Stormwater Management and Building Drainage Systems
PROF&E has been designing various civil structures for site surface water and building drainage since its inception back in 1991. Since then we executed many new and rehabilitation projects. Some of them involved design of quite complicated surface structures. For instance in Manitoba we designed a post-tensioned concrete culvert under an existing structure that had to be in operation during entire construction period. Some of the design challenges we dealt with on this project were ice built-up and inaccessibility for maintenance cleaning.
Our stormwater engineers have several decades of hands-on experience in dealing with technical challenges across Canada. However, presently the biggest challenge in this field is climate change. The current design codes are based on historical weather patterns that no longer apply due to after affects of global warming. Currently design parameters, such as intensity, duration and probability of major storm events, provided in codes are underestimated. In order to protect our clients, we use our own models and experience to come up with safe and economical designs for stormwater.
Based on the actual field conditions we develop details of culverts, inlets, outlets, water courses, retention ponds, dry wells, French drains, stormwater piping, erosion control, etc. as required.
Safety of public is our highest priority. We pay special attention to ensure public safety is not jeopardized at any stage of construction and service life of our structures.
On several reservoir projects we have incorporated stormwater management system into a design of the overflow pond for the reservoir. As a result we saved space and budget to our client not needing to design two independent systems.
Engineered Drainage Solutions for Climate Change
Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions caused by a global warming. Based on the recent results of scientific research and engineering modeling, various parts of the world will experience changes in climate to various degrees. Southern Ontario has already experienced some major flooding as a result of the weather shifting, but according to the worst is still to come. One of the problems is that the building codes and other design tools need major updates to suit rapid changes to storm events.
As a result, conventional flooding prevention techniques are no longer applicable. We are getting calls from various business and house owners complaining that they spent tens of thousands dollars on waterproofing, sump pumping, etc. and their basements are still flooding.
PROF&E is an engineering company that has no interest in selling any particular product such as waterproofing or pumping systems. We look at the entire site layout from the roof, building design, adjacent properties, surface slopes, ground water conditions, etc, and we develop complete stormwater management solutions that will minimize maintenance, prevent flooding and avoid surface erosion.
Our engineered building drainage solutions for climate change are offered across Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Southern Ontario. Based on engineered climate models, we develop the most economical drainage and stormwater management solutions for the most difficult projects. We look into all aspects of the problem including groundwater conditions, surface water flows, roof, roof drainage, grades, waterproofing, building perimeter drainage system and more. In most cases, waterproofing of basement walls in combination with the building perimeter drainage system improvements will not prevent flooding and infiltration of water in the basement.
Sump pumps are typical solution offered by the municipalities when conventional, gravity based, building drainage systems fail. However, sump pumping systems are very expensive to install, maintain and operate. Sump pumps are not reliable, they are noisy, aesthetically not pleasing and they are associated with health issues. Our solutions tend to minimize or fully eliminate sump pumping. We provide our clients with healthy living and working environment with minimal long-term maintenance and electricity costs.
If you are experiencing any of the following, you should give us a call ASAP:
- frozen rain water litters, downspouts or drainage piping,
- frozen water or ponding water on ground,
- flooding in the basement coming from walls, windows wells, on from basement floor slab,
- backup flow from sanitary or floor drain in the basement slab,
- sump pump pumping almost continuously,
- sump pump not able to handle the flows during storm events,
- cracks in the basement floor slab showing signs of moisture, mold or dampness,
- wet floor joints around the perimeter of the basement floor,
- water coming through the window wells or basement walls,
- sagging of grade that could be a sign of sinkholes underground.