Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC... 2

[CELinOttawa]

In chatting on another thread, AELLC suggested this might be a fun topic. I agree.

I will get the ball rolling with the attached photo. This is meant to be a full moment, 25% shear, connection to an equal size embedded column as the base for a portal frame which supports 100% glass glazing. Warning: One cannot un-see such terrible work. Hide the kids.

 

[AELLC]

I wish I had a pic. It was about 1983, near Santa Fe, NM

Homeowner was having custom home built - no engineer, unlicensed contractor. She came to the company where I was working to get an Expert Opinion for her lawsuit.

House was about 90% constructed of salvaged-from-the-scrapyard materials; all junk.

The septic tank was an old VW bus body.

Not to be confused with this "legitimate trainwreck" in Albuquerque

http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g60933-i44503779-Albuquerque_New_Mexico.html

The definition of a structural engineer: overdesign by a factor of 1.999, instead of the usual 2.

 

[Ingenuity]

This is a RC column that was 'hacked' by a company installing a 'dumb waiter' lift to a restaurant (located at level 2) in a hotel building. The column supported 14 levels of columns over.

Approx 50% of the column section was destroyed (full width x 50% of length) so as to install the sheave beams for the lift. The column ties were cut, and the vertical column rebar had actually buckled over the pocket height - see the induced eccentricity. They placed scrunched up paper in the void, but there was no attempt to concrete or grout back the displaced concrete.

We discovered the 'anomaly' during a full hotel refurb - estimated to be about 15 years AFTER the dumb water was installed.

We ended up placing concrete to the void, then placiing a RC jacket around the column section for its full height.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

I wish I could share some of the things I've seen but confidentiality agreements and common sense prevent me.

Let's just say that you would be amazed how much of a column base you can rust away in the basement of an industrial facility before it buckles almost taking out 6 floors of a facility. It did buckle but total collapse was prevented by a little S8 section monorail that braced it and kept the column from kicking out as it buckled.

Also, monorails defy physics I believe. Either that or loading from the bottom flange lets you get away with little to no torsional resistance.

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

 

[grogannc]

I love war stories. I was on a job which was two sets of 3 story condos facing each other on top of a post tensioned slab covering the parking garage. During construction a worker was drilling holes in the slab for drains and failed to consider or verify the locations of the tendons. That was an exciting day-not sure if he kept that arm or not. This same job a lot of money was wasted on NDE documenting where rebar was/wasn't installed in the masonry walls. I say wasted since there wasn't any anywhere. My story is a little bit off topic but the construction was horrendous as well. They used the FULL extend of tolerances in ACI-117 haha.

 

[grogannc]

Oh another good one. There is/was a 10 story library which is 70s style RC/Precast. Sometime in the 90s they wanted to dress it up a little bit so they added a brick veneer skin to it. In the 2000s the brick started falling off in sheets. After in-depth material testing turns out the thin brick were glued to plastic sheets (the same material found in fast food restaurant cups) with liquid nails. It has since all been replaced. They are lucky no one was killed.

 

[FishTheStructure]

Exterior masonry walls are supposed to look like this right?!?!



Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds - Albert Einstein

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Fish: My goodness! That's horrible! How the heck did anyone even consider that acceptable?

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

 

[FishTheStructure]

I'm guessing it was covered up shortly after it was constructed because I don't know any engineer, let alone any owner, that would consider that acceptable workmanship.
Needless to say I had it removed and replaced but not before I got a picture to hang above my desk!

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds - Albert Einstein

 

[CELinOttawa]

Any idea how long it survived like that? Shocking in appearance, but so far the bone head prize is to Ingenuity's DUMB waiter....

 

[tony1851]

These are pics of re-building a wall approx 2ft further out than the existing to widen the building a little. The original wall (mid-19th century - 9" solid brick - two stories) was on a very shallow footing on sand. The contractor left the original wall in position while digging the foundation trench for the new wall.
Suprisingly it never collapsed - though who would take chances like this? The property across the narrow yard was occupied.

 

[XR250]

Here's one I saw to today. Fix for a bowing and leaning basement wall. Nice!

 

[Archie264]

Wow, amazing stuff! And yes, the dumb waiter column destruction gives me the heebie-jeebies. And the VW bus for a septic tank is a riot.

 

[JAE]

What happens to stud walls under load when you take away the sheathing:

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

JAE: Neat! That's definitely a good one.

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

 

[JLNJ]

JAE

Whats' the big deal? When my wife watches HGTV they are always taking out bearing walls with no ill effect.

Those shows must not be subject to the laws of physics!

 

[CELinOttawa]

No JAE, timber construction often has natural, if unplanned, secondary and tertiary load paths... Nails through sheathing and into joists, studs, etc is amazingly resilient.

Luck, and the ability to edit out any collapse or other issues. TV magic my friend...

 

[JAE]

Ya - in the case of those studs - they depended on each other. Two drunks leaning on each other for support.

 

[HardyParty]

These are great. Terribly great.

I was talking to a contractor today, they were drilling holes for anchors in some tilt up panels and hit rebar.

"After the panel is lifted, that rebar is pointless anyway, right?"

...at least he asked...

 

[XR250]

Some of the rebar may be pointless once it is lifted depending on the panel weight and wind/sesimic loading.