Know what the damage means.
Property damage assessment across Christchurch and Canterbury. Structural damage assessed and reported, for an insurance claim or a repair.
A crack is a symptom.
The question is never the crack. It is what caused it. A crack from a wall that shrank as it dried and a crack from a footing sitting on soft ground can look much the same on the paint, and only one of them keeps opening. One is filler and a coat of paint. The other is work under the house. A chartered engineer goes and finds out which one you have. Where the ground is the cause, the geotechnical side is on the same roof.
Structural EngineeringWhat we assess.
The full range, from a single crack to a building.
Earthquake damage
Structural damage from seismic events, assessed and reported.
Settlement and movement
Foundations and floors that have moved on the ground beneath them.
Cracking
Cosmetic or structural, told apart, so you fix the right thing.
Pre-purchase assessment
The structural condition of a home or building, before you buy it.
Remedial works
The repair designed and specified, not just described.
Foundation re-levelling
A full structural and geotechnical package, with PS1 and PS4.
How it runs.
From the first look to a report that stands up.
- 01
On-site assessment
The engineer who signs the report is the one who walks the building, inside and out, before a word of it is written.
- 02
Find the cause
Crack width, direction and position, floor levels taken across the building, and what the ground under it is doing.
- 03
Report it
What caused it, and what it takes to make it right, in writing.
- 04
Design the fix
Remedial works and the producer statements where the repair needs them.
The assessment, on one sheet.
An assessment is an engineering document before it is anything else. Here is what one is logged against.
- Discipline
- Structural
- Assessed by
- Akram Kawa, CPEng
- Standard
- Building Code B1
- Seismic rating
- %NBS
- Producer statements
- PS1 and PS4
- Buildings
- Residential, commercial, industrial
Seismic assessment.
Where the question is whether a building is safe to keep using, the assessment is measured against the standard.
Initial Seismic Assessment
The ISA, a first measure of a building against the standard.
Detailed Seismic Assessment
The DSA, required where the ISA rates a building below 34%NBS.
Percent of new building standard
The rating, %NBS, that says how a building compares to a new one.
What %NBS meansEarthquake Prone
A building rated below 34%NBS, which councils manage on a timeline.
What %NBS meansStrengthening targets
Design to 34%NBS, 67%NBS or 100%NBS, to the brief and the building.
MBIE Guidelines
The assessment done to the earthquake-prone building regulations.
What an assessment looks at.
Structures and damage, frame by frame, from the framing that carries a house to the crack that has to be explained.
Guess the cause, fix the wrong thing.
Patch a crack without knowing the cause and it comes back, because the thing that made it is still moving. An insurer will not pay on a guess, and a builder cannot scope a repair without one. The assessment is the step that separates a building which has finished moving from one that has not. It is the difference between fixing the damage and fixing it twice.
Find out what the damage means.
Send photographs of the cracking, and the plans if you have them. A chartered engineer will say what a site visit would need to look at.