Steel in New York City is the unseen skeleton holding up the skyline. Used universally for buildings’ main structural framing and architectural armature systems, it’s strong, reliable, and capable of supporting its ever-changing load for decades, even centuries. Provided it’s well maintained, waterproofed, and protected.
When a façade starts to crack or degrade it lets in water, causing the embedded steel to rust making the steel expand. Called rust-jacking, the accumulated rust jacks (forces) elements off the building, making the building a danger to the public below. More importantly, when water gets in and steel rusts, the structural integrity of a spandrel beam is slowly compromised, creating potential for catastrophic failure.
These are rarely isolated occurrences, more often the cause is part of a bigger issue, like failing waterproofing or degradation of façade. CANY’s experienced engineers offer a Structural Steel Repair Service to mitigate against these events, directing and designing repairs to stabilize conditions and restore the long-term integrity of the building. This can involve opening-up the building, tracing the leak, locating and removing the rust, then repairing, reinforcing or replacing the steel, before closing-up with more efficient waterproofing. Rust must be removed as it’s an ongoing chemical reaction that keeps on degrading the steel until there is an intervention. Rust will never get better with a quick fix.
At CANY, we have over almost thirty years of experience of working on New York’s most recognized buildings, some built when building codes were less prescriptive, relying on more empirical design. Through our extensive work helping building owners meet the requirements of the FISP, we know what we’re looking for and there isn’t much we haven’t seen.
If you are interested in learning more about this service, please contact Thomas Seminara, Chief Business Officer, at tseminara@cany.com.
