Areas served · Massachusetts
Forensic Engineering in Boston
In and around Boston
What we investigate in Boston
Two forces drive most of the structural losses we evaluate in Boston: roughly a third of the city stands on 19th-century fill, and its buildings ride on wood pilings that rot when the water table drops. We document what actually failed, and a licensed engineer responds within 24 hours with no travel charges.
The conditions we see in Boston
Roughly a third of modern Boston sits on artificial fill poured into tidal flats and marshes between the 1820s and the early 1900s, including Back Bay, the South End, much of East Boston, and the Seaport. Buildings there stand on 30 to 40 foot wood pilings that survive only while submerged below the water table. When groundwater drops and exposes the wood, it rots, and the result is uneven settlement and cracked masonry. The Boston Groundwater Trust has monitored these levels since 1986.
The city ranks among the most flood-vulnerable in the country, with nor'easters and seasonal high tides driving compound coastal and stormwater flooding through the Seaport, East Boston, Charlestown, and South Boston. The building stock is old and dense: brick rowhouses and brownstones on Beacon Hill and in the Back Bay, and the wood triple-decker that defined Dorchester, East Boston, and Jamaica Plain, with over 15,000 of them in the city by the 1920s.
How we help in Boston
The evaluations Boston cases usually call for
- Piling, settlement, and foundation evaluation
When masonry cracks or a floor drops in a filled-land neighborhood, the question is whether rotted pilings, a fallen water table, or an unrelated defect is behind it. Our licensed engineers evaluate the structure and the subsurface conditions together and document which cause the evidence supports.
Our structural engineering services- Flood and water loss investigation
After coastal or stormwater flooding, we determine what the water did to the structure and separate flood damage from pre-existing deterioration or a construction defect. In dense, aging stock that distinction decides the claim, and we ground it in the physical evidence at the property.
Our forensic engineering in Boston
Fire origin & cause
Fire origin and cause in Boston
Boston's wood triple-decker stock is largely pre-code, framed with balloon construction and no fire blocking, so a fire in the basement can run the open wall cavities straight to the attic. Aging knob-and-tube wiring and old gas appliances add ignition points, and the tight spacing between buildings has driven documented multi-building fires in neighborhoods like East Boston. Reading origin and cause correctly in that construction is difficult and decisive.
Our NAFI-certified investigators apply NFPA 921: a systematic scene examination, burn patterns traced back to the area of origin, and evaluation of the electrical and mechanical systems, carried to a determination of accidental or incendiary cause. We preserve the evidence before it is lost in older framing, then support the finding with a written report and testimony at deposition and trial.
Fires we investigate
- Residential and commercial fires
- Triple-decker and multi-building fires
- Electrical and knob-and-tube wiring fires
- Gas appliance fires
- Vehicle fires
Common questions
Forensic engineering in Boston, Massachusetts
A different question about your case? A licensed engineer, not a call center, answers within 24 hours.
Why do Boston buildings on filled land settle?
Much of the city rests on wood pilings that only survive while submerged. When the groundwater table drops and exposes the wood, it rots and the foundation settles unevenly. We evaluate whether that, rather than another cause, is behind the cracking.
Can you tell flood damage from pre-existing deterioration?
Yes. In Boston's older, dense stock, coastal and stormwater flooding leaves damage that can resemble prior wear. Separating the two is central to the claim, and we base the conclusion on the evidence at the property.
Do you charge travel to reach Boston?
No. We work Boston-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. A licensed engineer, not a call center, will review your case.