Inspections Commercial, residential, and industrial inspections have become more prominent over the years. Some are required by law, while others are required by the responsibility of disclosure, ethics, or the mandates of the insurance industry. An engineer registered with the state as a licensed Professional Engineer must complete some inspections. Other inspections do not require an engineer but do require the inspector to be certified. Knowing which is required in each instance can be confusing to the person needing an inspection.

Residential Structural Inspections

Structural inspections must be completed by a structural engineer licensed by the state or an inspector working under the close supervision of a structural engineer. Structural inspections are called for by home inspectors who note a problem or concern, or by someone who suspects a problem, or by the home owner or buyer, or by an insurance company, or by an attorney. Typically this involves cracks in the sheetrock, brick, plumbing leaks that have caused structural problems and cosmetic damage, or by foundation cracks or differential movement that has resulted in cosmetic or structural damage. These inspections typically include:

• A general description of the house and property
• Findings relating to:

  o The exterior of the home
  o The foundation
  o The interior
  o The roof
  o The drainage

• An analysis of the findings
• Conclusion drawn from the inspection
• Recommendations for repair or maintenance

• Notes for future care of the home

In some instances a soils engineer's inspection may be required, level elevations taken, or destructive testing of some type needed. These inspections are stamped by a Professional Engineer and are formal documents that may be used as evidence in a law suit, an insurance claim, or disclosure for a real estate firm or an owner sale of the property.

Commercial and Industrial Structrual Inspections

Inspections of large commercial and industrial structures are guided by the latest codes or are grandfathered based on whether the requirement is replacement, modification, or has suffered some distress. These are typically tedious and involved evaluations. On occasion, members, joints, and loads must be audited and a model made that mirrors the geometry of the structure. Unless the structure is small and simple in design, state of the art calculations are prepared using sophisticated software that models the structure and reports results about the structural considerations of each member, joint, and the combined load cases as required by the code. Results given to the client would include:

• A write up of overall structural integrity and problem areas.
• Member forces and stresses, deflections, code pass or fail lists
• Support loads
• Summary of combined loading cases required by code
• Joint deflections as well as structure deflections
• Recommendations for required structural modifications and fixes

• Drawings

Windstorm Inspections

The Texas Department of Insurance requires that every applicable structure be inspected by a Windstorm Engineer who has been approved by the Department, if insurance is to be obtained. "Applicable" pertains to certain areas denoted by the insurance department along the Gulf Coast. This is due to the high probability of hurricane winds in those areas. These inspections are somewhat involved and require that the engineer:

• Review all drawings, specifications, and calculations
• Inspect the structure during construction
• Sign and stamp Texas Department of Insurance forms, certifying that the structure was designed and installed in accordance with the Departments requirements.
• Applies to new construction as well as modifications to existing structures.