Haven’t seen anything here recently about deck collapses, so I though i would post current news. This happened this past weekend (7/25) in Richmond. I caught a thingie on the news, showed a pic of another deck on the building, it looked like it was cantilevered.
The picture was provided by the woman who lives in the apartment.
“Put your creed in your deed.” Emerson
“When asked if you can do something, tell’em “Why certainly I can”, then get busy and find a way to do it.” T. Roosevelt
Edited 7/30/2009 8:35 am ET by FastEddie
Replies
Here's the article ...
JUAN ANTONIO LIZAMA TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: July 28, 2009
Age and deteriorating wood caused the collapse of a porch over the weekend that injured five people at a South Richmond apartment building, a city official said.
The property owner and management of the Forest Place Apartments in the 3200 block of Midlothian Turnpike secured the doors to residents' porches on Saturday, said Roy W. Eidem, operations manager for Richmond's Department of Community Development.
Notices were sent to residents not to use the 14 balconies in the property.
"The immediate safety hazard is gone," Eidem said during an inspection of the apartment complex yesterday. "They can live comfortably now, as long as they don't go out onto the balcony."
The city issued a citation for an unsafe structure and a citation for defective maintenance for the apartment where the balcony collapse occurred.
Citations were pending for other maintenance problems found at the property during the inspection yesterday, which will be addressed with management, said David Cooper, a city property maintenance inspector.
The owner, listed on property records as Forest Place Enterprises LLC, has the option of restoring or removing the balconies from the apartment units, which were built around 1964, Eidem said.
"They are thinking about removing the balconies completely and replacing them with railings," he said.
If they don't comply, the property owner could be cited for each of the balconies, which could carry a fine of up to $2,500.
"Most people, when they receive . . . citations, they comply," Eidem said. A woman answering the phone at the apartments' rental office said management did not have any comment.
Emergency crews were called Saturday about 8:30 a.m. for a report of a second-floor porch collapse. Five people were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Tasharri Thompson, who lives in the apartment where the balcony collapsed, said her boyfriend was among the injured.
She said she knew that having too many people on the 3-foot-by-6-foot balcony wouldn't be safe.
"I thought it was safe enough for five people," she said. "Three of them were children."
The balconies are made of wood and have no metal reinforcement, Thompson said.
"The wood is rotten and everything," she said.
The city formalized a voluntary deck and balcony inspection program several months ago after a November deck collapse near Virginia Commonwealth University injured 21 people, Eidem said. About 70 properties have been inspected through the program, he said.
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
""The immediate safety hazard is gone,"" ROTFLMAO - the door is still there open to space
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Not to make light of it, but I appreciated the DIY engineering the tenants were doing. Safe for five if three are kids.
3 or 4 months ago we worked on 8, 3 story condos. All the second floor condos have decks. I told them that the decks weren't safe and that they needed to block access to them. No real response except that they didn't want to spend the money. Got a call last Friday to come look. An owner stepped out the door onto the deck which fell and wedged itself between walls. So now we're going to fix.............some of them.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-porches-inspectionsjul16,0,2027500,full.story
this article was just in the Chicago Tribune last week or so.
In the pic, do I see a ledger board still attached with joist hangers still on it?
Isn't that just the rotten ends of the cantelevered joists with brick in between?
yea... I think you are right. The pic is pretty hard to make out - which is why I asked the Q. The line along the bottom of the places where the joists are kinda threw me.
BTW - is that a ghetto swimming pool I see sitting on the top of the wreckage pile? ;-)Ghetto swimming pool = four 2x12s and a piece of poly.. :-)
I was curious what that thing was. Makes sense now, overload the balcony with weight of water, and keep splashing it to keep the joists wet and rotting faster, then sue the landlord for what your own stupidity caused.not that I think this is any kind of a good way to build a balcony deck. Cantilevered joists like that are always a problem and will rot or bring water inside the building envelope sooner or later.
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I was joking about the pool... Remember that one a few years back where that was the case though :-). The sad thing was that that woman had procreated. Wonder if any of her kids will be Darwin winners? :-)
As far as cantilevered decks - at first I didn't know what you all meant. That construction method is so bad it doesn't even get on my radar. Of course I don't make a living going behind other people so my scope is a little more limited.
Re: >> Cantilevered joists like that are always a problem and will rot or bring water inside the building envelope sooner or later. << I wonder how long before the inside floor collapses? :-)
Likly rot/mold in the wall at sheathing between studs and that brick veneer.I also noted the position of the AC penetration and wondered how that whole wall is headerd with large window, AC, and door all under the joist penetrations
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