Areas served · Louisiana
Forensic Engineering in New Orleans
In and around New Orleans
What we investigate in New Orleans
New Orleans structural losses usually start below the slab. The city sits on soft deltaic clay and peat over a very high water table, and that weak, shifting ground moves foundations on its own. We document what actually failed, and a licensed engineer responds within 24 hours.
The conditions we see in New Orleans
Much of New Orleans is built on soft, moisture-rich deltaic soils over a very high water table. LSU's post-Katrina geotechnical work documents low-density organic clay and peat up to roughly 16 feet thick beneath the city, and structural damage has run nearly proportional to how thick those surficial organic deposits are. Lowering the shallow water table through dewatering accelerates settlement of that material, so groundwater changes transfer straight into foundations, cracking slabs and racking frames in ways that read like ordinary settling.
The housing reflects the ground. Raised wood-frame shotgun houses on brick piers make up a large share of the older stock, alongside Creole cottages and townhouses, with a dense core of late-1700s to mid-1800s brick-and-plaster masonry in the French Quarter. Foundations split between raised pier-and-beam and slab-on-grade, with deep pilings driven to sand or held by friction where surface soils are too weak to carry load reliably.
How we help in New Orleans
The evaluations New Orleans cases usually call for
- Foundation and settlement evaluation
When a slab cracks or a pier-and-beam floor slopes in New Orleans, the question is whether it is settlement in the organic soils, a dewatering or drainage effect, or a construction defect. Our licensed engineers evaluate the structure and the subsurface behavior together and document which one caused the damage.
Our structural engineering services- Water intrusion and construction-defect investigation
In a humid, high-water-table climate, moisture damage and construction defects overlap constantly. We separate long-term water intrusion and rot from a specific loss event or a defect, and we investigate the failures that surface in older raised and masonry buildings, grounding each finding in the physical evidence.
Our forensic engineering services
Fire origin & cause
Fire origin and cause in New Orleans
New Orleans has burned before. The 1788 fire destroyed roughly 856 of about 1,100 structures in a matter of hours, wind-driven through closely spaced cypress-wood buildings, and the 1794 fire took more than 200 additional. Spanish rebuilding then pushed brick, plaster, and party walls, producing the dense masonry Quarter that stands today. That density, plus aged knob-and-tube and cloth-covered wiring inside historic raised homes, still shapes how fire spreads and why origin and cause are hard to read.
Our NAFI-certified investigators work to NFPA 921. They examine the scene systematically, trace burn and char patterns back to the area of origin, evaluate the electrical and mechanical systems, and eliminate causes until the evidence supports one conclusion, including whether the fire was accidental or incendiary. We preserve the evidence early in old, tightly built construction where it is quickly lost, then document the finding and testify to it at deposition and trial.
Fires we investigate
- Residential and commercial fires
- Historic and dense masonry-district fires
- Electrical and aged-wiring fires
- Vehicle fires
- Hospitality and commercial-corridor fires
Common questions
Forensic engineering in New Orleans, Louisiana
A different question about your case? An engineer, not a call center, answers within 24 hours.
Is foundation movement in New Orleans the soil?
Often. The city's soft organic clay and peat and its high water table move foundations, and dewatering can accelerate it. But drainage, plumbing leaks, and defects cause similar cracking, so we evaluate the evidence before assigning a cause.
Can you tell water-intrusion damage from a specific loss?
Yes. In this humid, high-water-table climate, long-term moisture and rot look like fresh damage. Separating pre-existing intrusion from a covered loss event or a defect is a core part of the investigation, and we base it on the physical evidence.
Do you charge travel to reach New Orleans?
No. We work New Orleans-area cases from our Omaha lab and Los Angeles office with no travel charges, and a licensed engineer responds within 24 hours.
Have a loss that needs answers?
Tell us what happened. An engineer, not a call center, will review your case.