Now every time I go into a high rise or a parking garage, I'm going to be looking at the decking, columns, walls and ceilings. Thank you for this video, very informative.
I didn't realize how poorly a lot of things we rely on are made until I became a welder... and started noticing other people's weld's on everything metal.. Cutting costs and rushing workers leads to catastrophic accident's... Nobody knew in 1981 this building was a ticking time bomb. But it was and it was a lack of care for regular repairs and maintenance to the structure that was the ultimate demise of these poor victims of this tragedy... Human negligence had a domino effect leading up to this tragedy....
Be safe Park your cars on the street, because unfortunately Florida is sinking back into the ocean. And now we're going to have a tropical storm Elsa bring her way into the Gulf of Mexico, which is going to Creare storm surge, which is going to continue to flood out parking garages ,which will cause problems 20 years down the road, because of salt water corrosion to the parking garages. do not park in the parking garages. park on the street.
Idk why stuff like this isn’t on the news. This guy should have a 30 minute segment on major networks instead of the same repeated coverage. People can learn so much more from this.
Josh, if you aren’t already, you should consider becoming a professor in a college of engineering. You would be an incredible professor. You have a gift of teaching, and any college would be lucky to have you!
Every engineer (students as well as practicing engineers) should be REQUIRED to watch this. I appreciate your explanations regarding the epoxy ports, lack of proper workmanship, engineers' responsibility to ensure client understands the implications of those stalagmites and potential severe consequences.
Agreed! Personally I think an entire course dedicated to these construction disasters and how they intersect with code and regulations at every level of government should be required in any undergrad engineering or architecture program, with this event surely being one of the cases discussed.
Trust me they do. What you don’t realize is there is 4-5 years of engineering school, then there is professional engineering licensing performed by the state. First you have to pass the fundamentals of engineering exam that is a nationally standardized exam encompassing all the knowledge you were required to learn as part of your education at an accredited college. After that you have to be sponsored by a professional engineer for a number of years depending on your discipline before you are permitted to take the professional engineering exam, typically around 7 years. Anyone with a professional engineering license knows the importance. The report is good, minus the language as this man properly points out. Another engineer would understand this language and the severity of it, but the lay person wouldn’t. It is highly probable that strong language was not used to avoid legal issues surrounding do people need to be removed from this building at the time the report was written? Which the engineer clearly didn’t believe needed to happen in 2018, but he should have been more clear
As Steven wrote, they already know this. Post Tension Ferro Concrete problems were taught to architecture students in the 80’s, when I was an architecture student. That Construction Methodology is not well suited to salt-water-exposure sites.
You’re either a troll or an *IDIOT* This is quite basic Debris is small and tiny like rubble & there are no big pieces of debris. Look in a structural failure? what would make the materials, end up so small, like a bomb went off?🕵🏽♂️
But why was this one in such bad state when the other two sister buildings were apparently NOT as badly constructed or what, better maintenance?! This crap sold during the snowbird pandemic migrations for $700k-$1.7M!!!!
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings) Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
You are doing a tremendous public service with this series regarding the condo building collapse. The news media should hire you as an expert who has the background and experience to explain and translate industry jargon into laymen's terms.
@Dulce Sunshine You know what puzzles me about this whole thing? Why can't they find any of these missing people? None at all! They started finding bodies in the rubble of WTC (soon after they collapsed those towers by controlled demolition) so why can't they find any of these? Perhaps it was a sinkhole which caused this and all those people they can't find fell into the sinkhole, I don't know. I just question everything we are told in this age. I don't believe ANY of it.
ME WHEN THE BUILDING COLLAPSED: Holy crap, how did that building collapse?! ME AFTER WATCHING THESE VIDEOS: Holy crap, how did that building not collapse sooner?!
Exactly. Any amateur can see that this building is fucked up beyond repair and should immediately be evacuated. But here you have „experts“ who call this „good condition“. I wonder if they got bribed. By the way - could be a coincidence, but Morabito is also the name of an infamous mob boss.
@@marcopolodexplr because the builder isn't at fault here- the building stood for 40 years, after all. The problem was deferred maintenance, not inherently poor construction.
I stayed overnight and was considering buying a condo-hotel unit in Daytona Beach Florida. They were charging almost $700/mth in maintenance fees possibly offset by them renting out your hotel condo room but what got me was the terrible state of the building - water leaking from ceiling right over lobby bar and looked like it had been for ages. Main bar room was sealed off, people told me because of mold - hence water leakage. From the balcony of the room I was in, I saw roof damage with make shift repairs. It was around 12 stories also and made with cement just like Champlain. I luckily put in a low offer -(because I saw a lot of damage and told the realtor about it because I was worried those maintenance fees would need to be increased to do repairs)and it was never accepted. I never imagined how dangerous that damage could be until now. I talked with people during my visit and they told me that all the buildings along Daytona beach were in bad condition like this tower was. I think the humid Florida air and tropical conditions, storms cause these buildings to decay, especially along the beaches.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Really. But I bid on a deteriorated condo in an old Chicago courtyard, in a building that I could see was nothing BUT problems, because I thought that if I could get it cheaply enough, I could overcome the issues. Fortunately for me, I capped my offer very low and was outbid. I dodged a bullet.
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings) Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 , decrepit high rises scare me much more than problematic low rise buildings, because repairs on them are SO much more expensive and complex. I may or may not see an opportunity with a place in a troubled low-rise building, but a high rise with the issues described by the poster above is a total non-starter. You truly do not want it as a gift.
I knew if I gave it a few days, google itself would supply an answer against its will. This is Gog of Magog which along with Twitter and fake news is overturning the planet; to its own destruction and they can't help their stoooopid selves. There used to be a freemasonry of silence but it has become so corrupt that it breaking itself to pieces, it can only fail and every eye shall see it. Revelation 1:7 Tell me I am wrong. They will ban stuff like this but that will only draw more attention because the oil and the wine will not be harmed. Jesus said: what you hear whispered in secret shout it out loud. And he also said the more you have the more you will have.
@@greenlawnfarm5827 Well that is not true either. I know of two less than 5 miles from me that have basements. And I'm in the southern end of Dade County.
@@patmcchesney3135 The visual inspection in 2018 found and explained the extent of the damage to the HOA Board and mentioned the urgency to start repairs. They knew everything they needed to know at that time. However, non-destructive testing WOULD be used during the actual renovation, assessing each visual clue more in depth.
Just watching this video I will never walk into another building without noticing this kind of stuff. Especially if I go vacation at the beach. Many times I have stayed at less than perfect hotels at myrtle Beach because it was cheap. This makes me feel better about our decision to purchase a camper. We have been debating for a while but this makes me think we are on the right track. It's scary how we walk through out lives without a thought to our safety that lays in others peoples hands. We trust them to be honest and make the right decisions and alot of times money and greed can sway those decisions. We take our families, our children into these places. It's such a scary thought.
This type of thing is extremely rare, the odds of getting into a major traffic accident are far higher than becoming the victim of a building collapse, I'd be more worried about being struck by lightning than smooshed by a building.
"We trust them to be honest and make the right decisions and alot of times money and greed can sway those decisions." True of all situations where lives are lost tragically.
As they and the boards should be very nervous, and be prepared to get off their wallets to make repairs. I wonder what the insurance industry will require for buildings of this age to be "insurable" moving forward.
I have over 63 yrs .as a contractor in Florida, and this guy is right on track with his comments. There are a lot of other items to be fully investigated to find the real root problem. Good luck there are lots of roots to be dug up.
@@johndavies2396 Jude74 1 day ago (edited) "The head of the company hired to demolish the remaining structure gave an interview and it’s pretty illuminating. He said the plans didn’t match the building, the pillars were not consistent in size by as much as 8 inches and the concrete was super soft and nowhere near the strength listed on the original engineering plans." www.enr.com/articles/52048-implosion-enables-expanded-search-for-victims-of-champlain-towers-tragedy
@@Brucev7 Does this mean Champlain Towers North was built similarly? If so, it may come down in another few years, staved off because of better maintenance.
I came to this channel by accident and I have to say that the explanation of what has been the best I have seen so far. I am an engineer, not in construction, and you have explained the situation using facts and no drama. Your channel is great and I am going to recommend this channel to my engineering colleagues.
The more I learn about reinforced concrete, the more I think it’s a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings) Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
If you had crumbling sidewalk in front of your house, the city would harass/fine you until it was repaired. They receive a copy of the 2018 inspection report and they fail to even follow up and make sure structural issues are repaired. Insane.
That’s not entirely clear at this point. We don’t know yet, what if any repairs were ordered or made following the 2018 report. Although safe assumption is whatever they did was more cosmetic than structural.
I was wondering about that, everyone is mentioning the 2018 report but is there record of any follow up repairs. And yeah when I changed the gas water heater in my house the inspector wouldn't pass it until I changed some old fittings on the gas line that didn't meet code anymore.
@@upyoursassmonkey There might not be. The 2018 report is on public file because it was submitted to the City as part of the buildings 40 year recertification process. Which the board actually began early, and with a lot of lead time. Any follow up repairs would not have been on public file. So they will have to come from association records and contractor records, etc. those will probably only be made public in the final investigation reports or if subpoena’d for litigation.
As a lay person not interested in construction, my concern is what to look for in a building for safety purposes. The last apartment building I rented has a water leak everyday coming out from the big black pipe located on the ceiling of the garage under the building. So everyday we are driving on a wet concrete coming from the water that leaks out from the black pipe. I learn a little bit from your videos and I already watched 3 of your videos regarding Surfside collapse. Thanks for the effort you are putting in.
Don’t know where you are, but buildings in my region typically use copper for drinking water and black plastic for sewage. If that is a sewage line you have leaking, building structure might not be your most immediate concern.
Ok team, on our next project we have compromised integrity of columns & corrosion of some rebar on the ground level… so let’s start working on the roof.
I believe the month of vibration on the roof as reported started the dominoes. I think they wanted the residents to feel work was being done. The roof was never required. Poor owners
I'm not any kind of professional in building anything but I'm pretty confident that if I ever saw STALACTITES on a parking garage ceiling I would skedaddle. Fucking STALACTITES in their parking garage!?
I’ve seen then in Cosmopolitan & Palazzo basement garages in Las Vegas. They are confined to the exterior walls, but still pretty surprising. I won’t be sleeping those places any time soon.
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings) Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
Me and my father have been working in concrete restoration here in South Florida for almost 20 years, we completely restored the Bluegreen right next door just a few years ago, our room we stayed was right on the dead end facing right at the Champlain towers. Unfortunately my father passed away this year May 10th, RIP Bruce Carley, miss you Dad!
Awww my condolences 💐 and Prayers. Great you got to spend so much time with him even if it was mostly work or not . I’m sure he’s proud . You will never get over it ; but you will eventually find a way to get through it. I say this because I lost my 20 year old and I’m struggling . But I know I’ll eventually get up .
Condolences to you and your loved ones. May your dad be with OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST ENJOYING HEAVEN. GOD WILLING YOU GUYS WILL SEE HIM AGAIN ☝️🙏✝️
They said on the news that they had to replace a water pump every other year or so because they were burning out from pumping out ocean water. One of the victims was on the phone telling her husband that the pool was empty and then the line went dead. There's a video showing water pouring into the garage from the ceiling near the entrance moments before it collapsed. They said the condo association collected over a million dollars a year for maintenance. Obviously didn't spend it on maintenance.
And Maintenance fees don't go to maintenance. They go to trash, pool cleaning, lighting, painting, etc. Maintenance is usually new assessments for repairs.
She saw the pool deck sinking. What she thought was a sink hole. And the water in the garage entrance video was most likely a fire sprinkler pipe. The slab failure of the pool deck dew to poor drainage was addressed. I believe that was the root cause.
@@joe_8699 Yeah I seen another video where they showed how that deck over the garage was retaining water. I used to work at a place that was built around that time with that same type of underground garage and they immediately closed it to repair some cracks in pillars. The building was a hotel and it was recently torn down - cheap, flimsy 'energy crisis' building. It had big cracks in the walls and was right up against a river. They didn't fool around with that like this place had.
@@lesleylesley5821 It makes you wonder where that huge torrent of water was coming from seen on the 7 minutes before collapse video. There was a lot of concrete on the floor visible as well. It looked a foot high and went out of frame of the entrance way so who can know how much had really come tumbling down .
An extremely professional as well as horrifying synopsis of how bad things really were. I myself am a retired general engineering contractor. Thanks for giving it to us straight...
I learned so much by watching this. It’s crazy because I’ve seen deteriorated buildings and bridges with those same cracks before that nobody seems to ever repair. Now I’m gonna probably be paranoid in every building I’m in. I’ll start doing my own inspections lol
All these places are in countries that have been suffering man made disasters. Have you noticed when the weather changes all the used up satellites fall spectacularly. They don't give toss who see them.
You and me both i point it out to whomever im with at the time but like you said nobody seems to care a bridge is going to happen next maybe not even a big one just an overpass but it has to happen judging by what im seeing
Those bridges tend to have WAY more redundancy in them. Meaning, in general, one little piece isn't going to bring the whole thing down. The ones that look like bicycle chains? YEAH, that's a HUGE no-no. Tiny crack did it on Engineering Disasters on History Channel. They have a whole series.
I'm glad you are educating everyone on this because yeah, HOA and board members aren't experts-I don't think any would have known that exposed rebar is essentially a building emergency.
As a private building inspector, I have to say you do an excellent job of stating just the facts without supposition or assumptions. I read the 2018 report first, I also noticed no mention of urgency of repair or life safety. Glad you mentioned the possibility of a follow up letter, but that business model does not "fly" with me. Life safety being what it is, anything potentially dangerous goes IN THE REPORT. Also, my first impression without much data was moisture from the pool deck and or planters migrating through the concrete, rusting the rebar, expansion of the steel and damage/weakening of the columns/connections. BTW, "stucco buckets" without weeps are substandard building practice as you point out. CA just passed laws regarding elevated cantilevered walkable elements and ongoing inspections, as well as ventilation of these structures, due to the balcony collapse a couple years ago.
Exactly. This is not new or something I heard of. This is regular business. This time they got unlucky. Inspector said; it could happen in ten years or 50. They said ok thanks and figured hey, I’ll probably sell by then. Shit
@@2020Dreamlife Right, except the inspector did NOT say it could happen in 10-50 Years. Even though an exact time was not mentioned (and indeed is impossible to calculate) the Engineering Report told the HOA Board that "Failure to repair in the NEAR FUTURE will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand EXPONENTIALLY! Both terms equate to "FIX IT NOW DUMMIES!"
That describes our countries infrastructure. Bridges viaducts dams highways power grid. Everything. All deteriorating rapidly and no Republican support in spending money on repairing any of it. Just kick the can so it’s perpetually the next guy’s problem.
Probably because they are not properly trained, there are no binding standards and regulations in place, and there are no repercussions for those responsible if they fck up.
@@MrArtVein ‘Merica? Buildings collapse worldwide for a myriad of reasons. If you’re American, thank your good fortune and if you’re not here’s a cheery 🖕
This makes me wanna go look in our parking garages. Living right by the ocean does a ton of damage to things. Even inside your house, it's always damp and it wrecks your furniture and things. I know there's black mold in these apartments too. It's scary.
building went down like a controlled Demo.. as a crane op and hubby EODmight want to look closer.. and who was the target. Why has Debbie does Broward show up. I worked in Miami.. know how the game is played with contractors. look at the mayor and the company he hired to do underground work. look at the logo. it means something. KCI technologies. . where have you seen that Blue and white before.. hint.. an Island
@@dunwundering835 what's the point of a controlled demo on a condo building?? Not everything is a conspiracy. Some things are willful ignorance and greed. Buildings deteriorate, especially by the ocean. That's why they need proper maintenance to be brought up to code. Wet, cracked concrete, rusted out rebar, and a sinking foundation don't mix.
@@oshmoogill It's the responsibility of the person making the claims that go against the generally accepted consensus to provide links, when the other person is wanting them. It's not up to the person who doesn't believe your claims to go looking for the information you use to support them *for* you. If the one making the claim had misunderstood their source or had taken from an unreliable or invalid one, their providing the sources they used to arrive to their conclusions would give the person they're trying to convince the ability to know if that's the case.
Wow, this means a lot to me. My staff and I try our best to explain everything to our clients (mostly condo building owners like Champlain) so that they can make well-informed decisions for the care of their buildings. Seems that practice may have paid off!
@@BuildingIntegrity I wish you great success. One question though. If you are hired to give an estimate and analysis and find what you think could be imminent danger, are you mandated to report it to someone?
This guy is just taking the long way around of saying that the building should have been condemned but no one had the balls to do it because who wants to be the consulting firm that takes the responsibility of condemning a million-dollar condo building? It's just hidden in the " industry-standard" language called "bullshit"
My thoughts exactly because if you say that and you are wrong now you are labeled "chicken little". Now you are on the hook for rehoming people unnecessarily and potential "lost rent" or any other fiscal damage they can come up with. The building was in trouble but no one wanted to step up.
@@Heckleburger That's right and this seems to be the deal with EVERTHING lately. Lawyer up and don't claim responsibility for anything, right or wrong...
It didn't need to be condemned. It did need URGENT repair. The consultant used boiler plate language, maybe they'd never dealt with something this bad. But it needed to be dealt with in 2018 not 2021.
@@natsfan100 no it needed to be condemned. Those deposits don't just happen overnight, it was years of neglect. It would have absolutely saved lives if it was.
Interesting...You have made excellent points. That report wasn't written with the expected audience in mind, 8 lay person board members and their property manager.
And the board members are supposed to seek information about all topics that has any relevance to their job IF they don't understand / know about the subject. Not sweeping things under a rug.
@@NickanM which they did. Not only that but they need to get the approval of half of the residents to pay the required $150,000 each to make the repairs or go through a 12+ month process to have a court order each resident pay the $150,000 for the repairs. There was absolutely nothing in that report that would have told board members they needed to seek a court ordered special assessment. They also often need to obtain multiple bids for the project. Even the process of voting on a special assessment can take months. They really acted in a timely manner on this, within less than 18 months of getting the report they had signed a contract with a company to fix it. These types of things cannot reasonably be started faster without a court or city taking over the building.
@@NickanM wow so u have to get a loan or pay from your savings. 150,000. I don’t think that comes easy. I don’t know home ownership rules so forgive and educate me. What does HOA fees cover also?
Wonder if they started on the roof first because that's the only trade contractor that had availability. All the other trades might have been book up/backlogged, lacking supplies for new jobs, lacking a big enough workforce to accept big jobs, ect.. I've been seeing this a lot lately in my field as we are coming out on the pandemic.
Or that was the only trade contractor who would even touch the job. You bring this job to me, if I had a company, I'd tell you that my company is not a demolition company and we do not do demolition work and to find a demolition company because that is the ONLY contractor who had ANY business on this property.
The lines made under the concrete slab where water was flowing from the rusted cracks would also indicate that the slab was already tilting. Depending on the position of the person taking the photo that might reveal that the slab was already tilting significantly. I'm not an engineer but I understand physics. The underside of that slab would not have been even and water flowing horizontally along the surface would seek the easiest path. The water lines should have been short and lead to stalactites (as in other images) or (if the water flow was more consistent and continuous) at least radiate out to various points around it in every direction. All of the lines leading in the same direction indicates that this slab was already tilting downward at the distant end from where that photo was taken. I hope the consultant has a good understanding of where he or she was standing while taking those photos because that may prove to be useful in the investigation.
Now when i go on vacation to any hotel, i guess I'll be looking at building history and floor plans. World 🌎 is crazy. God bless these families & the rescuers.
I spent many years building Precast parking garages, and I can assure you that they are built 1000 x better than this building was. The cast in place slab constructed ones are much more vulnerable to collapse. The ones I would put up were built by High Concrete inc, and every piece of that building was made to withstand large magnitude earthquake. The pieces have pretentioned cables throughout them as well as regular galvanized rebar and wire mesh. The entire structure is built on rubber pads, and is allowed to expand and contract or move with sizemic events. This ensures that the chances of cracking or spalling from settling or expansion is minimal due to the tolerance between all the individual pieces that make up the building. If you can't tell the difference between the two types of construction all you have to do is look up at the floor above. If the floor and walls appear to be a bunch of different pieces put together like a puzzle its a precast garage, if it looks like one giant building with form marks and such its a cast in place slab type construction, such as the building talked about in this video.
I was a safety manager at a company that made more than a million dollars a day. There's currently a week spot in the garage that I had to beg executives to fix before a car falls through. This is business as usual unfortunately
Yeah, the former maintenance manager said there was water seepage into the garage from below during high tides... back in the mid 90's. There is a lot more damage than what the engineer who wrote that report was unaware of. miami.cbslocal.com/2021/06/27/condo-collapse-former-maintenance-manager-william-espinosa-was-concerned-about-saltwater-intrusion/
Well, if you flew from Miami beach along the coast to Singer Island which is a good 100 mile trip, you would flip to see the thousands of condo towers there are on the ocean & intercoastal.
@@danr9584 That's the scary part if this is related to high/low tides. Inspectors would basically need to show up at the right time to see the true issues. If water was rising up from below the foundation, that tells me that soil had to have been washing away below for years.
I was in all types of construction for 40 years mostly as a leader. I was a third generation firefighter and I am a Three Dimensional, Outside The Box, Thinker. 1. There is most likely nobody alive in that pile of rubble. 2. If there is, they won't be alive by the time they get to them. 3. If you had a stack of concrete pancakes and there was a sausage in the middle, you wouldn't dig straight down in the center, you would go horizontally between the layers. If the layers were too tight to get between, what are you searching for? Where are the bedrooms? Dig at those locations but from the side! 4. For every worker actually working, there are 10 standing around In Harm's Way, doing Nothing so Risk vs Reward factor doesn't compute! In all these videos ask yourself, "What are they accomplishing?" 5. Therefore, they should be removing material quickly but from afar using heavy demolition equipment with a minimum of workers in the danger area. To cut rebar with a torch for example. 6. Logic and common sense has to dictate the direction of the work, not emotions or politics.
Thank you for your comment. I know it sounds insensitive but even an uneducated person can see, no common sense being used here. Of course we all appreciate the heroes, but this doesn't look good.
@@MemineAussi You have to do a thorough inspection of the remaining structure Before you send "Rescuers" in. You have to eliminate as much loose material from that structure to limit falling debris. I saw them doing that in another video.
I am a Professional Engineer. Your comments are pretty much what I have been thinking, but previously have not commented. I would only differ with you in the idea of heavy equipment removing debris. What WAS needed the day after the incident was manual labor, lots of manual labor, in the form of buckets brigades, many, many bucket brigades, removing debris, with large pieces being hoisted out. There simply is no high tech way to remove debris without endangering anyone unfortunate enough to be buried. The rescue response was essentially too little, too late. I mean really , 90 hours after the incident , now you bring in Israeli and Mexican rescue teams. Save the jet fuel, it's too late folks.
Thanks for the most informative talk better lecture l have heard in many years and certainly will take note when I see this type of cement cracks in future. I am 80 years old and never stop learning from South Africa Lee
As a person in the commercial construction side of the industry this disaster really hurts to watch. The worse part of that report is if the average person was to read it: in this case the people from the condo association, they could easily come to the conclusion that the structural problems need to be address but nothing too alarming to worry about of now. It lacks the real urgency that we tragically all now know was needed. I really hope that there is some other letter out there urging them to wake the hell up your building is in danger of failing. A building just doesn't fall on its own. There has to be a string of failures to bring one down. Years of maintenance neglect, inaction by the HOA to make proactive repairs sooner, lack of urgency in the building report, failure of surfside inspectors to take action, perhaps accelerated building settling in the past 20 years and maybe design or construction oversights from original construction all coming together over the time span of 40 years that lead to this disaster.
You are absolutely WRONG my friend. And from the looks from your comment your a stand out in position to make alot of money with your scare tactics. I've worked construction on Pensacola, Fl area where we put up PLENTY of Condos on the most BEAUTIFUL BEACHES IN THE USA! Without a doubt your trying your best to push the issues with scare tactics my friend for some reason. People need to take in account what the Government's been up to as of a few century's now. There are SO MANY things that we're not taken in account, because people don't know what the hell is taking place right under our noses. Not talking about conspiracy theories either. People need to wake up and quit looking down at your phones and doing precisely what the Government wants you to do. We are being railroaded and acting like a Flock of Sheep's being lead to slaughter. Just a few examples cause i know that i need to be on Main Stream with this instead on this one man's comment page. If you truly want to know what TIME IT IS, then you need to look me up. Cause this story is so BIG! That I don't know exactly how i should put this out there on what i do know. Has something to do with what their doing, and hiding it from us. What do you think is causing all the sink holes we been witnessing, and how that is getting worse everyday. Sink hole's loses alot of support to building's, cars, high rises. And what could possibly be behind all of these..? I can tell you..
Condo associations are diffrent from the owners. The owners get all the information and only repair what code calls for not whats deemed by addituonal engineering. The basic minum required is whats aleays accomplished. In other words inspections a joke and the state loves letting rich people polish there Turds.
@@22floridacat I would say some sort of disturbance underground like fracking or tunneling/clear underground areas? Just a guess because in UK I lived near seaside resort with old houses right on beach area for hundreds of years. So beachside living can be done. I was concerned about the construction of this building having corners cut also.
Does that mean the original owners of OTHER problem buildings will now simply create a legal empty shell corporation and transfer ownership of those buildings? Then if a lawsuit occurs, the residents can't sue the original owners who collect rentals from the holding corp as "investment returns".
@@fraidykat All over the world, you build, invest in something, everything gets old, deteriorates, you decided to stop pumping money into it, you sell.
@@Brucev7 You seem to fail to comprehend that a quality product requires little to minimal upkeep and lasts an exorbitantly long time despite receiving so little input. A shit product falls apart no matter how much you put into it literally starting the day you finish it. A shit product is made from substandard materials using corner cutting measures and the lowest paid contractor.
I saw enough of the Miami high-rise construction scene to dissaude me from ever living in one, let alone in Miami. So much beauracracy, bribery, and backstabbing in thosr construction contracts, followed up by shoddy half-assed work.
GOOD question for you ... Pile foundations used in Miami Florida. Are/were they Normally Friction or End Bearing Piles used? AND what did they use for this building? IF ANY OR JUST A SLAB ??? Also what are they using or used for those 20+ story buildings in Miami parked on man made silt-dredged up islands? Like along Brickell or the rest of Collins Ave?
@@samreynolds3789 Quite. It was EXACTLY the same in the UK too, there were some serious collapses, and many had to be pulled down after barely 20 years they were so poorly made. I would never even consider living in one. They were all thrown together from cheapest possible materials by workers who didn't know or care what they were doing.
Actually, no expert as carried out any analysis of anything yet. There is still not enough data acquired. The wreckage has to be removed and the pieces inspected first. This expert basically pointed out the bad things that were so bad that the inspectors had need been forceful i enough in their recommendation to either condemn the building or carry out serious structural repairs without delay.
As a daugther of architect I completely agree with u. I can't see info about this horrible tragedy in Florida without tears. RIP, no hope to find smbdy alive.
Absolutely. When I looked at it at Google maps, EVERY other building around it looks well kept and clean, including the sister building that was built at the same time. This deadly mess was caused by negligence aka greed. The roof looks horrible, the facade has a lot of cracks, the balconies is missing pieces of concrete and so on. Great job, HOA. Great job....😑
Apparently the building next door is a “sister building” part of the same development built approx 12-15 years later. This morning a concerned occupant was being interviewed by a news reporter in the parking garage pointing out a large crack and substantial chunk of concrete broken off in a structural column. The man said the collapse next door caused the (visible) damage to their building.
@@peterjszerszen Champlain North seems to use the same modified plan as Champlain East. Both have a shorter "arm" than Champlain South. I wonder if this was due to the limits of the property they could buy, or if they realized with Champlain South that they built too close to the ocean, and scaled the two other buildings back.
A building maintenance man was saying every time there was a king tide the garage would fill up several feet in salt water and the pumps couldn’t pump it out. The water would just sit there until it all seeped out.
The whole neighborhood has the same problem. Nobody is talking about the sea level rise they have been warned about. Millions spent trying to mitigate it with pumps , but maybe it's just too late.
@@vogue43 I've seen videos, unrelated to this, of a garage in the neighborhood with more than 6 inches of salt water regularly. Residents are warned to park at their own risks, common for that area.
t · wth?! Where did u see that, Id like to see and share as well....the more info we as citizens put out there and share the better off we'll all be exposing this greed of the rich and the crooked politicians!
They should probably move people out of those buildings if they're doing work though...if that building is a certain amount of years old...cause you never know what can happen.
I appreciate that I have enough knowledge from your videos to know how to do an "at a glance" inspection prior to entering any high rise. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and in terms that are not only understood but not boring.
I remember the horrendous experience when replacing my roof on my home here in Surfside some yrs ago. All that weight of 5 or so workers, & constant hard pounding to remove & replace old wood caused my water pipes to burst. Many homes with concrete foundation have water pipes in attic, as mine. The roofing company refused to claim responsibility for that or the edge patio tiles they broke from throwing old barrel-roof tiles & wood from roof area to ground. I had to threaten to sue to get them to replace patio floor tiles. My cost to fix water pipes which entailed tearing out some interior walls & ceilings. Can't imagine why a condo bldg. in that deteriorated condition would start with roof repair (roof leak?) if it put rest of bldg. in distress mode.
@@GH-oi2jf Yes, certainly. I agree. The foundation was obviously severely compromised. I believe it was a combination of problems that created that rare perfect storm.
It's not the contractors fault if the pounding/vibrations of roof work precipitates a pipe failure. Nothing they coulda/shoulda done differently, right? They shouldn't have broken the tiles though.
@@jimbob5891 No, you're right. They payed for the tile... grudgingly. But did. As for the pounding on the roof, people should consider the house shocks & noise that will be inevitable bcz of the banging, and possible added expense when doing roof (collateral damage). The reality should not just be a decision about the roof. Any or all other pipes in attic may be affected and to get to them, walls may have to be torn out and new sheetrock reinstalled, painted and/or tiled.
One building can "age" much differently than an identical building due to weatherproofing (including painting) ...this exterior coating can preserve the building in a superior form, as compared to an uncoated exterior or poorly applied paint job... the window quality also applies. Solid windows and wearherproofing are NECESSARY to keep a building intact. I think that's why they started at the roof... thinking that it would be the main source of water intrusion wear and tear... but ultimately it was the pool deck/garage structure that held the water weight with corrosion and ultimately failed.
The condo association knew the pool deck was constantly flooding. They even filed & won a civil suit against the building next door for allowing rainwater to flow into the collapsed condo
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings) Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
Subscribed! More information from your last three videos than from the newscasts about this horrific collapse. Thank you for explaining in terms that a non-engineer like myself can easily follow and understand. My heart goes out to all affected by this failure, and I hope any remaining survivors will be found.
Some have 50 YEAR...MOST HAVE ZERO U THINK THIS IS BAD...BRIDGES WERE CRAZY BAD...NOW THEY HAVE REGULAR INSPECTIONS. THE STAT WAS WORLD WIDE. EVERY 30.SECONDS A BRIDGE FAILED. of course u have to know their definition of a BRIDGE but in thr 80s when i would go over a BRIDGE with engineers in the car...i drove a lot of them...i would.casully mention that.finding...lol. they didnt.belirve it till i told them thr month and page of.the report... Pretty funny
Just one time, just try it, and I guarantee you will find the concrete workers and finishers told the cement truck driver to add water after the inspector checked and certified the trucks load of mud. Not a little water but lots and lots of water especially in the summer. Dive away and just as you leave the sight turn around and know everything you thought you knew about concrete is worthless and you see those workers splashing around in wet, structurally damaging wet mud. I dare you to be of some worth for once in all your years of inspecting concrete. Now, in Canada there is not that much of a need for lots of water in the mud. I am talking in the south. Do not tell me about water reducer. The use of water reducer in the southwest is a joke.
It is up to owners to maintain their property. In a condominium, there is collective ownership of the structure, so there is collective responsibility. But condominium owners often have a tenant’s mentality. They want “the association” to take care of things, but they don’t want to pay special assessments.
A shockingly high number of residents would appear to have been Lawyers. Which probably means much of the 8 person board likely were lawyers, practicing or retired. That strikes me as a very bad report to hand to a board of lawyers, as there was just enough vagueness in it to leave them arguing over the meanings for years.
RE: Vibrations - there are reports that the residents had been complaining about vibrations from construction in an adjoining property for some time. I used to be a NACE member and know that this kind of thing is just beginning.
well there are a lot of idiots that don't know what the like and dislike buttons are for, they clicked on dislike because they disliked the topic talked about in the video, I know it sounds impossible but yes THERE ARE SO MANY IDIOTS OUT THERE...
@@sophierobinson2738 I know you want to believe that these are honest mistakes by people new to TH-cam, but the truth is that there a lot of idiots out there.
vaso opel Yes, there are. And some down vote just to be jerks. And some are tin-foil hat wearers who will believe every conspiracy that comes down the pike.
Thank you for following up from the first video. This explains more. The damage all over the building is astounding. And most of the pictures are from 2 years ago. It does make you wonder why it didn't collapse earlier. The water intrusion was significant and the spalling all over was advanced.
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings) Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
most telling & heartbreaking to me was the sons account of his mom calling him at 1:30 am, moments b4 the collapse. she heard creaking, thought it was an earthquake & saw a sink hole by the pool, screamed & phone went dead.
There was a women standing on a 4th floor balcony south side of the beachside building speaking with her husband on a cell phone. She had just told him a crater opened up on the pool deck and the connection was lost. She is listed as missing.
I'm working my way through your videos after just discovering your channel, and just wanted to say that you provide such an informative and easy to understand explanation of all the points you cover. I initially learned about the Champlain Tower tragedy via a podcast, which was obviously just audio descriptions with no visual material, so for someone like myself who knows basically nothing about construction/structural engineering it was often difficult to picture what they were discussing (the building layout, the existing damage, how the collapse played out, etc). Your videos are such a huge help in understanding what everything looked like and what exactly happened - as well as providing interesting knowledge about construction in general, e.g. what causes different types of damage.
That’s exactly why I don’t do high rise apartments,my grandmother always said never live in them cause you may never know the Foundation of the property.
As a retired HVAC project engineer, it was my responsibility to inspect and report on the condition of fire and smoke systems. I had to physically check smoke controls and physically inspect ductwork fire dampers for proper operation in case of a fire. Mostly I worked in NYC hospitals and the underground subways. I would never issue and stamp a report without great detail. In case of defective systems it was my job to accurately document such and to propose corrections. In fact, I was fired from an engineering firm because I refused to certify the fire systems in a hospital. The owner of the company I worked for could have cared less. Within 1 week I notified the building manager as to the faults, of which they already aware. I never certified the report my boss wanted and I was fired. But, that lead to 3 job offers and within 2 weeks I joined an international firm which was concerned with honesty. I was never asked to fake reports for the rest of my career.
Exactly, in Taiwan we have a nickname for efflorescence, "wall cancer." As long as water still flows inside through the concrete, the efflorescence will continue to grow and shorten the lifespan of the building. The best solution is to evacuate the building.
Is there any way, "wall cancer" CAN BE DIAGNOSED, before a DISASTER? If water was flowing as you state, wouldn't there be signs or sounds? Do they use any pilings for a foundation? Weirdly, the pool is getting blamed for this "wall cancer" on the top floor.
@@debbyrobertsschabes647 Where you see spalling on the outside of a concrete structure water is penetrating the concrete. The usual reason is that the concrete was too thin covering the rebar. A MINIMUM of 2” (50mm) of concrete is required to prevent corrosion of untreated rebar. Galvanised or stainless steel rebar can get away with less…
Another question: one of the local Miami area television stations interviewed a man who was on the phone with his wife, who was staying in the building, at the time of the building collapse. She told him that she heard what sounded like an earthquake and looked outside to see the pool deck collapsed, as if a sinkhole had opened up (obviously, it wasn't a "sinkhole," but a collapse of the deck into the underground parking garage). The building then collapsed, and he lost the phone connection. His wife is among the missing. Could the initiating cause of the collapse have been a failure of the pool deck (ground level concrete slab between the pool area and the building), causing damage to one or more columns and/or leaving the columns unbraced (KL/r), leading to subsequent column failure?
@@SimmerdownTX All it takes is the slab to buckle one or more columns as it comes crashing down. Keep in mind the the horizontal slabs and beams also are the braces that keep the columns from buckling.
@@SimmerdownTX Yes! If the concrete slab at ground level (above the parking garage) failed, the unbraced height of the columns at the building's base would change from approx. 10 ft. to 20 ft., greatly reducing their capacity to carry the load of the 12-story building above. Try an experiment: take a short wooden stick and try to break it by loading it axially from the ends; then try to do the same with a much longer stick of the same diameter; the long stick is more likely to fail (break) due to buckling rather than pure compression.
Thank you for the excellent explanation. It's so sad to see how contractors, engineers inspectors and the association put their own personal interest and greed before people's lives. All responsible people for this tragedy must be held accountable and criminal charges should be filed against responsible individuals.
I couldn’t imagine paying 600,000 to 700,000 for a place that look like I’m living in the hood. This is absolutely ridiculous and I hope someone is held accountable for all these precious souls lost.🙏🏾😢💔
They were nice inside a good amount of them. They are very large bigger sq ft than my house. You can look through old listings on Zillow. Some very beautiful inside.
Amazing that salt spray was not even mentioned. 21 years ago, my wife and I were in a hotel in nearby Fort Lauderdale, next to the beach, where the old fashioned outside south facing windows (made from steel) could not open because they were rusted out.
There is only one reason this happened. The residents refused to approve the necessary repairs. They would have been about $110,000 per unit. The approval didn’t come until it was too late
@Mark Gillett - That cost per unit (~$110,000) matches my calculation. This is an astounding number and I cannot imagine incurring that kind of cost for a repair to a home that. It is nearly the cost of my current home. This is an extreme example but demonstrates but one of the many reasons why I would never, ever buy a condo.
Having lived in a condo years ago and being on the board, It sure sounds like an unwillingness to pony up the dough was the fatal error. The owners were also misled by reports that downplayed the urgency of taking action. I wonder what happened in 2020 when a prospective buyer applied for a mortgage. Wouldn't an engneering report be required by the bank giving the mortgage?
I spent time in real estate in Charlotte NC before the collapse of the market and my daughter was a property manager. So I have some understanding of how condo Assoc operate. From my perspective the board made a number of errors. First and foremost they failed to build up sufficient reserves which would have made the repairs more palatable Despite the reaction from the media and many others, most condo buildings are not about to fall down. It is the collective responsibility of the owners to maintain the structural integrity of the building. As I stated before, the fault lies with them I, also would not live in a condo due to associations which are mostly run by idiots that believe it gives them the power to tell you what and how to live When I moved to Florida over 10 years ago we looked for a home with out a homeowners association
I did some Work here in Silver Spring Maryland installing Security Cameras Throughout A newly built Bus Depot Two levels The Concrete Contactors made a mistake laying the Concrete Platforms the concrete was an Inch or 2 less than was supposed to be all of a sudden cracks appear through out the entire 2nd level instead of tearing it out and to re-due it they didn't want to lose money so they just shot some type of filler in all the cracks to fill in the Concrete Platforms where Buses drive over it's only a matter of time before you will hear about it collapsing . These General Contractors will Cut Corners just to save Money and get a Bonus for completing before Time
How could they just let these issues go hidden i dont understand this … Im shocked I have to have liability insurance as an RN and am held accountable for anythinggggggg i do or neglect to do !!! I can be held accountable for anything !! Its hard to believe these people just passed the buck and just hid things Im an RN but came across your channel while searching this tragedy … Im learning so very much !!! Definitely will be using your info if i ever move to any high rise Im now fascinated by the complexity of how structures are built and actually am very glad i came across your content Thank you ✨
I too came across these videos because of the condo collapse tragedy 💔… I want to know/ understand why it happened. I frankly will never live in a high- rise and certainly not one built essentially on sand. Much will be learned from this eventually but at the expense of lost lives. It’s so horrible. I agree that Building engineering is very interesting. I not too long ago read the non- fiction book Devil in the White City ( Chicago) which alternates stories between an active serial killer at that time with the building of the 1893 World Fair in Chicago and the architects / builders who constructed it. I couldn’t put the book down …. the builder (s)of the World Fair including the architects previous experience building skyscrapers back in those days was unbelievably fascinating. More interesting than the serial killer story, imo. I highly recommend it to you if you find these videos interesting. I think you’ll like it.
One of the witnesses did mention about salt water accumulation in basement garage 2 ft deep and after a while the water drains they tried pumping the water out but were not that successful, can you please shed some light?
Alarming! How foolish to ignore the alarms ! That little inner voice ? The one that warns , don't board that plane today , You obey , and live to tell another story , . How many of us hear that voice , ignore it and RUE the day , . Ani Angela messenger AROHA NUI Endsoftheearth
Association Bords ignor Maintenance ignor Property Managers you could tell them “its going to fall” “its a pool of water down hear you guys need to approve concrete repair Fast I mean Fast” show them pictures be like hey look at this hello and they be like Oh no no no order some new Pumps one burns in a week oh no order two more and its a endless replace replace and pushing the proper way to the side and sad tragic things happen.. what am trying to say is you could be Maintenance at a condo association building but final decisions are never upon Maintenance you could suggest but its up to them if they follow or not
@@joseovelasquez6264Air crash investigators work on the basis that it is almost never one person or one mistake that brings a plane down, but a succession of interacting mistakes by different people. Even at this early stage I think the blame is going to be shared out among the constructors, the consulting engineers, the property managers and the workmen.
From what I read in those forms and specifically the emails they were pushing to do the roof first and foremost because of the coming rain season, they wanted to get ahead of it and it was supposed to be about a 2 week job tops. Interestingly enough, one of the residents who was also a former board member who quit due to constant fighting on disagreements with other board members had complained about the way the work was being done and how they were heating the tar under her apartment balcony and then taking it up a crane and how dangerous it would be if it fell on her or someone else’s balcony. But the main complaint was about the smell, her husband who’s a Vietnam veteran and is 87 years old had trouble breathing which was made worse by this smell. Work was forced to stop because of this single complaint. They are unfortunately also among the victims that are still unaccounted for.
Having started my career building PT bridges in the bay area, and later becoming a welder - everything this man said is accurate and presented in a way for most to understand. Living in Arizona, the issues found with this structure happen at a much slower rate. The reality of how harsh and how rapid it can rust and deteriorate steel once opened to the atmosphere is significantly more rapid. The way you mention "half effort repairs" or "completely improper repairs" is also accurate. I see it often in steel repairs also. Welder sees a crack, grinds crack, welds over crack... well, the problem becomes the crack continues. In nearly every case, it is insufficient. The crack must be gouged 100%, often times (if possible) back plated, the ends of the crack drilled to prevent the crack from continuing its path, then welded properly. I have also welded internally in massive tanks, where the rust has sealed cracks that are visually undetectable. Once grinding and hammering/ chipping and welding begins to occur (vibration and thermal expansion/retraction), several other spots may open themselves up to leaks... which is why I always pressure and leak test. Very similar to your description of the roof construction vibrating the PT cables. The way the building was described as "creaking" is likely the PT cables stretching and contracting... RED FLAG 🚩 Food for thought: rust is often described as "corrosion" but to me more specific, it is actually oxidation of the steel (if we are being specific its actually the iron element "Fe" in the "steel" that oxidizes and forms rust). The concrete of a structure can probably best described as an insulator for the steel; much like a rubber coating on an electrical wire, keeping electrons in but in our current interest, keeping the atmosphere out, or to a minimum. Perhaps for those that don't quite understand the decay process, you could relate it in this way. Also. Should we explore the potential of hydrogen embrittlement of the steel cored structure?
"Should we explore the potential of hydrogen embrittlement of the steel cored structure?". No, because it does not apply here. Nice try throwing in big words as an attempt to impress.
This recalls the collapse of the Clarkson Hospital Parking Garage in Omaha, Nebraska. Can't remember the year, presumably in the early 1970s. A friend was working in an adjoining building on the fourth floor of the University of Nebraska Med Center and happened to look out of the window at the moment the entire multi-story parking garage simply . . . pancaked and collapsed! She couldn't believe what she had seen. The first worry: was anyone entering or exiting the garage and were any people walking within to their cars? The collapse happened in the mid-afternoon and . . . MIRACULOUSLY . . . no one happened to be in the garage at the time! No one walking. No one driving around seeking a parking space or exiting the garage. Damages were consequential, but only material, no morbidity or mortality. Your video on this disaster brought that event to mind. You are excellent in explaining the disastrous engineering, financial and mortality issues surrounding this Florida collapse. Watch everyone of your videos. We can learn so much from failure. In fact, there is a company which does nothing but review engineering failures. I believe their name is "Failure Analysis, Inc." We handled their retirement and pension plans.
Do all the highrises in that area simply have an expiration date because of sea water under the ground? All the maintenance in the world may only buy a little time. Is anyone analyzing the ground? Nevertheless, thank you for your hard work on this.
Seen a story from a old building employee where the tower was flooding all the time where they were going thru pumps every few years the sister tower doesn't flood it flooded with salt water maybe someone screwed up the building pad and it was a ticking time bomb from day 1
There is an underground public car park in Croydon town centre (Surrey, England) that is still there BUT when I left there 17 years ago, there were stalactites and corresponding stalagmites that were around 30cm in diametre and a metre in length.. big and chunky and lots of brown rusty water flowing everywhere.. all the time. This car park in under a main road and flanks one side of an underpass... 🥺 I may add, the photos of Champlain dont look as bad as the car park I'm referring to did/does...
@@kentkirkpatrick7953 In the western US our building standards are much higher than most places in the world. We build and engineer with earthquakes in mind also. The south is probably the worst example of standards. Florida has awful standards i. They got more money than brains.
It depends on how overengineered a building is.There are many deteriorating pre-WWII structures in Berlin for instance, that are not collapsing. These condo buildings are supposed to look sleek and gracious, so the margin of error is significantly smaller.
Excellent presentation! I’m a retired PE (Mechanical) with 49 years of experience and I appreciate the factual, followed by explanation, coverage? A question though: How should they build near the coast? Concrete and salt water will get to steel rebar eventually. I’ve read articles against coated rebar that shows the coating invariably getting damaged. Stainless rebar is available but I gather it’s rarely used. Codes seem to be slow to incorporate high strength fibers, stainless steel needles, etc. I looked up rotary cast concrete transmission line poles and, while they show rebar, nothing is said about it being anything but steel- and that’s expecting a lifetime standing in brackish, or salt, water. How would you build the perfect 15 story condo?
This whole situation is so heartbreaking and tragic. I really hope that other people will learn from this and make sure needed repairs are done quickly and correctly before another tragedy happens. I found this video extremely informative. If I ever consider moving into an apartment or condo, I'll know of a few things to look for before signing anything. I'm sure there's a massive list of things to look for that most people are completely unaware of.
Thanks for the video. Plain English making it very easy to understand what appears to be a serious problem that was being ignored as a result of numerous factors. Terrible loss of life that I unfortunately believe we will be told was avoidable.
I work in the concrete repair world and it sad to see this happen, people don’t take the subject seriously and often push back on refurbishments and repairs, when the works are carried out they often neglect the route cause of the deterioration and just patch the repairs . When you see spalling this bad you often need to introduction corrosion inhibitors or even sacrificial anodes to mitigate the risk of incipient anode effect ( called halo effect in US)
It’s seems that the salt water in the basement was the biggest factor. Years of flooding in the basement would have been a big factor in damaging the foundations.
Actually, Josh says the pool deck was recorded to have dropped 10 centimeters from original position, in another video, so if this is a "global warming caused it" comment, nice try. Pool chemicals, constant wet state because of poor drainage and atmospheric salt from ocean were primary factors. The occasional hurricane didn't help either.
@@PayNoTax-GetNoVote don't think this is a climate change comment. I live like 20 minutes from this building, when it rains, it floods. Doesn't matter if it's only been raining for 5 minutes, that area is gonna flood right away. Florida is 6 feet under sea level, so any type of basement will flood automatically. Most of us locals didn't know this building had a basement because it doesn't make sense to have in South Florida. Typically most buildings with an underneath parking lot typically just do the lot on the first floor and the building starts on the second floor with roof parking, this building didn't do that.
Since this building is next to the water, saltwater definitely was getting in there with minimal rain and our hurricane season brining water onto shore.
@@PayNoTax-GetNoVote Yeah everybody living on the FL coast should probably wait until they are knee deep in water before they begin to worry about global warming, genius.
@@billzardus95 Miami Beach was already supposed to be flooded according to noted scientists like Al Gore. Still waiting for that. You must’ve been disappointed when the Millennium scare and the Mayan calendar ending didn’t pan out either.
Building came down like a house of cards. Every thing came apart as if it was professionally demolished. This entire design was shit from the first day these buildings broke ground 40 years ago.
Dayummm bro this building should have been Red Tagged w/ all that Spalling and Corrosion Complete Retro Fit w/ Boxed Columns and Concrete Shearwalls added from ground/Roof man such a tragedy, sad, I’m A Deputy Inspector out of Los Angeles so I understand the seriousness of Concrete Cracking & Spalling-Especially sea side-🙏 to the families, your doing a great job Bro getting this info out there👍🏼🍻
it's about owners not wanting to pay for the repairs, I've seen it in 5 condos I lived in, all in Flordia, in 5 I couldn't a find one that was safe, what's that say? They like to patch and paint over the problems, out of sight out of mind!!!!
![ประสบการณ์ จ้าง Developer ที่ผมจะไม่มีวันลืม [ภาค1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bzivN4KDg-k/mqdefault.jpg)
Now every time I go into a high rise or a parking garage, I'm going to be looking at the decking, columns, walls and ceilings. Thank you for this video, very informative.
My thoughts too.
fr!!
Life depends on it. I look airplanes over carefully before flights too…
I didn't realize how poorly a lot of things we rely on are made until I became a welder... and started noticing other people's weld's on everything metal..
Cutting costs and rushing workers leads to catastrophic accident's... Nobody knew in 1981 this building was a ticking time bomb. But it was and it was a lack of care for regular repairs and maintenance to the structure that was the ultimate demise of these poor victims of this tragedy... Human negligence had a domino effect leading up to this tragedy....
Be safe Park your cars on the street, because unfortunately Florida is sinking back into the ocean. And now we're going to have a tropical storm Elsa bring her way into the Gulf of Mexico, which is going to Creare storm surge, which is going to continue to flood out parking garages ,which will cause problems 20 years down the road, because of salt water corrosion to the parking garages. do not park in the parking garages. park on the street.
Idk why stuff like this isn’t on the news. This guy should have a 30 minute segment on major networks instead of the same repeated coverage. People can learn so much more from this.
Profits over views. News gets so much ad revenue that they buy views.
MSM in America largely have an interest in their audience either remaining, or becoming morons.
Ask yourself why is that so? The answer you get will be quite revealing!
The information on TH-cam is a million times better than what you would see on TV.
John Stossle is the last true reporter and he had to leave the network and start a you tube channel. MSM is beyond pathetic!!!!
Josh, if you aren’t already, you should consider becoming a professor in a college of engineering. You would be an incredible professor. You have a gift of teaching, and any college would be lucky to have you!
Every engineer (students as well as practicing engineers) should be REQUIRED to watch this. I appreciate your explanations regarding the epoxy ports, lack of proper workmanship, engineers' responsibility to ensure client understands the implications of those stalagmites and potential severe consequences.
You are correct. What a great surname you have. Any relation to the structural engineer Peter Rice. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Rice
Agreed! Personally I think an entire course dedicated to these construction disasters and how they intersect with code and regulations at every level of government should be required in any undergrad engineering or architecture program, with this event surely being one of the cases discussed.
Trust me they do. What you don’t realize is there is 4-5 years of engineering school, then there is professional engineering licensing performed by the state. First you have to pass the fundamentals of engineering exam that is a nationally standardized exam encompassing all the knowledge you were required to learn as part of your education at an accredited college. After that you have to be sponsored by a professional engineer for a number of years depending on your discipline before you are permitted to take the professional engineering exam, typically around 7 years. Anyone with a professional engineering license knows the importance. The report is good, minus the language as this man properly points out. Another engineer would understand this language and the severity of it, but the lay person wouldn’t. It is highly probable that strong language was not used to avoid legal issues surrounding do people need to be removed from this building at the time the report was written? Which the engineer clearly didn’t believe needed to happen in 2018, but he should have been more clear
As Steven wrote, they already know this. Post Tension Ferro Concrete problems were taught to architecture students in the 80’s, when I was an architecture student.
That Construction Methodology is not well suited to salt-water-exposure sites.
You’re either a troll or an *IDIOT*
This is quite basic
Debris is small and tiny
like rubble
&
there are no big pieces of debris.
Look
in a structural failure?
what would make the materials,
end up so small, like a bomb went off?🕵🏽♂️
It's beginning to look like the building was already too far gone to be economically repaired and should have been condemned.
$$$$$ TALKS !
But why was this one in such bad state when the other two sister buildings were apparently NOT as badly constructed or what, better maintenance?! This crap sold during the snowbird pandemic migrations for $700k-$1.7M!!!!
@@Villanelle2k24 who said the others were not in bad shape?
Yes
They're all bad. Collins ave. I lived in 1989-1993. I remember as a kid asking my mom is this building going to fall down? I didn't feel safe then.
I'm fascinated by the forensics of the collapse and sad for all the victims at the same time.
That's the exact same way I felt about 911
@@nowadayswithandy The sadness, the other is finding the answers.
@@Zayday1993
Also a controlled demolition
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings)
Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
@@electrictroy2010 ...also they use portland cement in buildings, not concrete.
You are doing a tremendous public service with this series regarding the condo building collapse. The news media should hire you as an expert who has the background and experience to explain and translate industry jargon into laymen's terms.
The news media? Are you kidding? The MSM doesn't want to give the microphone to anyone who tells TRUTH.
@Dulce Sunshine You know what puzzles me about this whole thing? Why can't they find any of these missing people? None at all! They started finding bodies in the rubble of WTC (soon after they collapsed those towers by controlled demolition) so why can't they find any of these? Perhaps it was a sinkhole which caused this and all those people they can't find fell into the sinkhole, I don't know. I just question everything we are told in this age. I don't believe ANY of it.
@Dulce Sunshine Journalism isn't "licensed".
@@chefjimmie1 exactly.
@@chefjimmie1 Well, Jimmie....if you're a chef you should understand the concept of _hamburger..._
ME WHEN THE BUILDING COLLAPSED: Holy crap, how did that building collapse?!
ME AFTER WATCHING THESE VIDEOS: Holy crap, how did that building not collapse sooner?!
Why hasn’t the builder been drawn and quartered before he makes that dash to SA.?
Exactly. Any amateur can see that this building is fucked up beyond repair and should immediately be evacuated. But here you have „experts“ who call this „good condition“. I wonder if they got bribed. By the way - could be a coincidence, but Morabito is also the name of an infamous mob boss.
I’ve never seen an underground parking lot that looked even remotely this bad.
@@marcopolodexplr because the builder isn't at fault here- the building stood for 40 years, after all. The problem was deferred maintenance, not inherently poor construction.
@@DefconMaster poor construction played a part in it too. Slabs should have had a slope so the water could run off the top of the pool deck.
I stayed overnight and was considering buying a condo-hotel unit in Daytona Beach Florida. They were charging almost $700/mth in maintenance fees possibly offset by them renting out your hotel condo room but what got me was the terrible state of the building - water leaking from ceiling right over lobby bar and looked like it had been for ages. Main bar room was sealed off, people told me because of mold - hence water leakage. From the balcony of the room I was in, I saw roof damage with make shift repairs. It was around 12 stories also and made with cement just like Champlain. I luckily put in a low offer -(because I saw a lot of damage and told the realtor about it because I was worried those maintenance fees would need to be increased to do repairs)and it was never accepted. I never imagined how dangerous that damage could be until now. I talked with people during my visit and they told me that all the buildings along Daytona beach were in bad condition like this tower was. I think the humid Florida air and tropical conditions, storms cause these buildings to decay, especially along the beaches.
Why even bid on it...?
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Really. But I bid on a deteriorated condo in an old Chicago courtyard, in a building that I could see was nothing BUT problems, because I thought that if I could get it cheaply enough, I could overcome the issues. Fortunately for me, I capped my offer very low and was outbid. I dodged a bullet.
She told you why: “ I never imagined how dangerous that damage was”
It helps if you read people’s writing.
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings)
Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 , decrepit high rises scare me much more than problematic low rise buildings, because repairs on them are SO much more expensive and complex. I may or may not see an opportunity with a place in a troubled low-rise building, but a high rise with the issues described by the poster above is a total non-starter. You truly do not want it as a gift.
As a lay person with an interest in construction, that was the clearest /interpretation /explanation of the collapse I've seen so far. Thank you
I knew if I gave it a few days, google itself would supply an answer against its will. This is Gog of Magog which along with Twitter and fake news is overturning the planet; to its own destruction and they can't help their stoooopid selves.
There used to be a freemasonry of silence but it has become so corrupt that it breaking itself to pieces, it can only fail and every eye shall see it.
Revelation 1:7 Tell me I am wrong.
They will ban stuff like this but that will only draw more attention because the oil and the wine will not be harmed. Jesus said: what you hear whispered in secret shout it out loud. And he also said the more you have the more you will have.
Yeah. You don't need to be a scientist to know building a high rise on sand is not smart. Houses in Florida don't have basements for a reason.
implosion
The building was in very poor condition due to many years of deferred maintenance and improper repairs. Clear as can be.
@@greenlawnfarm5827 Well that is not true either. I know of two less than 5 miles from me that have basements. And I'm in the southern end of Dade County.
The visible damage is only an indication of greater damage one can't see.
J Nagarya…EXACTLY!
Non destructive testing could have found the extent of damage to the structural steel, concrete slabs and, the rebar in the slabs and core walls.
YES!!!
@@patmcchesney3135 The visual inspection in 2018 found and explained the extent of the damage to the HOA Board and mentioned the urgency to start repairs. They knew everything they needed to know at that time. However, non-destructive testing WOULD be used during the actual renovation, assessing each visual clue more in depth.
@@anitamendez116 In any system, maintenance must be constant, not occasional.
Just watching this video I will never walk into another building without noticing this kind of stuff. Especially if I go vacation at the beach. Many times I have stayed at less than perfect hotels at myrtle Beach because it was cheap. This makes me feel better about our decision to purchase a camper. We have been debating for a while but this makes me think we are on the right track. It's scary how we walk through out lives without a thought to our safety that lays in others peoples hands. We trust them to be honest and make the right decisions and alot of times money and greed can sway those decisions. We take our families, our children into these places. It's such a scary thought.
Needs more upvotes 👍
Amen... Really makes me even more Grateful to the Lord for His Protection~
This type of thing is extremely rare, the odds of getting into a major traffic accident are far higher than becoming the victim of a building collapse, I'd be more worried about being struck by lightning than smooshed by a building.
"We trust them to be honest and make the right decisions and alot of times money and greed can sway those decisions."
True of all situations where lives are lost tragically.
I wouldn't want to be in a camper near Florida during hurricane season.
And hurricane season is most of the summer.
There are property managers all over miami beach shaking in their boots right now.
As they and the boards should be very nervous, and be prepared to get off their wallets to make repairs. I wonder what the insurance industry will require for buildings of this age to be "insurable" moving forward.
Trust me, not only South Miami where Surfside is, but all the way up to Palm Beach County.
@@paigerausch6565 Yikes!💰
@@SandraGarcia-ho4lb Brevard county too
Hopefully other building owners get them inspected to avoid a similar outcome.
I have over 63 yrs .as a contractor in Florida, and this guy is right on track with his comments. There are a lot of other items to be fully investigated to find the real root problem. Good luck there are lots of roots to be dug up.
Scotland..
Didn't seem to be much concrete from the bottom of the slab to the rear hard to tell from the photos prayers for the families of the lost souls
What about the underground saltwater caves of Florida? If you were to slice Florida horizontally it would look like swiss cheese!
@@johndavies2396 Jude74 1 day ago (edited)
"The head of the company hired to demolish the remaining structure gave an interview and it’s pretty illuminating. He said the plans didn’t match the building, the pillars were not consistent in size by as much as 8 inches and the concrete was super soft and nowhere near the strength listed on the original engineering plans."
www.enr.com/articles/52048-implosion-enables-expanded-search-for-victims-of-champlain-towers-tragedy
@@Brucev7 Does this mean Champlain Towers North was built similarly? If so, it may come down in another few years, staved off because of better maintenance.
I came to this channel by accident and I have to say that the explanation of what has been the best I have seen so far. I am an engineer, not in construction, and you have explained the situation using facts and no drama. Your channel is great and I am going to recommend this channel to my engineering colleagues.
The more I learn about reinforced concrete, the more I think it’s a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings)
Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
If you had crumbling sidewalk in front of your house, the city would harass/fine you until it was repaired. They receive a copy of the 2018 inspection report and they fail to even follow up and make sure structural issues are repaired. Insane.
That’s not entirely clear at this point. We don’t know yet, what if any repairs were ordered or made following the 2018 report. Although safe assumption is whatever they did was more cosmetic than structural.
I was wondering about that, everyone is mentioning the 2018 report but is there record of any follow up repairs. And yeah when I changed the gas water heater in my house the inspector wouldn't pass it until I changed some old fittings on the gas line that didn't meet code anymore.
Amen
best comment in this thread right here.
@@upyoursassmonkey There might not be. The 2018 report is on public file because it was submitted to the City as part of the buildings 40 year recertification process. Which the board actually began early, and with a lot of lead time. Any follow up repairs would not have been on public file. So they will have to come from association records and contractor records, etc. those will probably only be made public in the final investigation reports or if subpoena’d for litigation.
As a lay person not interested in construction, my concern is what to look for in a building for safety purposes. The last apartment building I rented has a water leak everyday coming out from the big black pipe located on the ceiling of the garage under the building. So everyday we are driving on a wet concrete coming from the water that leaks out from the black pipe. I learn a little bit from your videos and I already watched 3 of your videos regarding Surfside collapse. Thanks for the effort you are putting in.
Where's the building?
Tell them to stop being lazy and fix the pipe
Fresh water or sewer?
Don’t know where you are, but buildings in my region typically use copper for drinking water and black plastic for sewage. If that is a sewage line you have leaking, building structure might not be your most immediate concern.
@@Relkond its a drainage pipe.
She would smell sewage 🙄
She also says the last apt I lived in
Ok team, on our next project we have compromised integrity of columns & corrosion of some rebar on the ground level… so let’s start working on the roof.
WELL STATED sarcasm ... it's well deserved.
I believe the month of vibration on the roof as reported started the dominoes. I think they wanted the residents to feel work was being done. The roof was never required. Poor owners
The biggest wheel gets the grease: the people on the top levels had water intrusion, I'll bet any money.
@@laurahall5218 it's a bit late to fix the roof once it's already leaking...that's mold heaven.
Great reporting Building Integrity. As a retired build contractor here in California the pictures you showed scared the crap out of me.
Yes, me too. I’ve done projects in coastal So Cal Liquefaction Soils for 30 years!
I'm not any kind of professional in building anything but I'm pretty confident that if I ever saw STALACTITES on a parking garage ceiling I would skedaddle. Fucking STALACTITES in their parking garage!?
I’ve seen then in Cosmopolitan & Palazzo basement garages in Las Vegas. They are confined to the exterior walls, but still pretty surprising.
I won’t be sleeping those places any time soon.
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings)
Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
Me and my father have been working in concrete restoration here in South Florida for almost 20 years, we completely restored the Bluegreen right next door just a few years ago, our room we stayed was right on the dead end facing right at the Champlain towers. Unfortunately my father passed away this year May 10th, RIP Bruce Carley, miss you Dad!
🙏🙏🙏🥰
Awww my condolences 💐 and Prayers. Great you got to spend so much time with him even if it was mostly work or not . I’m sure he’s proud . You will never get over it ; but you will eventually find a way to get through it. I say this because I lost my 20 year old and I’m struggling . But I know I’ll eventually get up .
Thank you!
@@seancarley9871 🥰
Condolences to you and your loved ones. May your dad be with OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST ENJOYING HEAVEN. GOD WILLING YOU GUYS WILL SEE HIM AGAIN ☝️🙏✝️
They said on the news that they had to replace a water pump every other year or so because they were burning out from pumping out ocean water.
One of the victims was on the phone telling her husband that the pool was empty and then the line went dead.
There's a video showing water pouring into the garage from the ceiling near the entrance moments before it collapsed.
They said the condo association collected over a million dollars a year for maintenance. Obviously didn't spend it on maintenance.
The pool was still full of water after the collapse.
And Maintenance fees don't go to maintenance. They go to trash, pool cleaning, lighting, painting, etc. Maintenance is usually new assessments for repairs.
She saw the pool deck sinking. What she thought was a sink hole. And the water in the garage entrance video was most likely a fire sprinkler pipe. The slab failure of the pool deck dew to poor drainage was addressed. I believe that was the root cause.
@@joe_8699 Yeah I seen another video where they showed how that deck over the garage was retaining water. I used to work at a place that was built around that time with that same type of underground garage and they immediately closed it to repair some cracks in pillars. The building was a hotel and it was recently torn down - cheap, flimsy 'energy crisis' building. It had big cracks in the walls and was right up against a river. They didn't fool around with that like this place had.
@@lesleylesley5821 It makes you wonder where that huge torrent of water was coming from seen on the 7 minutes before collapse video. There was a lot of concrete on the floor visible as well. It looked a foot high and went out of frame of the entrance way so who can know how much had really come tumbling down .
An extremely professional as well as horrifying synopsis of how bad things really were. I myself am a retired general engineering contractor. Thanks for giving it to us straight...
but I gotta say that today's thongs are much better (especially ever since the very first g-string was introduced)
@@friedchicken1 yes yes, the advances in fabric technology are amazing. Little fabric to cover lots of acreage.
@@richardcranium3417 -- But then, it turns out that there are good reasons for their being nicknamed, "butt floss."
THINGS
I’ve been to Miami. I appreciate most thongs but some just shouldn’t be done. (Shuddering)
I learned so much by watching this. It’s crazy because I’ve seen deteriorated buildings and bridges with those same cracks before that nobody seems to ever repair. Now I’m gonna probably be paranoid in every building I’m in. I’ll start doing my own inspections lol
All these places are in countries that have been suffering man made disasters. Have you noticed when the weather changes all the used up satellites fall spectacularly. They don't give toss who see them.
That's the thing, you can't really repair it. Once it gets like this, it's totalled. Gotta start from scratch.
Agree.....I saw it recently on a little bridge
You and me both i point it out to whomever im with at the time but like you said nobody seems to care a bridge is going to happen next maybe not even a big one just an overpass but it has to happen judging by what im seeing
Those bridges tend to have WAY more redundancy in them. Meaning, in general, one little piece isn't going to bring the whole thing down. The ones that look like bicycle chains? YEAH, that's a HUGE no-no. Tiny crack did it on Engineering Disasters on History Channel. They have a whole series.
I'm glad you are educating everyone on this because yeah, HOA and board members aren't experts-I don't think any would have known that exposed rebar is essentially a building emergency.
It should have been a recommended evacuation at that point in 2018.
@@ksavage681 I agree. Not fair to these poor people to not get them out of there and then move forward with the renovation and all that entails.
@@ksavage681 Evacuation followed by demolition...in 2018.
@@dianelipartito6654 Renovation should have been out of the picture in 2018...
@@fraidykat No, I think you are wrong. First off, you don't even know the cause. So why are you making such definitive statements?
As a private building inspector, I have to say you do an excellent job of stating just the facts without supposition or assumptions. I read the 2018 report first, I also noticed no mention of urgency of repair or life safety. Glad you mentioned the possibility of a follow up letter, but that business model does not "fly" with me. Life safety being what it is, anything potentially dangerous goes IN THE REPORT. Also, my first impression without much data was moisture from the pool deck and or planters migrating through the concrete, rusting the rebar, expansion of the steel and damage/weakening of the columns/connections. BTW, "stucco buckets" without weeps are substandard building practice as you point out. CA just passed laws regarding elevated cantilevered walkable elements and ongoing inspections, as well as ventilation of these structures, due to the balcony collapse a couple years ago.
Always postponing big maintenance expenses and just hoping it doesnt crash down.
Exactly. This is not new or something I heard of. This is regular business. This time they got unlucky.
Inspector said; it could happen in ten years or 50. They said ok thanks and figured hey, I’ll probably sell by then. Shit
Greed will be the end of us all :o(
@@2020Dreamlife Right, except the inspector did NOT say it could happen in 10-50 Years. Even though an exact time was not mentioned (and indeed is impossible to calculate) the Engineering Report told the HOA Board that "Failure to repair in the NEAR FUTURE will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand EXPONENTIALLY! Both terms equate to "FIX IT NOW DUMMIES!"
That describes our countries infrastructure. Bridges viaducts dams highways power grid. Everything. All deteriorating rapidly and no Republican support in spending money on repairing any of it. Just kick the can so it’s perpetually the next guy’s problem.
Forget horror movies, this is one of the most terrifying video's I've ever seen. How did they look at these and think "yeah it'll be okay." ?
Probably because they are not properly trained, there are no binding standards and regulations in place, and there are no repercussions for those responsible if they fck up.
'Merica. Unless inspectors are teaming about this is just bound to happen
@@MrArtVein ‘Merica? Buildings collapse worldwide for a myriad of reasons. If you’re American, thank your good fortune and if you’re not here’s a cheery 🖕
Video’s what?
They'll say "not my problem' and move on. Lack of responsibility.
This makes me wanna go look in our parking garages. Living right by the ocean does a ton of damage to things. Even inside your house, it's always damp and it wrecks your furniture and things. I know there's black mold in these apartments too. It's scary.
building went down like a controlled Demo.. as a crane op and hubby EODmight want to look closer.. and who was the target. Why has Debbie does Broward show up. I worked in Miami.. know how the game is played with contractors. look at the mayor and the company he hired to do underground work. look at the logo. it means something. KCI technologies. . where have you seen that Blue and white before.. hint.. an Island
@@dunwundering835 any conspiracy links ?
@@yourboiD Can you google stuff yourself?
@@dunwundering835 what's the point of a controlled demo on a condo building?? Not everything is a conspiracy. Some things are willful ignorance and greed. Buildings deteriorate, especially by the ocean. That's why they need proper maintenance to be brought up to code. Wet, cracked concrete, rusted out rebar, and a sinking foundation don't mix.
@@oshmoogill It's the responsibility of the person making the claims that go against the generally accepted consensus to provide links, when the other person is wanting them. It's not up to the person who doesn't believe your claims to go looking for the information you use to support them *for* you.
If the one making the claim had misunderstood their source or had taken from an unreliable or invalid one, their providing the sources they used to arrive to their conclusions would give the person they're trying to convince the ability to know if that's the case.
You need to be an instructor at an engineering school if you aren’t already.
He's a great communicator. Whether you agree with his analysis or not.
My thought exactly. Every collegiate civil/structural engineering department should have a professor who is this articulate.
Wow, this means a lot to me. My staff and I try our best to explain everything to our clients (mostly condo building owners like Champlain) so that they can make well-informed decisions for the care of their buildings. Seems that practice may have paid off!
@@BuildingIntegrity I wish you great success. One question though. If you are hired to give an estimate and analysis and find what you think could be imminent danger, are you mandated to report it to someone?
@@BuildingIntegrity It's essential in a defensive sense to avoid unnecessary liability. In the positive sense, it's pride in being a professional.
This guy is just taking the long way around of saying that the building should have been condemned but no one had the balls to do it because who wants to be the consulting firm that takes the responsibility of condemning a million-dollar condo building? It's just hidden in the " industry-standard" language called "bullshit"
My thoughts exactly because if you say that and you are wrong now you are labeled "chicken little". Now you are on the hook for rehoming people unnecessarily and potential "lost rent" or any other fiscal damage they can come up with. The building was in trouble but no one wanted to step up.
@@Heckleburger That's right and this seems to be the deal with EVERTHING lately. Lawyer up and don't claim responsibility for anything, right or wrong...
It didn't need to be condemned. It did need URGENT repair. The consultant used boiler plate language, maybe they'd never dealt with something this bad. But it needed to be dealt with in 2018 not 2021.
@@natsfan100 no it needed to be condemned. Those deposits don't just happen overnight, it was years of neglect. It would have absolutely saved lives if it was.
Facts
DUDE! No apologies, this is the best info so far. You rock!
Interesting...You have made excellent points. That report wasn't written with the expected audience in mind, 8 lay person board members and their property manager.
Condo boards may be composed of lay persons, but they are expected to take advice from experts as needed.
And the board members are supposed to seek information about all topics that has any relevance to their job IF they don't understand / know about the subject. Not sweeping things under a rug.
@@NickanM which they did. Not only that but they need to get the approval of half of the residents to pay the required $150,000 each to make the repairs or go through a 12+ month process to have a court order each resident pay the $150,000 for the repairs. There was absolutely nothing in that report that would have told board members they needed to seek a court ordered special assessment. They also often need to obtain multiple bids for the project. Even the process of voting on a special assessment can take months. They really acted in a timely manner on this, within less than 18 months of getting the report they had signed a contract with a company to fix it. These types of things cannot reasonably be started faster without a court or city taking over the building.
@@NickanM wow so u have to get a loan or pay from your savings. 150,000. I don’t think that comes easy. I don’t know home ownership rules so forgive and educate me. What does HOA fees cover also?
@@NickanM 👍🏼
Wonder if they started on the roof first because that's the only trade contractor that had availability. All the other trades might have been book up/backlogged, lacking supplies for new jobs, lacking a big enough workforce to accept big jobs, ect.. I've been seeing this a lot lately in my field as we are coming out on the pandemic.
Or that was the only trade contractor who would even touch the job.
You bring this job to me, if I had a company, I'd tell you that my company is not a demolition company and we do not do demolition work and to find a demolition company because that is the ONLY contractor who had ANY business on this property.
The lines made under the concrete slab where water was flowing from the rusted cracks would also indicate that the slab was already tilting. Depending on the position of the person taking the photo that might reveal that the slab was already tilting significantly. I'm not an engineer but I understand physics. The underside of that slab would not have been even and water flowing horizontally along the surface would seek the easiest path. The water lines should have been short and lead to stalactites (as in other images) or (if the water flow was more consistent and continuous) at least radiate out to various points around it in every direction. All of the lines leading in the same direction indicates that this slab was already tilting downward at the distant end from where that photo was taken.
I hope the consultant has a good understanding of where he or she was standing while taking those photos because that may prove to be useful in the investigation.
There is evidence, & it was known the building was sinking for years :o(
Sinkhole
I believe the building was sitting on top of a sinkhole.
Now when i go on vacation to any hotel, i guess I'll be looking at building history and floor plans. World 🌎 is crazy. God bless these families & the rescuers.
No high rises for me
That's just stupid..
For real I'm just going to sleep in a tent on the beach
@@salmonflavored and get blown away by the winds...LOL... Just trust in God Almighty
And you’re just gonna look that information up on your Smart phone I suppose?
If this was allowed in a residential building... imagine public parking garages.
I never park in parking garages unless there is no other choice! They just FEEL dangerous to me. Good point!!!
I spent many years building Precast parking garages, and I can assure you that they are built 1000 x better than this building was. The cast in place slab constructed ones are much more vulnerable to collapse. The ones I would put up were built by High Concrete inc, and every piece of that building was made to withstand large magnitude earthquake. The pieces have pretentioned cables throughout them as well as regular galvanized rebar and wire mesh. The entire structure is built on rubber pads, and is allowed to expand and contract or move with sizemic events. This ensures that the chances of cracking or spalling from settling or expansion is minimal due to the tolerance between all the individual pieces that make up the building. If you can't tell the difference between the two types of construction all you have to do is look up at the floor above. If the floor and walls appear to be a bunch of different pieces put together like a puzzle its a precast garage, if it looks like one giant building with form marks and such its a cast in place slab type construction, such as the building talked about in this video.
I was a safety manager at a company that made more than a million dollars a day. There's currently a week spot in the garage that I had to beg executives to fix before a car falls through. This is business as usual unfortunately
Miami is gross. sick place
oh man, I'm so scared of parking decks. Every one I've been in shakes as cars drive through them.
This whole building sounds like it was just a mess of problems-that deterioration in the parking garage floor was really bad stuff.
Yeah, the former maintenance manager said there was water seepage into the garage from below during high tides... back in the mid 90's. There is a lot more damage than what the engineer who wrote that report was unaware of. miami.cbslocal.com/2021/06/27/condo-collapse-former-maintenance-manager-william-espinosa-was-concerned-about-saltwater-intrusion/
Well, if you flew from Miami beach along the coast to Singer Island which is a good 100 mile trip, you would flip to see the thousands of condo towers there are on the ocean & intercoastal.
@@SandraGarcia-ho4lb yeah everyone knows that. Move along
@@2020Dreamlife did that make you feel good?
@@danr9584 That's the scary part if this is related to high/low tides. Inspectors would basically need to show up at the right time to see the true issues. If water was rising up from below the foundation, that tells me that soil had to have been washing away below for years.
I was in all types of construction for 40 years mostly as a leader. I was a third generation firefighter and I am a Three Dimensional, Outside The Box, Thinker.
1. There is most likely nobody alive in that pile of rubble.
2. If there is, they won't be alive by the time they get to them.
3. If you had a stack of concrete pancakes and there was a sausage in the middle, you wouldn't dig straight down in the center, you would go horizontally between the layers. If the layers were too tight to get between, what are you searching for? Where are the bedrooms? Dig at those locations but from the side!
4. For every worker actually working, there are 10 standing around In Harm's Way, doing Nothing so Risk vs Reward factor doesn't compute! In all these videos ask yourself, "What are they accomplishing?"
5. Therefore, they should be removing material quickly but from afar using heavy demolition equipment with a minimum of workers in the danger area. To cut rebar with a torch for example.
6. Logic and common sense has to dictate the direction of the work, not emotions or politics.
Thank you for your comment. I know it sounds insensitive but even an uneducated person can see, no common sense being used here. Of course we all appreciate the heroes, but this doesn't look good.
How do you deal with threat that the remaining sliver of building still poses to rescuer's lives?
@@MemineAussi You have to do a thorough inspection of the remaining structure Before you send "Rescuers" in. You have to eliminate as much loose material from that structure to limit falling debris. I saw them doing that in another video.
i would say they would need to step it up,isnt it going to start to smell especially in that hot weather
I am a Professional Engineer. Your comments are pretty much what I have been thinking, but previously have not commented. I would only differ with you in the idea of heavy equipment removing debris. What WAS needed the day after the incident was manual labor, lots of manual labor, in the form of buckets brigades, many, many bucket brigades, removing debris, with large pieces being hoisted out. There simply is no high tech way to remove debris without endangering anyone unfortunate enough to be buried. The rescue response was essentially too little, too late. I mean really , 90 hours after the incident , now you bring in Israeli and Mexican rescue teams. Save the jet fuel, it's too late folks.
Thanks for the most informative talk better lecture l have heard in many years and certainly will take note when I see this type of cement cracks in future. I am 80 years old and never stop learning from South Africa Lee
This video is a tutorial for highrise residents about how to interpret an inspection report.
As a person in the commercial construction side of the industry this disaster really hurts to watch. The worse part of that report is if the average person was to read it: in this case the people from the condo association, they could easily come to the conclusion that the structural problems need to be address but nothing too alarming to worry about of now. It lacks the real urgency that we tragically all now know was needed. I really hope that there is some other letter out there urging them to wake the hell up your building is in danger of failing. A building just doesn't fall on its own. There has to be a string of failures to bring one down. Years of maintenance neglect, inaction by the HOA to make proactive repairs sooner, lack of urgency in the building report, failure of surfside inspectors to take action, perhaps accelerated building settling in the past 20 years and maybe design or construction oversights from original construction all coming together over the time span of 40 years that lead to this disaster.
You are absolutely WRONG my friend. And from the looks from your comment your a stand out in position to make alot of money with your scare tactics. I've worked construction on Pensacola, Fl area where we put up PLENTY of Condos on the most BEAUTIFUL BEACHES IN THE USA! Without a doubt your trying your best to push the issues with scare tactics my friend for some reason. People need to take in account what the Government's been up to as of a few century's now. There are SO MANY things that we're not taken in account, because people don't know what the hell is taking place right under our noses. Not talking about conspiracy theories either. People need to wake up and quit looking down at your phones and doing precisely what the Government wants you to do. We are being railroaded and acting like a Flock of Sheep's being lead to slaughter. Just a few examples cause i know that i need to be on Main Stream with this instead on this one man's comment page. If you truly want to know what TIME IT IS, then you need to look me up. Cause this story is so BIG! That I don't know exactly how i should put this out there on what i do know. Has something to do with what their doing, and hiding it from us. What do you think is causing all the sink holes we been witnessing, and how that is getting worse everyday. Sink hole's loses alot of support to building's, cars, high rises. And what could possibly be behind all of these..? I can tell you..
Condo associations are diffrent from the owners. The owners get all the information and only repair what code calls for not whats deemed by addituonal engineering. The basic minum required is whats aleays accomplished. In other words inspections a joke and the state loves letting rich people polish there Turds.
@@22floridacat I would say some sort of disturbance underground like fracking or tunneling/clear underground areas?
Just a guess because in UK I lived near seaside resort with old houses right on beach area for hundreds of years. So beachside living can be done.
I was concerned about the construction of this building having corners cut also.
Its called passing the buck to avoid financial responsibility.
Does that mean the original owners of OTHER problem buildings will now simply create a legal empty shell corporation and transfer ownership of those buildings? Then if a lawsuit occurs, the residents can't sue the original owners who collect rentals from the holding corp as "investment returns".
@@animejanai4657 Yep. And sell them off and then disappear. The American way.
@@fraidykat All over the world, you build, invest in something, everything gets old, deteriorates, you decided to stop pumping money into it, you sell.
@@Brucev7 You seem to fail to comprehend that a quality product requires little to minimal upkeep and lasts an exorbitantly long time despite receiving so little input.
A shit product falls apart no matter how much you put into it literally starting the day you finish it.
A shit product is made from substandard materials using corner cutting measures and the lowest paid contractor.
@@fraidykat So you're attempting to defend and say only someone, something built in America does?
I saw enough of the Miami high-rise construction scene to dissaude me from ever living in one, let alone in Miami. So much beauracracy, bribery, and backstabbing in thosr construction contracts, followed up by shoddy half-assed work.
Happens WORLDWIDE!
GOOD question for you ... Pile foundations used in Miami Florida. Are/were they Normally Friction or End Bearing Piles used? AND what did they use for this building? IF ANY OR JUST A SLAB ??? Also what are they using or used for those 20+ story buildings in Miami parked on man made silt-dredged up islands? Like along Brickell or the rest of Collins Ave?
@@samreynolds3789 Quite. It was EXACTLY the same in the UK too, there were some serious collapses, and many had to be pulled down after barely 20 years they were so poorly made. I would never even consider living in one. They were all thrown together from cheapest possible materials by workers who didn't know or care what they were doing.
Naples florida as bad
As fellow engineer (aerospace) I commend the effort in this channel!!!
Every single adult that lives in a high rise building needs to see this video. I’ve been waiting for an expert analysis of this incident. Thank you! 🤝
Actually, no expert as carried out any analysis of anything yet. There is still not enough data acquired. The wreckage has to be removed and the pieces inspected first. This expert basically pointed out the bad things that were so bad that the inspectors had need been forceful i enough in their recommendation to either condemn the building or carry out serious structural repairs without delay.
As a former construction worker I can see that this building was neglected for a long time.
Kaligula dx
Absolutely agree! Sad just sad.
As a daugther of architect I completely agree with u.
I can't see info about this horrible tragedy in Florida without tears.
RIP, no hope to find smbdy alive.
Absolutely. When I looked at it at Google maps, EVERY other building around it looks well kept and clean, including the sister building that was built at the same time. This deadly mess was caused by negligence aka greed. The roof looks horrible, the facade has a lot of cracks, the balconies is missing pieces of concrete and so on. Great job, HOA. Great job....😑
this may be the reason the building collapsed
vm.tiktok.com/ZMd5RpjAH/
@@jenjen9266 OH DAM! Holly uncovered sh#t!!!!!!😱😵
Apparently the building next door is a “sister building” part of the same development built approx 12-15 years later. This morning a concerned occupant was being interviewed by a news reporter in the parking garage pointing out a large crack and substantial chunk of concrete broken off in a structural column. The man said the collapse next door caused the (visible) damage to their building.
@@peterjszerszen Champlain North seems to use the same modified plan as Champlain East. Both have a shorter "arm" than Champlain South. I wonder if this was due to the limits of the property they could buy, or if they realized with Champlain South that they built too close to the ocean, and scaled the two other buildings back.
Now that one should be condemned also.
I like this channel. The more I listen to this the more I realize how fucked that building is. It was going to collapse no matter what, a time bomb.
A building maintenance man was saying every time there was a king tide the garage would fill up several feet in salt water and the pumps couldn’t pump it out. The water would just sit there until it all seeped out.
The whole neighborhood has the same problem. Nobody is talking about the sea level rise they have been warned about. Millions spent trying to mitigate it with pumps , but maybe it's just too late.
@@vogue43 I've seen videos, unrelated to this, of a garage in the neighborhood with more than 6 inches of salt water regularly. Residents are warned to park at their own risks, common for that area.
Probably a good reason to build the parking structures above ground.
CC Chodkowski
Yep! I saw his interview as well....I hope HEADS ROLL on this!
t · wth?! Where did u see that, Id like to see and share as well....the more info we as citizens put out there and share the better off we'll all be exposing this greed of the rich and the crooked politicians!
They should probably move people out of those buildings if they're doing work though...if that building is a certain amount of years old...cause you never know what can happen.
I appreciate that I have enough knowledge from your videos to know how to do an "at a glance" inspection prior to entering any high rise. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and in terms that are not only understood but not boring.
Every building that engineer has put his hands on should be inspected asap
Boom......mic drop!!!!
What about the ground was sinking the concrete and steel comprised since late 90’ 20’s.
But isn't it the fault of downstream maintenance too?
Cheap design, cheap labor, cheap materials. Welcome to scab Florida construction 🚧
And every subsequent critical inspector.
I remember the horrendous experience when replacing my roof on my home here in Surfside some yrs ago. All that weight of 5 or so workers, & constant hard pounding to remove & replace old wood caused my water pipes to burst. Many homes with concrete foundation have water pipes in attic, as mine. The roofing company refused to claim responsibility for that or the edge patio tiles they broke from throwing old barrel-roof tiles & wood from roof area to ground. I had to threaten to sue to get them to replace patio floor tiles. My cost to fix water pipes which entailed tearing out some interior walls & ceilings. Can't imagine why a condo bldg. in that deteriorated condition would start with roof repair (roof leak?) if it put rest of bldg. in distress mode.
Nothing they do on the roof should cause a building to collapse. There must have been weakness in a critical part of the structure below.
@@GH-oi2jf Yes, certainly. I agree. The foundation was obviously severely compromised. I believe it was a combination of problems that created that rare perfect storm.
It's not the contractors fault if the pounding/vibrations of roof work precipitates a pipe failure. Nothing they coulda/shoulda done differently, right? They shouldn't have broken the tiles though.
@@jimbob5891 No, you're right. They payed for the tile... grudgingly. But did. As for the pounding on the roof, people should consider the house shocks & noise that will be inevitable bcz of the banging, and possible added expense when doing roof (collateral damage). The reality should not just be a decision about the roof. Any or all other pipes in attic may be affected and to get to them, walls may have to be torn out and new sheetrock reinstalled, painted and/or tiled.
One building can "age" much differently than an identical building due to weatherproofing (including painting) ...this exterior coating can preserve the building in a superior form, as compared to an uncoated exterior or poorly applied paint job... the window quality also applies. Solid windows and wearherproofing are NECESSARY to keep a building intact. I think that's why they started at the roof... thinking that it would be the main source of water intrusion wear and tear... but ultimately it was the pool deck/garage structure that held the water weight with corrosion and ultimately failed.
The condo association knew the pool deck was constantly flooding. They even filed & won a civil suit against the building next door for allowing rainwater to flow into the collapsed condo
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings)
Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
Subscribed! More information from your last three videos than from the newscasts about this horrific collapse. Thank you for explaining in terms that a non-engineer like myself can easily follow and understand. My heart goes out to all affected by this failure, and I hope any remaining survivors will be found.
Sounds like the recertification of the building needs to go from a 40 year certification to a 20 year or 30 year certification instead
Some have 50 YEAR...MOST HAVE ZERO
U THINK THIS IS BAD...BRIDGES WERE CRAZY BAD...NOW THEY HAVE REGULAR INSPECTIONS. THE STAT WAS WORLD WIDE. EVERY 30.SECONDS A BRIDGE FAILED. of course u have to know their definition of a BRIDGE but in thr 80s when i would go over a BRIDGE with engineers in the car...i drove a lot of them...i would.casully mention that.finding...lol. they didnt.belirve it till i told them thr month and page of.the report...
Pretty funny
@@sislertx AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
25
In seaside locations 5 years would be appropriate.
If after 30 years renovation turns out to be more costly than demolition/rebuild, then this will only shorten building lifespan.
I’m an ACI, PTI, ICC certified inspector and this is terrifying to see.
Goes to show how scientific standards are worth jack shit in ‘Murica. 💩
"This is America!"
Just one time, just try it, and I guarantee you will find the concrete workers and finishers told the cement truck driver to add water after the inspector checked and certified the trucks load of mud. Not a little water but lots and lots of water especially in the summer. Dive away and just as you leave the sight turn around and know everything you thought you knew about concrete is worthless and you see those workers splashing around in wet, structurally damaging wet mud. I dare you to be of some worth for once in all your years of inspecting concrete.
Now, in Canada there is not that much of a need for lots of water in the mud. I am talking in the south. Do not tell me about water reducer. The use of water reducer in the southwest is a joke.
@@donemigholzjr.7344 Agreed most inspections are a joke. it just feels like a way for the township to snatch some extra cash.
I'm not an inspector at all, and this is terrifying to see.
I hope all in your professional community thank you for your community service in making these reports. You are a great communicator.
Much appreciated
It makes me so angry that this building wasn’t maintained the way it should have been and now 100’s have lost their lives!
It is up to owners to maintain their property. In a condominium, there is collective ownership of the structure, so there is collective responsibility. But condominium owners often have a tenant’s mentality. They want “the association” to take care of things, but they don’t want to pay special assessments.
GH1618 this may be the reason the building collapsed
vm.tiktok.com/ZMd5RpjAH/
GH1618 this may be the reason the building collapsed
vm.tiktok.com/ZMd5RpjAH/
A shockingly high number of residents would appear to have been Lawyers. Which probably means much of the 8 person board likely were lawyers, practicing or retired. That strikes me as a very bad report to hand to a board of lawyers, as there was just enough vagueness in it to leave them arguing over the meanings for years.
@@andrewtaylor940 And tending to be defensive, instead of proactive.
RE: Vibrations - there are reports that the residents had been complaining about vibrations from construction in an adjoining property for some time. I used to be a NACE member and know that this kind of thing is just beginning.
96 dislikes so far??? Must be the building owners, board members and friends and family who know the truth hurts.
Whole facts! 💯 Dysfunction hates a TRUTH SPEAKER, "personal problem"! 📣
well there are a lot of idiots that don't know what the like and dislike buttons are for, they clicked on dislike because they disliked the topic talked about in the video, I know it sounds impossible but yes THERE ARE SO MANY IDIOTS OUT THERE...
vaso opel Let's say unknowing. I had no idea when I first started using TH-cam, but I caught on fast.
@@sophierobinson2738 I know you want to believe that these are honest mistakes by people new to TH-cam, but the truth is that there a lot of idiots out there.
vaso opel Yes, there are. And some down vote just to be jerks. And some are tin-foil hat wearers who will believe every conspiracy that comes down the pike.
"Concrete compression failures are explosive," my old reinforced concrete prof told us many years ago.
Thank you for following up from the first video. This explains more. The damage all over the building is astounding. And most of the pictures are from 2 years ago. It does make you wonder why it didn't collapse earlier. The water intrusion was significant and the spalling all over was advanced.
I think reinforced concrete a bad idea. The Romans used concrete (minus the steel) and it stood for 2000 years. We use reinforced concrete & it rusts to pieces in decades. Not just in Florida but all across the country (think crumbling bridges & buildings)
Reinforced concrete lacks longevity
most telling & heartbreaking to me was the sons account of his mom calling him at 1:30 am, moments b4 the collapse. she heard creaking, thought it was an earthquake & saw a sink hole by the pool, screamed & phone went dead.
For those reading this comment, note (at 11:50) the 2018 report that the engineering document mentions failed waterproofing in the pool area.
That call was made one night earlier, not on the day of the collapse.
@@indicolite3355 do you have that link on that story?
There was a women standing on a 4th floor balcony south side of the beachside building speaking with her husband on a cell phone. She had just told him a crater opened up on the pool deck and the connection was lost. She is listed as missing.
@@jackf.7415 Do you have a link, I want to compile stuff for my mother-in-law that has a building very similar.
I actually like my mother in law lol.
Straight talk, with knowledge.
I hope you are happy.
Making me smarter and such.
Honor and Respect
I'm working my way through your videos after just discovering your channel, and just wanted to say that you provide such an informative and easy to understand explanation of all the points you cover.
I initially learned about the Champlain Tower tragedy via a podcast, which was obviously just audio descriptions with no visual material, so for someone like myself who knows basically nothing about construction/structural engineering it was often difficult to picture what they were discussing (the building layout, the existing damage, how the collapse played out, etc). Your videos are such a huge help in understanding what everything looked like and what exactly happened - as well as providing interesting knowledge about construction in general, e.g. what causes different types of damage.
That’s exactly why I don’t do high rise apartments,my grandmother always said never live in them cause you may never know the Foundation of the property.
your grandmother was a wise woman.
I bet they'll find later that it was the water under the building that causes the problem
Wow. Your grandmother must have been very smart!
thank you..... Great job! Should be a must watch for ALL BOARD MEMBERS.....
I agree!
This video as well
this may be the reason the building collapsed
vm.tiktok.com/ZMd5RpjAH/
Any board members perished?
6/29/21....Prob most HOA is dead in collapse.
It’s totally amazing how/that this is really going on everywhere now and more n more of this will come to light as the months and years pass.!!
Those pictures look like they're from a building that's been in a derelict ghost town for a while.
As a retired HVAC project engineer, it was my responsibility to inspect and report on the condition of fire and smoke systems. I had to physically check smoke controls and physically inspect ductwork fire dampers for proper operation in case of a fire. Mostly I worked in NYC hospitals and the underground subways. I would never issue and stamp a report without great detail. In case of defective systems it was my job to accurately document such and to propose corrections. In fact, I was fired from an engineering firm because I refused to certify the fire systems in a hospital. The owner of the company I worked for could have cared less. Within 1 week I notified the building manager as to the faults, of which they already aware. I never certified the report my boss wanted and I was fired. But, that lead to 3 job offers and within 2 weeks I joined an international firm which was concerned with honesty. I was never asked to fake reports for the rest of my career.
I've seen a lot of "pencil whipping" in my days of maintenance. Sad but true.
Exactly, in Taiwan we have a nickname for efflorescence, "wall cancer." As long as water still flows inside through the concrete, the efflorescence will continue to grow and shorten the lifespan of the building. The best solution is to evacuate the building.
Is there any way, "wall cancer" CAN BE DIAGNOSED, before a DISASTER?
If water was flowing as you state, wouldn't there be signs or sounds?
Do they use any pilings for a foundation? Weirdly, the pool is getting blamed for this "wall cancer" on the top floor.
In America it’s called “concrete cancer”
@@debbyrobertsschabes647 Where you see spalling on the outside of a concrete structure water is penetrating the concrete. The usual reason is that the concrete was too thin covering the rebar. A MINIMUM of 2” (50mm) of concrete is required to prevent corrosion of untreated rebar. Galvanised or stainless steel rebar can get away with less…
Another question: one of the local Miami area television stations interviewed a man who was on the phone with his wife, who was staying in the building, at the time of the building collapse. She told him that she heard what sounded like an earthquake and looked outside to see the pool deck collapsed, as if a sinkhole had opened up (obviously, it wasn't a "sinkhole," but a collapse of the deck into the underground parking garage). The building then collapsed, and he lost the phone connection. His wife is among the missing. Could the initiating cause of the collapse have been a failure of the pool deck (ground level concrete slab between the pool area and the building), causing damage to one or more columns and/or leaving the columns unbraced (KL/r), leading to subsequent column failure?
I won't say definitively, but this is one of the most likely causes in my mind at this point.
That was a pool deck collapsing on the underground parking garage.
To clarify, this entire building collapse could have been precipitated by collapse of the pool deck? Wow!
@@SimmerdownTX All it takes is the slab to buckle one or more columns as it comes crashing down. Keep in mind the the horizontal slabs and beams also are the braces that keep the columns from buckling.
@@SimmerdownTX Yes! If the concrete slab at ground level (above the parking garage) failed, the unbraced height of the columns at the building's base would change from approx. 10 ft. to 20 ft., greatly reducing their capacity to carry the load of the 12-story building above. Try an experiment: take a short wooden stick and try to break it by loading it axially from the ends; then try to do the same with a much longer stick of the same diameter; the long stick is more likely to fail (break) due to buckling rather than pure compression.
Thank you for the excellent explanation. It's so sad to see how contractors, engineers inspectors and the association put their own personal interest and greed before people's lives. All responsible people for this tragedy must be held accountable and criminal charges should be filed against responsible individuals.
I've seen abandoned buildings in better condition than this one.
same
I have seen in Las Vegas where water fountains, huge, when they removed the old casino's, rebar was upright, and tripled.
Me too. I am surprised owners off all those expensive cars didn't complain about driving in pot holes.
I couldn’t imagine paying 600,000 to 700,000 for a place that look like I’m living in the hood. This is absolutely ridiculous and I hope someone is held accountable for all these precious souls lost.🙏🏾😢💔
It's the price you pay to live on the beach.
are they really that expensive? looks like 300 - 400 grand to me but I live in a different country..
@@bobross8173 they are tiny matchbox apartments cheaply made! The rest of them won't be worth $200k when its over with.
They were nice inside a good amount of them. They are very large bigger sq ft than my house. You can look through old listings on Zillow. Some very beautiful inside.
bruh, it looks worst than an abandoned building smh
I think they underestimated the corrosion of the condominium. Saltwater takes its toll.
I can vouch for that, as an Upstate NY car owner.
Amazing that salt spray was not even mentioned. 21 years ago, my wife and I were in a hotel in nearby Fort Lauderdale, next to the beach, where the old fashioned outside south facing windows (made from steel) could not open because they were rusted out.
Great comment Brian , agreed
Including damages to the electrical system.....
The part that collapsed faced the ocean so it must have taken a beating from salty air/water and hurricanes.
There is only one reason this happened. The residents refused to approve the necessary repairs. They would have been about $110,000 per unit. The approval didn’t come until it was too late
@Mark Gillett - That cost per unit (~$110,000) matches my calculation. This is an astounding number and I cannot imagine incurring that kind of cost for a repair to a home that. It is nearly the cost of my current home. This is an extreme example but demonstrates but one of the many reasons why I would never, ever buy a condo.
Having lived in a condo years ago and being on the board, It sure sounds like an unwillingness to pony up the dough was the fatal error. The owners were also misled by reports that downplayed the urgency of taking action. I wonder what happened in 2020 when a prospective buyer applied for a mortgage. Wouldn't an engneering report be required by the bank giving the mortgage?
I spent time in real estate in Charlotte NC before the collapse of the market and my daughter was a property manager. So I have some understanding of how condo Assoc operate.
From my perspective the board made a number of errors. First and foremost they failed to build up sufficient reserves which would have made the repairs more palatable Despite the reaction from the media and many others, most condo buildings are not about to fall down. It is the collective responsibility of the owners to maintain the structural integrity of the building. As I stated before, the fault lies with them
I, also would not live in a condo due to associations which are mostly run by idiots that believe it gives them the power to tell you what and how to live
When I moved to Florida over 10 years ago we looked for a home with out a homeowners association
@@markhgillett - I also lived in south Florida for 10 years. Condo commandos were a constant feature in the news.
@Pony Girl - That certainly is what the evidence suggests. I would never, ever buy a condo.
Where were you in college???. You teach in a way I understand, in a subject I "KNEW" absolutely nothing about.....
I did some Work here in Silver Spring Maryland installing Security Cameras Throughout A newly built Bus Depot Two levels The Concrete Contactors made a mistake laying the Concrete Platforms the concrete was an Inch or 2 less than was supposed to be all of a sudden cracks appear through out the entire 2nd level instead of tearing it out and to re-due it they didn't want to lose money so they just shot some type of filler in all the cracks to fill in the Concrete Platforms where Buses drive over it's only a matter of time before you will hear about it collapsing . These General Contractors will Cut Corners just to save Money and get a Bonus for completing before Time
Wow that’s crazy. I know exactly which building you are referring to
quite disturbing,, hopefully this entire incident is a huge wake-up call to others!
How could they just let these issues go hidden i dont understand this …
Im shocked
I have to have liability insurance as an RN and am held accountable for anythinggggggg i do or neglect to do !!! I can be held accountable for anything !! Its hard to believe these people just passed the buck and just hid things
Im an RN but came across your channel while searching this tragedy …
Im learning so very much !!! Definitely will be using your info if i ever move to any high rise
Im now fascinated by the complexity of how structures are built and actually am very glad i came across your content
Thank you ✨
It's not that they let them go hidden, they just pushed off repairs do to the costs thinking they had more time.
I too came across these videos because of the condo collapse tragedy 💔… I want to know/ understand why it happened. I frankly will never live in a high- rise and certainly not one built essentially on sand. Much will be learned from this eventually but at the expense of lost lives. It’s so horrible.
I agree that Building engineering is very interesting. I not too long ago read the non- fiction book Devil in the White City ( Chicago) which alternates stories between an active serial killer at that time with the building of the 1893 World Fair in Chicago and the architects / builders who constructed it. I couldn’t put the book down …. the builder (s)of the World Fair including the architects previous experience building skyscrapers back in those days was unbelievably fascinating. More interesting than the serial killer story, imo. I highly recommend it to you if you find these videos interesting. I think you’ll like it.
One of the witnesses did mention about salt water accumulation in basement garage 2 ft deep and after a while the water drains they tried pumping the water out but were not that successful, can you please shed some light?
That was from maintenance. Replacing insufficient pumps with insufficient pumps is insufficient.
One resident stated the same, always wet when there had been no rain. I don't think she realized the water was salt water
Alarming! How foolish to ignore the alarms ! That little inner voice ? The one that warns , don't board that plane today , You obey , and live to tell another story , . How many of us hear that voice , ignore it and RUE the day , . Ani Angela messenger AROHA NUI Endsoftheearth
Association Bords ignor Maintenance ignor Property Managers you could tell them “its going to fall” “its a pool of water down hear you guys need to approve concrete repair Fast I mean Fast” show them pictures be like hey look at this hello and they be like Oh no no no order some new Pumps one burns in a week oh no order two more and its a endless replace replace and pushing the proper way to the side and sad tragic things happen.. what am trying to say is you could be Maintenance at a condo association building but final decisions are never upon Maintenance you could suggest but its up to them if they follow or not
@@joseovelasquez6264Air crash investigators work on the basis that it is almost never one person or one mistake that brings a plane down, but a succession of interacting mistakes by different people. Even at this early stage I think the blame is going to be shared out among the constructors, the consulting engineers, the property managers and the workmen.
From what I read in those forms and specifically the emails they were pushing to do the roof first and foremost because of the coming rain season, they wanted to get ahead of it and it was supposed to be about a 2 week job tops. Interestingly enough, one of the residents who was also a former board member who quit due to constant fighting on disagreements with other board members had complained about the way the work was being done and how they were heating the tar under her apartment balcony and then taking it up a crane and how dangerous it would be if it fell on her or someone else’s balcony.
But the main complaint was about the smell, her husband who’s a Vietnam veteran and is 87 years old had trouble breathing which was made worse by this smell. Work was forced to stop because of this single complaint. They are unfortunately also among the victims that are still unaccounted for.
I wonder what could've caused the smell...
Basically the building was not livable
Sounds like it should have been condemned
That has now been confirmed. Tragically.
Thanks for the readers digest (short) tutorial on concrete construction! Wow, I've been in a lot of high rise buildings, none that looked THAT bad.
Take away: never stay or live in a building with stalactites 😳💔😭💔
That includes caves.
@@bobvidoni5898 Not even cave men lived in them. Think about it. How sensible would lining in a cave be?
What about the underground saltwater caves of Florida? If you were to slice Florida horizontally it would look like swiss cheese!
The stalactites show α shocking lack of maintenance
Even though it was the underground salt water washing away the substrate that caused the larger problem
Having started my career building PT bridges in the bay area, and later becoming a welder - everything this man said is accurate and presented in a way for most to understand. Living in Arizona, the issues found with this structure happen at a much slower rate. The reality of how harsh and how rapid it can rust and deteriorate steel once opened to the atmosphere is significantly more rapid.
The way you mention "half effort repairs" or "completely improper repairs" is also accurate. I see it often in steel repairs also. Welder sees a crack, grinds crack, welds over crack... well, the problem becomes the crack continues. In nearly every case, it is insufficient. The crack must be gouged 100%, often times (if possible) back plated, the ends of the crack drilled to prevent the crack from continuing its path, then welded properly.
I have also welded internally in massive tanks, where the rust has sealed cracks that are visually undetectable. Once grinding and hammering/ chipping and welding begins to occur (vibration and thermal expansion/retraction), several other spots may open themselves up to leaks... which is why I always pressure and leak test. Very similar to your description of the roof construction vibrating the PT cables.
The way the building was described as "creaking" is likely the PT cables stretching and contracting... RED FLAG 🚩
Food for thought: rust is often described as "corrosion" but to me more specific, it is actually oxidation of the steel (if we are being specific its actually the iron element "Fe" in the "steel" that oxidizes and forms rust). The concrete of a structure can probably best described as an insulator for the steel; much like a rubber coating on an electrical wire, keeping electrons in but in our current interest, keeping the atmosphere out, or to a minimum. Perhaps for those that don't quite understand the decay process, you could relate it in this way.
Also. Should we explore the potential of hydrogen embrittlement of the steel cored structure?
"Should we explore the potential of hydrogen embrittlement of the steel cored structure?". No, because it does not apply here. Nice try throwing in big words as an attempt to impress.
Great information, professionally-presented, and without the wild-guessing and the hysterics of the MSM. Thank you.
This recalls the collapse of the Clarkson Hospital Parking Garage in Omaha, Nebraska. Can't remember the year, presumably in the early 1970s. A friend was working in an adjoining building on the fourth floor of the University of Nebraska Med Center and happened to look out of the window at the moment the entire multi-story parking garage simply . . . pancaked and collapsed! She couldn't believe what she had seen. The first worry: was anyone entering or exiting the garage and were any people walking within to their cars? The collapse happened in the mid-afternoon and . . . MIRACULOUSLY . . . no one happened to be in the garage at the time! No one walking. No one driving around seeking a parking space or exiting the garage. Damages were consequential, but only material, no morbidity or mortality.
Your video on this disaster brought that event to mind. You are excellent in explaining the disastrous engineering, financial and mortality issues surrounding this Florida collapse. Watch everyone of your videos. We can learn so much from failure. In fact, there is a company which does nothing but review engineering failures. I believe their name is "Failure Analysis, Inc." We handled their retirement and pension plans.
Do all the highrises in that area simply have an expiration date because of sea water under the ground? All the maintenance in the world may only buy a little time. Is anyone analyzing the ground? Nevertheless, thank you for your hard work on this.
Also Salt Water
t * @Good Point!
@@jayhendricks67 saltwater is what t means by "sea water".
Seen a story from a old building employee where the tower was flooding all the time where they were going thru pumps every few years the sister tower doesn't flood it flooded with salt water maybe someone screwed up the building pad and it was a ticking time bomb from day 1
They KNEW MIAMI like HOUSTON, DALLAS , WORLDWIDE etc……. are DOOMED , LONG TERM !
There is an underground public car park in Croydon town centre (Surrey, England) that is still there BUT when I left there 17 years ago, there were stalactites and corresponding stalagmites that were around 30cm in diametre and a metre in length.. big and chunky and lots of brown rusty water flowing everywhere.. all the time. This car park in under a main road and flanks one side of an underpass... 🥺
I may add, the photos of Champlain dont look as bad as the car park I'm referring to did/does...
Oh shoot, you guys have much better building practices then we you over here. Your buildings will look like their falling apart for 200+ years!
@@kentkirkpatrick7953 In the western US our building standards are much higher than most places in the world. We build and engineer with earthquakes in mind also. The south is probably the worst example of standards. Florida has awful standards i. They got more money than brains.
It depends on how overengineered a building is.There are many deteriorating pre-WWII structures in Berlin for instance, that are not collapsing. These condo buildings are supposed to look sleek and gracious, so the margin of error is significantly smaller.
Excellent presentation! I’m a retired PE (Mechanical) with 49 years of experience and I appreciate the factual, followed by explanation, coverage?
A question though: How should they build near the coast? Concrete and salt water will get to steel rebar eventually. I’ve read articles against coated rebar that shows the coating invariably getting damaged. Stainless rebar is available but I gather it’s rarely used. Codes seem to be slow to incorporate high strength fibers, stainless steel needles, etc. I looked up rotary cast concrete transmission line poles and, while they show rebar, nothing is said about it being anything but steel- and that’s expecting a lifetime standing in brackish, or salt, water.
How would you build the perfect 15 story condo?
This whole situation is so heartbreaking and tragic. I really hope that other people will learn from this and make sure needed repairs are done quickly and correctly before another tragedy happens. I found this video extremely informative. If I ever consider moving into an apartment or condo, I'll know of a few things to look for before signing anything. I'm sure there's a massive list of things to look for that most people are completely unaware of.
"Timely Fashion" - this term should be banned in the future on a report of this kind.
Exactly...what does it even mean?? It's like my friend who says "I'll be there in a little bit" and shows up 4 hours later ...lol
Yes, they need a real deadline before a potential death can occur.
That's the phrase they use when false flag operative writes fake reports.
@@stablefoe6162 eyeroll……🙄
Yes, ridiculous! Irresponsible.
Thanks for the video. Plain English making it very easy to understand what appears to be a serious problem that was being ignored as a result of numerous factors. Terrible loss of life that I unfortunately believe we will be told was avoidable.
I work in the concrete repair world and it sad to see this happen, people don’t take the subject seriously and often push back on refurbishments and repairs, when the works are carried out they often neglect the route cause of the deterioration and just patch the repairs . When you see spalling this bad you often need to introduction corrosion inhibitors or even sacrificial anodes to mitigate the risk of incipient anode effect ( called halo effect in US)
It’s seems that the salt water in the basement was the biggest factor. Years of flooding in the basement would have been a big factor in damaging the foundations.
Actually, Josh says the pool deck was recorded to have dropped 10 centimeters from original position, in another video, so if this is a "global warming caused it" comment, nice try. Pool chemicals, constant wet state because of poor drainage and atmospheric salt from ocean were primary factors. The occasional hurricane didn't help either.
@@PayNoTax-GetNoVote don't think this is a climate change comment. I live like 20 minutes from this building, when it rains, it floods. Doesn't matter if it's only been raining for 5 minutes, that area is gonna flood right away. Florida is 6 feet under sea level, so any type of basement will flood automatically. Most of us locals didn't know this building had a basement because it doesn't make sense to have in South Florida. Typically most buildings with an underneath parking lot typically just do the lot on the first floor and the building starts on the second floor with roof parking, this building didn't do that.
Since this building is next to the water, saltwater definitely was getting in there with minimal rain and our hurricane season brining water onto shore.
@@PayNoTax-GetNoVote
Yeah everybody living on the FL coast should probably wait
until they are knee deep in water before they begin to worry about global warming, genius.
@@billzardus95 Miami Beach was already supposed to be flooded according to noted scientists like Al Gore. Still waiting for that. You must’ve been disappointed when the Millennium scare and the Mayan calendar ending didn’t pan out either.
Building came down like a house of cards. Every thing came apart as if it was professionally demolished. This entire design was shit from the first day these buildings broke ground 40 years ago.
Dayummm bro this building should have been Red Tagged w/ all that Spalling and Corrosion Complete Retro Fit w/ Boxed Columns and Concrete Shearwalls added from ground/Roof man such a tragedy, sad, I’m A Deputy Inspector out of Los Angeles so I understand the seriousness of Concrete Cracking & Spalling-Especially sea side-🙏 to the families, your doing a great job Bro getting this info out there👍🏼🍻
it's about owners not wanting to pay for the repairs, I've seen it in 5 condos I lived in, all in Flordia, in 5 I couldn't a find one that was safe, what's that say? They like to patch and paint over the problems, out of sight out of mind!!!!