Blog - The Stress Point

Insights from EDT experts, so you're equipped to tackle the next engineering challenge.

Filter by engineer or date

Recent Blog Posts

Birds Did This?

Cody E. Tarbell, P.E.

Cody E. Tarbell, P.E.

Recently, EDT was asked to investigate the roof of a hotel property. Representatives of the hotel owner showed EDT the “large hail damage” they had found. However, hail damage is not what was discovered.

Sleeping Apples

portrait photo of Kenneth

Kenneth R. Ridings, P.E.

Have you ever wondered how you can buy apples in the store in wintertime when you know apples ripen in the summer? How can that be? Well, shortly after they are picked in the summer months they are put to sleep. They hibernate until the grocery stores need them in other months of the year and they...

Refrigeration Simplified

I was relaxing with a friend discussing the week we had, and I mentioned my examination of a facility with a pretty sophisticated refrigeration system that had some issues. My friend said he didn’t know anything about refrigeration and did not want to know, but being a good friend, he listened...

Hydroelectric Dams

EDT

A while back, I was lucky enough to drive the full length of the Columbia River Gorge on a crisp spring morning. For those of you not familiar with this iconic geographical area, it is beyond bucket list worthy. Cut into the Cascade Mountains by the Columbia River and located just east of Portland...

Using Drones for Crop Loss Claim Evaluation

EDT

The traditional crop insurance and claims process is costly, time-consuming, and sometimes contentious. Valuable customer relations depend on trust. Trust that the insured feels they will be treated fairly.

Residential Renovation: Design & Construction Defects

portrait photo of Jeffrey

Jeffrey W. Pitzer, P.E.

EDT was assigned to determine the cause of damages to a single-story residence. The residence, constructed in the 1950’s, was renovated in 2015. The work consisted of a complete teardown of the structure and cladding. The replacement structure was constructed on the existing timber floor beams and...

Gas Turbines - A Brief History Lesson

What is a gas turbine? Let's first look at an engine that most of us know well; the gas engine in your car. In a gasoline reciprocating engine, the piston compresses the air fuel mixture, the mixture is ignited and the expanding gases push the piston inside the cylinder, the exhaust is purged from...

Roof Collapse

EDT

In a perfect world of consulting engineering, every investigation would result in a single, concise cause of damage to the product, structure, or system under investigation. In the real world, this rarely happens.

Barge Foundering

Most of the time, damages to marine vessels and structures are straight forward: there’s a collision, allision, or sinking due to mechanical failure, procedural failure, negligence, or an unfortunate concurrence of events. The involved vessels/structures are damaged, the damages are tallied up, and...