A Step In Time

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A Step in Time Structural Engineering specializes in residential structural inspections. Raymond Gessner, P.E. is our senior structural engineer. Mr. Gessners experience and education is a perfect match for any residential structural engineering needs. In 1991, Ray graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelors degree in civil engineering with a focus of study in structural engineering. Between 1991 and 1998, Ray worked for various structural and geotechnical engineering firms and received a masters degree in civil engineering from Old Dominion University with focus on structural engineering and geotechnical engineering. With masters degree in hand and the required engineering experience to sit for the Virginia Professional engineering exam, Ray sat and passed the Virginia Professional engineering exam and founded A Step in Time Structural Engineering. Further, Ray sat and passed the Class A Building contractors exam.
A Step in Time takes a common sense approach to solving various engineering problems. Similar to CSI detectives, engineering problems are solved with various clues. Many times residential engineering problems require a deep understanding of soil settlement (geotechnical engineering) and structural engineering. Virginia has various types of soils including sand, silt and clay. Usually sand and silt tend to settle immediately during construction. Clays on the other hand tend to settle on a time dependent curve. Depending on the width and depth of the foundations and the condition of these clays, home owners will experience a wide range of foundation settlement issues. On the other hand, sometimes structural issues are misdiagnosed as settlement problems. Whether the issues are the result of misloaded knee walls placed in attics or undersized beams placed under load bearing walls, A Step in Time has extensive experience in residential structural inspections.
A Step in Time, unlike nearly all structural engineering firms, does not design schools, buildings, churches or other facilities. We focus all our efforts to solving various residential engineering problems. If you need a simple roof load structural analysis to place H.V.A.C. units on top of commercial buildings than A Step in Time is a great choice but if you need the entire facility designed then we can refer you to some great engineering firms. The reason we avoid facility design is because of time and experience. The more time our engineers spend solving residential problems, the more experience they gain by solving these problems. We spend many days slithering under muddy crawl spaces and crawling through hot attics, but the end result is that we become very experienced with residential structural engineering problems. Whether its a second opinion for an issue a home inspector noted or maybe a bank requires a structural inspection for a VA, HUD or FHA refinance, A Step in Time can perform your residential structural engineering inspection. Call us at 1-800-753-9030 to schedule your structural engineering inspection.

Service Areas by city:Virginia: Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Bumpass, Centerville, Chesapeake, Chester, Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, Dumfries, Fairfax, Falls Church, Front Royal, Hampton, Haymarket, Leesburg, Manassas, McLean, Mechanicsville, Midlothian, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, Smithfield, Springfield, Suffolk, Virginia Beach,and Williamsburg.