Posted on 06/26/2021 11:28:59 AM PDT by rxsid
Engineer Warned of ‘Major Structural Damage’ at Florida Condo Complex
A consultant in 2018 urged the managers to repair cracked columns and crumbling concrete. The work was finally about to get underway when the building collapsed.
Three years before the deadly collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex near Miami, a consultant found alarming evidence of “major structural damage” to the concrete slab below the pool deck and “abundant” cracking and crumbling of the columns, beams and walls of the parking garage under the 13-story building.
The engineer’s report helped shape plans for a multimillion-dollar repair project that was set to get underway soon — more than two and a half years after the building managers were warned — but the building suffered a catastrophic collapse in the middle of the night on Thursday, trapping sleeping residents in a massive heap of debris.
The complex’s management association had disclosed some of the problems in the wake of the collapse, but it was not until city officials released the 2018 report late Friday that the full nature of the concrete and rebar damage — most of it probably caused by years of exposure to the corrosive salt air along the South Florida coast — became chillingly apparent.
“Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion,” the consultant, Frank Morabito, wrote about damage near the base of the structure as part of his October 2018 report on the 40-year-old building in Surfside, Fla. He gave no indication that the structure was at risk of collapse, though he noted that the needed repairs would be aimed at “maintaining the structural integrity” of the building and its 136 units.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Sure but as mentioned above in post 47, there are endless ways things can go wrong... and as mentioned in 54, the forensic analysis should figure it out. I actually am thinking that as these things go, this should be a fairly easy failure analysis....well, we will see soon enough.
Looks like plans are for both south and north buildings. Or they mixed pages up when the scanned it in. These plans were no doubt, paper in 1981.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnprZxQQWQE
For those interested, the engineer who designed the 40-year reinspection program was interviewed the other day on Fox and Friends about the failure….his name is John Pistorino.
I have a friend who lived exactly where that condominium sits today back in the early 80’s. He said that they wanted to build a drug store on that location but the building application was turned down because the geologic conditions were too unstable to build there.
Buildings that are built on a sandy soil will have their foundations supported by deep piers. Underground there was the water table from the ocean. That water table was the issue in the earlier permit application. Salt water can penetrate concrete and slowly cause it to break down, as well as eating into any underlying metal reinforcements used inside the concrete. This will cause the building to settle, causing strains on the structure.
How this condominium was built there is the big question.
Correction: My friend lived there in the 70’s
yeah, it’s a real mix. They probably digitized from old microfiche.
But it is a real blast from the past to look at those hand-drawn drawings. That would be a 50% DD set these days, but back then, they could figure out how to build from that.
Yup. Poured to wet.
I’ll bet the strength cylinder tests were all faked.
According to the real estate web sites, these were privately owned condominium units, plus there is an “association”, which is a corporate entity, with a board that consists of the individual owners (at this point after 40 years the developer probably long ago devolved his shares to the owners) that is responsible for any common elements.
Florida has a requirement in its building code that buildings be re-certified every 40 years, and that report has to be filed with the “building official”, who is the person at the city (usually an engineer or architect) with the responsibility for granting permits, inspecting buildings etc.
A lot of the condo owners probably don’t even the board meetings or care about the complex. Maybe they don’t even want to serve on the board.
Pretty much nobody goes to the meetings where I live. If they condo complex is full of renters the owner doesn’t care as long as the renter’s check clears.
Well, that might be a stretch, given how long ago this thing was built.
For sure, the association will be sued by the individual owners (and probably the board members as well). And you can bet that at least a dozen bottom-feeding law firms have figured out if there are any successor entities for the developer, general contractor, concrete and rebar subcontractors, waterproofing and roofing contractors, architects and engineers etc. But 4 decades is a long time in business, and a lot of those folks might just not be around.
The engineer who wrote the report three years ago will for sure be named, as will any contractors doing work on the building and any maintenance contractors, but even adding all of that up, it’s hard to see that there are any deep pockets or enough insurance for anyone to really collect much. But we’ll see.
I’m sure you’re right. If the units were being ‘rented’ though, I suspect that the owners are going to be held liable. It will be said that ‘they’ should have known any issues.
Concrete...lots of rain...rebar...salt air
what could go wrong in 40 yrs?
Constant battle at KSC and CCAFS on the launch pads.
I saw an aerial photo and from that, I wouldn;t go near that building. Reminds me of Turkey!
Many people with $$$ don’t want to rent and put up with others in their place. I’d expect only about 15% occupied that overnight.
It took several minutes for the building to fall with the final even seen in the video being that last several seconds.
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