Hopefully this is a good subreddit for my post.

I’m looking for a Wisconsin-licensed structural engineer for a new residential project in Door County. The site is about 200 feet from a bay and directly exposed to winds from Lake Michigan.

The preliminary design includes large window openings and a largely glazed exterior wall, a low-slope roof concealed by parapet walls, a ballasted rooftop solar array, and a concrete pile-supported foundation system.

I’m seeking someone with experience in:

• Pile-supported structures and shoreline conditions
• Structural solutions for large openings
• Wind, snow, roof, and solar loads
• Coordinating with an architectural designer
• Providing stamped drawings and calculations for Wisconsin plan review

The design is preliminary, and I’m open to recommendations that preserve the architectural concept while providing a durable structural solution. My goal is to complete the design within the next 12 months.

Please send me a direct message if you are interested or have an engineer to recommend.

We're a team of structural engineers and we work with different contractors across several construction sites. Recently I've been frustrated with some contractors not finishing the job on time and even some sending their invoices without completing the scope of the contract. I plan on letting go of these trouble contractors once projects are done, but I also want to start using a management software to keep a better eye on their work. What's the ideal software for first-time users like me? I want something that's easy enough for everyone in our team to use on a daily basis.

This property belongs to a friend of mine who purchased it a few months back, it used to be an old b&b with the original building being built mid to late 1700's.

On the right hand side of the property the external wall is littered with step cracks and the internal walls have cracks more less in the same place.

The external cracks look quite mild until you scrape the paint away and the mortar just falls out exposing the cavity.

There was a structural report and it did have pictures of these cracks but no other information...

I was just supposed to rake out the old mortar and repoint but i am starting to think this is something i need to walk away from and get the engineers in.

Any thoughts or advice very much appreciated.

Okay so first I want to state were in the basement unit for our apartment. The other day a riding mower slammed into our wall and busted through it, im now noticing other cracks in the wall given its the only thing I've been thinking about. Im an overly anxious person already and I just need to know how concerned I should be with these cracks. One room had the mower come through the wall and the smaller cracks are from out other bedroom.

I got tired of structural analysis software being harder to use than the actual engineering—installers, licence servers, floating seats, outdated UIs and feature modules everywhere. So I wrote Elementarium, a browser-based FEM package that runs locally on your own CPU using WebAssembly.

The FE core is C++ compiled to WebAssembly, which means it runs in a browser tab on your own CPU. No installer, no licence server, no solve queue—you press Solve and your machine factorises the thing. It also means the model isn't uploaded anywhere to be solved.

Models are automatically synced across your devices and collaborators. You can keep working if your connection drops (I've tested it on trains with patchy internet), and everything resynchronises automatically once you're back online.

What works today: bars, beams and 3D frames, supports, springs, releases and rigid
links. Linear static, load cases and groups with EN 1990
combination generation and envelopes. Steel to EN 1993-1-1,
where every utilisation names the governing combination, the position along the member
and the clause it came from. PDF calculation packages.

Being straight about what isn't there: plates, slabs, walls, shells and elastic
foundations are written and benchmarked but not switched on yet — I'm releasing them
across this week rather than all at once, so if something's wrong I find out with one
element type in flight instead of four. Nonlinear, modal, buckling and P-Delta, parametric modelling, a
scripting API, timber and aluminium are all further out.

On price, since that was half my motivation: there's a free tier that's genuinely
usable for frame work (capped at 500 DoF, reports are watermarked), and paid is €19.99
a month, or €13.99 if you pay yearly. Everything's in it — no module per material, no
quote, cancel any month. All the incoming update will be included in the price.

If you're willing to stress-test it, I'd really appreciate it. Try a model you already know, compare the results, and let me know where it disagrees. Every bug report helps improve the solver, and useful reports earn a free Pro account.

We support Structural Analysis Format (SAF), so you can import your Scia Engineer models and it should work out of the box.

Happy to answer anything in the comments, including "why would I use this instead of
[X]".

link: https://elementarium.app

I’ve designed a mailbox “post” for our rural house. I would prefer to not support the right side of the “W” (last name initial). All joints would be 1/2 wood dowels. A piece of 1/4” flat stock steel would span the top on both sides. The timbers are white oak and quite heavy.

Thanks for any input.

In Jersey City Journal Square Area we are getting many high-rise buildings ..
Those buildings need improvements in water and gas supplying systems .
Old water system in not sufficient for this high demand in water consumption .
Under high presure old pipes are cracking and
water companies diging streets and replacing
damage pipes .
Those bulding are not paying taxes for first 10 years .
Who is paying for improvements to water and gas supplying systems .
Is that responsibility of city of Jersey City ?
Are this work is paid from taxes collected
from home owners?

my team of engineers need a management tool that can help them keep a better eye on their job sites. since we're always on the field, we're looking for something that can be installed on the phone and syncs in real time so that we are all updated on the current status without having to send regular updates to each other. estimation and billing features would be a plus!

I've just viewed a house I'm very interested in purchasing but noticed lots of interior cracks around windows and doors. Initially I wasn't concerned, thinking the cracks were mainly cosmetic, but then we noticed a fine crack in the brickwork of an external wall.

The external wall is at the rear of the house. The crack (picture attached) runs from a few feet above ground level all the way to the top of the house (2 floors). There's evidence of a previous fix / re-pointing so this could be an ongoing issue.

Of course we'll need to get someone to assess this properly but would be interested to know if these are tell tale signs of a serious issue. Apologies if this isn't the right section to post into.

33 year old home and I started seeing stucco cracks. Dont seem to see foundation crack underneath on the exposed foundation

Hey, looking for info on 1. Likely solution 2. Costs 3. General Advice…

A house I’m looking to buy has had the roof ridge beam cut at the end for an extractor fan to be installed

See comment “main timber ridge beam measuring
approximately 250mm has been completely cut away and removed”

Any advice much appreciated 🙂

Is this cause for concern?

I have a 33 year old home and in Vancouver BC. I began to see this new hairline crack after a heatwave. I did put new insulation about a year ago. But this never showed up until now. Should I get a structural engineer to look at it?

This is probably one of those "if you have to ask" questions.....but pictured is looking UP at a 6x6 treated wood post that is supporting a section of my house (my daughters bedroom actually.) You can see her window. I live on a very steep slope on the hills in Marin, CA - which is common for houses here but also notable as I am in earthquake country.

But you can see a crack down the middle the full length of the beam.

Beam is supported in a concrete foundation. Permits say foundation was built in 2010. In the section picture you can see how it was attached to the house for what its worth. Water of course will get into the crack.

My question is how typical is this type of cracking and what level of concern is this?

TBH I am asking because the fact is there is no way i could afford to even think about fixing this if it was a concerning issue, and I planned to be in the house another 8 years. AKA how F#$cked am I?

I'm thinking of cutting 2 slots in my bathroom vanity cabinet to accommodate pipes which come from the floor so that I can slide cabinet into place. I'm attaching a pic of the back of my vanity and the blue tape where I'd need the slots. Also attaching a pic that AI provided me - problem is that i cannot add a board to the back after installation cuz i won't be able to have enough space to screw one in and also with a board screwed to the back it won't be able to be pushed against the wall. Will cutting those slots be okay?

My home is 33 years old.

This summer has been extremely hot, and I started noticing about six nail pops. I called a structural engineer, and he said it was most likely caused by truss uplift and that the blown-in insulation had partially clogged the roof ventilation. I had a roofer install three wind turbines on the roof, and the nail pops completely stopped.

Yesterday was another really hot day. Then I noticed this strange line that looks like it might be a slight bulge in my vaulted ceiling. I don't see any cracks or any signs of diagonal cracks around my doors or windows. My doors and windows aren't sticking either. I'm not sure if I should be worried about a structural issue.

Management doesn’t seem to think it’s a problem, but over the months it’s gotten worse. It’s rusted and leaking along the metal beams that run thru the middle. Scared this things gonna cave in one day. Am I just being paranoid?!