4:00 PM (1.0 PDH)
Utility Protection Under Slab on Void Foundations
Presented by Mr. John Snyder with VoidForm Products, LLC
BIO: John Snyder is VP of Engineering at VoidForm Products, LLC working from the Fort Worth facility. John has over 40 years of experience with product design, manufacturing and installation of various construction related products. He is also currently co-chair of the FPA Committee updating FPA-SC-11 Specification and Application of Void Spaces Below Concrete Foundations.
ABSTRACT: When it comes to foundation performance, guarding against damage due to expansive soils can be a significant challenge. Corrugated Paper Void Cartons have been around for decades to create a separation or void space between foundation and underlying soils. But the one drawback to corrugated paper is if it gets wet it loses the strength required to support placement of wet concrete. With the introduction of StormVoid in 2013, VoidForm Products has solved the weather issue with this waterproof void carton product. StormVoid is available in standard and custom shapes to meet the needs of any project.
5:00 PM (1.0 PDH)
Condo Condemnation, or the Wrath of the Gulf of Mexico
Presented by Mr. Mark Haas, P.E., with
Mark E. Haas Engineering, LLC
BIO: Mark E. Haas, P.E., is a Texas-licensed Professional Engineer in Structural Engineering, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and Ocean and Coastal Engineering and is a Texas-licensed professional home inspector. Mark has over 30 years of experience in these areas of his expertise.
ABSTRACT: Mr. Mark E. Haas, P.E., president of Mark E. Haas Engineering, LLC, will discuss the "Condo Condemnation, or the Wrath of the Gulf of Mexico." The 2008 Category 4 Hurricane Ike event caused significant damage to appurtenance structures of three condominiums that lie 2.5 miles to the southwest of the infamous Galveston, Texas, seawall. This hurricane washed away the adjoining decks and swimming pools, undermined the shallow foundations, scoured away soils and exposed the deep-piled foundations. The 2020 Category 4 Hurricanes Laura and Delta, which struck southwest Louisiana, caused further and accelerated erosion of the beach fronting the condominiums and the soils and shallow foundations underneath the condominiums, exposing more of the deep foundation. The 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South at Surfside, Florida, was the catalyst for the City of Galveston to address the conditions at these three condominiums. The homeowners’ associations for the condominiums hired one civil/structural engineer to assess the conditions who deemed them UNSAFE per the 2018 International Existing Building Code. The City of Galveston moved to condemn them. Due to the engineer's lack of experience with ocean and coastal engineering, the HOAs retained Mark E. Haas, P.E., to assess the condominiums.