A building inspection is an inspection performed by a building inspector , a person who is employed by either a city, township or county and is usually certified in one or more disciplines qualifying them to make professional judgment about whether a building meets building code requirements. A building inspector may be certified either as a residential or commercial building inspector, as a plumbing , electrical or mechanical inspector, or other specialty-focused inspector who may inspect structures at different stages of completion. Building inspectors may charge a direct fee or a building permit fee. Inspectors may also be able to hold up construction work until the inspection has been completed and approved.
19-576: Some building inspection expertises like facade inspections are required by certain cities or counties and considered mandatory. These are to be done by engineers and not by contractors. An example of a city that adopted this law is Quebec followed by a fatal incident that occurred due to negligence of the state of a facade. These inspections are often included in a contracted building inspection. However, they might not be carefully analyzed and diagnosed like an engineer would. Building inspectors are often employed by governments and are frequently certified by
38-593: A building . It is a loanword from the French façade ( pronounced [fasad] ), which means " frontage " or " face ". In architecture , the façade of a building is often the most important aspect from a design standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. From the engineering perspective, the façade is also of great importance due to its impact on energy efficiency . For historical façades, many local zoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration. The word
57-525: A Georgian building, but the appearance is only skin deep and some of the interior rooms still have Jacobean plasterwork ceilings. This new construction has happened also in other places: in Santiago de Compostela the three-metre-deep Casa do Cabido was built to match the architectural order of the square, and the main Churrigueresque façade of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral , facing
76-480: A long trip to Santiago. Entering from Obradoiro Square to Santiago Cathedral through the Portico de la Gloria, Maestro Mateo is one of the most awaited experiences for all pilgrims, a ritual that has been fulfilled every day for hundreds of years by millions of pilgrims coming from all over the world. The Obradoiro is a place of joy and incessant hustle and bustle, both of the pilgrims who finally reach their goal and of
95-823: Is a loanword from the French façade , which in turn comes from the Italian facciata , from faccia meaning 'face', ultimately from post-classical Latin facia . The earliest usage recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is 1656. It was quite common in the Georgian period for existing houses in English towns to be given a fashionable new façade. For example, in the city of Bath , The Bunch of Grapes in Westgate Street appears to be
114-537: Is decorated by eight rays starting from the center, where a plaque commemorates the World Heritage Site pilgrims' way of Camiño de Santiago , whose final target is around here. The monumental center of Santiago de Compostela witnesses the history of an ancient city: Praza do Obradoiro (a word that describes the work place of the craftsmen) is one of the most beautiful and renowned squares in Spain and
133-573: Is fully valid. They are based on the four pillars of the Galician capital: religion, attention to the pilgrim, public administration and university education. Even today these buildings continue to perform these four functions in the day-to-day compostelano of the 21st century. The Praza do Obradoiro also has a very deep symbolism as it is the end of the Camino de Santiago for most of the pilgrims, hundreds of kilometers behind them; The arrival box after
152-487: Is typically reached within minutes of the start of a fire. Fire stops for such building joints can be qualified, too. Putting fire sprinkler systems on each floor has a profoundly positive effect on the fire safety of buildings with curtain walls. The extended use of new materials, like polymers , resulted in an increase of high-rise building façade fires over the past few years, since they are more flammable than traditional materials. Some building codes also limit
171-522: The Plaza del Obradoiro , is actually encasing and concealing the older Portico of Glory . In modern high-rise building, the exterior walls are often suspended from the concrete floor slabs. Examples include curtain walls and precast concrete walls. The façade can at times be required to have a fire-resistance rating , for instance, if two buildings are very close together, to lower the likelihood of fire spreading from one building to another. In general,
190-771: The North, Pazo de Raxoi (the government; after the Spanish transition to democracy was seat for the President of the Xunta of Galicia , nowadays the city council) to the West and the Colexio de San Xerome (the university) to the South. Once being crossed by cars, now is mainly pedestrian as the rest of the old town, with only traffic for taxis and (un)loading delivery lorries. The floor
209-707: The Obradoiro are the Palace of Rajoy, that closes for its western part just in front of the main facade of the Cathedral of Santiago (the most photographed image of the city); The Hostal de los Reyes Católicos and finally the San Jerónimo College, now the seat of the rectorate of the University of Santiago . The four emblematic buildings of this square have a meaning that transcends time and even today
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#1732772566601228-1115: The State, the International Code Council (ICC), or the Certified Commercial Property Inspectors Association (CCPIA) though are not always required to have any certification. Inspections are done to assure compliance with building, plumbing, electrical, mechanical or specialty codes, such as swimming pool codes, that are being enforced by the jurisdiction in which they work. There are many categories and levels of ICC certified inspectors. Building inspectors are often contacted by strata managers or body corporate with storm water design issues, structural design proposals or civil design modifications. In addition, individuals are often required by councils to carry out dilapidation reports and building inspections of adjoining properties and associated council properties before and after construction, to establish that no damage has occurred due to
247-556: The West of the main façade of the Santiago de Compostela cathedral , and thus the Pórtico da Gloria must be crossed to get into the building from the square. It is surrounded by four important buildings, said to represent the four powers of the city: the aforementioned Santiago de Compostela cathedral to the East (the Church), Hostal dos Reis Católicos (the doctors and bourgeoisie ) to
266-426: The building found to be unsafe. Whether it is the balconies, balustrades or cracking due to settlement in the walls, consulting engineers provide building inspections of the property and make the appropriate assessment and provide dilapidation reports followed by proposals for remedial action. Facade A façade or facade ( / f ə ˈ s ɑː d / ; ) is generally the front part or exterior of
285-472: The façade systems that are suspended or attached to the precast concrete slabs will be made from aluminum (powder coated or anodized) or stainless steel . In recent years more lavish materials such as titanium have sometimes been used, but due to their cost and susceptibility to panel edge staining these have not been popular. Whether rated or not, fire protection is always a design consideration. The melting point of aluminum, 660 °C (1,220 °F),
304-457: The front if necessary for a scene . Within theme parks, they are usually decoration for the interior ride or attraction, which is based on a simple building design. Plaza del Obradoiro The Praza do Obradoiro ( Spanish : Plaza del Obradoiro, English: Square of the Workshop ) is main square of the Santiago de Compostela old town, although not placed at the real centre. It lies to
323-408: The monumental center of the ancient city of Santiago de Compostela. It comprises several emblematic buildings of the city, spectators of exception its long history, that fuse different architectural styles of various epochs, such as Baroque , Gothic , Renaissance or Neoclassical , collecting the cultural legacy of more than 700 years of history. The buildings that delimit precisely this Square of
342-600: The percentage of window area in exterior walls. When the exterior wall is not rated, the perimeter slab edge becomes a junction where rated slabs are abutting an unrated wall. For rated walls, one may also choose rated windows and fire doors , to maintain that wall's rating. On a film set and within most themed attractions, many of the buildings are only façade, which are far cheaper than actual buildings, and not subject to building codes (within film sets). In film sets, they are simply held up with supports from behind, and sometimes have boxes for actors to step in and out of from
361-411: The work carried out. Additional functions of a Building Inspector often include the evaluation of existing structures which have been subjected to physical damage from earthquakes , wind events, floods and fire, as well as investigations involving non-permitted construction. Consulting engineers often carry out structural building inspections for strata properties where there are structural elements of
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