Who can take a pile of bricks and turn it into a cottage? A contractor can. Who can take a few loads of concrete and turn them into a sidewalk? A contractor can. Now, not all contractors have the same skills. A contractor who primarily works on cottages would probably have difficulty making a sidewalk, for example. However, those in this industry are very used to collaborating and reaching out to others when they come across work they don't specialize in. If you think contractors and their work are awesome, then you've come to the right place. This is a friendly blog where you can read more about the topic.
Construction & Contractors Blog
Conducting a seawall inspection is an important investment in protecting your property. Customers need to understand the reasons for inspections and how to make sense of the reports, however. Here are four things to expect from a seawall inspection service.
Searching for Signs of Erosion or Soil Loss
If there's a seawall on a property, there's also a good chance erosion or soil loss was a reason someone put the wall there. Erosion along shores can occur in surprising ways, especially in zones below the waterline.
For example, as water exerts pressure against sand, it doesn't just pull and peel away the sand. It also will try to travel through the sand, potentially tunneling under a seawall. Someone who sees water behind a seawall might assume it got there by overtopping the wall or getting trapped after a storm. However, water could travel underneath and end behind the wall. If this happens, you may need to engineer a substantially different seawall to address the problem.
Checking for Cracks and Cavities
Many people construct seawalls with cement. While it is possible to engineer cement for the specific purpose of withstanding wave action, you should never assume that even the best engineering will hold up forever. Cracks can appear, and even small fissures may portend bigger problems down the road. Cavitation can also occur, especially if water is undermining the structure. Damage isn't always evident from the outside. Fortunately, modern ground-penetrating radar and X-ray tools allow inspectors to look inside the structures.
Steel Degradation
Especially when it comes to piles, steel is a widely used product for seawall construction. An inspector will check the condition of any steel at the site to see how it's holding up.
Reports and Recommendations
Ultimately, your goal for a seawall inspection is to have a report. If any issues appear, you also want to see some recommendations. Property owners benefit from getting ahead of problems, and prospective buyers can use the reports to satisfy due diligence requirements. A report should itemize what the inspector checked. It should include a location for each inspected element so you or a contractor can use the report to track problems down.
Similarly, the report should state if a particular problem is close to critical failure. Bear in mind, however, that the time to failure doesn't presuppose you can wait. If a seawall inspection contractor says there's a problem, the time to deal with it is now.
Share4 August 2021
