One tenant sued the association twice because cracks in the exterior wall were allowing water into his unit. Just think how big those cracks must’ve been! I’m going to guess that if he was still living there at the time of this disaster, he probably lost his life, as the cracks were on his wall...the part of the building that collapsed =o|
The board most assuredly KNEW of the dangers. The engineers had to have told them going back to the observations of 2mm sinking each year back in the ‘90s
If the rate remains constant...
2mm/yr
One cm every five years
The “90’s” were 25 years ago
That’s 5cm sunk since first known
5cm is two inches.
If part of the building was unmoving and the other part sunk two inches? Oh yeah there’d be cracks all over the place..big enough to let rain in.
The pool was reported to be constantly leaking and in need of repair. By the way, this pool is not in ground. It is in the parking garage. The below water parts of the pool are walled inside the lower level, just like the hot tub. Watch the videos carefully to see this. The parking garage appears to be the critical first failure before the collapse and witness requests seem to confirm this. The building fell as though a demolition crew posted charges. It fell from inner lower structural failure. ALL symptoms of structure failure, EVEN the pool.
The pool was the obvious clue to problems with the entire structure. “Hey homer, why do you think the pool keeps crashing and making water into the parking garage?”
Now that I think of it, chlorine is caustic to steal. If leaked pool water settled in the parking garage, where micro cracks developed in the cement (especially the pilings) due to normal settling, that chlorine would eat away the exposed rebar in those cracks. The rebar would rust, swell and pop the cement exposing even more rebar.
Cement repair in condos is ONGOIING on beach front condos. It is a known issue. Unless you live here, you went know this. Entire buildings get their facades and balconies COMPLETELY redone every few years. It’s bad!
I’m leaning more and more toward concrete failure due to unchecked/unmitigated rebar corrosion swelling to split the concrete, beach sand mixture in cement, or ocean water in cement mix. Rebar corrosion is the most probable, but there is a chance the there may be fill under the building, which settlefb over the years and contributed.
The board absolutely knew of the dangers, as they continually repaired damage.
The building will be brought down eventually and there will be no board and no HOA revenue. The surviving families will receive no compensation, which is such a small thing in the light of losing loved ones, obviously.
If the board knew of the dangers, I hope they pay personally, even criminally if warranted
In 2015, a lawsuit alleged building management failed to maintain an outside wall, resulting in water damage and cracks. The owner who filed that suit had previously sued over the same issue, according to a court filing. The management company paid for damages in the earlier case, according to records.Cracked walls or shifting foundations can be clues that sinking has affected the stability of a structure, according to Matthys Levy, a consulting engineer, professor at Columbia University and author of “Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail.”