Dicke Engineering, LLC

01/11/2025

Why do you need a permit for a retaining wall?

✅Part 4 - It’s always good to be in compliance with the governing agency, whether that be a city or county. Going through the proper protocol of obtaining a permit alleviates the stress of having a negative encounter with code enforcement.

We provide all necessary plan sheets and details for every wall that we design in conformance with applicable county or city requirements. Our fees include multiple site visits for construction observations, in addition to reports and any additional documentation needed for permitting purposes. We love seeing a project through completion and enjoy partnering with each owner and contractor that we work with to answer questions and assist throughout the project life cycle.

01/11/2025

Why do you need a permit for a retaining wall?

✅Part 3 - Our engineered set of wall plans will be overlaid onto topographic survey data. We show measurements and offsets from existing residential structures and property lines. This is advantageous when it comes to showing that impacts are contained within a parcel and limits are clearly defined, minimizing the potential for disputes with neighboring properties.

01/11/2025

Why do you need a permit for a retaining wall?

✅Part 2 - An engineered set of wall plans will provide dimensions and details for the site. In addition to wall sections and site plan details, we include grading details so that proposed and existing grades are blended together. The advantage of this is that details and dimensions give the owner the ability to receive consistent quotes from contractor to contractor rather than “rough estimates”.

01/11/2025

Why do you need a permit for a retaining wall?

We get asked a lot by both homeowners and contractors if retaining wall permit design packages are necessary.

We believe so and list our top 4 reasons why:

✅Part 1- A set of design plans provides a design that conforms to the professional engineering industry standard of care. All walls are designed with built in factors of safety which account for the specific site conditions and all anticipated loads. If a wall is built without an engineered set of plans, you don’t know what the factors of safety are and how your wall will perform under various loading conditions.

12/27/2024

One of our core services is geotechnical site investigations.

What are they and why do you need them?

Well, this is an investigation that involves drilling with an SPT rig and collecting samples to visually examine subsurface soil conditions. From a geotechnical perspective, we do this to determine the suitability of the soil foundations, or embankments, and their adequacy for safety and performance of dams or other proposed or existing structures.

These photos are from a recent project where we observed drilling and collecting of samples to evaluate a recently reconstructed dam impoundment. We will use our observations in the coming weeks to document our findings to the Owner about the adequacy of their infrastructure and recommendations for improvement.

10/04/2024

We are excited to announce our latest project!

This is one of our most exciting projects to date. Dicke Engineering has been procured as the Monitoring Engineer to provide instrumentation monitoring services for the Contractor working on the expansion of the WMATA Crystal City Metrorail Station. This is one of the busiest transit stations in Arlington County VA and sits just a few miles south of Washington D.C.!

This project is currently under construction, and we will be monitoring existing infrastructure as the station expansion is underway for the next several years.

Our instrumentation and monitoring expertise includes jobsite applications ranging from measuring displacements of existing structures (i.e. critical infrastructure), excavation support systems, and vibration monitoring. As always, we will work to provide top quality services for our client throughout the project life cycle and look forward to successful completion.

Read more about the project here:
https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Projects/Project-Types/Transportation-Projects/Crystal-City-East-Entrance

(Photo taken inside the tunnel structure from our Site Visit in Spring 2024)

07/13/2024

This past week, ASCE GA released the 2024 report card for Georgia's Infrastructure. Here you can read more about each infrastructure category, see the grades that were given and what funding is needed to raise the grade.

Georgia's overall grade is C+.
Bridges: B,
Rail: B
Ports: B+
Roads: C+
Drinking Water: C+

See the full report here:

Help make changes to Georgia infrastructure today! Click to learn more about how to take action via their ASCE infrastructure report card.

06/10/2024

05/29/2024

We love helping small dam owners with the unique challenges that come with owning and maintaining their infrastructure. We are experienced in:

✅ dam inspections and evaluations
✅ identifying problem areas and recommendations for repair
✅ assisting owners with forecasting costs and milestones for maintenance
✅ understanding liabilities of owning the dam and potential downstream impacts

If you are a dam owner and need assistance with any of these items, we would love to partner with you!

04/30/2024

One of our specialties is performing as-built condition assessments of retaining walls. This particular wall was constructed less than 2 years ago by a local contractor, and it is already exhibiting movement and early stages of failure.

(Did you know that 86% of wall failures occur within the first 4 years after construction?)

We performed a site visit and documented deficiencies in a technical memo identifying causes of failure and next steps for this homeowner.

If you have an existing wall that exhibits problems like ground cracking, movement, loose/soft backfill soils, undermining of foundations, etc. give us a call and we will help you!

03/16/2024

We've been hard at work into 2024 and are excited to announce that we have recently been certified as a DBE in the commonwealth of Virginia! Looking forward to working on one of our most exciting projects this year and will share more details soon.