By Kenneth Ogorzalek, PE, SE; Blake Dilsworth, PE, SE; and Shakhzod Takhirov, Ph.D, PE
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Have you ever walked into a garage or a shed and discovered timber defects in structural elements that made you think twice about needing to fix them? Often, we ignore these early warning signs simply because it is easier to turn a blind eye and close that garage door with the hope of standing on conservative designs and inherently redundant structures. Now, imagine that garage was 173 feet tall, 300 feet wide, and 1,000 feet long with over 4 million board feet (FBM) of lumber; and it was designated as a historic structure in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) while maintained by the U.S. Navy and subsequently, NASA. Observations of timber checks, splits, warps, and any other defect that crosses your mind have a whole different meaning when staring into an abyss of wood. This was exactly the case when KPFF stepped into the Moffett Federal Airfield (MFA) Hangars 2 and 3 in 2013.
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