Forensic Engineering in Birmingham, AL

Birmingham's forensic cases carry signatures the Gulf Coast never sees: slabs heaved by oxidizing pyritic shale fill, structures distressed over karst features that announced themselves after construction, settlement into undocumented mining-era fills, and the ordinary concrete and foundation disputes any metro generates. The method holds: cores per ASTM C42 to establish the in-place concrete, borings and sampling that recover the actual fill and rock-surface conditions, elevation surveys mapping the movement, and petrographic and mineralogical examination, ASTM C856 and companion testing, that can identify sulfide-driven heave definitively. Chain of custody is maintained, and licensed engineers are engaged in Alabama for evaluation and testimony.

Sulfide-heave cases are provable with unusual clarity: the mineralogy of the fill, the oxidation products, and the upward movement pattern form a signature that laboratory work can confirm or exclude decisively.

• Concrete distress investigation: cracking, scaling, spalling, low strength results
• Core sampling and testing of hardened concrete per ASTM C42
• Petrographic examination of hardened concrete per ASTM C856
• Foundation and pavement performance investigations
• Documented chain of custody and photo documentation built for litigation

ASTM C42ASTM C856ASTM C39