Jim Houlette

Different Structural Foundation Types

by Jim Houlette April 24, 2013

There are many different foundation types and each one has a unique feature and advantage over other types. I’ll go into a brief summary of each foundation type and why I used the foundation design in each situation. Here is a list of the [...]

Read the full article →

Don’t Forget to Check your Sump Pit and Pump

by Jim Houlette February 20, 2013

Your home may or may not have a sump pit. If you have one be sure to check it every few months, especially when you may have heavy rain. Most people forget about the sump pit leaving them open to a good chance of major [...]

Read the full article →

Reducing Holdowns Using OSB Exterior Sheathing

by Jim Houlette February 20, 2013

Tired of all the holdown straps? You can eliminate many of the metal holdown straps from the upper floor wall to the main floor wall by modifying your OSB wall sheathing layout. When the OSB wall sheathing is continuous over the floor framing section or [...]

Read the full article →

Spread Footing Foundation

by Jim Houlette February 20, 2013

This has to be the most typical foundation type with basement or crawlspace construction. The spread footing design is simple; provide sufficient footing area to distribute the weight of the structure onto the soil. Typically, a 16” wide x 8” concrete footing is used. The [...]

Read the full article →

Windtronics Honeywell Wind Turbine

by Jim Houlette February 19, 2013

A couple of us from EVstudio walked down to the Colorado Garden and Home Show Friday afternoon. We were really impressed with many new items and it was great to see so many people we knew. Sounds like everyone there was having a great time [...]

Read the full article →

Video of the Two Story Basement in Denver

by Jim Houlette January 28, 2013

We recently blogged about a new basement remodel we designed. This was no ordinary basement remodel, this one was two stories deep. The contractor doing the work, Crawlspaces2Basements, has recently posted a video of the basement. You can really see in the video he size [...]

Read the full article →

You Want to Remove a Load Bearing Wall?

by Jim Houlette January 17, 2013

One of the most common phone calls we receive is “We want to remove a wall, we’re not sure if it’s load bearing. Can you help?” We are happy to help! The first thing that is needed is an observation. Our structural engineers can determine [...]

Read the full article →

Structural Wood Framing Connectors from Simpson Strong-Tie and USP

by Jim Houlette January 17, 2013

Simpson or USP? Each company has a wide range of framing connectors that meets the needs of almost every type of wood connection you can think of. In addition, each company provides connectors for epoxy bonding, retrofitting, and other various products to create quick structural [...]

Read the full article →

St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Castle Rock

by Jim Houlette January 3, 2013

EVstudio provided post tension foundation design for the recent St Francis of Assisi Church. The Church is being built by Fransen Pittman and designed by Architectural Innovations, LLC. This was a great project to be a part of. The project was an addition to an [...]

Read the full article →

Effect of Overdriven Fasteners on Shear Wall Capacity

by Jim Houlette December 28, 2012

With the use of nail guns set too high and the speed of construction, many nails are over driven. Most building officials don’t seem to notice or comment on this error. But, if they do you might have a lot of work ahead of you [...]

Read the full article →

Raising House – DIY Network

by Jim Houlette December 5, 2012

EVstudio provided structural engineering services for a custom home that was featured on a DIY Network show called Raising House. The episode will air Dec 6 at 7pm mtn time on DIY. That’s channel 230 on directv. We worked with West Standard, the architect and [...]

Read the full article →

How to Repair Brick Walls that are Separating (Delamination)

by Jim Houlette November 28, 2012

In the last year I’ve been finding an increase in the number of brick wall failures. Most of the walls are in need of repointing due to the age of the dwelling and some are in need of more significant structural repairs. One common repair [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries