Bono Consulting Civil Engineers has been retained by numerous commercial buildings, warehouses, churches, schools and homeowner associations to assess flooding into a building. Flooding can lead to financial losses from damaged product and unrentable space. Flooding typically comes into the building from one of three ways: external runoff coming towards the building that comes in through doorways or up through the slabs, from flooded loading docks, or from roof drains that are surcharging a sewer system beneath the slab.
When we are asked to perform a flooding assessment, our engineer will make a site visit to interview the building owner and the head of maintenance to find out the particular details of the flooding and how the water came into the building. We will look at the construction of the building and review old drawings of the building if available. We will then look at conditions outside the building to see how the parking lots, and adjacent properties are graded and if runoff from the building is draining away from the building. We will look at the exiting storm sewer system and detention pond to see if they are adequately sized. We will look at the overflow routes of the storm sewer / detention system to make sure the overflow is working as intended and that the overflow has not unintentionally changed to now be into the building.
Commercial Assessments typically require a topographic survey and a document review phase to develop a thorough understanding of what is happening at the site, so that an effective solution can be developed.
Floodplain Engineering Chicago | Site Design Engineering Chicago
Floodplain Engineering | Site Design Engineering