Specialty Services

Air Tightness Testing

Air tightness testing measures how much air leaks through a building envelope. Using methods like blower door testing, we help identify gaps that impact energy performance and compliance with energy codes. This supports more efficient buildings and helps meet evolving regulatory standards.

Cured-in-Place Pipe Testing (CIPP)

CIPP testing supports trenchless pipe rehabilitation by verifying material properties and installation quality without excavation. To support stronger performance, we monitor curing processes and test liner performance to ensure the repaired pipe meets design and durability requirements.

Direct Shear Testing

Direct shear testing measures the shear strength of soils under controlled conditions. This data is then used to evaluate stability and inform design for slopes, foundations, and retaining structures, making it a key service for safe and reliable geotechnical design.

Fibre Composite Testing

Fibre composite testing evaluates the performance of advanced materials used in strengthening and repair applications. By verifying strength and durability, we help ensure these systems perform as intended, reducing risk and enabling safer implementation during structural upgrades.

Fireproofing Inspection & Testing

Fire protection is a key element of any structure, and fireproofing systems have strict performance standards they must meet to protect structural elements. To ensure they meet these standards, we inspect and test fireproofing materials to verify proper application and compliance with applicable building codes.

Floor Flatness/Levelness Testing & 3D Mapping

Floor flatness and levelness testing measures surface consistency using precise tools and 3D mapping technology. It’s a step that ensures floors meet specified tolerances for performance and usability. Accurate measurements also help avoid operational issues and costly corrections in the future.

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)

GPR uses radar technology to detect subsurface features without excavation. It’s used to locate utilities, reinforcement, and potential obstructions before cutting or coring begins, reducing risk and preventing damage while improving project efficiency.

Medical Gas Conformity

Medical gas systems require strict compliance with CSA standards. We inspect and certify piping systems to ensure they meet these strict regulatory and safety requirements. This is critical for healthcare environments where reliability and compliance are non-negotiable.

Post-Tensioning (PT)

Post-tensioning testing and inspection verify the integrity and performance of tensioned systems within concrete structures to support structural performance and safety. This service typically involves observing and reviewing material handling and storage to ensure compatibility among concrete, steel, tendons, and other components. We then use this observation data to produce a comprehensive summary report.

Resistograph Testing

This service involves specialized testing of wooden structures and timbers, often found in heritage buildings, to ensure they still meet modern criteria for strength and safety. A resistograph is used in conjunction with a 1/16” drill bit to penetrate a wooden structure while leaving minimal damage. The resistance is then plotted on a graph, providing a visual display that helps identify material properties, potential decay, hollow cavities, rot, and other damage.

Cutting & Coring

Cutting and coring are used for various purposes, including the removal/installation of conduits, ductwork, water lines, electrical lines, and more. Using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), we safely assess and report on any obstructions in concrete or asphalt. Then, with this data, we can drill holes and extract cores from as small as 6 inches up to more than 20 feet.

Soil & Aggregate Corrosivity

Determining the corrosivity of soils and aggregates used for backfilling and other purposes is crucial. This property can directly affect metal and concrete structural components, such as water mains and utilities, retaining walls, and more. We conduct in-depth surveys during pre-construction to establish baseline measurements, and we provide the same insights during post-construction to determine whether any mitigation measures are needed.

Acid Rock Drainage

Metro Testing + Engineering’s Acid Rock Drainage services address the suitability of aggregate and mineral ore for construction use by examining the material’s leachable content after subjecting it to standardized bench-scale laboratory tests. These tests simulate long-term weathering from precipitation and moisture to determine if the material will react with water to leach harmful contaminants to the environment, or cause structural and cosmetic issues such as accelerated corrosion or staining.

Pile Driving Analysis

Metro Testing + Engineering’s pile driving analysis provides an invaluable tool for the monitoring and verifying the integrity of the piles. A Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) and Case Pile Wave Analysis Program (CAPWAP) are used to evaluate the shaft and end-bearing resistance, typically within a day. Wireless accelerometer and strain-gauge sensors allow monitoring to be done from a safe distance for improved technician safety. The sensors measure displacement, stress, and forces experienced during dynamic pile driving to provide real-time data on a wireless PAX unit.

Pull Testing

Metro Testing + Engineering provides pull testing services to evaluate the strength of attached anchors, rods, and rebar against pre-defined design specifications often used in tensioned applications. The testing services can also be expanded to bonded materials to determine bond-strength distributions between old and new concrete layers, laminated construction materials, and specialized fibre wraps in columns. Bond strength determinations are useful in understanding long-term reliability of the bond and areas of potential failure.

Thermal Management in Mass Concrete

Metro Testing + Engineering provides temperature monitoring and predictive models for the curing process of mass concrete due to the heat-of-hydration effect between the water and cement in the concrete mix. Curing and hydration rates are important for determining the elasticity and strength of the final product. Site temperature monitoring and proper control systems provide an important diagnostic tool during the curing process. Laboratory mock-up testing can provide an early indication of the concrete mix’s thermal behaviour and provide an operational check of the temperature-monitoring system before field deployment.

Structural Health Monitoring

Metro Testing + Engineering provides tools for monitoring the structural health of existing buildings and civil infrastructure to address safety and long-term structural performance. Advanced technical systems and tools to measure movement, vibration, and strain in structures such as bridges, stay cable bridges, commercial/residential buildings, heritage buildings, airframes, pipelines, drilling platforms, and wind turbines. 24/7 real-time monitoring is available to more accurately assess a structure’s usage during busy and slack times.

Water Penetration Testing

Metro Testing + Engineering provides testing and/or monitoring of new construction and existing buildings and structures. On-site preparation and testing of weather-resistive barrier systems such as exterior windows, doors, and curtain-wall systems are provided. Testing is done by uniform or cyclic static air-pressure difference by constructing a sealed test chamber on the interior side of the test specimen while applying water at a specified rate to simulate a wind-driven rain event under severe weather conditions.