Structural EngineersTime goes marching on. With the change of seasons and bringing in of new years, each passing day, month and year makes those older buildings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s a year older too.
The trouble is most of those older buildings were designed and fashioned for an expected life of 50 years. What happens to those buildings as they move past their design life?
Hi. I’m Matt Cornell. Today we’re talking about spoon drains, why we use them to improve drainage around a house site, what a spoon drain looks like and when they are better than grated drains or agi drains.
Do you think your house needs underpinning?
Is it because your house has cracks in it? Is it because your neighbour had their house underpinned? Is it because you don’t have time and you need your house fixed NOW? Is it because some random salesperson said you do?
It’s time to have your house assessed properly before you weigh up the options for underpinnings and house repairs.
Following a catastrophic failure of a deck in Victoria, we’re once again reminding homeonwners and landlords to have the decks and verandahs on their houses and investment properties checked regularly by a professional.
Our Australian climate is very harsh and even the most durable construction materials will eventually degrade. The defects might not be visually obvious to you – so have a professional Check your Deck!
Can termites enter your house through cracks in your concrete slab?
According to research by the Cement and Concrete Association of Australia, a concrete slab designed and built following our current footing and slab standard AS2870 should keep termites out.
According to the CCAA data sheet, termites can’t get through cracks less than 1.4mm wide. Even though termites are smaller than that, they don’t like the rough concrete edges and have to mud line the crack to make it through.
So if your house slab is designed by a structural engineer to comply with AS2870, the Australian code for residential footings and slabs, then termites should not be able to enter your house through cracks in the slab.
I know you want to read more for yourself, so here’s the link: