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Floor Collapse Near Clemson Univ. 1

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JAE

JAE

Structural
Jun 27, 2000
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Rings of Hyatt Regency back in the 80's.

Music is a killer...

Where do you drag up these things JAE? [bigears]

Celebrating another Clemson win I guess...

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)


 
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...just like the Texas bridge, is was caused by 'climate change'...hehe :)

In all seriousness, sorry to see there where injuries.
 
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I own a 96 year old house with 2X8 floor joists and other underdesigned structural elements (by today's standard). I am mindful of that when inviting people over for social occasions. Most college kids wouldn't give it a thought.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.
 
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When I held my wedding at my house I reinforced a small landing on my deck which was poorly designed. I suspect most people don't consider this at all though, I wonder what homeowners insurance does in the instance of holding an unsuitable gathering or otherwise having a failure due to overload of a structure?

Ian Riley, PE, SE
Professional Engineer (ME, NH, MA) Structural Engineer (IL)
American Concrete Industries
 
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TehMightyEngineer said:
I wonder what homeowners insurance does in the instance of holding an unsuitable gathering or otherwise having a failure due to overload of a structure?
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I would imagine failures like that happen regularly. We only hear of the occasional one where a number of people are injured. Also, I would think your home owner's insurance would cover your liability, unless it was proven that you built the structure yourself, and without the proper permits and inspections. Then again, we see lots of reports of local contractors building decks with permits and inspections that are significantly short of the code standards, so in that case I would think that the contractor would be liable, but on the other hand it has to do with the law so who the hell knows who would sue who and who would pay and how much?

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.
 
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I don't take Engineering Failure/Disaster to mean anything other than an incident involving a structure or system (engineered or otherwise), or some catastrophic event that engineer's must respond to, or maybe even a structure that is intentionally demolished or destructively tested. If there is something to be learned then I am happy to see it on this forum.
 
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thebard3, I suspect older wood was of a better quality than what you find now.

Maybe oak floors, or maybe pine. Not popular like today.

 
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One advantage of living on the West coast is that almost everything is new and purpose-built, so nightclubs tend to be code-compliant. We don't what the history of this building was, and what code it was built to, and whether its current use is even remotely consistent with its original design.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
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IR...

It was a frat house with who knows how many undocumented changes over the years.

Probably had 4" diameter holes drilled in 2x6 floor joists for all I know. Like that's never been done before...

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)


 
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Hang on, IRstuff identified what he thinks is an advantage of living on the West coast. Let him have at least one.
 
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Well there's good wine and very good food that's for sure (coming from a midwesterner in the US who's visited there a bit.

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faq731-376
 
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There obvious exceptions; like the warehouse that was converted into a non-code compliant dwelling that because a fire trap, or those amusing condos with structural beams running through the kitchen and its cabinets.

Lots of great Chinese and Japanese food on the West coast, that's almost good enough alone.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
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What? Are we trying to compare the East and West coast construction?

It appears that things on the West coast have been shaken, and on the East have been stirred. At this point some of the old stuff that is unstable is likely to have been destroyed on both.

So why are we making this review? What's the point?

If someone gets a permit to change a building, is it not required, everywhere, to have it re-inspected?

The exception maybe a barn. Then again, maybe the inspector may not know...
 
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cranky108 said:
If someone gets a permit to change a building, is it not required, everywhere, to have it re-inspected?
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Not reinspected, no. At least not structurally. IEBC requires gravity system to comply with current building code if load increases. Any reinforcements made to achieve this would require inspections just like new construction. But there are no building-wide inspections required that I know of. And if the load is the same even if occupancy changes (say changing residential to parking, both 40 psf under IBC though parking does have point loads to deal with), then even the analysis isn't technically required.

And IEBC requires absolutely nothing for lateral resistance provided you don't change the risk category or remove resisting elements (or add wind area/seismic mass).
 
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There's a more recent story on the local station's web page.


The property is the Woodlands of Clemson Clubhouse, perhaps not a dedicated frat house. I'd love to see the drawings but it may not matter much. The occupant load was pretty clearly far in excess of any reasonable expectation.



 
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The max occupancy load of 135 for the first floor seems like it's probably reasonable for the party thrown, no?
 
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