Congratulations to our clients at Connecticut River Capital for their recent purchase of 465 Congress Street and their plans to get Portland’s first skyscraper ‘back to where it should be,’ as mentioned in the Portland Press Herald. Criterium Engineers was engaged to perform a Property Condition Assessment, which was conducted by Campbell Grant, P.E., prior….
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Hurricane Season is Here—Are You Ready?
The team at Criterium encourages commercial and residential property owners, property managers, and HOA board members to prepare for the hurricane season which begins each year on the first of June for the Atlantic. The Central Pacific season forecast was announced on May 18. This year’s Atlantic seasonal forecast was recently announced by NOAA’s Climate….
Did You Win? Maine Lobster Dinner for 4 and 2 LL Bean Totes
We loved meeting hundreds of attendees at our trade show booth at the Community Associations Institute’s Annual Conference & Expo in Orlando last week. People like you—property & community managers, HOA board members and many others—asked us lots of great questions about reserve studies, transition studies and the many other consulting engineering services we can….
Fire-Rated Assemblies – Building Science Webinar
Welcome to Criterium Engineers’ educational Building Science webinar series. In this episode, Scott Forbes discusses fire-rated assemblies as part of construction basics. We’ll look at high-risk conditions in attached and detached residential construction and other important topics associated with fire-rated assemblies. If you have questions about this presentation, contact us. Presented by: Scott Forbes, Vice….
Water, Water, Everywhere
Typically when I am discussing water problems with the condo’s property manager or the board, the focus is on leaking roofs, foundations, windows, or other building envelope points of water infiltration. Instead, this article’s focus will be on water damage problems from inside sources and their prevention. It is hard to talk about inside water….
Office of the Month April 2019: Criterium-Lalancette & Dudka Engineers
Congratulations to the team at Criterium-Lalancette & Dudka Engineers, our Criterium Engineers April 2019 Office of the Month. The two offices recently combined when Andrew Dudka, owner of the Criterium Massachusetts affiliate, acquired Vermont-based Criterium-Lalancette Engineers, owned by Rick Lalancette. As with any acquisition, this meant a great deal of planning, a myriad of tasks,….
Still Hot – Condo Market Forecast
This time of year I like to share my observations of the Maine real estate market and forecast things to come (spoiler alert) the news is still good. Describing Maine’s real estate market is like describing its weather. First there is a discussion about the southern part of the state and later the northern part….
Building Envelope Woes
So what to do in a Maine winter? Certainly snow sports, a good book, or dreams of spring golf are excellent pursuits but for the chairperson of the condo maintenance committee, winter is a good time to be planning building envelope repairs. The building envelope comprises the roof, siding, and foundation with all of the….
Paving Isn’t Sexy: But Proper Maintenance is Essential
When was the last time you thought about your parking lot? The honest answer, probably is: not in recent memory. It’s not a question of ‘out of sight–out of mind.’ Parking lots and other paved areas are highly visible, but they aren’t all that interesting. There is nothing sexy about asphalt. A well-designed, nicely manicured….
Stairways and Decks Aren’t Safe Unless their Railings Are Secure
Your Home | Volume 35, Number 1 You’re standing in the basement waiting for a friend, who is following you down the stairs. Missing a step, your friend reaches for the railing, which breaks away from the wall. This will not end well for your friend, who may be seriously injured or worse; and it….