Areas served · New Hampshire
Forensic Engineering in Concord
In and around Concord
What we investigate in Concord
Concord's structural losses trace mostly to a hard northern winter: a 70 psf ground snow load overhead, frost driving down roughly 48 inches, and the ice storms that snap trees and power lines across the Merrimack Valley. We document what actually failed and why, and a licensed engineer responds within 24 hours with no travel charges.
The conditions we see in Concord
Concord sits in IECC climate zone 6, where the city's building department sets a ground snow load near 70 psf and a 48-inch frost depth for foundations. That combination loads roofs through a long winter and heaves footings as the ground freezes and thaws, cracking walls and slabs in ways that read like ordinary settlement. The December 2008 ice storm knocked out power to more than 420,000 New Hampshire homes, the largest outage in the state's recorded history, as ice-laden trees and lines came down across the region.
The Merrimack River runs through the city and produces riverine flooding from spring snowmelt and heavy rain. Concord's building stock leans old and historic: Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, and Victorian homes, plus granite and brick downtown blocks anchored by the granite State House, with a share of pre-1940 housing well above the national figure. Much of it predates modern ice-barrier and framing detail, so ice-dam intrusion and freeze-thaw movement hit it hard.
How we help in Concord
The evaluations Concord cases usually call for
- Snow-load, frost, and foundation evaluation
Cracked walls, heaved slabs, and sagging roofs in this climate can come from snow load, deep frost heave, ice-dam water, or a construction defect. Our licensed engineers evaluate the structure together with the frost and soil behavior and document which one is responsible, to a standard that holds up.
Our structural engineering services- Ice, water, and flood loss investigation
After an ice storm or a Merrimack flood, we determine what the ice and water did to the structure and whether the damage came from the event, a pre-existing condition, or a defect. Every conclusion rests on the physical evidence at the property, not on assumption.
Our forensic engineering services
Fire origin & cause
Fire origin and cause in Concord
A long cold heating season keeps furnaces, wood stoves, and space heaters running for months in Concord, and heating and chimney fires climb with them. Ice storms and winter outages push people onto generators, candles, and alternative heat, and the state saw a generator carbon-monoxide death during the December 2008 outage. When a fire follows a power event, the cause is often a system that failed under load, and proving which one takes real work.
Our NAFI-certified investigators work to NFPA 921. They examine the scene methodically, read the burn and char patterns back to the area of origin, analyze the heating, electrical, and mechanical systems, and rule causes out until the evidence supports one, accidental or incendiary. Bringing an investigator in early preserves evidence in older wood-frame stock that burns fast, and the same expert documents the finding and testifies at deposition and trial.
Fires we investigate
- Residential and commercial fires
- Heating-system and chimney fires
- Electrical and appliance fires
- Generator and alternative-heat fires
- Vehicle fires
Common questions
Forensic engineering in Concord, New Hampshire
A different question about your case? An engineer, not a call center, answers within 24 hours.
Is foundation movement in Concord from frost or from something else?
It is often frost. With frost reaching roughly 48 inches here, seasonal freeze-thaw lifts and drops footings and cracks walls. Drainage, ice-dam water, and construction defects produce similar cracking, so we evaluate the pattern and conditions before assigning a cause.
Can you tell ice-storm damage from older damage?
Yes. Distinguishing fresh ice-load, ice-dam, and falling-tree damage from pre-existing wear or a defect is a core part of a winter storm investigation, and it is usually the point the claim turns on.
Do you charge travel to reach Concord?
No. We work Concord-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.