follow us at EVstudio

There is always a lot of action and exciting news on a daily basis to follow.... don't forget, we can be found over at EVstudio !! Same leadership, same services clients are used to, yet, more to choose from now! civil@evstudio.com for questions

BIG NEWS FOR ALTITUDE!!!!

From EVstudio.....

"EVstudio is pleased to announce our merger with Altitude Engineering & Surveying Inc. Altitude is a civil engineering and surveying company based in Denver, Colorado with licenses and projects in Colorado, Texas, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico and Vermont. The combined company will continue to function under the EVstudio name and office spaces will be combined in a larger location in Denver's Golden Triangle neighborhood.

We've had a great relationship with Karl and DJ from Altitude for the past couple years and they've functioned as our in-house civil engineers and surveyors. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience and we're excited to move forward together.

For existing EVstudio clients you won't notice any changes. For Altitude clients you'll now have access to the other EVstudio disciplines where you need them.

EVstudio is a unique full service architecture, engineering and planning firm with offices in Denver and Evergreen Colorado and Copperas Cove Texas. Our group of 24 professionals cover the broad spectrum of building professions including architecture, structural engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, surveying, landscape architecture, interior design, furnishings, lighting design and planning. EVstudio also publishes the award winning daily website EVstudio.info."

another Texas PE license added for AES

We've added another Texas Professional Engineering License to our staff. DJ Zehnacker has obtained his PE license in Texas via reciprocity from Colorado. Both AES Principals now carry Texas PE licenses. We have worked on a number of Texas projects in the past couple of years and because of that we felt having both firm Principals carrying Texas PE licenses was important (to us and our clients). Our firm also holds a Texas Professional Engineering Firm Registration to offer professional engineer services.

NCEES Record PE License

We have added another NCEES Record License to our growing list of professional licenses. DJ Zehnacker (Principal) has obtained his NCEES Professional Engineer (PE) Record License. An NCEES Record License is a huge benefit when it comes time to obtaining professional licenses in other states. In most cases, having our NCEES Record License allows us to secure licenses in new states within 30 days +/- and has no impact on potential new projects whatsoever.

Altitude is currently licensed as Professional Engineers in Colorado, Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, and Texas and licensed as Professional Land Surveyors in Colorado. We hold two NCEES Record PE Licenses and one NCEES Record PLS License.

Surface Drainage adjacent to houses

One thing we hear a bunch from people when buying a new home or when looking for a new home is the concern about proper surface drainage within the first 5-10 feet from a home (backfill zone). This concern is often expressed on both new construction and older homes. The new urban trend of putting homes on smaller lots with more density, yet still having generous home footprints has created some engineering challenges when trying to maintain positive drainage away from a home. As a rule of thumb, about 99% of geotechnical reports and home building guides recommend the following for finished grades outside of a home: 6" down from top of foundation (TOF) and a minimum of 1' vertical drop in the first 10' horizontal (10% slope) (where possible). The key words being "where possible". As most landscapers, engineers, architects, etc. know it is not always possible to achieve those recommendations given existing constraints. What we try to do as civil engineers when presented with an existing home that has insufficient surface drainage around the building is to look at the entire picture and come up with a long term, low maintenance solution, that is cost effective for the home owner. For example, we first gather accurate survey spot elevations around the entire home and at areas that we anticipate being flow lines for surface drainage away from the house. Our next step is to typically analyze our survey spot elevations and see if we can simply recommend some re-grading adjacent to the home that will help move the surface drainage away from the foundation and into a swale located away from the backfill zone. In many cases, surface drainage adjacent to a home can be drastically improved with some simple (and inexpensive) re-grading adjacent to the home as recommended by a civil engineer. On more complex situations, we look at adding concrete pans and even some basic storm sewer drainage infrastructure such as NDS Drainage Products. Let us know if you are concerned with the drainage adjacent to your home and we'd be happy to schedule a site visit to discuss.

AES welcomes NEW intern!

Altitude is pleased to welcome a new intern to our team! Steve Wheeler is a senior at Colorado School of Mines and is currently in his last semester of school. Colorado School of Mines is one of the most reputable engineering schools in the country and we are fortunate to have Steve helping us out. Steve has already been assisting on a variety of projects and tasks including both land surveying and civil engineering. Welcome aboard Steve!!

staying busy

Well....we are certainly staying very busy at Altitude. We've been to Texas, Vail, Crested Butte, Pueblo, and other places in the last 30 days for a variety of projects. We also have a handful of local projects that are either under construction or about to begin construction. Now we just need to find some time to update our blog more frequently!