Weathering

An Example, Illustrated

We very often get asked if a basement or cellar can be waterproofed by applying a coating to the inside face of the walls. Putting aside the fact that solution does nothing to prevent seepage at the joint between the walls and the floor, it’s also actively destructive if the foundation walls are masonry. Water …

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You Don’t See This in Star Trek

Dinner with a friend on a terrace – a windswept terrace at less than 50 degrees F – seemed like a good way to take a first step towards transitioning back to eating in restaurants. This place is at an old pier that is no longer used by ships; our terrace was between the pier’s …

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An Unexpected “Un-“

This post was triggered by a spot-on question from Julia Manglitz about my comments on the fourth Rocky River Bridge. The main structure of that bridge consists of unreinforced concrete arches, and Julia asked “I’m curious about any thoughts you have on the relative durability of reinforced versus non? It seems as though reinforcement corrosion …

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Failure Portrait: Decay

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. That’s what wood looks like just before it falls apart completely. It’s possible to stick a pocket knife into that mess with basically no resistance. There are fancy ways that this could be repaired, most involving some kind of epoxy impregnation. The thing is, this …

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