STRUCTURAL SERVICES · COLUMNS
Steel and concrete column repairs
We measure what's left of the column and support the load, then repair it to your engineer's design.
Columns carry the building down to its foundation, so damage to one is never cosmetic. In New York we see two kinds. Steel columns hidden inside masonry piers rust and crack the brick around them. Concrete columns in garages and exposed frames spall where the reinforcing steel has corroded. Banu Construction opens them up and documents what's left for your engineer, and we shore the load where the design calls for it. Then we repair or strengthen the column with new steel, repair mortar, a steel jacket or a fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) wrap.
What we deliver
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What's left of the column, measured.
We open it up and photograph it, so your engineer designs the repair from real measurements.
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The load supported while we work.
Your engineer designs the shoring, and we install it before any section comes out.
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Repairs that protect the steel.
We clean and treat the reinforcing, cover it again and add a coating or wrap to keep water off it.
Services and capabilities
01 Open up and document
- Probes into masonry piers to expose steel columns
- Sounding and chipping to map delaminated concrete
- Section loss measured and photographed for your engineer
02 Repair and reinforce
- Shoring and temporary support to your engineer's design
- Steel columns repaired with new plates, angles or replacement sections
- Unsound concrete removed, and reinforcing cleaned, treated or supplemented
- Repair mortar and formed concrete to rebuild the section
- Steel jackets and FRP wraps for strengthening
- Masonry piers rebuilt over the repaired steel (masonry restoration)
03 Close out
- Photos of each column before it's closed up
- The records your engineer needs to sign off and close any DOB permit
- Advice on coatings and on when to look at the columns again
Signs a column needs attention
- Vertical cracks running up the corners of a brick pier
- Rust stains bleeding through masonry or concrete
- Spalled concrete with rusted bars showing
- Bulging brick at the base of a pier
- Cracks around column bases in a garage
- Columns a car or truck has hit
Questions about column repairs
How do you know how bad it is?
Only by opening it up. We expose a few representative spots, clean the steel, measure what's left and send your engineer the photos and measurements. Your engineer designs the repair from those findings.
Is it safe to work on a column that's carrying load?
Yes, once it's supported. Your engineer decides whether the column needs shoring before any material comes off, and designs it. We install the shoring, then remove material only as far as the sequence allows.
What's an FRP wrap?
It's fiber-reinforced polymer: carbon or glass fabric soaked in epoxy and wrapped around a concrete column to confine it and add strength. The wrap is thin and light, and it goes on without heavy equipment. Whether it suits your column is your engineer's call.
Do column repairs need a DOB permit?
Usually, since it's structural work. Your engineer prepares and files the drawings. We work under that permit and keep the records your engineer needs to sign off.
Let's talk about your building
Cracked piers or spalling columns?
Send us a few photos, and we'll flag what your engineer will want to know.
