Building Forensics is a sub-discipline of forensic engineering. Wikipedia describes the field of forensic engineering as “the investigation of materials, products, structures or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing personal injury, damage to property or economic loss.”
Building Forensics is the assessment, diagnosis, and identification of the cause, effects, and possible remedy of building defects or failures using physical evidence as well as scientifically and mathematically sound methods.
The terms forensic and science imply the forming of opinions through a disciplined approach to building investigation that draws from the disciplines of architecture, engineering, construction and other sciences. A typical forensic investigation will include the the following elements.
The first phase of the forensic process includes collecting client and site information through conducting interviews with building owners, occupants, or other stakeholders to build a thorough understanding of the concern.
A forensic investigation almost always requires a visual inspection on site. During a site visit we collect respective documentation of individual and interrelated effects of the building’s materials, the location of the site, its exposure to the elements and other objects nearby, and an assessment of architectural details, all captured in notes, photographs, and where applicable results obtained from test instruments.
Where applicable and needed, environmental and physical testing procedures may be employed not only during the visit but also over longer periods of time. Such as measurements of environmental control variables can include material properties, moisture content, and other physical properties that can be collected with specialized sensors and logged over periods of time.