Balcony slab repairs are perhaps the most disruptive project that can take place in a multi-residential building or hotel. Vibrations from the jackhammers that must be used to remove concrete can travel through the entire building, making it unbearable for residents who are home during the process.

A primary component of Canada’s built environment, brick masonry is one of the oldest construction materials, and has been in use for millennia. Its durability has helped it stand the test of time, and its esthetics continue to make it a desirable, in-demand option in many locales.

Specifiers, architects, engineers, and contractors use numerous criteria when choosing materials and products for a building. Questions they must consider include: does the product perform well, does the product match the project esthetics, and does the product fit the budget?

As its name suggests, a vegetated or green roof includes shallow-rooted plant material that can withstand extreme climatic conditions atop buildings. These assemblies offer numerous potential benefits, from absorbing rainwater runoff and providing insulation, to mitigating the urban heat island effect and providing greenspace.

Automated solar shading systems are practical applications used by European architects and building owners for decades to substantially reduce building energy usage and increase natural daylight. Worldwide, many of the most sustainable and greenest buildings (i.e. high-performance and net-zero structures) use automated solar shading.

Based on his experiences investigating failed showers for the past two decades, David Gobis, a forensic consultant in the tile and stone industry, estimates roughly half the showers in the United States are leaking.1 This is a bold statement and, although the percentage of Canadian showers that leak may not be quite as high, the situation in this country is similar.