During the 1990’s, asphalt shingles and other roof coverings were found to perform below reasonable expectations during multiple hurricanes. This fact is reiterated by the publication of the Wood Building Performance and Analysis (Bradford K. Douglas, P.E. A Special Report of the National Forest Products Association, November 1992). The roof coverings (shingles) were the first portions of the buildings that failed during Hurricane Andrew. This failure included both asphalt and tile roofing products.

This article has been published in the September 2006, Vol. XXIV, No. 8 issue of Interface Magazine, The Journal of RCI, Inc., the Institute of Roofing, Waterproofing, & Building Envelope Professionals.

The main reason for performing a geotechnical investigation is to provide a structural engineer, architect, owner, and/or contractor with information on site subsurface conditions.  The geotechnical report is required to provide structural foundation design, grading criteria, and other soil-related issues including, but not limited to: surface water and subsurface groundwater control, compaction criteria, and future performance determinations. 

According to the 2000 census, there are over 1.8 million housing units in Colorado. There are approximately 465,000 multifamily homes in Colorado.

With this large amount of residences in Colorado,the avenue for insurance claim loss due to the failure of water fed lines is proportional. In order to minimize the losses associated with the introduction of water lines in the home the current design, construction, and maintenance of the residential units needs to be carefully reviewed. 

By Ed Fronapfel, P.E., Professional Investigative Engineers, Inc. and Jack M. Kleinfeld, P.E., Kleinfeld Technical Services, Inc.

ABSTRACT
Reported problems with recently constructed buildings exposed to severe climate led to a legal case regarding the performance of the heating systems and the buildings. The buildings were examined using visual methods, infrared imaging, blower door, and flow hood measurements, and modeled using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software for both flow and heat transfer. Information from the measurements provided the data that allowed development of a comprehensive CFD model of the air and heat flows in the building, which gave a visual illustration of the air paths in the structure. These illustrative exhibits aided the writers in developing a method of presentation for the legal proceedings, as well as confirming the owner reported complaints of stratification in the units. The findings will be reviewed and the measurements and simulations compared in this paper.

By Edward Fronapfel, M.S.C.E., P.E., John Risi, P.E, and Steve Bunn, Roofing Consultant

Colorado often experiences severe hailstorms that can cause devastating property damage. The Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association reports that Colorado's Front Range and Wyoming's eastern plains, commonly referred to as "hail alley," receive the highest frequency of large hailstones in North America. Over the past 10 years, hailstorms have caused nearly $1.7 billion in damage to roofs and automobiles in hail alley. The damaging hailstorms generally occur mid-May through late July. Damages incurred to roofs during hailstorms can, however, be reduced with proper roof design and roofing product selection.

Do you often evaluate claims involving mold or fungus growth? The causes vary, but numerous varieties of mold or fungus can emit toxic substances, making it a serious health issue.

By Edward L. Fronapfel, M.S.C.E., P.E. and Alan D. Gillan, P.E./P.L.S.

We often examine building structures that show signs of failure or have already failed. This part of our work allows us to see first hand how structures fail and examine the factors that contributed to the failure. An example of this type of work is a structural failure on which we consulted.

Have you followed the structural problems occurring in the foothills along the Front Range and along C-470? If so, you know that differential ground movement from expansive, steeply dipping bedrock (dipping bedrock) has cost building owners, builders and insurance companies millions of dollars.