Saw something scary on my vacation 7

[TehMightyEngineer]

So, I went on a grand vacation a few weeks ago. Great time, visited my home state and had a blast. However the hotel I stayed at, while a nice enough hotel, definitely had some age to it.

The balconies, shown below, were grossly unstable. They appeared to be lightweight concrete panels with unknown reinforcement that spanned between the two vertical walls. It did not connect to the main structure but didn't seem terrible in itself. However, the two walls and slab were only connected to the structure by a handful of nails. I know this because my balcony had pulled away from the structure about 1 inch and I could see all the fasteners. The lack of lateral bracing was obvious; by gently rocking my weight back and forth I could induce a good 1-2 inch lateral deflection in the balcony (and immediately ceased my structural load testing and declared the balcony verboten!).

Overall, I suspect I could pull the balcony down with my bare hands and highly doubt 40 PSF could ever exist on this without a collapse. I have no idea how these things withstand any sort of snow or wind load and am seriously concerned that these balconies will fail soon with some injuries or loss of life.

So, being a newly licensed engineer; what does one do in this situation? Per the engineering code of ethics "engineers having knowledge of any alleged violation of this Code shall report thereon to appropriate professional bodies and, when relevant, also to public authorities, and cooperate with the proper authorities in furnishing such information or assistance as may be required." Is this the appropriate response? I highly doubt that the hotel will do anything about this but I will obviously send them something at a minimum.

Thoughts?

Maine Professional and Structural Engineer
American Concrete Industries
www.americanconcrete.com

 

[hokie66]

I haven't read all of this, but don't see what the State engineering board would have to do with it. You have notified the building owner or hotel management. If you don't get a satisfactory response, or even if you do, I think the local government should be also advised of the unsafe structure.

 

[BUGGAR]

Contrary to my last post, I think the State Board regulates Engineers, not engineering itself. If you see bad engineering, it's the state board to discipline the engineer but not to pass judgement on the engineering itself. The adequacy of the engineering itself is governed by State mandated Codes. If there is no engineer to "blame", it becomes a civil matter.
Notice that I said, "I think............". There's gotta be laws on this.

I have a similar situation and I just sent out shotgun letters to all who might be involved and walked away.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Finally got this resolved enough to satisfy myself.

After a LONG while not hearing back (probably too long) I finally decided to send out another letter informing the hotel owner I had contacted the local building code enforcement department. Thankfully the building department replied much more promptly than the hotel and all was resolved. The building department contacted the hotel owner and was informed by the owner that the balconies were recently repaired. They stated that they were going to confirm this via an on-site inspection. Sounds like this all went as it should and the owner took proactive steps to resolve the situation. Shame they didn't feel the need to reply to my letter otherwise I probably wouldn't have brought the building officals into this, but a quick inspection is a small price to pay.

Now hopefully nobody else comes to that hotel and finds a sign hanging in the lobby stating "no structural engineers allowed".

Professional and Structural Engineer (ME, NH)
American Concrete Industries

http://www.americanconcrete.com