The Forensic expert kollegium offers services in stone structures examination.

The most common defect of stone structures which is identified during examination are cracks. The causes of cracks in stone structures are numerous. The most common ones are:

• insufficient bearing capacity of structures for the perception of operating loads acting on it;
• local crushing of brick or masonry;
• defects in the foundations or subsidence of the foundations;
• mechanical damage.

When conducting a stone structures examination, other characteristic defects and damages occur, for example:

• non-compliance of materials and/or works performed with the requirements of technical normative legal acts;
• non-filling of masonry joints: horizontal and vertical transverse in the walls, as well as longitudinal vertical in lintels, piers, pillars;
• horizontal displacement (transfer) of the structure, or buckling from a vertical plane;
• violation of the requirements for ligature and the obligatory laying of yoke rows;
• use of materials (stone and mortar) of reduced strength (compared with the project);
• hydration of masonry;
• masonry damage due to defrosting.

The stone structures examination tasks include: detection of defects and damage, classification and establishment of the cause of their occurrence, recommendations for their elimination. Depending on the category of technical condition, structural elements of a building may need to be repaired, strengthened or replaced.