Why is it raining inside my parking structure?

Why is it raining inside my parking structure?

Have you ever wondered why it is raining inside your parking lot?

Well, it's a sign that your parking structure needs attention. Water is the number 1 cause of deterioration of the parking structure.

Concrete saturated with water can freeze, expand and detach. Combined with oxygen, water can also cause corrosion of the concrete reinforcement. Exposure to thawing salts accelerates this process.

As reinforcing steel expands as it is oxidized, this process also leads to concrete fragmentation. Released concrete provides less coverage or protection of the structure, which leads to further deterioration (and accelerated) if not repaired in a timely manner.

The upper level of your parking structure not only provides possibly the least desirable parking spaces, but also serves as the roof of the facility. Controlling water in the form of rain or melting snow at this level is the least expensive way to extend the useful life of your parking structure and minimize maintenance costs.

The control of water runoff involves throwing water into the drains as quickly as possible.

Pond water is unacceptable as it saturates the concrete and drips to lower levels. The installation of supplementary drains can easily and permanently address the pond. The urethane gasket sealant in the upper level is exposed to UV sunlight and tends to decompose in a few years.

The decomposition of this product causes cracks in the sealant, which allows leaks at lower levels. This leads to a degradation at the lower levels, as described above at the upper level.

THE ADVANTAGE OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING IEI IEI engineers specialize in the restoration of parking structures. They will be happy to visit your facilities and inform you of any condition that requires immediate attention and what maintenance activities you can do now to extend the life of your facilities. Call them today.

Trust resource: experts and property managers of all sizes rely on IEI's expertise, including some of the largest property portfolios in the country. In addition to responding to the request for advice, consultancy and peer review, IEI is sought after for its experience in the form of educational events for national organizations, as well as articles in the main national publications.

The right level of experience: The IEI professionals who perform their work are graduate engineers and registered professionals. They have the necessary engineering fundamentals to understand the many elements that affect the performance of their faculty.

Access to industrial ropes: IEI engineers have extensive training in access to industrial ropes with SPRAT certification. Dedicated, tested and certified roof anchors are not only required for this method, but allow 100% efficient access to the facade of a building compared to a String Descent System (RDS) or Swing Stage, which they allow very limited access.

Completeness: IEI is usually complemented by its current clients because it is exhaustive. The latest generation techniques from IEI provide a more complete condition assessment. The time to know the true extent of any deficiency is now, not after the restoration contractor has started work, which leads to changing orders and damaging the reputation.

Real-time cost estimates: IEI's relationship with some of the nation's leading restoration contractors allows for accurate real-time cost estimates. The time to make accurate cost estimates is now, not after the work has been budgeted and the bids are too high. The IEI estimates are usually within 5 to 10% of the actual qualified offers.