Posted on 06/26/2021 5:56:00 AM PDT by dynachrome
The partially collapsed Florida condo building, which has left at least four dead and 159 people missing, was flagged as having “major structural damage” in 2018, according to reports.
A lack of proper drainage on the pool deck of Champlain Towers South condo, which sits above the building’s parking garage, was the source of the “main issue,” wrote engineer Frank Morabito, according to the Miami Herald.
Years of standing water had seriously damaged the concrete structural slabs below the deck, a problem Morabito warned would be “extremely expensive” to fix.
“Failure to replace waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” Morabito said in his “Structural Field Survey Report,” which was produced for the Condominium Association.
Officials in Surfside, Fla., released the report late Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“Now I am thinking trailer park.”
make sure you own the trailer lot and it isn’t just a lease ... around here, almost all the trailer lots are leased and the trailer owners are at the mercy of the trailer park owners who often increase rent and fees ... exorbitantly so ...
The duo of reports provide a seemingly conflicting message to the urgency of addressing the problems.
"Still, another 14-page report, which cites an inspection started on Aug. 1, 2018, and completed early the next month, called the condition of the structure “good” on five measures, noting that there was a lack of apparent issues like bulging and settling. That report also cited the waterproofing problem but called cracking in the concrete framing system: “Not significant.”
WSJ June 26, 2021: Another report from the same firm gave the building top grades on several measures
The pool is certainly more believable than global warming.
Thanks for posting this. These discrepancies are very disturbing, to say the least.
I seem to recall the seller is obligated to inform potential buyers of known defects.
That’s all he could say. He was hired for an assessment, not given authority to demand action.
In no way was I implying he should demand action.
Convey urgency is all. Relevant given that the association obviously did plan the upgrade, just on more of a “near future” than “immediate future” basis.
“For another $30,000 can you give us a different structural engineering report that we can afford to keep in our filing cabinet?”
According to the NY Post a building inspector was on the roof looking at the work being done to add the window washer scaffold hanging points mentioned in the 2018 report less than 24 hours before the collapse.
I accept your explanation without question. I did not mean to imply that there was any sort of embezzlement going on or anything like that. In any case the Champlain Towers was about to start a multi million dollar refurb so the money had to come from somewhere. I merely meant to say that that was a lot of money paid in dues over the years and surely there should have been some sort of increase in the cost of dues or other mechanism to purchase extra insurance or make loan payments or what have you to get the refurbishment done before the whole thing came tumbling down.
If I were living there, I wouldn’t even consider staying.
Certainly sounds like the report by the consultant Frank Morabito that you gave the link for in your post 123 is quite enlightening and indicative of what caused the failure.....
My take is the home appraiser was a total hack.
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I wouldn’t hire a ‘home appraiser’ or any other type of ‘home inspector’. What is a far better approach is to bring in specialists... hopefully ones that you already know and trust. Taking this approach might cost a bit more money but I would rather get a report from a licensed electrician, a licensed plumber and a structural engineer than I would from some generalist who perhaps has no direct experience in any of those three areas. As for everything else, I’d rather be doing the inspection myself..
If you don’t know, You are too far gone for me to bother with
“same engineering firm created another report”
Wonder how much money changed hands?
“Now I am thinking trailer park.”
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I’m one of those folks who panic when in any building above 2 floors.
If I am unable to jump to the ground without a reasonable chance of survival there is no way I’m living there.... not even in Trump Tower.
I am simply unable to place my trust in any building above 2 floors.
When I look/looked at buildings just for kicks on the ‘net it would always dismay me when I saw a pool on the rooftop or anywhere inside the building except on the absolute bottom part of the structure. Won’t even trust a pool above a parking garage even if the pool *is* the second floor.
Have always told my beloved no way would he catch me buying ‘air,’ for a residence or business. NEVER.
Are the politics of being elected to a condominium board any different from what it takes to be elected to Congress? Those who promise cheap fixes will always get more votes than those who embrace unpleasant truths. Gresham’s Law is relentless.
I certainly would have had second thoughts about ownership in that building if I had witnessed the leaking pool.
Hey, I’m not the ethics police, I’m repeating what I read. If I were the ethics police I’m sure I’d get a heart attack from work overload in this country.
Exactly!
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