Palisade Engineering

Palisade Engineering PE + SE licensed structural engineering firm based in Reno, NV. Fixed-price quotes in 24-48 hours. Licensed in NV, CA, AZ, UT & IA.

Specializing in seismic anchorage, data center structural design, commercial and residential engineering.

07/22/2026

At PESE, we believe AI has a place in engineering, but we also know where its limits are.

Today, it's helping us:
✔️ Summarize code requirements
✔️ Perform first-pass calculation checks
✔️ Search years of project history

But engineering judgment still drives every critical decision.

The future isn't AI or engineers.
It's AI with engineers.

What role do you think AI will play in structural engineering over the next five years?

07/21/2026

Your DC fast charger probably weighs more than the pad it's sitting on was designed for.

2,500–4,000 lb cabinets on pads designed for 400-lb Level 2 chargers.

The failure mode isn't the pad. It's 50,000 vehicle cycles per year loosening the anchors.

The industry is going to spend the next decade replacing pads it just installed.

This month's heat dome broke all-time records in Salt Lake City (109°F), Billings, MT (111°F), and Atlantic City (106°F)...
07/20/2026

This month's heat dome broke all-time records in Salt Lake City (109°F), Billings, MT (111°F), and Atlantic City (106°F) — and buckled I-97 south of Baltimore over the Fourth of July.

Steel expands roughly 6.5×10⁻⁶ per °F. A 500-foot truss or rail segment calibrated at 60°F grows several inches past 110°F. That's not a weather story — it's a design-ambient story.

Heat domes were 100-year events in 1990. They're routine now.

Special inspection is a code-mandated quality-assurance program for the specific structural elements that fail in the fi...
07/17/2026

Special inspection is a code-mandated quality-assurance program for the specific structural elements that fail in the field, not in the calc.

IBC Chapter 17: high-strength bolts, welds, post-installed anchors, cast-in-place anchor bolts in seismic zones.

The list is what breaks. Treat inspection accordingly.

07/16/2026

Everyone's watching the AI chips. Nobody's watching the switchgear yard.

Three reasons the yard fails before the building:

→ 78-week lead times = pads poured before equipment arrives on "typical" cut sheets.
→ Unconditioned exposure = freeze-thaw, thermal cycling, UV.
→ Constant post-occupancy modification = cumulative anchor damage.

The main building shell will outlive the yard by 30 years.

Your DC fast charger probably weighs more than the pad it's sitting on was designed for.2,500–4,000 lb cabinets on pads ...
07/15/2026

Your DC fast charger probably weighs more than the pad it's sitting on was designed for.

2,500–4,000 lb cabinets on pads designed for 400-lb Level 2 chargers.

The failure mode isn't the pad. It's 50,000 vehicle cycles per year loosening the anchors.

The industry is going to spend the next decade replacing pads it just installed.

— Joel Heidema, PE

07/14/2026

Here's something most people outside structural engineering don't know: the R factor that goes into every seismic design isn't derived in a lab. It's a negotiated number — part empirical data from past earthquakes, part professional judgment, part cost-safety tradeoff.

That's not a flaw in the system. It's how you build a code that works nationwide across wildly different buildings.

But it puts real weight on the engineer's judgment call: does this specific building, with this specific detailing, actually meet the assumption behind that R value? A special moment frame rated R=8 assumes the ductile detailing gets built and inspected correctly — skip that step, and the frame can behave more like an R=3.5 system when it matters most.

The code is the floor. Not the finish line.

07/13/2026

ADU rules just shifted under structural engineers' feet — and most haven't caught up. 🏗️
🔹 CA: owner-occupancy requirement for ADUs is permanently gone (AB 976)
🔹 NV: cities over 60K must now allow ADUs by default (AB 396) — Reno's already on board
🔹 NV: fee waiver for ADUs under 800 sq ft in the pipeline (AB 310)
What this means for the structural side:
→ ADUs are unrestricted rentals from day one — investors want duplex-quality engineering, not granny-flat-quality
→ Setbacks + drainage calcs are getting real scrutiny
→ Amnesty programs are forcing structural signoff on unpermitted builds with zero paper trail
The code environment is moving fast. Keep tabs.

— Paul Waite, PE, SE

07/10/2026

Half of US data center builds for 2026 have been delayed or canceled. Not because of the buildings.

5 real numbers holding up the AI buildout:

→ 3–5 year utility interconnection queue
→ 78-week switchgear lead times
→ Multi-year transformer backlogs
→ NEPA review on transmission lines
→ 12–18 month municipal negotiations

The building shell isn't the critical path.

California AB 976 took effect Jan 1, 2026 — permanent elimination of the ADU owner-occupancy requirement.Nevada AB 310 i...
07/08/2026

California AB 976 took effect Jan 1, 2026 — permanent elimination of the ADU owner-occupancy requirement.

Nevada AB 310 is on the same trajectory.

Every ADU built under these rules is an unrestricted rental from day one. That changes the structural design work.

Address

1680 Montclair Avenue , Suite B
Reno, NV
89509

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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