Inspections
The inspection that tells you what your timber can really do
Before you replace a timber bridge or building, let the data decide. WRD reads real condition and capacity non-destructively, on structures other firms write off, anywhere in the world.
One Accredited Source of Truth
The method behind every verdict
Every WRD inspection is non-destructive, built on EPHOD® Nondestructive Testing and PET (Pulse Echo Technology), Dr. Tingley’s proprietary stress-wave methods that read internal decay and density with no boring and no removed material.
You get three outputs: a safety and condition assessment, a load-capacity rating with defensible limits, and a costed restoration plan, never a demolition order. Because we don’t profit from demolition, restoration wins whenever the data supports it, and it usually does. The inspection can run as phase one of a design project with a client Hold Point, so testing directs the repair decision before engineering is spent. Our lab is IAS-accredited (ISO 17020 inspection, ISO 17025 testing) and ALSC-approved, so the report carries defensible weight with reviewers, agencies, and courts.
Core sample bagged for laboratory analysis
Structural Health Monitoring
Every structure tells a story through data. We help you listen.
Whether we’re delivering an innovative new build or breathing new life into a historic restoration, real-time monitoring is at the core of how WRD verifies performance, manages risk, and protects the people who use these structures every day. Our sensors track structural behaviour continuously and non-destructively, without interrupting operations or compromising the asset.
Non-destructive health inspection on site
Wireless & remote
Data transmitted over cellular or satellite networks.
Runs anywhere
Grid power optional, with integrated solar for remote sites.
Local and global
Reads individual components and connections, and the structure as a whole.
Automated alarms
Continuous data paired with alarm systems for real-time response.
Proof your design performs
On new construction, monitoring data validates the solutions we engineer, confirming the structure behaves as designed, at every connection and across the whole. It’s how we close the loop between engineering and reality.
A safety net for irreplaceable assets
On restorations and aging structures, monitoring is a critical safety tool. We track how a structure responds to environmental loads (harsh winters, storms, and the stresses of construction) and pair continuous data with automated alarms, so we can protect the structure, public assets, and people even under the toughest conditions.
Our Technology
EPHOD® reads the inside of the timber without cutting into it
EPHOD® Nondestructive Testing, Electronic Pulse Highlight & Outline Diagnostic, is Dr. Tingley’s proprietary through-compression stress-wave method, developed in 1989 and the only one of its kind in the world.
It sends a compression wave through the member and times it to locate internal decay and measure density and specific gravity, with no boring and no damage. Combined with assay samples for microscopy, stress-wave times let us quantify loss in specific gravity and analyze the real remaining capacity. Paired with it is PET (Pulse Echo Technology), a second WRD proprietary NDT method, together they read a heritage member instead of sacrificing it.
Non-destructive
On-site
In-situ
Fast turnaround
EPHOD® stress-wave testing on a timber member
What an Inspection Delivers
Three outputs, one honest verdict
1
Safety & condition assessment
A clear read on the structure’s real state: what’s sound, what’s decayed, and how deep it goes, from non-destructive methods, with no demolition bias.
2
Load-capacity rating
What the structure can safely carry today, with defensible load limits you can post, plan around, or defend at review.
3
Actionable restoration plan
A costed, prioritized plan to restore rather than replace: the specific repairs, in order, not a teardown.
Runs as phase one of a design project. An inspection can also open a design engagement with a client Hold Point, so the results direct the design decision before any engineering proceeds, an approach we use with agency clients.
What We Look For
The five questions every inspection answers
Decay & rot
How deep it goes, and whether it’s structural or only skin-deep.
Load capacity
What the structure can safely carry today, with defensible limits.
Connection integrity
Joints, fasteners, and bearings, where timber structures usually fail.
Moisture ingress
Where water is getting in and driving the decay you can’t see.
Historic fabric
The original material worth preserving, not replacing.
Non-destructive
We answer all five without cutting your structure apart.
Global Reach
Wherever the structure is
WRD’s reach extends across more than 55 countries: heritage churches in Ukraine, penstocks in the Andes, hangars and bridges across North America, council bridges and heritage buildings across Australia. Five hundred-plus projects completed, one accredited standard of evidence.
Local teams anchor the USA, Canada, and Australia; the method and the lab travel everywhere else. For local standards, projects, and contacts, choose your region below: or, somewhere else in the world, talk to an engineer.
Inspection FAQ
Common questions
Often, yes. Structures condemned by non-specialists are frequently sound or fully restorable once properly diagnosed. We separate real structural failure from surface decay with non-destructive testing.
Yes. We provide a load-capacity rating with defensible load limits, backed by accredited testing and forty years of timber science.
EPHOD® Nondestructive Testing (Electronic Pulse Highlight & Outline Diagnostic) is our proprietary through-compression stress-wave method, developed in 1989. It detects internal decay and measures density non-destructively, no boring, no removed material. PET (Pulse Echo Technology) is a companion proprietary method.
Yes. It can run as the first phase of a design engagement with a client Hold Point, so the results direct the design decision before engineering proceeds.