That is a classic WAC support. We use them all the time for a Window Air Conditioner. Works for the loads it has been exposed to but probably would fail if loaded with the building code required loadings.
Don't worry if it falls with someone on it. The electricity below at that bank of meters will cauterize any wound you get. Instant first aid.
Yeah it was a mezzanine in a massive department store (~250k SF) in Los Angeles which had been demised into ~6 retail units/strip mall. The mezz covered a good 50% of the entire building. So over the years each tenant slowly hacked away at the mezzanine in their spaces. Our client's space had the only remaining piece of mezzanine and wanted to remove it (or...part of it) so I was walking around in the other stores to see what was left of it and found this gem. The tenant didn't seem to understand what the problem was. Hopefully the building official helped them see the light. What a nightmare project.
I did a report for a balcony collapse in Peterborough, Ont about a decade back, and people were injured. Construction was similar with diagonal struts bracing back to the wall at the bottom (struts were longer and attached near grade, but the same thing). Failure occurred because of 'dryrot' damage to the attachment material and let go. There were several people on the balcony but still below code loading. The real problem was that when failure initiated the force on the fasteners was increased due to the rotation, and collapse was catastropic.
Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?
What's the problem? The top landing is sitting on cantilevered beams, so you have that entire, probably illegal, penthouse counterbalancing the landing. Besides, I'm sure they lagged the supports into the studs in the wall.
The columns supporting the stairs, on the other hand...
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
You know, based on alignment with the windows and the roof vestibule (pardon my lack of architectural vocubulary) above...
Part of me thinks there is a chance the brace is actually aligned with a stair landing. In which case... I'd be inclined to say it not only works, it probably calcs out too.
Of course, that's a guess from just the one picture.
