the house from detaching completely and sliding downhill.
The uphill foundation has to be strong enough to support the entire weight of the house trying to pull away from it as well. Steep slopes, tension cracks, recent erosion and massive vegetation of trees and roots can be indicators that a slope is in need of reinforcement before more serious shifts in the soil cause significantly more damage
Retaining Wall Installation
A well planned and executed retaining wall brings the best out of a useful space. What was once a steep slope can be transformed into a strip of leveled oasis. There are a wide range of retaining walls ranging from decorative garden walls to engineered retaining walls made of wood and various other materials. Retaining walls are mostly constructed with reinforced concrete block or cast concrete or shotcrete with a strong structural reinforcement to withstand all weather conditions.
A professional can assess your needs due to damage or new building requirements and make sure the right process is applied and meets building codes and laws.
