Townhome Deck Collapse and Responsibility 16

[kylesito]

Was recently engaged to come investigate a lower level deck that had partially collapsed. The shear attachment at the ledger sheared off with two individuals standing near the patio door. The ledger was attached with concrete nails at several feet OC.

Thankfully the collapse was limited in that the lower level of the deck was only 2' off the ground and the two individuals weren't hurt. I was engaged by the property manager for that address and we decided it was best to do a complete replacement as we found numerous other problems (bad guardrail, 2nd level ledger attachment significantly under strength, main beam undersized, etc). In every way, these decks were built poorly with no adherence to code or even quality craftsmanship taken into account.

The trouble is, this one deck is one of 200 identical decks in this neighborhood.

Following my report, the property manager for this house notified the HOA but was ignored. I followed up with an email and was told the HOA was still controlled by the developer who is also the property manager of the majority of the homes here as well. This developer is also notorious for not following codes and essentially pays for his numerous lawsuits by building new buildings in the area.

Very troubled by the critical nature of the deficiencies in these decks, I reached out to the City inspectors but was told their jurisdiction doesn't extend to this area of the county.

Through a mutual friend, I sent a brief explanation to the County Commission but was also told there was no code enforcement they could offer.

I'm now at a loss for what I am obligated to do (both by code of ethics and a that of a decent person in the knowledge of a bad issue). This concerns me a lot. There are real problems with these decks and it won't be long before a second story portion collapses. And the nature of the neighborhood is such that there are also many families with young children making the burden even greater.

But I'm stuck. The developer is likely to sue me on some frivolous claim if I notify him of anything. But any public notice or such is bound to get noticed by him first. I am not sure it's appropriate to mail a letter to each owner as it seems as though I'm soliciting services. But I'm left with a huge burden to do something to prevent what I am sure will be a bad situation in the future.

Thoughts?


PE, SE
Eastern United States

"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi

 

[JAE]

....just to further clarify - the OP asks what their ethical obligation is based on the assumption that the OP knows, by proximity, inspection of next door decks, etc. that there is indeed strong evidence that other decks are a problem.

What I seem to be hearing from others here is that even with the assumption that there are decks (plural) that have issues, and the OP knows that there are issues - we would not do anything as a licensed engineer but simply walk away - not our problem - let others get injured by falling decks - I've done my duty by throwing a few emails out there.

Sorry - that doesn't correlate at all with most engineering ethical requirements.

Now if there are 199 other decks that are just fine, and the OP doesn't have a clue whether there are other problems or not, then perhaps walking away is not unethical. But that wasn't the scenario that the OP presented us with.

Check out Eng-Tips Forum's Policies here:
faq731-376

 

[dik]

Had I found the first one, I'd have approached a neighbour with a similar style house and deck and explained that I was looking at a deck in the neighbourhood and wanted to check another one that was similarly constructed. I wouldn't have explained the failure, but, wanted to see how they were generally constructed. I would not have alarmed the neighbour. Once I saw that construction was similar (so there's a bit of a pattern) I would then have approached the authorities involved. I likely would have taken a cursory look at a third deck.

Dik