An update of sorts to the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse

[JohnRBaker]

This 2015 event was covered in a now closed thread:

https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=389494

Anyway, as a sort of an update, one of the survivors of this incident, Aoile Beary, has died from the long term complications that resulted from the injures she received in 2015:

Aoife Beary, Berkeley balcony collapse survivor, dies aged 27

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/03/world/aoife-beary-death-intl-scli/index.html

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[spsalso]

I live one mile from there. And I remember it well.

I am sorry to hear about Ms. Beary's death.

Looking at the old thread, I find it interesting, and exactly like the Florida collapse, that the government/building department will require that SOMEONE OTHER THAN THEM will be required to sign off on these structures. I guess the buck doesn't stop at that location.

Anyway, my recollection is that someone did a very excellent investigation and report on this building failure. I THINK I have it on file, but that computer is feeling sad and despondent (suicidal thoughts, actually) at the moment. If I can later find this report, I'll try to post/link it.

spsalso

 

[hokie66]

This young woman's death vividly shows that the tragedy of these type events lasts for a long time. Even if she had lived longer, her quality of life was impaired. Those who were killed have family and friends who are also casualties.

 

[FacEngrPE]

I found a few intersting tidbits

Berkeley balcony collapse: Contractor’s license revoked By THOMAS PEELE and MATTHIAS GAFNI | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: April 21, 2017 at 4:45 p.m. | UPDATED: April 23, 2017 at 2:52 p.m"Finding that it had willfully ignored building plans, the state on Friday revoked the license of the general contractor who built a downtown Berkeley apartment complex"..."Court records showed that Segue paid $6.5 million to settle two lawsuits alleging that decks on buildings where it was the general contractor rotted prematurely in the years leading up to the Berkeley collapse."...

Governor signs bill in wake of deadly 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse By BAY AREA NEWS GROUP and TOM LOCHNER | PUBLISHED: September 15, 2016 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: September 11, 2018 at 12:00 a.m.

While I found a cryptic reference to the report spsalso mentions, there was not enough information to identify where it might be found.

Balcony collapses happen way too often, with tragic results.

 

[spsalso]

I found this:

Link

which might very well be the report I mentioned. It is certainly interesting.

I direct you to pages 68-69, as being especially so.

"The design & construction documents consisting of drawings, details and specifications as prepared by XXXX for the Library Gardens Apartments should have been sufficient for the general contractor XXXX and the various sub contractors to construct the subject cantilever balconies at units 305 & 405 in a manner that with little maintenance should have been able to perform as intended for the life expectancy of the building."

Kind of a chilling paragraph.


spsalso

 

[spsalso]

The linked report was commissioned only to look at the actions and inactions of a contractor.

There may be other investigations/reports examining the actions/inactions of the Berkeley building department. This would be the organization tasked with making sure the contractor did good work. Which, apparently, it did not.

The district attorney declined to file criminal charges for the collapse, saying there was not enough evidence to get a conviction.


spsalso

 

[TugboatEng]

This was an interesting one. As a dweller of old homes, they all have leaks here and there. Yeah the deck joints weren't sealed well but the real devil is that they sheathed the bottoms of the balconies for cosmetic reasons but they were sealed well so anything that leaked through the deck pooled and caused rot. Had that cosmetic under sheathing not been applied the rot may not have occurred or it would have at least been visible to inspectors.

Perhaps there is a lesson here about vanity. Maybe we need to stop hiding the structural components of our less inspected buildings and incorporate them in to the visual design. My new house has a poorly finished basement with sheet rock under the floor joists. It's all old growth 2x12 redwood. That looks better bare than the best sheetrock can.

 

[spsalso]

My recollection about the lack of vents on the bottom of closed decks is that they were required to be NOT there, as they were viewed as access points for fire. This rule followed the 1991 Oakland Firestorm. This is for new construction. Also, the decks were required to have fireproof material on the bottom. No open-frame wood decks allowed. There WERE a few steel decks with open grating done.

As another example of this revision: my house, which was less than a half-mile (and downwind) of the fire, has a roof overhang with no soffit. Soffits are now required, and they may not have vents. If my roof has a leak at the overhang, say an overflowing gutter, the surrounding/adjacent wood will get wet, and dry out in a few hours/days. That ain't happening with the new requirement. Again, this is for new construction.

For that matter, the classic Berkeley wood shingle siding that is on the outside of my 1912 house is not allowed anymore, either. LOTS of stucco.



spsalso

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

i was going to have a terrace balcony on my sauna...

This group has been putting me off to be honest. I think I will have it not connected to the main building now.