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L&G Engineering Laboratory (L&G) has two locations in the Rio Grande Valley to help serve your Geotechnical and Construction Materials Testing needs. The main laboratory is located at 2100 W. Expressway 83 in Mercedes, Texas, adjacent to its parent company, L&G Engineering. L&G also has a full-scale satellite office located in Mission, Texas at the San Jacinto Plaza. Our list of clients includes the Counties of Hidalgo, Cameron, and Starr; the Cities of Hidalgo, Mission, Harlingen, Weslaco and San Benito and the Texas Department of Transportation Pharr District.

L&G Engineering Laboratory was established by Mr. Jacinto Garza, P.E. and Mr. Armando Sandoval, P.E. to provide Clients with the highest quality of service and support they need to design and construct cost-effective, functional buildings, warehouses, roads, highways and bridges. L&G Engineering Laboratory is a limited liability corporation (LLC) and was established on May 7, 2003. All articles of incorporation have been submitted to the Office of the Secretary of State, File Number 800201471.

L&G Engineering Laboratory is a Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) and its certification expires February of 2008. L&G Engineering Laboratory is registered with the Texas Board of Professional Engineers to offer and perform engineering services in the State of Texas.

L&G Engineering Laboratory possesses the necessary tools and equipment to service our clients with needed Geotechnical and Construction Material Testing Services. L&G Engineering Laboratory conducts all field and laboratory testing in accordance with protocols established by the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). L&G Engineering Laboratory is licensed by the Texas Bureau of Radiation Control Radioactive Material to posses and utilize sealed source gauges to perform Nuclear-Density testing.

Roadway Material Production and Construction Inspection Testing

L&G Engineering Laboratory offers Roadway Material Production and Construction Inspection testing services. We have provided the Counties of; Cameron, Starr, and Hidalgo with Roadway Material Production / Construction Inspection Testing on TxDOT funded Colonia Roadway and Drainage improvement projects. In addition to the listed Counties, we have also provided the Cities of Mission, Hidalgo, San Benito, Weslaco and others with similar services.

Inspection at Hot-Mix Asphalt and Ready-Mix Concrete Plants

L&G’s Laboratory Manager and Engineering Technicians have experience in providing inspection at Hot-Mix Asphalt and Concrete plants. Key employees are experienced in the testing of Hot-Mix Asphalt and Concrete in the field and laboratory setting. This includes the testing of Hot-Mix Asphalt at production plants to ensure the product being produced meets requirements. Key employees are certified as THMAPA Level IA Plant Operations technicians. L&G Engineering Laboratory technicians are also ACI Field Grade I Certified. In addition, key personnel have performed concrete plant batching inspection for Texas Department of Transportation roadway and bridge construction projects.

Geotechnical Drilling

L&G Engineering Laboratory performs geotechnical field exploration under the direction of licensed professional engineers. The Sub-Surface Soil Exploration of a site is important to ensure proper foundation design. Drilling, logging, sampling and testing is performed in accordance with industry standards. The driller/logger team will recovers sub-surface soil samples and performs the appropriate field tests, and creates the preliminary Log of Boring by collecting Standard Penetration or Texas Cone Blow Counts and strata description.

L&G uses a 2006 Simco 2800 Drilling Rig, which is capable of performing Standard Penetration (SPT) and Texas Cone Penetration (TCP) testing. Our drilling rig is capable of performing Solid Stem, Hollow Stem, Mud and Air Rotary Drilling and is equipped with an Automatic Hammer for safe and accurate Texas Cone (TCP) and Standard Penetration Testing (SPT).

Sampling/Testing of Soils for Planning, Design and Construction of Transportation Facilities

L&G Engineering Laboratory staff has extensive experience in performing soil sampling for the planning, design and construction of transportation facilities. L&G’s trained and experienced engineering technicians, under the direction of licensed engineers and the laboratory manager, have performed field surveys to determine the general soil conditions at proposed transportation facility sites. Our trained and experienced engineering technicians secure samples of the different soil types found along a project and transport them to the laboratory where a series of tests are performed to determine the soil’s engineering properties. In addition to laboratory testing, L&G Engineering Laboratory’s technicians are also experienced in gathering field data of existing conditions which may need special consideration when planning, designing and constructing transportation facilities.

TxDOT Certification

L&G Engineering Laboratory’s principals and staff are pre-certified by TxDOT to perform work in several different categories. Ricardo A. Gil, Laboratory Manager, is pre-certified in all categories pertaining to the laboratory testing and construction inspection of Asphaltic Concrete (Hot-Mix Asphalt) and Portland Cement Concrete (Ready-Mix Concrete). In addition, Mr. Gil is pre-certified to perform Plant Inspection and Testing, Soil-Exploration and Geotechnical Testing. In addition to the principal’s certification status and the Laboratory Manager’s pre-certified status, L&G Engineering’s key personnel have performed field and laboratory testing under the direction of the Texas Department of Transportation on various laboratory contracts and projects with previous employers.

L&G Engineering Laboratory Facilities and Equipment

L&G Engineering Laboratory maintains 3,000 square feet in Mercedes, and an additional 2,500 square feet in Mission for a total of over 5,500 square feet of combined office and laboratory space. All of our equipment is calibrated by independent certifying agencies. Our Construction Materials Laboratory is equipped with all of the standard test equipment to conduct Construction Materials Testing as required by Cameron County. The following is an abridged list of our field and laboratory equipment:

Full set of 12” Brass/Square opening Sieves 1/34” thru Size No. 200 – Sieve Analysis Testing
Tech-Lab Electric Sieve Shaker – Sieve Analysis Testing
Type E Commercial Mixer – Atterberg Limits / Hydrometer Analysis – Sample Prep. & Testing
Laboratory Glassware – Graduated Cylinders – Hydrometer Analysis Testing
Ohaus Navigator 4100 Gram Laboratory Scale – Laboratory Material Testing
Ohaus Scout II 200 Gram Laboratory Scale – Laboratory Material Testing
Ohaus C-11 30 KG Laboratory Scale – Laboratory Material Testing
Gilson SP-1 Sample Splitter – Sample Size Reduction for Laboratory Testing
Humbolt Liquid Limit Devices – 2 each – Atterberg Limits Testing
Tech-Lab Sand Equivalent Test Set – Sand Equivalent Testing
Ploog Shaker – Automatic Shaker for Sand Equivalent Testing
Quincy Laboratories Model No. 30 Conventional Bench Oven – Material Drying
Quincy Laboratories Model No. 31-350 Forced Air Bench Oven – Material Drying
Rainhart Texas Wet-Ball Mill – Base Material Durability Testing (Tex-116-E)
Ploog Soils Compactor – Moisture Density Determinations, ASTM, TxDOT, ASHTTO
Forney FX-400 Compression Testing Machine – Compressive Strength of concrete specimens
Tech-Lab Concrete Pressure Meters – 3 each – Air content Testing
Slump Cone Test Set w/ Thermometers - Concrete Testing
Troxler Moisture-Density Gauge Model No.9411 – Field Density Testing
Troxler Moisture-Density Gauge Model No. 3450 – Field Density Testing
Humbolt Moisture-Density Gauge Model No. 5001 – Field Density Testing
Trailer Mounted Asphalt-Concrete Coring Machine – Asphalt / Concrete Coring
Troxler NTO Ignition Oven – Asphalt Content Testing & Sieve Analysis Preparation
ELE International Tri-Flex 2 Master and Auxiliary Panels – Soil Permeability Testing
ELE International Digital Tri Test – Multi Loader for Confined and Unconfined Strength Testing
Humboldt Consolidation Load Frame – Consolidation / Swell Testing
SIMCO 2800 HS HT Drilling Rig

Other miscellaneous laboratory equipment includes a material splitter (Gilson), 10’ Reach Hand Auger (Soil Sampling), Coring Rig, (Asphalt Depth Check, Concrete Coring), Stainless Steel laboratory pans and containers, microwave, hot plate, 4 & 6 inch specimen extractor, Rubbermaid Concrete Specimen Curing Tanks, and other miscellaneous equipment required to perform Soils, Base Materials, Concrete and Asphalt Materials Testing. The following is an abridged list of the field and laboratory tests that L & G Laboratory offers its Clients:

Soils and Aggregate

Concrete

Pavement Thickness / Asphalt Quality