The practical side · Inspection
An Engineer, Not a Contractor
A garage assessment should be done by a structural engineer who is not going to do the repairs.
The structure, its age, and what you have noticed. If there is an engineer's report, send that instead — we will price what it identifies.
Exposed
A garage is a structure left outside for fifty years
Unit rates
Repair quantity is unknowable until it is opened
Parking
Where displaced cars go decides the whole program
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
The same conflict, again
A contractor who assesses a garage and then prices the repairs has an incentive to find more, and the owner has no independent check on the scope. It is the same structural problem as an inspector who also repairs, and it should be declined for the same reason.
There is a practical reason too. An engineer who has assessed the garage can verify measured quantities as the work proceeds, which is what makes a unit-rate contract safe for the owner. A contractor measuring their own work with nobody checking is not an arrangement any board should accept.
What an assessment should produce
- Sounding of the structure, not just a visual walk.
- Chloride testing, which shows contamination the eye cannot.
- A condition record with quantities estimated.
- Prioritization by structural consequence.
- A specification a contractor can price against.
What a good assessment costs and buys
A proper garage assessment involves sounding, chloride testing at multiple locations and depths, a condition record with estimated quantities, and a prioritization by structural consequence. It is not a walk-through with a camera.
It costs a fraction of the repair work it scopes, it is the document every bidder prices against so the numbers are comparable, and it is the basis on which quantities get verified later. Economizing on it is the most common false saving in this work.
How we handle it
- 01Work to the engineer's assessment and specification.
- 02Assist with access and opening up for investigation.
- 03Submit measured quantities for engineer verification.
- 04Not assess a garage we would then restore.
Ask for chloride testing, not only sounding. Sounding finds concrete that has already delaminated; chloride testing shows where contamination has reached the steel but the concrete is still attached — which is where the next five years of damage will appear.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We do not assess garages we would then restore. It costs us a service line and it is the arrangement an owner should insist on.
FAQ
Common questions
- Who should assess the garage?
- An independent structural engineer, not the contractor who would do the repairs.
- What should an assessment include?
- Sounding and chloride testing, with estimated quantities and prioritization.
- Why chloride testing?
- It shows contamination before delamination — where the next five years of damage will be.
- Will you assess our garage?
- Not if we would then restore it.
What we do
Concrete Restoration
Salt reaches the reinforcement, the steel corrodes, the corrosion expands, and the concrete breaks away. In a Florida garage it is a matter of when.
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Expansion Joints
Joints allow the structure to move, and they are the most heavily worked and shortest-lived element in a garage.
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Traffic Coatings
A traffic coating keeps water and chlorides off the concrete. Applied correctly it extends structural life substantially; applied over damage it hides it.
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Post-Tensioned Repair
Many Florida garages are post-tensioned, where steel tendons are held in permanent tension inside the concrete. Repair there is a different discipline.
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Drainage
Standing water is the mechanism that carries chlorides into concrete. Fixing drainage is the cheapest structural intervention available.
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New Structures
A new garage is a fifty-year exposure problem. The specification decisions made once determine what the owner spends on restoration for the rest of its life.
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More the practical side
Displaced Parking
A garage under repair has fewer spaces. Where the displaced cars go is the question that decides whether the project happens at all.
Read more →
Phasing
How the work is divided determines how users experience it and how long the whole thing takes.
Read more →
Budgeting
Garage restoration is predictable in kind and unpredictable in quantity, which makes it a reserve item that almost nobody reserves for.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.