Exposing rubble…

  The existing rubble foundation is being exposed by careful excavation near the existing building foundation wall. Prior to excavation, accurate measurements from inside the neighbors cellar determined the approximate wall depth relative to the new finished cellar floor elevation. Rather than underpin the existing foundation, which can get costly, we decided to step up …

The Lagging Lags…

  Lagging is usually heavy timber wood, typically 3 x 10’s. It will be installed behind the soldier piles to support the soil from the excavation area. When it finally arrives on site, you know you are getting close to completion of the excavation for the foundation.

Soldiers can be Stubborn…

  Soldier piles must be “tapped” into the ground with another piece of heavy machinery, as this excavator is doing with the flat side of the bucket. Sometimes, however, soldiers do not cooperate fully…

Shoring the Site

  In cities, once again because there is no room to allow normal excavation, before any serious site excavation is done for the foundations, shoring must be installed. Its sole purpose is to keep the city sidewalks, utilities, and street stable while excavation on your site progresses. Although there are many different methods of shoring, …

In The Beginning…

  Digging a hole seems easy. But like a lot of lot of things in New York City, it becomes complicated. Because space is so tight, shoring is required to support the excavation while excavation is being done. In the beginning, we scarify the top 3 feet of site material in prepation for using the drilling …

341 Pleasant Avenue, East Harlem, NY

  My name is John Senisi. I am an Architect. But not your everyday, run-of-the-mill Architect: I also construct buildings. Architects used to be Master Builders but chose to demote themselves to a lesser position in the development process by refusing to be truly knowledgeable about the details of construction and the relationship of design …