Why are Civil Engineers Good Candidates for U.S. Department of Energy jobs?

Civil engineering refers to the branch of engineering that deals with the creation of infrastructures for society; the adjective civil implies a connection with the citizen and civilization.

There are several distinctive features that make civil engineering practices so exciting: civil engineering projects tend to be unique, large and very visible.

A civil engineer is responsible for designing and planning a project to the required scale, as well as for ensuring its maintenance. This requires different qualities, from professional engineering knowledge, to administrative and supervisory skills. Civil engineers also have a significant contribution to the preservation of the environment; they are able to help cleaning up pollution and to plan different effective ways to reduce future soil, water and air pollution.

Department of Energy jobs

Civil engineers often specialize in one of the many technical fields that align with different industries.

Various civil engineering projects

  1. Construction engineering and management

It is about creating elements like roads, bridges, railways and buildings. The goal of construction engineering is to build such structures in the most safe, sustainable, efficient and eco-friendly way possible.

  1. Geotechnical Engineering

Among the different civil engineering projects, geotechnical engineering deals with with the interaction of a project with the terrain, the way it transforms and affects it in the short and long term. We are talking about various structures such as roads, bridges, railways, buildings and more, which can have a considerable influence on the terrain, from several points of view.

  1. Structural engineering

The job of a structural engineer is to analyze the construction particularities of buildings, bridges, tunnels, dam, railways and so on. These structures must be constructed in a way that makes them primarily safe, but also durable, economical and aesthetic.

  1. Transport engineering

Transport engineering deals with constantly improving transport systems. With the technology we have nowadays, specialists in this field are attempting to reduce emissions and energy consumption, in order to reach a higher level of efficiency and climate-friendliness.

  1. Water Engineering

Water interacts in various ways with our environment. Water engineering is about figuring out the behavior of natural water systems and using it efficiently. It also involves designing methods of water storage or direction. Understanding how water works is important because it allows us to create ways to preserve it.

These specializations are often required for Department of Energy jobs when collaborating with government agencies and departments that work to improve infrastructure. Here, civil engineers are hired for various projects, such as the design of geo-energetic structures, which represent an innovative and durable solution for heating and cooling new buildings. The concept behind this technology is to use reinforced concrete elements that interact with the earth and transform them into heat exchangers while the earth is the source of energy. The solution is sustainable, offers a number of long-term benefits and significantly reduces the costs of heating and cooling throughout the life span of a building.

The interrelationship and environmental impact of a project, its operation, functionality, energy efficiency and sustainability, the quality of spaces and the comfort – all these are concepts developed by civil engineers, who also provide engineering and integration services, as well as property management services for the development of both conventional and renewable energy facilities.

 

Why New Countertops Can Transform Your Kitchen

There are many ways to completely transform your kitchen design – you can choose to invest thousands of dollars to replace everything in your old kitchen, including the appliances and the furnishing items, you can choose to do just a little touch up, adding some paint to the walls and refreshing your kitchen cabinets a bit or you can include the replacement of the countertop, the component that is usually the focal point in any kitchen. Here are some of the benefits that you can enjoy by replacing just the countertop in your kitchen.

Denver countertops

Instant Aesthetic Appeal Added

Replacing only the countertop in your kitchen will in itself transform the way your space looks by adding a touch of elegance and sleek design. The counter or the island usually being the focal point in any kitchen, replacing just that one element can go a long way. When preparing for the replacement, it is a good idea to make a few decisions before actually starting to browse available countertops. The things that you should make up your mind about should include the material to be used, the color, the texture and the thickness of the countertop to be installed. The most common materials used for Denver countertops are granite, quartz, composite, metal and wood, each of them coming in a wide variety of colors and textures and available in several different thickness levels to meet your exact requirements. A countertop made from the right material will delight the eye and will help you create the kitchen space that you have always been dreaming about.

Comfort and Usability

A new countertop selected with your kitchen usage habits in mind will instantly improve the comfort of your space as well. If your kitchen is a space used frequently for cooking, it is a good idea to choose a countertop made from a material that is resistant to heat, staining, scratching and impact to ensure that your countertop stays attractive for the longest amount of time possible. Natural stone options, such as granite, are among the best choices that will give you all these practicality benefits as well as aesthetic appeal.

Instant Value Added

If you are planning to put your property out on the market and you are looking for quick, easy and affordable fixes to increase its value, replacing your countertop is certainly a project that should be on your list. The investment you will make into the countertop material will not be substantial (you can find really affordable countertop materials), but it will go a long way, by making your kitchen more welcoming and much more attractive to your potential buyers.

Easier Cleaning and Maintenance

A new countertop the surface of which is properly polished and sealed is much easier to keep clean than a surface that is old, scratched, cracked or otherwise damaged. Your new countertop will not only be easier to clean – it will also be more hygienic to use then old and damaged surfaces. This also means that replacing your old countertop is in fact an investment into the health and safety of your entire household.

Are All Excavation Companies in Loveland the Same?

One of the main traps that people fall into when hiring a local contractor is believing that all contractors are the same. This isn’t true for general contractors, and it certainly isn’t true for excavation contractors in a diverse place such as Loveland either.

If you want to hire the best Loveland excavation companies, you’ll have to make sure to do your research properly and even target qualities and traits that most people don’t normally take into consideration when  looking for a good contractor.

Factors You Might Not Think of

Can you really trust the Loveland contractor that you hire? While it’s smaller than cities like Denver, Loveland has plenty of reliable and cheap companies that are present at every part of the spectrum. As a result, you may have to think outside the box when hiring some of them, instead of just looking at the cool excavation equipment, years of experience and large workforce they might have.

The idea to take home is that these companies are essentially teams of people, so you need to treat them and see them as people in order to be able to make the right choice on which ones to hire.

Talk to them on the phone, schedule a face-to-face meeting if possible, and make sure that you ask all the right questions. Ask for references, and see what the people they’ve catered to have to say. Also, ask some questions about their license, insurance policy and labor warranty. A good Loveland excavation contractor will have nothing to hide, and they will display perfect transparency as well as a friendly and open attitude whenever you make such inquiries.

Trust, transparency, dependability, openness and a friendly attitude might be factors you won’t readily think of when hiring excavating contractors Loveland area specialists. However, if you want your project to go without a hitch, it might be highly essential to think about these things in advance.

excavating contractors Loveland

The Importance of Proper Research

When trying to find a local excavation company, a lot of people will just do a quick online search, check the local newspaper ads, or look through the Yellow Pages. However, hiring the first excavation company that comes along might not be the best choice.

As not all excavation companies in Loveland are the same, you’ll have to make sure you do some proper research when trying to find the best ones. Check their track record and find out what people say about them in reviews. How many complaints do they have and what do those complaints say? Do they clean up after completing their work? How well do they manage unforeseen problems such as difficult or frozen soil? Will they ask you for more money if they encounter a challenge during the excavation process?

All of these questions have to be answered properly before you can safely hire the best excavator for the job. Failing to do so can be risky – not only in terms of risking to lose money, but also in terms of safety and security, as you’ll never know which contractor is more or less responsible, so there could be a risk of property damage or injury, if you fail to hire a reliable and trustworthy Loveland excavation company.

When Should I Hire a Potholing Contractor?

Potholing has become a popular service that is used as a preliminary measure in many residential and commercial construction projects. If you want to minimize any risks and unwanted expenses during a construction or renovation project, you will do well to hire a dependable hydrovac or vacuum truck service for the job and detect all your underground utility lines as soon as possible.

potholing

How Potholing Works

Potholing is an essential service that can save construction experts and contractors a lot of trouble in the long run. The process of potholing is used to figure out where certain underground utility lines might be located and to determine where foundations can safely be laid, additional utility lines can be placed, or old utility systems have to be removed from.

In most instances, potholing uses either vacuum or hydro excavation methods to achieve its goal. Potholing experts bring in a vacuum truck or a hydrovac truck and use it to create small holes into the pavement or soil, as required, to find and identify utility lines such as water mains, gas pipes and TV and internet cables that might have been driven underneath your property.

Through the use of potholing, you can ensure that only minimal damage to the infrastructure is done, which can easily be fixed. The holes created during the process are relatively small and deep enough to detect where the utility lines go. If excavation in the area is not needed, the holes can easily be filled up with soil and sealed off without causing further issues.

Why Potholing Services Might Be Needed

Potholing is first of all required to solve problems that would otherwise require costly and damaging drilling procedures. Rather than digging a large hole using conventional excavation systems – or worse, shovels – you can minimize the damage to the soil and the environment by simply using a hydrovac service or a vacuum truck. Moreover, through the use of these tools, you can also prevent damage to surrounding trees and bushes which may have extended their root systems to the areas where you have to dig.

Potholing is primarily utilized during construction projects to determine where it’s safe to excavate and where the project needs to be modified to account for various underground utilities. For instance, it’s possible that some utility lines were not documented, and that they might run not far underneath the area where you want to dig to build a new foundation for a future commercial building. Starting to dig without accounting for the underground utility lines can be a costly and dangerous risk. The damage done to the utility lines will have to be paid for, and if the damaged pipes carry natural gas, it can be extremely dangerous for you and the workers you hire.

Potholing services use minimal damage to the ground on your property to safely detect any utility lines, establish the layout of the lines and pipes underneath your property and adjust the plans for your new constructions accordingly. Time and money can be saved, and in some cases severe injuries and property damage can be averted. All you need to do is call in your local experts to bring a hydrovac or vacuum truck and get the job done as soon as possible.

Why Buy Pella Replacement Doors for Your Home

Pella replacement doors

Whether you are currently on the market for a front door or for a patio door, you have surely come across the Pella brand during your searches. If you have taken the time to check a few pictures of Pella doors and you like what you saw, but you still need more information about what makes Pella replacement doors so great, here are some things that you should know about the benefits of paying the slightly higher price of Pella doors.

A Variety of Types

Whether you need a front door or a patio door, the Pella range will surely have the perfect product for you. The manufacturer’s front door range includes solid doors as well as doors with glass inserts and their patio door range is just as varied, with sliding, multi-slide, hinged and French door varieties available.

Material Options

Pella doors come in three material versions: wood, fiberglass and vinyl in the case of patio doors and wood, fiberglass and steel in the case of entry doors. Pella’s wood doors use materials that make the most of the uniqueness of the natural material and they also benefit from advanced coatings and treatments that make them resist the harmful effects of moisture, decay, mold, mildew and other stains. The fiberglass range is just as special – made from Pella’s proprietary fiberglass material that is twice as strong as aluminum and ten times as strong as wood-plastic composites, the exclusive range comes with heavy-duty powder finishes available in dozens of attractive colors. The Pella vinyl door category stands out with the energy-efficiency and the extraordinary, wide selection of styles offered. Entry doors are available either in solid wood or in solid varieties or in combination with fiberglass, with and without glass inserts.

Superior Home Security and Safety

Pella is well aware of the multiple security challenges that even homes in safe neighborhoods are exposed to and they provide a wide range of state-of-the-art options to protect privacy and security. Pella offers a variety of products that use factory-installed integrated security sensors that monitor the status of the entry door and that can be seamlessly integrated into existing home security systems.

Pella doors also come with more conventional security features, such as sturdy, multi-point locking systems and special, impact-resistant glass varieties.

Inspiration and Assistance

Picking the right product from such a large selection is not easy and designing your own door is even harder, that is why Pella offers help with the design and selection process as well. The Pella website has various sections that can be used for creating designs and for getting inspiration, from a visualization tool to a Tips and advice section and from design articles to before and after pics.

The Bottom Line

Pella doors are worthwhile not only because the manufacturer’s commitment to quality is in itself a guarantee that you will love your replacement doors and that they will serve your home well for decades, but also because the company’s commitment to serving their customers is a guarantee that the process of purchasing, getting and installing the products will be streamlined and hassle-free.

What is EPDM Roofing?

EPDM (the acronym for ethylene propylene diene monomer) is a synthetic rubber material increasingly used for building flat roofs on commercial, industrial as well as on residential buildings. The material has been around for only a couple of decades, but it already enjoys great popularity all over the world, so here are some things to know about this strong, feature-rich and versatile material and about the benefits it offers if you choose it for your next roof.

A Short Presentation

EPDM comes in the form of sheets of varying sickness and size, in widths from 7.5 to 50 feet and in three thickness options: 45 Mil, 60 Mil, and 90 Mil (1 Mil is equal to one thousandth of an inch). The material is delivered in rolls that are spread out and fastened with the method of choice. Available in black, grey, tan and white, EPDM sheets come with different thermal insulation levels, depending on the hue – the lighter the color, the more of the sun’s heat will be reflected by the sheets.

commercial roofer Atlanta

What makes EPDM Such a Great Solution?

EPDM is a feature-rich material that comes with numerous benefits – According to one of the most respected  commercial roofer Atlanta has, here are some:

  • Long lifespan – longevity is probably the feature that most building owners consider to be their number one priority. How long you can expect your EPDM roof to last largely depends on the chosen thickness: 45 Mil sheets can last for over 10 years, while 90 Mil roofs can last for more than 25 years;
  • Resistance to the weather – synthetic rubber is an extremely hardy material, so you can expect your EPDM roof to stand up to even the harshest weather events. EPDM is extremely flexible, which means that it can contract and expand naturally, without developing cracks or tears in extremely low and extremely high temperatures. EPDM roofs also stand up well to wind, snow and rain, the only thing that it is somewhat sensitive to ponding water, therefore increased attention should be paid to ensuring the proper drainage of the roof;
  • Quick and easy installation – EPDM roofs take much shorter to install than other roofing material – all it takes to install your new EPDM roof is to roll out the sheets and fasten them with the method of choice. However, despite the ease, EPDM roofs need to be installed by professionals to choose the most adequate installation method (full adhesion, mechanical fastening or ballasting) and to ensure proper adhesion;
  • Repairs – EPDM roofs usually require minor repairs now and then. The material being vulcanized rubber, it is not possible to heat it until the material around the hole or the crack melts, but easy to use repair kits are affordable and widely available;
  • Maintenance needs – EPDM can stand out to a lot without any special maintenance, but even such a strong material needs a little attention every now and then. The maintenance tasks required to keep EPDM roofs in good condition include semi-annual inspections and cleaning performed in spring and in fall to prepare the structures for the summer and the fall, the two harshest seasons for any roof.

How Colorado Springs Land Surveyors Can Help

We Can Help Surveyors Construction Colorado springs

The services provided by land surveyors Colorado Springs offers are essential for many types of real estate transactions as well as for small-scale and large building and research projects of many types. Here are some of the ways that Colorado Spring land surveyors can help your project move forward.

Marking and Documenting Legal Property Boundaries

One of the most common tasks that land surveyors are hired for is the marking and recording of site limits. If you want to buy or to sell land in or around Colorado Springs, you might need an expert to confirm the correctness of existing markings or to perform the marking on previously unmarked land. While performing the measurements, land surveyors use advanced devices and the Global Positioning System to delimit plots of lands with a high level of accuracy. They also use Geographic Information Systems to present their measurements on maps and charts.

Surveys for Engineering and Construction Purposes

Another important service provided by land surveyors is to determine the exact location of the buildings and roads to be construction on a particular plot of land and to determine the proper depth of the foundations for the structures to be built. These activities might also include the surveying of the grade of the roads to be built.

Topographic Surveys

Topographic surveys are very important for architects and engineers who need accurate data about the contours of the terrain they will work with. In these projects, the specialist uses various tools and devices to determine the elevations on and around the plot of land. These surveys are carried out to record the terrain relief as well as the elevations of the roads and of the other structures on the property, such as canals and any other vertical irregularities.

Flood Elevation Surveys

This special type of survey verifies the elevation of a structure on a property, such as a building, relative to the ground level and it is essential for engineers to make sure that their work is in compliance with local floodplain management regulations. These surveys are also frequently used by insurance companies to determine the insurance premiums for a particular policy based on the flood risks associated with the property to be insured.

Surveys for Building Permits

Whether you are planning to get a new build, to add a deck to your existing building or to make any other additions to your existing building, the permitting documentation that you submit might need to include a survey performed by a licensed professional that complies with the requirements regarding the document format and the information to be included. Building permits are issued by the authorities only following the detailed review of the submitted documentation, including the survey.

Collaborations with Other Professionals

Land surveyors often collaborate with other professionals involved in building and research projects, such as cartographers, civil engineers, architects, construction inspectors, hydrologists, landscape architects and geographers. Many of these collaborations are not standard services, requiring land surveyors to make use of their vast knowledge of advanced technologies and procedures.

Why Use Expert Safety Staffing Companies?

Safety is crucial at any workplace. Your employees have the right to work in conditions that will not damage their health, using tools and equipment that will not malfunction causing severe accidents. To ensure that companies comply with these rules, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires them to hire a safety specialist.

How Can You Find a Safety Specialist?

Businesses can post job ads looking for safety specialists, analyze the incoming resumes and make a hiring decision. But this is not as simple as it appears. You have to know what kind of skills and experience you are looking for.

Each industry has its own set of safety codes and standards. They are very detailed, thus, a safety specialist will choose to become an expert in a specific industry. The more specialized they are, the higher their salary expectations are. In most cases, your company does not need a full time safety specialist. Thus, hiring one is not justified.

The Alternative: Finding an Expert Safety Staffing Company

Whenever businesses need an expert in a specific field on a temporary basis, the solution can be found at staffing agencies. These companies hire only the best safety experts, and allocate them to work for various clients.

Each expert knows how many hours per week they must allocate to each customer and what type of tasks they are supposed to perform. They are not hindered by performing administrative tasks (as the staffing agency has a support team for them), thus the entire time is spent focusing 100% on their specific activity.

safety staffing companies

Reasons to Consider Hiring an Expert Safety Staffing Company

Most of the companies who outsource their safety activity to staffing agencies chose this option because:

  1. They Can Access Various Specialties

In some cases, you need safety specialists from various fields. For instance, when building a facility for the food industry, your company needs to meet both construction industry safety standards and food industry safety standards.

A staffing agency will allocate relevant experts, who will work for you for the necessary duration of time and during the exact phase of the project when their input is needed.

  1. They Do Not Want to Burden Their HR Budget

As explained above, a company does not need a safety expert all the time. Their role is to create and/or optimize your safety procedures, offer assistance during special occasions and confirm that your company is meeting the safety standards, as required.

This is not a daily, 9 to 5 activity. Thus, hiring a full time employee is not financially justified.

  1. Make Sure that the Expert Has Up to Date Knowledge

Safety codes and standards change over time. Safety staffing companies will make sure that all their employees receive ongoing training in order to apply the standards in force required by the law.

Such training is specialized and expensive, thus not all the businesses afford to procure it for their safety employees.

  1. Get an Unbiased Look at Your Safety Procedures

Hiring a safety specialist from outside your company is beneficial in terms of optimizing your safety standards. An internal employee may suffer from a bias they are not aware of and tend to be lax in applying these procedures. This is a sure path to a labor accident that will cost your business money and loss of reputation.

How Do I Prevent Frozen Pipes in My Colorado Home?

Winters can be extremely cold in the Centennial State. While those low temperatures usually come with the best powder snow in the world, they are surely very hard to bear and not only for humans, but for buildings as well. Cold weather can be dangerous for the pipes in your Colorado home – when the water inside the pipes freezes, it starts expanding, causing tension in the affected pipe and posing the risk of cracking and water damage. Fortunately, the issue can be avoided – here are some tips how.

water clean up near me

Methods to Prevent Freezing in Outdoor Pipes

Outdoor pipes are directly exposed to freezing temperatures, therefore they need to be emptied before the first frost. Check each of your outdoor pipes and disconnect the water supply to them as close to your building as possible (even very short faucets can freeze and burst, so having as little water as possible in the outdoor system is very important). If you have hoses outside, disconnect them and move them inside for the winter – plastic does not stand up well to freezing and becomes rigid and brittle if kept in the cold for too long.

You will need to protect the pipes and fixtures that you cannot remove, too. The best way to do that is to cover these exposed pipes and fixtures with thick sponge, heat tape or, even better, with hose bib covers (covers made from cold-resistant foam and available in various shapes and sizes for surrounding faucets, hoses, spigots and pipes).

Keeping Pipes Safe from Freezing in Vacant Buildings

Not only outdoor pipes are at risk of damage by freezing – pipes can freeze in buildings that are not inhabited as well, even a short period when the temperature inside the building approaches the outdoor temperature can pose dangers. The only solution to the issue is to keep the heating on – you don’t need your heating to run all the time and you don’t need to have temperatures that are comfortable for humans, but the temperature inside shouldn’t drop under 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit. To limit the energy consumption, close the doors in the rooms that do not have plumbing and open the closet doors under sinks to allow warm water to reach to your pipes.

Keeping Pipes Safe in a Building Left without Heating

Having a broken heating system in winter is the worst nightmare of any homeowner, but even the best-kept, professionally maintained HVAC can break down and chances are that it happens when you need your heaters the most. The first thing to do is to contact a HVAC specialist for the repair and to prepare for the hardships – if the technician finds an issue that takes more than a couple of hours to fix, you will probably need to move out of the house until the heating is operational again. Unheated buildings become very cold very quickly, so protecting the temperature-sensitive elements in your building, such as the pipes, is very important. The method is very similar to the method used for protecting the pipes in a vacant building, but without running the heating: open the closet doors under sinks and close the doors on the rooms to slow down the heat evaporation process. As an additional measure, run some water (preferable warm water) in the pipes to warm them a bit and to relieve the tension inside the pipes.

If despite your best efforts, you end up with a burst pipe and subsequent water damage, immediately call professional companies that do water clean up near me for expert restoration services.

Who Should Hire A Bed Bugs Inspector?

Whether you are a homeowner continuously working to ensure the bug-free cleanliness of your home or you run a hotel and impeccable cleanliness is something that you live by, you must know that bed bug infestations can happen anytime and can affect not only dirty, cluttered spaces, but clean, orderly rooms as well. Here are some tings that you should know about bed bugs and some details to help you decide whether you should hire a bed bug inspector.

What Are Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are tiny, difficult to notice insects that can get into your home traveling on your clothes, with luggage or with anything that is introduced into the home. They prefer dark, protected places, such as mattresses, bed frames, upholstery of all kinds and they can hide in the tiniest of crevices.

Bed bugs are a nuisance in many ways. The nocturnal creatures feed on blood and they come out when the occupants of the rooms are asleep. Their bites are very similar to mosquito bites, causing tiny red spots that turn into welts. The other problem caused by bed bugs is that they leave behind excrement that can cause many different symptoms, including larger skin rashes and irritations as well as respiratory problems.

how to find out if you have bed bugs Denver

Deciding Whether You Need a Bed Bugs Inspector

If you have the suspicion that you have bed bugs, you can try to find and eliminate them on your own. You will need to remove anything that could serve as home for bed bugs, such as blankets, pillows, even mattresses and you will need to perform a meticulous inspection of any upholstery on your furniture as well as your bed frames and other furniture, your curtains and carpets. If you find any traces of bed bugs, you will need to clean the entire room thoroughly, then you will also need to seal all the potential entry points to the room.

If you think that you have done everything you could to get rid of bed bugs, but the pests seem to have come back, it might be a good idea to leave the task to professionals. Bed bug inspectors work for pest control companies that have all the tools and substances to identify the places invaded by bed bugs and to eliminate the infestation in a professional and definitive way. The process of bed bug detection will be very similar to the way you were looking for the bugs, but pest elimination experts have the trained eye as well as the tools to make the process more efficient. They also handle the bed bug elimination process professionally, guaranteeing success.

How to Find a Bed Bug Inspector

A simple online query on how to find out if you have bed bugs Denver will return the names of the Denver pest control companies that provide bed bug detection and elimination services in your area. Check out their websites one by one, then contact them to find out what the bed bug inspection process involves and how much it will cost you to get your building inspected and the pests removed – there can be substantial differences in the process practiced by different companies, so it is a good idea to shop around a bit.