I have been watching a handful of engineers doing various analysis’ and speculations. While I do enjoy getting information from many different sources, I gotta say that this channel is the most enjoyable of them all to watch.
@@nuladee exactly! The editing is amazing, too. I know this content is info-focused but shitty music and bad editing can make it so hard to keep watching
Hi! I am an architect specialist in restoration of heritage buildings (from Romania) so in my career I saw a lot of damage to the structure of a building including water damage. In the video you analize almost all the concrete columns show a wet moisture line at their base, 10 - 15 cm above the floor. That usually indicates presence of water through capillarity. All those columns are soacked in water, the water insulation is non existent below the floor. If that water is salty the corrosion is incredible. So the water migrates also through the floor, evaporates and then condensates on the slab above further contributing to the moisture in it.
Engineering is a wonderful, professional discipline. My very first class emphasized the need to learn well so we do not kill anyone. Its engrained in me to this day. I spent a career in nuclear power and we read lots of failure analyses. You learn a great deal from these. The Challenger and Columbia space shuttle accident investigations are fantastic reads. Challenger especially since social dynamics, and the psychology of decision-making contributed greatly.
The crime my brother is he is analyzing the failure 3 years before it happened .And from what I can see and I'm hearing which is totally as a retired Equipment Tech so a lamen it was a disaster then that was waiting to happen should have been evacted and repaired ASAP and thats 3 years ago.I mean that friken basement garage and structural foundation look frighteningly ominous .
Good analysis. I am a structural eng. who designed over 50 suspended apartment slabs, and would like to add my 5 cents worth. Looking at your presentation, I think what was a big component of the failure is the part you can't see, and that is cracking directly over the columns at the top of the slab, within the negative moment regions. Those cracks from the top of the slab were open to direct water infiltration causing water damage to the slab, which in turn decreased the punching shear resistance of the slab until failure. This was a plate slab, meaning the punching shear resistance of the slab was near it's limit from day one. Over the years, degradation of the concrete strength over the columns would open the possibility of catastrophic failure due to punching and game over. I wouldn't be surprised if water infiltrated the slab via the top cracks located over the columns and migrated horizontally to the bottom cracks located at mid span. It would be interesting to obtain forensic info on the state of the slab over the other intact column locations by removing the tiles and exposing the structural slab to determine its integrity. I wonder if they had automatic sprinklers within the planters, causing a continuous supply of water in addition to the annual 5' of rainfall in Miami. Wasn't aware about the debris field until the end of the video. Holy crap! Looks like the slab failed progressively in bending, slab integrity was significantly weakened until nearby column punches through catastrophically and the whole thing comes down. Wow!! Cheers from Canada and keep up the great work and analysis.
Include the fact that new decking / tiling was done in last 10 years to the outside deck slab. IF the waterproof membrane was not replaced or patched then it is a free path for water to enter the slab and move through it along the the rebar lines. I also strongly suspect the footing steel corrosion which would cause downward punch through.
*A simple exercise:* For _each_ 100 pounds of _horizontal_ component of wind force directed against a north wall, each of the east and west outside walls that are at right angles to it takes up 50 pounds of force. If a third interior wall is added parallel to the east and west walls then each wall will take up 33.3 pounds of force. The floors that also transmit this horizontal component of force to the outside walls prevent inward deflection of the north wall. Horizontal force transmitted by the floors that is taken up by the footings of the columns and rear wall may be ignored for this analysis.
Is a third interior wall of solid concrete required? (Referred to in some discussions as a shear wall). After calculating the force that the east and west walls must accommodate it is a matter of design choice. It is likely that the minimum thickness and strength of the east and west walls already greatly exceeds the horizontal force that these must hold back. Thus, for each 50 pounds exerted horizontally, the walls as a result of their strength to function as a wall supporting the vertical downward load from weight, are already capable of sustaining a horizontal component several times that amount, which is why the contribution of the footings was ignored.
A building is designed so that the entire structure remains standing. That a collapse is only partial appeals to emotions, not logic.
An interior wall of solid concrete that is not connected by rebar to the adjacent part of the building is in effect an _exterior_ wall to which an abutting structure has been added that encloses it making the whole thing appear to be a single building. Pre-construction-sales enabled raising capital for a much larger structure.¹³
The reason behind this two-phase approach is _finance,_ not engineering.
¹³ For each dollar investors advance for the cost of constructing a 100-unit building these funds are sufficient to build twice as many units. The 80-unit addition that effectively costs them nothing accrues to the organizers.
What scares me is that I've become complacent when I see concrete cracks ANYWHERE. I never thought that they could really indicate potential significant structural weakness. I'm definitely not going to be looking at concrete the same way again.
I think the biggest flaw is the lack of beams and puny little columns, which leads to shear punching failures. I live in a building of similar height and design in Chicago, but we have massive beams and columns everywhere holding things up.
@@oicfas4523 There is another building up the street from Chanplain towers called Mirage that is of a similar design except the columns on the lobby floor are HUGE! That building ain’t coming down unless it is demo’d.
I'm just a mom/preschool teacher and I don't know why, but I find your videos fascinating! I didn't think I would ever care about structural integrity, who knew!!
I'm not a mom (yet... but hopefully soon), and I am a foreign language teacher at the high school level. I too find these videos very interesting as they offer things to think about, answers to questions to seek. :) Personally, I am not sure if I could teach preschool... I taught first grade for a year, and that was enough for me. Preschool is far more difficult than so many believe. My hat is off to you! You are far more than "just a mom/preschool teacher"... all mothers are special, and as a teacher you fundamentally touch lives, in your case of the very smallest. :)
As a civil trial lawyer for the last 37 years, I thoroughly appreciate the analysis of evidence going on here, the efforts to explain to non-engineers what we are seeing and why it is important, as well as the cautions that none of us should jump to any conclusions until all evidence has been reviewed, tested and evaluated in its totality. Well done, sir. Thank you for all your efforts in discussing this tragedy.
So can you explain why people should build high rise building on the beach in salt air? If people are that stupid then they should not get compensated for living in a dangerous area.
@@greenlawnfarm5827 Have you traveled just along MD up to DE if you want to see high rises along the beach? It this is a chronic issue, a lot of engineers/architects were derelict in their jobs.
Please investigate whether man-made caves, aka garages, intrinsically make buildings less stable. I'd fill them all in after quadrupling the number of supporting columns.
@@greenlawnfarm5827 high rise buildings can be built safely next to the oceans and the resulting salt air. But they need to be designed well and maintained well. Storm water runoff needs to be properly controlled. Waterproofing needs to be properly designed, installed, and maintained. There are hundreds of these high rise buildings just in that city alone, and yet they rarely fail, which is indicative of their safety.
*A simple exercise:* For _each_ 100 pounds of _horizontal_ component of wind force directed against a north wall, each of the east and west outside walls that are at right angles to it takes up 50 pounds of force. If a third interior wall is added parallel to the east and west walls then each wall will take up 33.3 pounds of force. The floors that also transmit this horizontal component of force to the outside walls prevent inward deflection of the north wall. Horizontal force transmitted by the floors that is taken up by the footings of the columns and rear wall may be ignored for this analysis.
Is a third interior wall of solid concrete required? (Referred to in some discussions as a shear wall). After calculating the force that the east and west walls must accommodate it is a matter of design choice. It is likely that the minimum thickness and strength of the east and west walls already greatly exceeds the horizontal force that these must hold back. Thus, for each 50 pounds exerted horizontally, the walls as a result of their strength to function as a wall supporting the vertical downward load from weight, are already capable of sustaining a horizontal component several times that amount, which is why the contribution of the footings was ignored.
A building is designed so that the entire structure remains standing. That a collapse is only partial appeals to emotions, not logic.
An interior wall of solid concrete that is not connected by rebar to the adjacent part of the building is in effect an _exterior_ wall to which an abutting structure has been added that encloses it making the whole thing appear to be a single building. Pre-construction-sales enabled raising capital for a much larger structure.¹³
The reason behind this two-phase approach is _finance,_ not engineering.
¹³ For each dollar investors advance for the cost of constructing a 100-unit building these funds are sufficient to build twice as many units. The 80-unit addition that effectively costs them nothing accrues to the organizers.
The forensic investigation of this poster is amazing. This building was clearly distressed months (years) before collapse. Too many people ignored warning signals.
Yeah, years. The people ignored the signals because what they had to do was so costly they could not afford it, because before they moved in, the signals have been ignored too. So they just postponed repairs until later, later, later. And once they finally started doing them, they started with the easiest part, the roof.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s almost eerie to think this person did a walk through without necessarily knowing what she was looking at. Had this video been analyzed prior to the collapse, or by those city people making the big bucks before passing it, all these deaths and possibly the disaster itself would have been avoided. It’s just SO obvious where all the damage was. Very eye-opening!
@@marcus8559 Sadly it takes many deaths for people to make progress towards safety. I'm an aircraft mechanic and that's why aviation is so safe. Its because many have died to make it that way. People don't like to spend money.
But can you call this collapse a tragic situation or is it criminal negligence? Personally I think it's the last. The Morabita report stems from 2018, that's 3! years before the collapse, and their engineer(s) called the structural state of parts of this building "alarming" and advised that action should be taken asap. From what this video shows, the building owner(s) "solutions" are mostly cosmetic patchwork to hide the damage. Injecting severely damaged concrete with obviously rusting rebars inside with polymers doesn't repair any of the damage, as at worst it's only a temporary cosmetic band-aid to make things look better and at best somewhat slows down the damage spreading and/or worsening, as the rebar keeps on rusting inside the concrete and does more and more damage underneath the patchwork. I think the conclusion must therefore be that the building owner(s) knew, at least after the Morabita report from 2018, that this building had severe structural damage and yet kept postponing proper repairs, probably to save a few dollars and/or reach the end of the certification period and then "fix" everything in one huge project so the building could be re-certified.
@@tjroelsma What has been shown in this video does not indicate that this damage would have lead to the collapse of the building. What is important is the state of the columns, they appear to be in reasonable condition. Though it does show the general state of the building was not good. The water flooding the basement must have come from below which would suggest a cavity under the building. The collapse video shows the building collapsing first from below ground level. pulling all the levels down. I think it is to early to say the owners were negligent.
Yeah common sense tells you a tremendous force would be required to crack concrete and it is cracking because its not being supported evenly underneath or the steel inside the concrete is rusting and swelling, the slab on the floor of the garage at the entrance has a large crack, there seems to be plenty ventilation through the garage entrance so why so much damp inside ?
As an attorney (in Texas), I'm obsessed w your forensic analysis!! Thanks for educating us. 😀 This is a cluster f... of liability and bad decisions. I wouldn't touch this case with a 10ft pole. I'm so heartbroken for these poor innocent victims.
She uploaded another video showing her exploring the rest of the building and visiting a unit. I believe she was visiting friends/family and just wanted to soak up all the beauty
@@emerconghaile4902 she was looking to purchase a unit. Unit 611, I think. She films herself in the hallway, the unit, looking through the rooms and closets, all over the apartment. If she had bought it, she might not be here today. I think it was mentioned somewhere that she lives in another building in the area, and was waiting for a unit to open in this building, probably because it has better views.
@@neighborhoodcatlady6094 Heard that on CBS evening news tonight, isn't that amazing she got out going down the stairwell 6 flights while the building was coming down, stated by reporter. Just a miracle.
This channel has by far the best analysis of this collapse on all of RUclips. Everyone else who's doing this sounds like a crazy person, but you're just doing the analysis. You're skilled and calm, and that's what's needed here to really figure out what happened. Thank you.
Agree with what you say there. Some content by others is full of BS and speculation by clearly unqualified individuals more focused on media 'personalities' and 'inconvenience' to spectators during emergency response operations.
"Crazy person". So you have also tried to watch the videos from "Construction Engineering & Failure Analysis"? :D That guy certainly comes across as nuts.
I'm an IT-guy. Before this tragic event I knew about nothing about concrete, buildings, etc. I have learned a lot in the last few days, especially thanks to this guy explaining something complicated in a very easy to understand manner. Thank you for all your hard work! I really appreciate it!
Having been a member of many high rise condo HOA's, the band aid fixes you see in the garage are quite common until a building inspector threatens to close down the garage totally. In this case, with condos above the garage they would also threaten to evacuate the entire building above. You can see they tried to fix some if these the "cheap way", never looking into the cause of the cracks but just injecting with silicone etc or covering them up cosmetically with plastic. HOA's is always try to fix things the cheapest way they can to keep HOA dues down or to avoid a special assessment to the owners. The frugalness of this HOA was one of the causes of this disaster. All HOA's with similar buildings need to have their structures inspected by an independent professional who has enough integrity to report the true findings every few years to not only the HOA but also to the government agency responsible for building inspections.
I work for a company that sells outdoor lighting. Selling to condo complexes is a waste of time. Unlike a university or a corporate facility, the condo's always buy the cheapest off shore crap they can get their hands on. Lighting made with pot metal that rusts within weeks, poor paint. Questionable UL labels. All cost driven and short term thinking.
Many condo boards cannot undertake serious repairs because non-resident or broke owners will not vote for it. So they patch things up, until something breaks, and then it's an emergency.
I am not an engineer and have no knowledge of construction. I have watched other videos about this building and it's issues. I REALLY appreciate how not only do you point out issues of concern, but you also explain what the problem is, why it's relevant, how it could have happened, and why that's important. And you do it in a way that most anyone could understand. I really appreciate your videos! Great explanations with details/ descriptions and not said in a condescending way. Really good, thank you 🤗
Forget about how nice the units, lobby, outside perimeter like a pool are. Care about the the structural foundation of the unit you choose to buy or rent. Your very life depends upon you doing so. Get an engineer to give it a once over.
I can't believe condos that are that fancy had such a crappy parking garage. We have a condo in Branson Missouri and our parking area is much better than this and it's not nearly as fancy...not even close.
@@eternalsun.3400 But then living over popsicle sticks wouldn't be smart regardless of the weight of your condo design and furniture. Having an unstable underground cave aka "parking garage" at all is dangerous. I don't think cars were ever meant to share vertical space with humans.
I've seen similar things in parking garages to various degrees of severity here in Canada, and it's always tickled my amateur engineer Spidey senses, but I always wrote it off because, "much much smarter people than me are obviously aware of it and monitoring it." However, after this collapse and watching the videos you're making about it, it's making me wonder how many other buildings out there are actually in this state, showing obvious signs of failure, but that are being ignored and missed entirely in the black hole of bureaucracy, property owner's profit margins and the public's dubious assumption that someone else is taking care of it. Either way, next time I'm in a garage that looks sketchy, I'm going to pull out my phone and document it.
Structural union ironworker here, keep up the great work. Been following ya since first video on the collapse. Great content and I appreciate the amount of time you are putting into this. Not all hero’s wear capes
I really appreciate the fact that you don't really take sides as such, you just present the facts as you find them and learn of them and just present the non-judgmental fact. Thank you for that.
Best footage of the garage covered by the best channel following this story! I knew this lady’s footage was soooo valuable upon her posting it. She was disturbed by the conditions.
@@WoodStoveEnthusiast Too bad there is not more of the video footage. There were many security cameras and also the collapse was a camera recording of a screen that missed first few seconds...
I'm not from any sort of engineering background but I've learnt so much about buildings and concrete structures from watching your videos! Thanks for doing this series, so interesting!
Josh, they should really use you during the official investigation of the building and have you present during the trial itself. You are the only engineer that I, as a laywoman can understand. You are very "buttoned-up" with your presentation, having already inspected each frame and tagged them for presentation so you don't have to keep scrolling around, hemming and hawing, looking for things. You don't state your opinions/observations as facts or try to state what really brought the building down, but rather let the viewer come to his or her own conclusions. Keep posting please.
Not to degrade Josh's excellent work, but he has home field advantage working in his own office, with no time crunch and with the ability to edit. A live presentation for a trial where a building collapsed and people died is different. I do agree Josh would be great at presenting facts to court.
So in short the concrete was liquifying where the planter boxes were above the garage rusting out the rebar. I really enjoy watching Mr. Porter explain everything involved with this tragedy. In a clear manner even a non engineer like me can understand.
And it appears that it wasn't just seeping into the garage below, but to the north end under the building. I think if it had only been seeping beneath the planter boxes, a section of the concrete deck could have collapsed, but wouldn't have compromised the integrity of the building itself. I wonder if attempts to seal the leaks from under the planter boxes just diverted water to structural building columns and beams? In other words, is it possible that sealing leaks in the planter boxes without addressing why water was seeping though in the first place made the building structurally unsound?
You can see several leaking plumbing issues as well, and ironically the public bathrooms in the lobby were right where he points out the gutter they had diverting water. You can see all kinds of leaking pipes in the video with patches over them, which should have been replaced.
I can imagine a planter box with bad drainage weighing many thousands of pounds more than design expectations, plus providing a continuous seepage of contaminated water under high pressure.
Wow, this video really shows what the trained eye looks for. Along with all the correct blueprints and the video you were able to pinpoint pretty closely the areas that were affected. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Because of this coverage is everywhere the brought up some Trama for me that caught me off guard ,I had to speak to my therapist. What I found was things that happened over my life were all linked to fire and destruction or structure (9/11). I worked in security as my former self and the maintenance guy was just a jerk. He never really did anything either and the building had problems. So seeing this unfold triggered this Trama I had not addressed yet. Now watching your videos it really opens my mind to knowing somewhat of a root cause for this particular tragedy will help with this Trama. Forever thankful for this explanation.
To me this is more a study in psychology . No matter what the reason for the collapse is ,so many people ignored warning signs . People obviously did work on the building which clearly shows that a problem kept getting bigger . The building was doomed .Amazing that nobody could stop the deaths . "Do you want the truth ? You can't handle the truth ! "
They said it was 1 and a half feet deep in the past in the garage so not properly draining, maybe a pipe burst just before the collapse flooding the garage for some time without anyone noticing.
@@marklittler784 Correction: FLOWING Water follows gravity, Capillary Water "wicks" along following some tangible, physical item (ie Rebar) in whatever direction that conduit item goes. (Think like electricity flowing in a single wire. The electricity does not flow "through" the solid copper core of the wire, it flows along the SURFACE, the outside diameter of the wire.) Any water trapped below the garage floor slab doesn't have any place to drain to by gravity. Under pressure from the slab & building above, it becomes capillary water & will infiltrate and follow even the tiniest crack. Once that capillary water finds a rebar, it's off to the races!
So many people trying to analyze the collapse on RUclips, but by far, this channel covers it professionally and clearly. Thank you for taking the time to develop these vids! Brings me back to Structural classes in college!
Ended up here for reasons that only the YT algorithm knows, but even as a person knowing nothing about construction and engineering, your explainations are totally clear and easy to comprehend. (also, I am not a native speaker). I am so going to subscribe to your channel because there's so much to learn from your videos! Thank you!
I live in Rochester New York, a northern state. We have severe winters, and they use salt on the roads and garages to melt the ice. You wouldn't believe the garages and bridges here...the exposed rebar, cracking concrete, spalling, etc. It really makes me question if this could happen here. Or perhaps because of our northern climate, they do more rigorous inspections and/or overbuild the structures for this reason?
Looks like a video camera on the ceiling 10:19. There was a video camera on the pool deck and other parts of the building . There also was a video with water dripping down on top of an electic box. Was rusted pretty bad. A bucket was below it. I think a tenant complained about that. I like how you put the blueprint in the corner and highlighted were this woman was walking . Then showed inside damage up above on the deck. Great job explaining this in detail. This will help folks who live in these condo's what to look for themselves. Thank you.
Now we can never walk through an underground garage again without noticing and speculating what every crack might mean. This man is a fantastic teacher.
Come up north to NY (and probably other northern states). Between the sand they use to melt ice, freezing and warming, and snow and ice melting off the cars, this garage actually seems to be in good working condition, sadly. One thing I learned in watching this video is that cracks, pooling water, or seeping water is not in itself indicative of a structural problem. It's the location, angle, and other signs that show it's more than just cosmetics.
Have you ever recommended that a building should be vacated? Or condemned? Does that ever happened? I’m sure the city has the authority to issue such an order.
Very interesting! I work in highway engineering and construction. This is similar to what we see on the underside of older highway bridge decks (stalactites and/or efflorescence). For us this means bridge deck replacement is in order. I suspect that what lies under the pealing paint is efflorescence.
I’m really shocked that the ceiling of the underground parking garage looked so bad. How long would it take to have so many issues like the peeling paints and cracks? Obviously people complained their cars were being damaged by water so they put up cheap plastic panels. I see lots of “bandaid repairs” for serious issues. This whole thing is a tragedy. I have never seen a garage ceiling look that horrible. Thanks for the videos and awareness and education. When you are so shocked by an event like this you seek answers. Thanks for your expert views and education.
i agree it was shocking, and at times cars were actually floating, how was it that people just accepted the whole mess, i also have never seen such a mess of the ceilings. even all the tradesmen that came and patched it up over the years it was in bad enough condition to warrant recurring repairs. repairing repairs that had disintergrated. these people surely must have some sort of sense of responsibility, some sense of the seriousness. or is it kinda like a normal repair they would do in the course of the job. Or did they report their concern to maintenance manager, and was told, we know . we are on to it. you can see and as has been explained the repairs were many, and corrogated plastic sheeting over cracks !!! to keep water off the cars. then what, it directs it onto the floor behind the car. and tradesmen did that work...... no way omg, it would be very interesting to see the maintenance history AND Staligtites..... no way.... that is too much, too too much.
@@tictaktotiki The fact that the cars were floating at times!! That in itself was ignored basically!!?? They used to say buy a car from FL but the salt is just as destroying as salt roads in the north and if a car is floating in it....??!!
This is the problem with condos. If you think HOA's are bad, now imagine an HOA that's responsible for everything outside the walls of your home - the walls, the roof, the foundation, the utilities, etc. No one likes paying for infrastructure - infrastructure isn't sexy - so you get situations like what happened here. If people think this is an isolated incident - I wish I could be that optimistic. I have no doubt there are thousands of buildings across the country that area teetering on the brink for similar reasons. There was an ongoing dispute over the assessments for the needed repairs - I've seen it in person at several condo associations when going with friends and family to meetings. Convinced me I NEVER wanted to get tied into a condo of any sort!
@Neil Rusling Exactly. My best friends mom was in a small association - cluster of two story buildings with no underground basements/garages, so pretty simple infrastructure. Except half the buildings had that gray plastic water pipe that eventually fails - was defective. They got so many claims against their master insurance from pipe burst that their insurance was going to drop them unless the pipe was replaced (makes sense!). The ugliness and selfishness - especially from people in the buildings without the faulty pipe - was horrible. Luckily they came up with a water meter solution (previously the association covered the water for all) where the water meter company basically loaned them the improvement money up front and gets the loan repaid from collecting the water fees with a small assessment. But it was a horrible process with lots of ignorant/selfish people intent on gumming up the works. Convinced me condos were next level evil compared to HOAs. Anyone who things socialism can actually work is a freaking moron, especially after watching that crap go down.
Not sure if it was pointed out, but the thickness of the supporting columns in the building perfectly correspond to the red (thick) and yellow (thin) paint in the garage.
I'm not sure that is the case, the thicker columns only exist on the lobby level parking portion of the western side of the building that was left standing after the initial collapse, yet at about 4:44 in the video there clearly appears to be a red column marked with 17 above it. Based on the floor plans this column is the same size as the remaining columns that were holding up the pool deck, North/South facing building and the western portion of the building.
@Neil Rusling There are more than just two in inches, 24"x24" (576 in sq.), 16"x16", 14"x18", 12"x24", 12"x36" (432 in sq.), 12"x16", 8"x12". This is according to the original plans which can be found here: surfside.one/public-records-search/ The larger 24x24 pillars appear to be isolated to the lobby level parking and most of the western side of the building which was left standing even though the lobby level slab failed by punching sheer at the parking and most of the pool deck. I have a feeling had the remaining building supports, or at the very least the perimeter pillars directly between the pool deck and the main building slab, had been as robust in size as the western portion of the tower, we would be looking at a completely different picture today. Someone screwed up royally. There are now reports of major slab deficiencies(cracks and spalling from rusted rebar) all the way back to 1996!
@Neil Rusling Morabito Consultants pointed out these patch / crack injection jobs and their failure to correct the spalling problem back in 2018 when the 40 year inspection was coming due, so it makes me wonder if the contractor in 1996 (Western Waterproofing of America) was the last contractor to do any patchwork and was, therefore, responsible for the improper techniques Morabito was referring to. Someone was obviously dicking around by placing corrugated plastic sheets under cracks to keep water and calcium carbonate from leaching out of the concrete slabs and ruining the paint on peoples cars. Now, the question, why wasn't this leaching, spalling, cracking and rusting rebar issues pointed out as a major structural flaw pointed out before it turned into a disaster? Wouldn't the building code people know something? This has been a problem since 1996, and no one thought "gee this might become dangerous to the lives of humans sometime in the not too distant future". How many more condos are teetering on the edge, where the perfect set of unfortunate circumstances would turn into disaster. I'm not saying Western Waterproofing is responsible for the disaster, but there obviously was a lot of complacency going on with the management of those towers.
@@Jeph629 A lease is a contract and the lessor takes on the obligation to provide a safe premises to the lessee, right? There’s your basis for « standing » IMHO. It’s the same principle as when a landlord is sued by a tenant who was injured by falling off a wobbly stair tread. The owner/landlord can get coverage for this kind of liability in homeowners insurance. However, in such a lawsuit the defendant should be the lessor, not his or her family. If the lessor is deceased, then the suit should name his/her estate.
There is a certain amount of "RUclipsrs" who are click bating with "they know the reasons" and "you'll here it here first on the collapse" in thumbnails. I applaud you for sticking to the facts, no speculation, just what can be observed as a possible cause.
Who the hell puts corrugated plastic up on the roof of a parking garage to keep the water off of cars rather than have someone fix the issue? The maintenance on that place was ghetto as hell.
That would make sense as a temporary fix (if permanent repairs were to be done later, and they were just buying time until an extensive renovation was done), however water should not be leaking at all. Obviously there was something wrong that allowed water to seep through in the first place. I can understand buying time (ex. it's a minor leak, we're going to re-do the garage in a few years anyhow), but over a longer period of time, it goes from a minor leak to a major problem. Just like a leak in a standard home roof...sometimes when it rains heavy, we get a drip in the ceiling. No biggie...we're going to get a new roof in a couple of years any how. This would normally make sense, but if you let that leak go for 5-10 years, at some point the rafters may begin to rot out! It's about the duration of time that it goes on that's concerning.
@@jasonhaynes2952 They had so many leaks that they had to put up those corrugated plastic sheets up you would of thought more people would of been complaining about water leaking on the cars. We only saw a few, but I really wonder how many there were.
For $60,000-$100,000 cars you sure don't want calcium water drips on it, ruining the paint. One woman interviewed who had an expensive car, broke her condo rental contract and moved because parking there was ruining the paint on her car. Smart person, to move.
@@jeanetteshawredden5643 , And if you can afford a car in that price class, you should not be complaining about the $100,000 special assessment to repair structural deficiencies in the $700,000 roof over your head. Too many people have totally wack spending priorities.
@@chicagonorthcoast Cement pillars aren't sexy. A new mercedes is sexy. It's as simple as that- if you don't enforce and codify things, people will always pass the buck down (especially when they will just move out in a few years anyway)
Here's a theory. The planter boxes had drains and were over the vital columns. Maybe the drains in the planter boxes were clogged and the planter boxes were full of water and seeping down those vital columns. That would explain why the pool contractor noted water around parking space 78 and its columns. Maybe the added weight of those boxes started the caving of the pool deck 7 minutes prior.
All valid points, if the waterproofing was failing, chances are it was clogging up the drains as it disintegrated. Also, if you look at the boxes from google street view, the trees the had In them were massive! They must have put a lot of strain on the slab below them.
I suspect that many, many years of water repeatedly seeking its lowest point in the same area may have undermined the columns below the slab. I find it curious that the ground floor slab has cracks, is uneven, and seems to have been repaired in the past. I wonder if one or more of the columns in the row near parking space 78 went first causing a domino effect that pulled down the weakened pool deck which was tied into the building’s structure. Witnesses reported that the building was making loud, strange noises with walls cracking prior to hearing the thundering bang which, presumably, was the sound of the pool deck collapse.
I think it is very clear that there should not be planters collecting water in complexes of this type. There is too much chance they will collect water and become problematic.
What I like and appreciate about your channel, and explanations, is the simplicity. No theatrics or drama, just facts. We thank you for this! Great channel!
Hey 👋🏻. Just a nurse here, who stumbled across your channel following the surf side collapse. You have a gift for putting the engineering jargon into layman’s terms. Interesting videos. Keep it up. I wish your channel well.
WTF. The moral of this video is: NO ONE SHOULD’VE DIED. The warning signs were there. The building should’ve been condemned until fixed. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise! Appreciated! 👍🏼👍🏼
@@jmyers9853Maybe it wasn’t fixable, but that’s all the more reason to get residents out of the building. I watched an interview with an older man (resident) who said their association sent out information discussing the cost of upgrading the building. He said it would cost $15,000,000. 😳
@@jmyers9853 No, they could. Tell everyone to move their car, brace everything up, and start replacing slabs 1 at a time. Tip each slab towards an adjacent slap and add a drainage chute too so it never happens again.
I’ve been waiting all weekend for this video. You didn’t disappoint. Going back to watch it again because it’s so fascinating. Also, thank you to the Dr. from FIU who released this video. I’m sure it will be an invaluable piece of evidence in the investigation.
I find your videos fascinating. You’re a great teacher and make it easy for us non-engineers to understand various concepts related to structural integrity.
Based on all i have seen this collapse started in the ground level visitor parking lot. This was seemingly due to repeat stress from cars and the transition of the column layout between the pool deck and the main building. At the time of the collapse this section was completely full of cars too. It pulled down the pool deck which pulled down those critical columns that pulled the building down. Aggravating factors will likely involve water damage and possibly how much rebar was (not) used. Edit: the first area where he points the diagonal cracks are, are directly below that lot.
We did a huge parking garage here in Ontario, I was back there ten years latter and was amazed at the damage the salt had done. Someone up here decided one day that millions of tons of salt dumped on everything during the winter months was a good idea. Its really easy to imagine a concrete building beside the ocean turning to dust.
In Finland we use special coatings over the concrete to reduce wear from studded tires and road salt on garage floor. But it needs replacement every few years to stay effective.
You are clearly a person of knowledge and integrity. Thank you for thoughtfully leading us through possible explanations and considerations that might explain the cause of this tragedy. Doing it without hype and without jumping to conclusions is so needed and helpful. Truly appreciate it.
Their only concern was water was getting onto some of the cars. They didn't know the building was deteriorating. The plastic was a Band-Aid and made the car owner happy. Of course, none of the owners were structural engineers. They didn't know what was happening. We've all seen the same thing and we don't really understand what we're looking at.
This and other videos like it speaks to the integrity of our American engineers who are not neglecting their responsibility to explain to the public what happened. This video is above and beyond an A++ rating. Thank you.
Wow just wow.. Your videos have gotten me started down the rabbit hole of searching for more content. I have watched a number of other videos and have learned so much from what you have said, that I have been able to pick out some inconsistencies in other videos. I'm no engineer, but the way you explain things is phenomenal and this video was the most impressive so far I think. Thanks for doing these. I'm excited for the next one.
Other engineers have tried to explain this is woman's video of the parking garage, but you've explained it brilliantly. I can always totally under your interpretation of things. Thank you for all that you do. We know that you have a real 9-5, but you still make the time to do these videos.
The crack in floor is very interesting cuz I wounder if it's related to ground sinking....I'm guessing when the final results of the investigation are out it's not going to be a single cause, but a series of failures ranging from the original construction to the ground sinking, poor maintenance, things missed or poorly communicated by the 2018 engineering firm, a failure of the HOA comprehend and or communicate the urgency of maintenance issues and a failure of the state to apply proper scrutiny of these building as they age. In the end I don't think any one person or entity is solely to blame or that there was intentional misconduct by anyone, but rather chain of mistakes that if any one of which had been caught the collapse maybe wouldn't have happened.
I have some construction background but am by no means an engineer or expert. That being said, I would like to believe that had I observed the structure as a potential buyer as in this video, just common sense would have thrown up some major red flags that the building might have major issues. This was an expensive building and area to live in, given that the residents cared more about such superficial things while ignoring the necessary maintenance and warning signs, shows that they unfortunately bear part of the responsibility for the tragedy.
@@ADAMJWAITE Well if you just watch the video this woman took, she's not trying to highlight problems with the building. She's looking for a parking space. At the same time the problems are so alarming she keeps subconsciously focusing the camera on them. As well I believe another woman was suing the HOA over the building's state of disrepair. So there was clearly big trouble at the Champlain Towers and lots of people knew it. Ultimately I think it was failure of imagination on the part of everyone to comprehend how dire what they were seeing was. In America buildings don't just fall down. IMO the fact that our structures are overwhelmingly well built and safe led to a reckless complacency on the part of everyone involved. The 2018 engineering firm saw large scale structural problems but didn't see the building could fall because that really doesn't happen in the USA. They thought our report sounds scary enough the HOA would never wait years to start repairs. The HOA thought yeah there's trouble, but it can wait till the 40 year re-certification when owners will have no choice, but to pay for repairs. Owners thought it's just some water in the parking garage and some chipped and cracked concrete nothing to pay a massive special assessment over. I mean I may die or move away before the 40 year re-certification forces these repairs. Hell No I'm not paying 125k now. The government thought these buildings don't need to be looked at before they're 40 years old.
It has been reported that during king tides & storms seawater was flooding in onto the garage floor slab so much so that some cars were literally floating in seawater.
If that was the case wouldn't all the buildings be flooded? If the sea water was coming that far traveling they all would be I would think. Water was going through be it seemed constant and it's not constantly raining and sea water I think if that much was going that high and far it would flood all the buildings and all the garages in every building.
@@Courtney-pe2iw not necessarily? Idk squat about engineering or rising water, but I have gotten the impression that the water in the parking lot indicated some sort of failure ~because~ other buildings didn't flood like that. (did I word that well enough?) As bad as salt water is for cars, I can't imagine thqt sort flooding would be normal or acceptable? I'm at a loss to understand how the owners of the cars didn't complain, panic or even seem to notice the water damage to their cars? 🤔
@@Courtney-pe2iw Nearly every building on the beach has this type of parking. The parking is under the building, meaning below ground level. They all have pumps to keep the water out during high tides and heavy storms. I have a friend that lives in a 31 floor high rise on the beach just a couple miles north of here. His building was built in 2006 and they occasionally have sea water on the lower parking level. His is a large building so there are 3 levels of parking. Two below ground and one above. The floor level of the building is above the actual ground or grade. Look at Ocean Palms in Hollywood FL. This building will get sea water in the lower garage on rare occasions. But only a few inches. Not feet. Still scary though.
@John Beige There are RUclips videos which shows flooding streets in Miami even on the sunniest of days. This is ocean water intrusion occurring mostly during high tides and finding it’s way to the streets through storm drains and other pathways. Millions of dollars have been spent constructing pumping stations in order to alleviate the flooding on these Miami streets. This is the same type of ocean water intrusion you see at these oceanside condos. The rising tides causes increased pressure for the water table underneath these condos to rise. Since the ground on which these structures are built is not exactly the same, nor is the methods or materials used to build them necessarily the same, there will be varying degrees of flooding occurring from building to building. Since concrete easily absorbs water, the foundation slab will eventually allow it to pass and cause the flooding that one sees in some of these videos of the parking garages. As a former Florida oceanside condo owner, I wasn’t aware of the dynamics of these tides and the affects they had on the building until AFTER I had purchased the property. Most of the people who purchased these properties were equally unaware of these potential problems and were just concentrating on getting their “oceanside view”. It didn’t take long to figure out that there was a potential for expensive structural repairs to the building with the corresponding increases in HOA fees and special assessment fees as the building aged. My condo building was maybe an hour north of Surfside, but I would never have thought that such a tragedy would ever have been allowed to happen.
I never imagined I'd care about any of this but you're videos are both very interesting and well presented. I went back to watch your videos from before this incident and they're every bit as interesting and informative. I now find myself looking at the walls, floors and ceilings of buildings I'm in and wondering/imagining what's behind them. Thank you for your work putting such a great informative channel together and making us a little smarter.
I've been watching since the very 1st video about the collapse and he only had a little over 1,000 subs and now look! His content speaks for itself that's for sure!
Planter boxes. How about that. Well done. Impressive work, so level headed and educational. The analysis spot on. While other experts watching the video dismissed the peeling as being from humid conditions in the garage you point out the correct reason, saturated concrete. You match the location to the planters. Nice work.
I for one would be interested to see what champlain towers north looks like right about now. Same design & time of construction, & same location. Top points for your analysis btw.
There is a video walk through of that building too - no water issues & they had already previously replaced the waterproofing and planter stuff from the original design.
@@eily_b I mean..engineers didn’t evacuate people from collapsed one so… Plus wouldn’t they need to know what caused it to say the other one is good to go?
I'm finally getting around to watching your videos on the Champlain Towers South collapse and I just want to say that you're an amazing content creator and educator. You earned my sub.
How can anyone dislike this channel! It’s the only thing that is true and makes sense in my life. 😍😍 brings me peace of explanation and a shit ton of education. I love it.
Blame is a very natural reaction when disasters happen, but blame does not advance our knowledge and understanding. Even from what little we understand, it is clear that multiple things went wrong over a long period of time to cause this collapse. Blame is a conclusion, understanding is a progressive process.
The difficulty in obtaining sufficient support from homeowners for special assessments is massively overlooked. Every HOA I've ever been in has budgets and reserve contributions that are too low. I'm the only person that I know of that is willing to give the HOA what they need and give it now and want things like maintenance done now. Every person I've ever met in HOA's look the other way, drag their feet, bury their head in the sand.... you get my point. If it means pay more more money, then the talking stops immediately. I bet you'll find, like everywhere that I have lived, more than a few people couldn't afford to live here and any investor / renters almost always want to pay NOTHING more for ANYTHING.
Often, fixing the blame has little worthwhile outcome. (Fix the Problem, not the blame!) Here, the PROBLEM ultimately ‘fixed’ itself with multiple fatalities. That disaster will drive multiple verdicts, awards and subsequent bankruptcies. (Change the Corp. name and get back in business.) Corrective action will be that Building Maintenance will be educated, Property Rental and leasing companies will increase rates, HOA fees will increase, designers will be far more conservative in their assessment of risk during layout of new projects, and builders will see far more restrictive codes and code enforcement. We all learn primarily from our failures, but lay people will begin to look for issues in their own buildings with an eye toward re-locating to what appear to be ‘safer’ structures. My hunch is some buildings will be condemned for these sorts of problems, further driving up costs of living ~ initially in FL, but awareness will migrate through the entire industry in time.
@@brianatkinson6600 good points made. On the other hand, I've seen nepotism play a part in decisions to the point where trust is lost over not just what, but who will be hired for work. In my small HOA, they spent $50,000 on clubhouse furniture and design, and it was obvious the furniture was cheap. 3 yrs later, because it fell apart, I offered my designer services free and discounts on new furniture with my links in the industry. The answer? No. Most of us weren't up for spending alot on the project after that. This is an example of how things can go bad and disagreement drags on longer than expected.
I’m thoroughly enjoying the detail and delivery of your information. You help me, a person who knows absolutely nothing about structural engineering, to understand the issues and you present it in a way the information is clear, precise and articulate. You have good vocal tones for speaking. The public wants to know what happened and you help is invaluable. Keep up the great work.
My goodness! What an awful, (preventable) tragedy this is. I'm so sorry for everyone's loss of loved ones and friends. My heart goes out to you. May you find healing and strength. It's apparent that these videos and your knowledge will be helpful along with the other professionals, in solving this tragic building collapse @Building Integrity . Thank you.
I don’t think it can be assumed that the orientation of the corrugated plastic necessarily follows the line of a crack. The shape of the plastic could be more about which direction and how far the water needed to be directed away from a parking spot. Just my two cents’ worth
thats true to a point, but for a long crack, if the plastic was guiding water perpendicularly, you would need to see multiple sets perpendicular plastic and it would be rather obvious that it was covering a larger area
Probably not enough water to pour off the plastic. It's drips that just need to fall and then evaporated. Unlikely to be a pinhole leak. More likely a crack.
I was in Washington, DC a couple weeks ago. On our way out of the underground parking spot I couldn't help but notice all the rebar and spalling along the way. Ugh!
What a phenomenal channel you have - these videos are fascinating and I'm now deep into this rabbit hole. Thanks for taking the time to do them. As a non-engineer, I really appreciate your thorough and well explained observations!
I’ve watched vids of diff ‘engineers’ explaining the cracks, stalactites & paint falling off the roof, etc. No one else has mentioned how the columns & the Xs show show faults, not much detail of the vertical & horizontal cracks in the ceiling & how they all tie in & no one has explained what the ‘corrugated looking parts of the ceiling’ are & why they were placed there. All of them are using the same vid as a reference. Thanks for your excellent work explaining concerns in the garage to ppl who have no experience in building engineering.
I was watching this video and in some places they had buckets hanging on the ceiling and floor the structure was very compermised. I really am enjoying this series. For a future video it would be interesting to see what it would have taken construction wise to save the building before it fell if it could have been saved
He briefly went into some of those plans which were submitted, and when a structural engineer remarks "I've never seen this in my career" or something to that effect, you know its pretty bad.
Instead of worrying about water damage to their cars and installing corrugated plastic, they should have been worried about the condition of the support beams and concrete.
Sadly, I don't think anyone at the towers thought of it as a structural problem, but only a cosmetic one. Given that the location of some of the apparent water leaks (directly under the building itself and not the deck), one does have to wonder how water could get there. I mean, water seeping through from the deck makes sense, but water seeping through well under the building itself shows an extensive problem in my non-engineer brain
@@jasonhaynes2952 there is above-ground (pool deck level) parking on that south end (where the woman's walk-through began). Plenty of opportunity for water intrusion.
Agree. I'm a condo owner, and have served on two boards. It's a little disgusting how wack most people's spending priorities are. They'll commit $60,000 or more to a rapidly depreciating 3500 lb four-wheeled appliance that has only one function easily replaced by taxis and trains, but they are AGHAST when told their building does not repair itself and they need to spend as much money repairing it as they do on a car. These people didn't even want to pay the regular $800 and up HOA, which I promise you is minimal for an aging full-amenity high rise building with a large staff. It should have been more like $1,000 at least.
Keep it coming. Incredibly thorough and unbiased - you should give lessons to the rest of RUclips on how to present information and create content! Thanks for putting these together.
Thank you for the time you have spent on this catastrophe and helping others to understand what happened. QUESTION: If the building was built in the mid to late seventies, before granite and marble was popular for flooring and countertops. Could the added weight of upgrades over the years in each condo, exceeded the weight bearing capacity of the connections on the columns?
A video absolutely worth viewing multiple times; thanks goodness that woman (potential buyer) went looking for what would be her parking space if she purchased a unit at Champlain South and how smart she was to avoid buying into this soggy mess!
@@cayrick The punch throughs were on the pool deck. There's another channel that theorizes the parking deck collapsed first due to overloading. Then due to damage and inadequate reinforcement the pool deck pulled right off the columns with punch shear. The failed deck and failed beam stressed the damaged columns of the building which collapsed seven minutes later.
Where are the beams connecting each column to support the floor slabs, and there is no pads on top of the columns to spread the load of the floor slabs , the concentrated load on top of each column would have been immense. What I see is column then slab, column then slab , column then slab, no cross beams to distribute the floor loads . I think they will find the columns didn't fail, but the slabs did, because the slabs didn't have enough support. As a builder from Australia I'm shocked at what I see missing in this building .
Good observation. Also note that there are pictures that show cars parked on the floor above the garage. There was one underground level, the ceiling above the underground level we see looks really weak and there were cars parked on that. Other parking garages i've been in look far more heavy duty than that with thick support beam networks.
@@N4CR as I mentioned in my first post im a retired builder from Australia, but I also live part-time in the Philippines, they use columns and beams especially in car parks where there is constant vibration from moving vehicles. I'm very impressed with the amount of reo bars used in their construction. Not all third world countries are the same .
I’m so glad you examined that vid. Victims needs justice and I hope experts will find your vids helpful in the case. Breaks my heart to know so many ppl lost their lives . I grew up in Miami Beach in my teen years snd one thing is for sure from now on, I will never buy a condo in a building . I’m terrify now. makes me wonder how many buildings in Florida are sick .
After watching your on the job videos and hearing you explain two-way deflection cracks here- I am thoroughly impressed... If I can pick up a thing or two you are doing a GREAT service to the average person.
I have been watching a handful of engineers doing various analysis’ and speculations. While I do enjoy getting information from many different sources, I gotta say that this channel is the most enjoyable of them all to watch.
Most enjoyable, more accurate, more polished, more attention to important details, everything about this is better.
@@nuladee exactly! The editing is amazing, too. I know this content is info-focused but shitty music and bad editing can make it so hard to keep watching
Some of those channels which appear to be done by engineers are not done by structural engineers.
agree!!!!
He gives us the clearest explanations.
Hi! I am an architect specialist in restoration of heritage buildings (from Romania) so in my career I saw a lot of damage to the structure of a building including water damage. In the video you analize almost all the concrete columns show a wet moisture line at their base, 10 - 15 cm above the floor. That usually indicates presence of water through capillarity. All those columns are soacked in water, the water insulation is non existent below the floor. If that water is salty the corrosion is incredible. So the water migrates also through the floor, evaporates and then condensates on the slab above further contributing to the moisture in it.
Excellent 🙏
I think you've stolen Josh's thunder from his next video. Nevertheless from Australia, that car park resembles a well lit cave!
Miami Dade County needs to hire you for building inspections.
Thank you for the good information.
I still can’t believe no one did anything about all the water damage. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
I have never in my life been interested in engineering. I can't stop watching these videos.
Engineering is a wonderful, professional discipline. My very first class emphasized the need to learn well so we do not kill anyone. Its engrained in me to this day. I spent a career in nuclear power and we read lots of failure analyses. You learn a great deal from these. The Challenger and Columbia space shuttle accident investigations are fantastic reads. Challenger especially since social dynamics, and the psychology of decision-making contributed greatly.
Agreed! Every evening I am glued to RUclips soaking in this information.
Engineering fail big time, made that condo building as cheap as possible to make as much money as possible
Ya hooked!
I have never seen a more balanced, understandable and earnest attempt at finding an assignable cause. Thanks for ALL that you are doing.
I agree 💯
big time agree
The crime my brother is he is analyzing the failure 3 years before it happened .And from what I can see and I'm hearing which is totally as a retired Equipment Tech so a lamen it was a disaster then that was waiting to happen should have been evacted and repaired ASAP and thats 3 years ago.I mean that friken basement garage and structural foundation look frighteningly ominous .
Totally legit.
I agree , well done.
Good analysis. I am a structural eng. who designed over 50 suspended apartment slabs, and would like to add my 5 cents worth. Looking at your presentation, I think what was a big component of the failure is the part you can't see, and that is cracking directly over the columns at the top of the slab, within the negative moment regions. Those cracks from the top of the slab were open to direct water infiltration causing water damage to the slab, which in turn decreased the punching shear resistance of the slab until failure. This was a plate slab, meaning the punching shear resistance of the slab was near it's limit from day one. Over the years, degradation of the concrete strength over the columns would open the possibility of catastrophic failure due to punching and game over.
I wouldn't be surprised if water infiltrated the slab via the top cracks located over the columns and migrated horizontally to the bottom cracks located at mid span. It would be interesting to obtain forensic info on the state of the slab over the other intact column locations by removing the tiles and exposing the structural slab to determine its integrity.
I wonder if they had automatic sprinklers within the planters, causing a continuous supply of water in addition to the annual 5' of rainfall in Miami.
Wasn't aware about the debris field until the end of the video. Holy crap! Looks like the slab failed progressively in bending, slab integrity was significantly weakened until nearby column punches through catastrophically and the whole thing comes down. Wow!! Cheers from Canada and keep up the great work and analysis.
Include the fact that new decking / tiling was done in last 10 years to the outside deck slab. IF the waterproof membrane was not replaced or patched then it is a free path for water to enter the slab and move through it along the the rebar lines. I also strongly suspect the footing steel corrosion which would cause downward punch through.
Florida's engineers got some concrete rings coming
THIS!!!!
*A simple exercise:* For _each_ 100 pounds of _horizontal_ component of wind force directed against a north wall, each of the east and west outside walls that are at right angles to it takes up 50 pounds of force. If a third interior wall is added parallel to the east and west walls then each wall will take up 33.3 pounds of force. The floors that also transmit this horizontal component of force to the outside walls prevent inward deflection of the north wall. Horizontal force transmitted by the floors that is taken up by the footings of the columns and rear wall may be ignored for this analysis.
Is a third interior wall of solid concrete required? (Referred to in some discussions as a shear wall). After calculating the force that the east and west walls must accommodate it is a matter of design choice. It is likely that the minimum thickness and strength of the east and west walls already greatly exceeds the horizontal force that these must hold back. Thus, for each 50 pounds exerted horizontally, the walls as a result of their strength to function as a wall supporting the vertical downward load from weight, are already capable of sustaining a horizontal component several times that amount, which is why the contribution of the footings was ignored.
A building is designed so that the entire structure remains standing. That a collapse is only partial appeals to emotions, not logic.
An interior wall of solid concrete that is not connected by rebar to the adjacent part of the building is in effect an _exterior_ wall to which an abutting structure has been added that encloses it making the whole thing appear to be a single building. Pre-construction-sales enabled raising capital for a much larger structure.¹³
The reason behind this two-phase approach is _finance,_ not engineering.
¹³ For each dollar investors advance for the cost of constructing a 100-unit building these funds are sufficient to build twice as many units. The 80-unit addition that effectively costs them nothing accrues to the organizers.
What scares me is that I've become complacent when I see concrete cracks ANYWHERE. I never thought that they could really indicate potential significant structural weakness. I'm definitely not going to be looking at concrete the same way again.
@fake username Yep. Mechanical. Never spent much time studying concrete.
I thought that was common sense....
@@boostjunkie2320 A lot of concrete has cracks but doesn't really seem to be affected by it because it's not load-bearing. So is it common sense? No.
I think the biggest flaw is the lack of beams and puny little columns, which leads to shear punching failures. I live in a building of similar height and design in Chicago, but we have massive beams and columns everywhere holding things up.
@@oicfas4523 There is another building up the street from Chanplain towers called Mirage that is of a similar design except the columns on the lobby floor are HUGE! That building ain’t coming down unless it is demo’d.
I'm just a mom/preschool teacher and I don't know why, but I find your videos fascinating! I didn't think I would ever care about structural integrity, who knew!!
I'm not a mom (yet... but hopefully soon), and I am a foreign language teacher at the high school level. I too find these videos very interesting as they offer things to think about, answers to questions to seek. :) Personally, I am not sure if I could teach preschool... I taught first grade for a year, and that was enough for me. Preschool is far more difficult than so many believe. My hat is off to you! You are far more than "just a mom/preschool teacher"... all mothers are special, and as a teacher you fundamentally touch lives, in your case of the very smallest. :)
me too!
Don’t sell yourself short.❤️
Also knowledge is power! Something we all might look at now when we go stay in Hotel or a sky rise building right
If you're a teacher u are smart maybe you can go back to school and get a new career❤️
As a civil trial lawyer for the last 37 years, I thoroughly appreciate the analysis of evidence going on here, the efforts to explain to non-engineers what we are seeing and why it is important, as well as the cautions that none of us should jump to any conclusions until all evidence has been reviewed, tested and evaluated in its totality. Well done, sir. Thank you for all your efforts in discussing this tragedy.
So can you explain why people should build high rise building on the beach in salt air? If people are that stupid then they should not get compensated for living in a dangerous area.
@@greenlawnfarm5827
Have you traveled just along MD up to DE if you want to see high rises along the beach? It this is a chronic issue, a lot of engineers/architects were derelict in their jobs.
Please investigate whether man-made caves, aka garages, intrinsically make buildings less stable. I'd fill them all in after quadrupling the number of supporting columns.
@@greenlawnfarm5827 high rise buildings can be built safely next to the oceans and the resulting salt air. But they need to be designed well and maintained well. Storm water runoff needs to be properly controlled. Waterproofing needs to be properly designed, installed, and maintained. There are hundreds of these high rise buildings just in that city alone, and yet they rarely fail, which is indicative of their safety.
@@M1911jln Untold hundreds of those budings are possibly in as bad or worse condition but this whole time nobody has said anything st all.
Remember folks, when looking at an apartment don’t just look at the apartment itself, take a look at the structure as well
That`s what Chartered Surveyors are for.
I think a lot of us are gonna end up being amateur structural engineers after getting through with this series lol
*A simple exercise:* For _each_ 100 pounds of _horizontal_ component of wind force directed against a north wall, each of the east and west outside walls that are at right angles to it takes up 50 pounds of force. If a third interior wall is added parallel to the east and west walls then each wall will take up 33.3 pounds of force. The floors that also transmit this horizontal component of force to the outside walls prevent inward deflection of the north wall. Horizontal force transmitted by the floors that is taken up by the footings of the columns and rear wall may be ignored for this analysis.
Is a third interior wall of solid concrete required? (Referred to in some discussions as a shear wall). After calculating the force that the east and west walls must accommodate it is a matter of design choice. It is likely that the minimum thickness and strength of the east and west walls already greatly exceeds the horizontal force that these must hold back. Thus, for each 50 pounds exerted horizontally, the walls as a result of their strength to function as a wall supporting the vertical downward load from weight, are already capable of sustaining a horizontal component several times that amount, which is why the contribution of the footings was ignored.
A building is designed so that the entire structure remains standing. That a collapse is only partial appeals to emotions, not logic.
An interior wall of solid concrete that is not connected by rebar to the adjacent part of the building is in effect an _exterior_ wall to which an abutting structure has been added that encloses it making the whole thing appear to be a single building. Pre-construction-sales enabled raising capital for a much larger structure.¹³
The reason behind this two-phase approach is _finance,_ not engineering.
¹³ For each dollar investors advance for the cost of constructing a 100-unit building these funds are sufficient to build twice as many units. The 80-unit addition that effectively costs them nothing accrues to the organizers.
The forensic investigation of this poster is amazing. This building was clearly distressed months (years) before collapse. Too many people ignored warning signals.
Yeah, years. The people ignored the signals because what they had to do was so costly they could not afford it, because before they moved in, the signals have been ignored too. So they just postponed repairs until later, later, later. And once they finally started doing them, they started with the easiest part, the roof.
Everyone who resisted the truth of the repairs necessary are guilty of murder 😡😤
I’ll never walk in an underground concrete slab parking garage the same way again. Thanks for sharing!
That’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s almost eerie to think this person did a walk through without necessarily knowing what she was looking at. Had this video been analyzed prior to the collapse, or by those city people making the big bucks before passing it, all these deaths and possibly the disaster itself would have been avoided. It’s just SO obvious where all the damage was. Very eye-opening!
@@marcus8559 Sadly it takes many deaths for people to make progress towards safety. I'm an aircraft mechanic and that's why aviation is so safe. Its because many have died to make it that way. People don't like to spend money.
Me neither!! 😥😥
@@doiron12 That's why they call it tombstone technology. Awful.
This is excellent as is your entire series examining this site and tragic situation. Thank you for your hard work and open thought process.
His eyes are so seductive
I second that. As a normal person and not an engineer I can follow well and understand it good. I now can watch out in my building better
But can you call this collapse a tragic situation or is it criminal negligence?
Personally I think it's the last. The Morabita report stems from 2018, that's 3! years before the collapse, and their engineer(s) called the structural state of parts of this building "alarming" and advised that action should be taken asap. From what this video shows, the building owner(s) "solutions" are mostly cosmetic patchwork to hide the damage. Injecting severely damaged concrete with obviously rusting rebars inside with polymers doesn't repair any of the damage, as at worst it's only a temporary cosmetic band-aid to make things look better and at best somewhat slows down the damage spreading and/or worsening, as the rebar keeps on rusting inside the concrete and does more and more damage underneath the patchwork.
I think the conclusion must therefore be that the building owner(s) knew, at least after the Morabita report from 2018, that this building had severe structural damage and yet kept postponing proper repairs, probably to save a few dollars and/or reach the end of the certification period and then "fix" everything in one huge project so the building could be re-certified.
@@tjroelsma What has been shown in this video does not indicate that this damage would have lead to the collapse of the building. What is important is the state of the columns, they appear to be in reasonable condition. Though it does show the general state of the building was not good. The water flooding the basement must have come from below which would suggest a cavity under the building. The collapse video shows the building collapsing first from below ground level. pulling all the levels down.
I think it is to early to say the owners were negligent.
@@tjroelsma agree
"Concrete gives you a warning". Yikes! Such an ominous statement that we all know now is so true!
Yeah common sense tells you a tremendous force would be required to crack concrete and it is cracking because its not being supported evenly underneath or the steel inside the concrete is rusting and swelling, the slab on the floor of the garage at the entrance has a large crack, there seems to be plenty ventilation through the garage entrance so why so much damp inside ?
There's no way this is one person or one company's fault its a catalogue of errors.
@@marklittler784 Yes.
@@marklittler784 everyone is going to be sued.
Yeah another good one is " water always ends up taking the most expensive route if you let it ! "
As an attorney (in Texas), I'm obsessed w your forensic analysis!! Thanks for educating us. 😀 This is a cluster f... of liability and bad decisions. I wouldn't touch this case with a 10ft pole. I'm so heartbroken for these poor innocent victims.
the owner of this video said tonight that she didn't take the place because of the garage
She uploaded another video showing her exploring the rest of the building and visiting a unit. I believe she was visiting friends/family and just wanted to soak up all the beauty
@@emerconghaile4902 she was looking to purchase a unit. Unit 611, I think. She films herself in the hallway, the unit, looking through the rooms and closets, all over the apartment. If she had bought it, she might not be here today. I think it was mentioned somewhere that she lives in another building in the area, and was waiting for a unit to open in this building, probably because it has better views.
@@emerconghaile4902 Do you have a link to her video? Thanks!
Read that the woman that did buy 611 got out. She heard cracking and quickly evacuated.
@@neighborhoodcatlady6094 Heard that on CBS evening news tonight, isn't that amazing she got out going down the stairwell 6 flights while the building was coming down, stated by reporter. Just a miracle.
This channel has by far the best analysis of this collapse on all of RUclips. Everyone else who's doing this sounds like a crazy person, but you're just doing the analysis. You're skilled and calm, and that's what's needed here to really figure out what happened. Thank you.
Worse, is several I tried to watch were laden with cheesy music. Like a soap opera.
Yes, the quality of this content is really high.
Agree with what you say there. Some content by others is full of BS and speculation by clearly unqualified individuals more focused on media 'personalities' and 'inconvenience' to spectators during emergency response operations.
"Crazy person". So you have also tried to watch the videos from "Construction Engineering & Failure Analysis"? :D That guy certainly comes across as nuts.
It's nice to hear a professional who has his information organized so he can flow through it.
I'm an IT-guy. Before this tragic event I knew about nothing about concrete, buildings, etc. I have learned a lot in the last few days, especially thanks to this guy explaining something complicated in a very easy to understand manner. Thank you for all your hard work! I really appreciate it!
Having been a member of many high rise condo HOA's, the band aid fixes you see in the garage are quite common until a building inspector threatens to close down the garage totally. In this case, with condos above the garage they would also threaten to evacuate the entire building above. You can see they tried to fix some if these the "cheap way", never looking into the cause of the cracks but just injecting with silicone etc or covering them up cosmetically with plastic. HOA's is always try to fix things the cheapest way they can to keep HOA dues down or to avoid a special assessment to the owners. The frugalness of this HOA was one of the causes of this disaster. All HOA's with similar buildings need to have their structures inspected by an independent professional who has enough integrity to report the true findings every few years to not only the HOA but also to the government agency responsible for building inspections.
Yeah. the whole "lets use a band-aid to fix a bullet wound" mentality is one of many reasons this species is a failure and it makes me angry.
@@killman369547 So edgy... I just can't handle the edge
I work for a company that sells outdoor lighting. Selling to condo complexes is a waste of time. Unlike a university or a corporate facility, the condo's always buy the cheapest off shore crap they can get their hands on. Lighting made with pot metal that rusts within weeks, poor paint. Questionable UL labels. All cost driven and short term thinking.
Many condo boards cannot undertake serious repairs because non-resident or broke owners will not vote for it. So they patch things up, until something breaks, and then it's an emergency.
I am not an engineer and have no knowledge of construction. I have watched other videos about this building and it's issues. I REALLY appreciate how not only do you point out issues of concern, but you also explain what the problem is, why it's relevant, how it could have happened, and why that's important. And you do it in a way that most anyone could understand. I really appreciate your videos! Great explanations with details/ descriptions and not said in a condescending way. Really good, thank you 🤗
Forget about how nice the units, lobby, outside perimeter like a pool are. Care about the the structural foundation of the unit you choose to buy or rent. Your very life depends upon you doing so. Get an engineer to give it a once over.
@Sergei Torockov Even more valued advice now⌛️
I can't believe condos that are that fancy had such a crappy parking garage. We have a condo in Branson Missouri and our parking area is much better than this and it's not nearly as fancy...not even close.
Every unit I see has a ton of heavy ass stone in their units...ugh the weight was tremendous on them popsicle sticks
So true even as a teen I look at how a home is built. With homes I am never a fan of these new constructions I always preferred homes made of brick.
@@eternalsun.3400 But then living over popsicle sticks wouldn't be smart regardless of the weight of your condo design and furniture. Having an unstable underground cave aka "parking garage" at all is dangerous. I don't think cars were ever meant to share vertical space with humans.
An engineer that uses logic and reason. Thank you for not chalking this up to an inside job using explosives.
Yeah that was WTC 7 , inside job no doubt.
@@inlikearefugee5194 yes... no building could be brought down by fire alone (WTC-7)... or salt water... it was clearly "space aliens!!"
Thank you for breaking it down so factually into something we laymen can understand.
The video hasn't even been out long enough for you to of seen the whole thing.
I've seen similar things in parking garages to various degrees of severity here in Canada, and it's always tickled my amateur engineer Spidey senses, but I always wrote it off because, "much much smarter people than me are obviously aware of it and monitoring it." However, after this collapse and watching the videos you're making about it, it's making me wonder how many other buildings out there are actually in this state, showing obvious signs of failure, but that are being ignored and missed entirely in the black hole of bureaucracy, property owner's profit margins and the public's dubious assumption that someone else is taking care of it.
Either way, next time I'm in a garage that looks sketchy, I'm going to pull out my phone and document it.
Structural union ironworker here, keep up the great work. Been following ya since first video on the collapse. Great content and I appreciate the amount of time you are putting into this. Not all hero’s wear capes
I really appreciate the fact that you don't really take sides as such, you just present the facts as you find them and learn of them and just present the non-judgmental fact. Thank you for that.
"Professional journalists" could learn something.
Best footage of the garage covered by the best channel following this story! I knew this lady’s footage was soooo valuable upon her posting it. She was disturbed by the conditions.
I find no fault whatsoever with this mans offerings.
His deconstruction of the disaster has been very helpful and informative.
Except he stammers plenty.
@@WoodStoveEnthusiast Too bad there is not more of the video footage. There were many security cameras and also the collapse was a camera recording of a screen that missed first few seconds...
Could be geological as well, such as Sinkhole opened up under pillars, pillars not into bedrock to begin with, soil liquefaction under pillars.
@@jlw184 where?
I'm not from any sort of engineering background but I've learnt so much about buildings and concrete structures from watching your videos! Thanks for doing this series, so interesting!
Josh, they should really use you during the official investigation of the building and have you present during the trial itself. You are the only engineer that I, as a laywoman can understand. You are very "buttoned-up" with your presentation, having already inspected each frame and tagged them for presentation so you don't have to keep scrolling around, hemming and hawing, looking for things. You don't state your opinions/observations as facts or try to state what really brought the building down, but rather let the viewer come to his or her own conclusions. Keep posting please.
Not to degrade Josh's excellent work, but he has home field advantage working in his own office, with no time crunch and with the ability to edit. A live presentation for a trial where a building collapsed and people died is different.
I do agree Josh would be great at presenting facts to court.
So in short the concrete was liquifying where the planter boxes were above the garage rusting out the rebar. I really enjoy watching Mr. Porter explain everything involved with this tragedy. In a clear manner even a non engineer like me can understand.
And it appears that it wasn't just seeping into the garage below, but to the north end under the building. I think if it had only been seeping beneath the planter boxes, a section of the concrete deck could have collapsed, but wouldn't have compromised the integrity of the building itself. I wonder if attempts to seal the leaks from under the planter boxes just diverted water to structural building columns and beams? In other words, is it possible that sealing leaks in the planter boxes without addressing why water was seeping though in the first place made the building structurally unsound?
You can see several leaking plumbing issues as well, and ironically the public bathrooms in the lobby were right where he points out the gutter they had diverting water. You can see all kinds of leaking pipes in the video with patches over them, which should have been replaced.
Conc more turning to sand as binder /stabilizer leached out
I can imagine a planter box with bad drainage weighing many thousands of pounds more than design expectations, plus providing a continuous seepage of contaminated water under high pressure.
I see all these collum but no beam to support them
Wow, this video really shows what the trained eye looks for. Along with all the correct blueprints and the video you were able to pinpoint pretty closely the areas that were affected. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Because of this coverage is everywhere the brought up some Trama for me that caught me off guard ,I had to speak to my therapist. What I found was things that happened over my life were all linked to fire and destruction or structure (9/11). I worked in security as my former self and the maintenance guy was just a jerk. He never really did anything either and the building had problems. So seeing this unfold triggered this Trama I had not addressed yet. Now watching your videos it really opens my mind to knowing somewhat of a root cause for this particular tragedy will help with this Trama. Forever thankful for this explanation.
@@Kerry0101 Best wishes for your situation.
To me this is more a study in psychology . No matter what the reason for the collapse is ,so many people ignored warning signs . People obviously did work on the building which clearly shows that a problem kept getting bigger . The building was doomed .Amazing that nobody could stop the deaths .
"Do you want the truth ? You can't handle the truth ! "
@@fraukatze3856 ah thank you.
Water erodes anything and weight never sleeps. It seems wise to choose quality over appearance.
Salt water even worse.
They said it was 1 and a half feet deep in the past in the garage so not properly draining, maybe a pipe burst just before the collapse flooding the garage for some time without anyone noticing.
One things for sure besides capillary reaction water goes down not up 😂😁😀😃😅😅
One wonders if this building was burning the candle at both ends the garage entrance floor and planters poolside floor.
@@marklittler784 Correction: FLOWING Water follows gravity, Capillary Water "wicks" along following some tangible, physical item (ie Rebar) in whatever direction that conduit item goes. (Think like electricity flowing in a single wire. The electricity does not flow "through" the solid copper core of the wire, it flows along the SURFACE, the outside diameter of the wire.)
Any water trapped below the garage floor slab doesn't have any place to drain to by gravity. Under pressure from the slab & building above, it becomes capillary water & will infiltrate and follow even the tiniest crack. Once that capillary water finds a rebar, it's off to the races!
So many people trying to analyze the collapse on RUclips, but by far, this channel covers it professionally and clearly. Thank you for taking the time to develop these vids! Brings me back to Structural classes in college!
Ended up here for reasons that only the YT algorithm knows, but even as a person knowing nothing about construction and engineering, your explainations are totally clear and easy to comprehend. (also, I am not a native speaker).
I am so going to subscribe to your channel because there's so much to learn from your videos!
Thank you!
Same here, this guy is a natural as a teacher. 😊👍
I really appreciate your thorough explanations. I’ve learned a ton from your videos. Thank you.
I'll second that.
Thanks for this valuable information. I’ll never walk through a parking garage viewing it the same way again..
I agree. I used to work in a building on the 33rd floor. I paid to park in the 6 level garage. Sure glad, I'm no longer employed there.
The heck with that -- I'm not even going _into_ a parking garage! Hahaha,
Right? We have one at work that I park in. I'm going to be looking up and down when I'm in there from now on
I live in Rochester New York, a northern state. We have severe winters, and they use salt on the roads and garages to melt the ice. You wouldn't believe the garages and bridges here...the exposed rebar, cracking concrete, spalling, etc. It really makes me question if this could happen here. Or perhaps because of our northern climate, they do more rigorous inspections and/or overbuild the structures for this reason?
Seriously
Looks like a video camera on the ceiling 10:19. There was a video camera on the pool deck and other parts of the building . There also was a video with water dripping down on top of an electic box. Was rusted pretty bad. A bucket was below it. I think a tenant complained about that. I like how you put the blueprint in the corner and highlighted were this woman was walking . Then showed inside damage up above on the deck. Great job explaining this in detail. This will help folks who live in these condo's what to look for themselves. Thank you.
Now we can never walk through an underground garage again without noticing and speculating what every crack might mean. This man is a fantastic teacher.
To be honest, this garage looks better than 50% of the garages I’ve inspected in Broward/Dade County over the past 20 years. Scary stuff.
Basanite is the future
Come up north to NY (and probably other northern states). Between the sand they use to melt ice, freezing and warming, and snow and ice melting off the cars, this garage actually seems to be in good working condition, sadly. One thing I learned in watching this video is that cracks, pooling water, or seeping water is not in itself indicative of a structural problem. It's the location, angle, and other signs that show it's more than just cosmetics.
@@jasonhaynes2952 I really think it might be just the horrible design of this building plus all those thinge that just added up.
That’s absolutely unacceptable!!!
It’s all about the $$$$$$! 😭
Have you ever recommended that a building should be vacated? Or condemned? Does that ever happened? I’m sure the city has the authority to issue such an order.
Very interesting! I work in highway engineering and construction. This is similar to what we see on the underside of older highway bridge decks (stalactites and/or efflorescence). For us this means bridge deck replacement is in order. I suspect that what lies under the pealing paint is efflorescence.
I’m really shocked that the ceiling of the underground parking garage looked so bad. How long would it take to have so many issues like the peeling paints and cracks? Obviously people complained their cars were being damaged by water so they put up cheap plastic panels. I see lots of “bandaid repairs” for serious issues. This whole thing is a tragedy. I have never seen a garage ceiling look that horrible. Thanks for the videos and awareness and education. When you are so shocked by an event like this you seek answers. Thanks for your expert views and education.
i agree it was shocking, and at times cars were actually floating, how was it that people just accepted the whole mess, i also have never seen such a mess of the ceilings.
even all the tradesmen that came and patched it up over the years it was in bad enough condition to warrant recurring repairs.
repairing repairs that had disintergrated.
these people surely must have some sort of sense of responsibility, some sense of the seriousness.
or is it kinda like a normal repair they would do in the course of the job.
Or did they report their concern to maintenance manager, and was told, we know . we are on to it.
you can see and as has been explained the repairs were many, and corrogated plastic sheeting
over cracks !!! to keep water off the cars.
then what, it directs it onto the floor behind the car.
and tradesmen did that work......
no way
omg, it would be very interesting to see the maintenance history
AND Staligtites..... no way.... that is too much, too too much.
Decades of repeatedly repainting
@@tictaktotiki The fact that the cars were floating at times!! That in itself was ignored basically!!?? They used to say buy a car from FL but the salt is just as destroying as salt roads in the north and if a car is floating in it....??!!
This is the problem with condos. If you think HOA's are bad, now imagine an HOA that's responsible for everything outside the walls of your home - the walls, the roof, the foundation, the utilities, etc. No one likes paying for infrastructure - infrastructure isn't sexy - so you get situations like what happened here.
If people think this is an isolated incident - I wish I could be that optimistic. I have no doubt there are thousands of buildings across the country that area teetering on the brink for similar reasons. There was an ongoing dispute over the assessments for the needed repairs - I've seen it in person at several condo associations when going with friends and family to meetings. Convinced me I NEVER wanted to get tied into a condo of any sort!
@Neil Rusling Exactly. My best friends mom was in a small association - cluster of two story buildings with no underground basements/garages, so pretty simple infrastructure. Except half the buildings had that gray plastic water pipe that eventually fails - was defective. They got so many claims against their master insurance from pipe burst that their insurance was going to drop them unless the pipe was replaced (makes sense!). The ugliness and selfishness - especially from people in the buildings without the faulty pipe - was horrible. Luckily they came up with a water meter solution (previously the association covered the water for all) where the water meter company basically loaned them the improvement money up front and gets the loan repaid from collecting the water fees with a small assessment. But it was a horrible process with lots of ignorant/selfish people intent on gumming up the works. Convinced me condos were next level evil compared to HOAs.
Anyone who things socialism can actually work is a freaking moron, especially after watching that crap go down.
Not sure if it was pointed out, but the thickness of the supporting columns in the building perfectly correspond to the red (thick) and yellow (thin) paint in the garage.
I'm not sure that is the case, the thicker columns only exist on the lobby level parking portion of the western side of the building that was left standing after the initial collapse, yet at about 4:44 in the video there clearly appears to be a red column marked with 17 above it. Based on the floor plans this column is the same size as the remaining columns that were holding up the pool deck, North/South facing building and the western portion of the building.
@Neil Rusling
There are more than just two in inches, 24"x24" (576 in sq.), 16"x16", 14"x18", 12"x24", 12"x36" (432 in sq.), 12"x16", 8"x12". This is according to the original plans which can be found here:
surfside.one/public-records-search/
The larger 24x24 pillars appear to be isolated to the lobby level parking and most of the western side of the building which was left standing even though the lobby level slab failed by punching sheer at the parking and most of the pool deck. I have a feeling had the remaining building supports, or at the very least the perimeter pillars directly between the pool deck and the main building slab, had been as robust in size as the western portion of the tower, we would be looking at a completely different picture today.
Someone screwed up royally. There are now reports of major slab deficiencies(cracks and spalling from rusted rebar) all the way back to 1996!
@Neil Rusling Morabito Consultants pointed out these patch / crack injection jobs and their failure to correct the spalling problem back in 2018 when the 40 year inspection was coming due, so it makes me wonder if the contractor in 1996 (Western Waterproofing of America) was the last contractor to do any patchwork and was, therefore, responsible for the improper techniques Morabito was referring to. Someone was obviously dicking around by placing corrugated plastic sheets under cracks to keep water and calcium carbonate from leaching out of the concrete slabs and ruining the paint on peoples cars. Now, the question, why wasn't this leaching, spalling, cracking and rusting rebar issues pointed out as a major structural flaw pointed out before it turned into a disaster? Wouldn't the building code people know something? This has been a problem since 1996, and no one thought "gee this might become dangerous to the lives of humans sometime in the not too distant future". How many more condos are teetering on the edge, where the perfect set of unfortunate circumstances would turn into disaster. I'm not saying Western Waterproofing is responsible for the disaster, but there obviously was a lot of complacency going on with the management of those towers.
The unit owners who rented out their units knowing that the building had severe problems will probably be sued by the families of the victims.
Absolutely!😡
Nope. In Florida anyone can't just simply sue anyone---they must have "standing", which goes to spouses and dependents.
@@Jeph629 A lease is a contract and the lessor takes on the obligation to provide a safe premises to the lessee, right? There’s your basis for « standing » IMHO. It’s the same principle as when a landlord is sued by a tenant who was injured by falling off a wobbly stair tread. The owner/landlord can get coverage for this kind of liability in homeowners insurance.
However, in such a lawsuit the defendant should be the lessor, not his or her family. If the lessor is deceased, then the suit should name his/her estate.
There is a certain amount of "RUclipsrs" who are click bating with "they know the reasons" and "you'll here it here first on the collapse" in thumbnails. I applaud you for sticking to the facts, no speculation, just what can be observed as a possible cause.
You have the best investigation and narrative of anybody on RUclips that I have seen so far! Very precise and explained for the layman. Thank you!
Been waiting for your next upload.. Was going to go to bed, but now that can wait!
Me too
Me too! Yikes, that garage ceiling...
Me too!!!
@@marisapolesky it looks like my office building- 😱
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this. By far the best explanations I’ve seen.
what a breakdown. This is why I'm not an engineer, Smart people like yourself get it. also thx for making it easy to understand.
I never knew how fascinating engineering is until I stumbled across your videos
Who the hell puts corrugated plastic up on the roof of a parking garage to keep the water off of cars rather than have someone fix the issue? The maintenance on that place was ghetto as hell.
That would make sense as a temporary fix (if permanent repairs were to be done later, and they were just buying time until an extensive renovation was done), however water should not be leaking at all. Obviously there was something wrong that allowed water to seep through in the first place. I can understand buying time (ex. it's a minor leak, we're going to re-do the garage in a few years anyhow), but over a longer period of time, it goes from a minor leak to a major problem. Just like a leak in a standard home roof...sometimes when it rains heavy, we get a drip in the ceiling. No biggie...we're going to get a new roof in a couple of years any how. This would normally make sense, but if you let that leak go for 5-10 years, at some point the rafters may begin to rot out! It's about the duration of time that it goes on that's concerning.
@@jasonhaynes2952 They had so many leaks that they had to put up those corrugated plastic sheets up you would of thought more people would of been complaining about water leaking on the cars. We only saw a few, but I really wonder how many there were.
For $60,000-$100,000 cars you sure don't want calcium water drips on it, ruining the paint. One woman interviewed who had an expensive car, broke her condo rental contract and moved because parking there was ruining the paint on her car. Smart person, to move.
@@jeanetteshawredden5643 , And if you can afford a car in that price class, you should not be complaining about the $100,000 special assessment to repair structural deficiencies in the $700,000 roof over your head. Too many people have totally wack spending priorities.
@@chicagonorthcoast Cement pillars aren't sexy. A new mercedes is sexy. It's as simple as that- if you don't enforce and codify things, people will always pass the buck down (especially when they will just move out in a few years anyway)
Here's a theory. The planter boxes had drains and were over the vital columns. Maybe the drains in the planter boxes were clogged and the planter boxes were full of water and seeping down those vital columns. That would explain why the pool contractor noted water around parking space 78 and its columns. Maybe the added weight of those boxes started the caving of the pool deck 7 minutes prior.
All valid points, if the waterproofing was failing, chances are it was clogging up the drains as it disintegrated. Also, if you look at the boxes from google street view, the trees the had In them were massive! They must have put a lot of strain on the slab below them.
I suspect that many, many years of water repeatedly seeking its lowest point in the same area may have undermined the columns below the slab. I find it curious that the ground floor slab has cracks, is uneven, and seems to have been repaired in the past. I wonder if one or more of the columns in the row near parking space 78 went first causing a domino effect that pulled down the weakened pool deck which was tied into the building’s structure. Witnesses reported that the building was making loud, strange noises with walls cracking prior to hearing the thundering bang which, presumably, was the sound of the pool deck collapse.
Go back to like the second or third video he did after the collapse. He goes in depth on the planters
I think it is very clear that there should not be planters collecting water in complexes of this type. There is too much chance they will collect water and become problematic.
Good point... Did you see deflection of the beams?
it looks like what i thought. that parking area has just been SOAKING in salt water for years
It's what happens when you build such large structures on bad ground with a sand/gravel base. Nature always wins in the end.
What I like and appreciate about your channel, and explanations, is the simplicity. No theatrics or drama, just facts. We thank you for this! Great channel!
Hey 👋🏻. Just a nurse here, who stumbled across your channel following the surf side collapse. You have a gift for putting the engineering jargon into layman’s terms. Interesting videos. Keep it up. I wish your channel well.
WTF. The moral of this video is: NO ONE SHOULD’VE DIED. The warning signs were there. The building should’ve been condemned until fixed. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise! Appreciated! 👍🏼👍🏼
it is possible that you could not fix the damage,
@@jmyers9853Maybe it wasn’t fixable, but that’s all the more reason to get residents out of the building. I watched an interview with an older man (resident) who said their association sent out information discussing the cost of upgrading the building. He said it would cost $15,000,000. 😳
@@jmyers9853 No, they could. Tell everyone to move their car, brace everything up, and start replacing slabs 1 at a time. Tip each slab towards an adjacent slap and add a drainage chute too so it never happens again.
I’ve been waiting all weekend for this video. You didn’t disappoint. Going back to watch it again because it’s so fascinating. Also, thank you to the Dr. from FIU who released this video. I’m sure it will be an invaluable piece of evidence in the investigation.
I find your videos fascinating. You’re a great teacher and make it easy for us non-engineers to understand various concepts related to structural integrity.
Based on all i have seen this collapse started in the ground level visitor parking lot. This was seemingly due to repeat stress from cars and the transition of the column layout between the pool deck and the main building. At the time of the collapse this section was completely full of cars too. It pulled down the pool deck which pulled down those critical columns that pulled the building down. Aggravating factors will likely involve water damage and possibly how much rebar was (not) used.
Edit: the first area where he points the diagonal cracks are, are directly below that lot.
We did a huge parking garage here in Ontario, I was back there ten years latter and was amazed at the damage the salt had done. Someone up here decided one day that millions of tons of salt dumped on everything during the winter months was a good idea. Its really easy to imagine a concrete building beside the ocean turning to dust.
In Finland we use special coatings over the concrete to reduce wear from studded tires and road salt on garage floor.
But it needs replacement every few years to stay effective.
32:39 I love that you pointed out the foundation slab issues, any movement underneath would certainly cause issues above
You are clearly a person of knowledge and integrity. Thank you for thoughtfully leading us through possible explanations and considerations that might explain the cause of this tragedy. Doing it without hype and without jumping to conclusions is so needed and helpful. Truly appreciate it.
so in other words it was known that the building was falling apart and plastic was put up to keep it from falling on the cars..that's sick..
Their only concern was water was getting onto some of the cars. They didn't know the building was deteriorating. The plastic was a Band-Aid and made the car owner happy. Of course, none of the owners were structural engineers. They didn't know what was happening. We've all seen the same thing and we don't really understand what we're looking at.
@@KayInMaine so..the blind leading the blind..but there is that pesky 2018 inspection, and concern (horror?) expressed by the pool guy..oh well..
After seeing that beam sagging while attached the the columns, I'd pack my stuff and go MILES away from there. I'm no engineer, but come on now
This and other videos like it speaks to the integrity of our American engineers who are not neglecting their responsibility to explain to the public what happened. This video is above and beyond an A++ rating. Thank you.
Your videos are amazing. I wish I would of had a teacher like you in school. Your information is also interesting for an amateur. Thanks again.
I mentioned in a comment on another video that he could be an engineering professor. And we don't know, maybe he is!
Impressive how fast your channel has grown. I remember when you used to 300 views a video, now you get double that in 3 minutes
The first time I watched one of his videos just a couple weeks ago, he had about 2k subs. Now 28k! People recognize quality information and integrity.
Josh, your videos are SO informative. Great series on this tragic failure. Prayers for all affected
Wow just wow.. Your videos have gotten me started down the rabbit hole of searching for more content. I have watched a number of other videos and have learned so much from what you have said, that I have been able to pick out some inconsistencies in other videos. I'm no engineer, but the way you explain things is phenomenal and this video was the most impressive so far I think. Thanks for doing these. I'm excited for the next one.
Other engineers have tried to explain this is woman's video of the parking garage, but you've explained it brilliantly. I can always totally under your interpretation of things. Thank you for all that you do. We know that you have a real 9-5, but you still make the time to do these videos.
Another outstanding video in the series. Super efficient use of time. I'm getting addicted to this channel. Thanks for posting! :D
The crack in floor is very interesting cuz I wounder if it's related to ground sinking....I'm guessing when the final results of the investigation are out it's not going to be a single cause, but a series of failures ranging from the original construction to the ground sinking, poor maintenance, things missed or poorly communicated by the 2018 engineering firm, a failure of the HOA comprehend and or communicate the urgency of maintenance issues and a failure of the state to apply proper scrutiny of these building as they age.
In the end I don't think any one person or entity is solely to blame or that there was intentional misconduct by anyone, but rather chain of mistakes that if any one of which had been caught the collapse maybe wouldn't have happened.
There should be HOA mtg notes showing what was done to that slab and when. Even work was performed years ago, the HOA notes should reflect it.
I have some construction background but am by no means an engineer or expert. That being said, I would like to believe that had I observed the structure as a potential buyer as in this video, just common sense would have thrown up some major red flags that the building might have major issues. This was an expensive building and area to live in, given that the residents cared more about such superficial things while ignoring the necessary maintenance and warning signs, shows that they unfortunately bear part of the responsibility for the tragedy.
@@ADAMJWAITE Well if you just watch the video this woman took, she's not trying to highlight problems with the building. She's looking for a parking space. At the same time the problems are so alarming she keeps subconsciously focusing the camera on them. As well I believe another woman was suing the HOA over the building's state of disrepair.
So there was clearly big trouble at the Champlain Towers and lots of people knew it. Ultimately I think it was failure of imagination on the part of everyone to comprehend how dire what they were seeing was.
In America buildings don't just fall down. IMO the fact that our structures are overwhelmingly well built and safe led to a reckless complacency on the part of everyone involved.
The 2018 engineering firm saw large scale structural problems but didn't see the building could fall because that really doesn't happen in the USA. They thought our report sounds scary enough the HOA would never wait years to start repairs.
The HOA thought yeah there's trouble, but it can wait till the 40 year re-certification when owners will have no choice, but to pay for repairs.
Owners thought it's just some water in the parking garage and some chipped and cracked concrete nothing to pay a massive special assessment over. I mean I may die or move away before the 40 year re-certification forces these repairs. Hell No I'm not paying 125k now.
The government thought these buildings don't need to be looked at before they're 40 years old.
It has been reported that during king tides & storms seawater was flooding in onto the garage floor slab so much so that some cars were literally floating in seawater.
If that was the case wouldn't all the buildings be flooded? If the sea water was coming that far traveling they all would be I would think. Water was going through be it seemed constant and it's not constantly raining and sea water I think if that much was going that high and far it would flood all the buildings and all the garages in every building.
@@Courtney-pe2iw not necessarily? Idk squat about engineering or rising water, but I have gotten the impression that the water in the parking lot indicated some sort of failure ~because~ other buildings didn't flood like that. (did I word that well enough?)
As bad as salt water is for cars, I can't imagine thqt sort flooding would be normal or acceptable? I'm at a loss to understand how the owners of the cars didn't complain, panic or even seem to notice the water damage to their cars? 🤔
@@Courtney-pe2iw Nearly every building on the beach has this type of parking. The parking is under the building, meaning below ground level. They all have pumps to keep the water out during high tides and heavy storms. I have a friend that lives in a 31 floor high rise on the beach just a couple miles north of here. His building was built in 2006 and they occasionally have sea water on the lower parking level. His is a large building so there are 3 levels of parking. Two below ground and one above. The floor level of the building is above the actual ground or grade. Look at Ocean Palms in Hollywood FL. This building will get sea water in the lower garage on rare occasions. But only a few inches. Not feet. Still scary though.
Sea water destroys concrete and rebar!!!
Period!🥵😡
@John Beige There are RUclips videos which shows flooding streets in Miami even on the sunniest of days. This is ocean water intrusion occurring mostly during high tides and finding it’s way to the streets through storm drains and other pathways. Millions of dollars have been spent constructing pumping stations in order to alleviate the flooding on these Miami streets. This is the same type of ocean water intrusion you see at these oceanside condos. The rising tides causes increased pressure for the water table underneath these condos to rise. Since the ground on which these structures are built is not exactly the same, nor is the methods or materials used to build them necessarily the same, there will be varying degrees of flooding occurring from building to building. Since concrete easily absorbs water, the foundation slab will eventually allow it to pass and cause the flooding that one sees in some of these videos of the parking garages. As a former Florida oceanside condo owner, I wasn’t aware of the dynamics of these tides and the affects they had on the building until AFTER I had purchased the property. Most of the people who purchased these properties were equally unaware of these potential problems and were just concentrating on getting their “oceanside view”. It didn’t take long to figure out that there was a potential for expensive structural repairs to the building with the corresponding increases in HOA fees and special assessment fees as the building aged. My condo building was maybe an hour north of Surfside, but I would never have thought that such a tragedy would ever have been allowed to happen.
I never imagined I'd care about any of this but you're videos are both very interesting and well presented. I went back to watch your videos from before this incident and they're every bit as interesting and informative. I now find myself looking at the walls, floors and ceilings of buildings I'm in and wondering/imagining what's behind them. Thank you for your work putting such a great informative channel together and making us a little smarter.
I've been watching since the very 1st video about the collapse and he only had a little over 1,000 subs and now look! His content speaks for itself that's for sure!
Thanks for the video. It looks like the car in spot 78 had a cover on it, probably to keep the water from dripping on to the car.
That's what I was thinking. Why cover a car in a parking garage unless water and paint/concrete keeps falling on it.
Or you cover a car that is not being used for weeks or months at a time.
@@jsm8149 I see that here in the midwest, protect it from UV damage sitting outside. But in a parking garage? Seems odd to me.
Planter boxes. How about that. Well done. Impressive work, so level headed and educational. The analysis spot on. While other experts watching the video dismissed the peeling as being from humid conditions in the garage you point out the correct reason, saturated concrete. You match the location to the planters. Nice work.
His first speculation (or a very early one of his) was the planter boxes. It seems the most likely reason.
I for one would be interested to see what champlain towers north looks like right about now.
Same design & time of construction, & same location.
Top points for your analysis btw.
It was investitaged and has no structural problems like this one.
IMO, In North building's favor is it is a squarer form. South was stretched to add two stacks of condos for the larger property boundary.
There is a video walk through of that building too - no water issues & they had already previously replaced the waterproofing and planter stuff from the original design.
@@eily_b I mean..engineers didn’t evacuate people from collapsed one so… Plus wouldn’t they need to know what caused it to say the other one is good to go?
I'm finally getting around to watching your videos on the Champlain Towers South collapse and I just want to say that you're an amazing content creator and educator. You earned my sub.
How can anyone dislike this channel! It’s the only thing that is true and makes sense in my life. 😍😍 brings me peace of explanation and a shit ton of education. I love it.
Blame is a very natural reaction when disasters happen, but blame does not advance our knowledge and understanding. Even from what little we understand, it is clear that multiple things went wrong over a long period of time to cause this collapse.
Blame is a conclusion, understanding is a progressive process.
Great comment 🙏
The difficulty in obtaining sufficient support from homeowners for special assessments is massively overlooked. Every HOA I've ever been in has budgets and reserve contributions that are too low. I'm the only person that I know of that is willing to give the HOA what they need and give it now and want things like maintenance done now. Every person I've ever met in HOA's look the other way, drag their feet, bury their head in the sand.... you get my point. If it means pay more more money, then the talking stops immediately. I bet you'll find, like everywhere that I have lived, more than a few people couldn't afford to live here and any investor / renters almost always want to pay NOTHING more for ANYTHING.
That's why I like this channel. He's taking us along his process as he learns more details .
Often, fixing the blame has little worthwhile outcome. (Fix the Problem, not the blame!) Here, the PROBLEM ultimately ‘fixed’ itself with multiple fatalities. That disaster will drive multiple verdicts, awards and subsequent bankruptcies. (Change the Corp. name and get back in business.) Corrective action will be that Building Maintenance will be educated, Property Rental and leasing companies will increase rates, HOA fees will increase, designers will be far more conservative in their assessment of risk during layout of new projects, and builders will see far more restrictive codes and code enforcement.
We all learn primarily from our failures, but lay people will begin to look for issues in their own buildings with an eye toward re-locating to what appear to be ‘safer’ structures.
My hunch is some buildings will be condemned for these sorts of problems, further driving up costs of living ~ initially in FL, but awareness will migrate through the entire industry in time.
@@brianatkinson6600 good points made. On the other hand, I've seen nepotism play a part in decisions to the point where trust is lost over not just what, but who will be hired for work. In my small HOA, they spent $50,000 on clubhouse furniture and design, and it was obvious the furniture was cheap. 3 yrs later, because it fell apart, I offered my designer services free and discounts on new furniture with my links in the industry. The answer? No. Most of us weren't up for spending alot on the project after that. This is an example of how things can go bad and disagreement drags on longer than expected.
Thank you for your time and effort to explain how this may have happened.
Great video. Love your way of explaining to us who aren’t engineers.
I’m thoroughly enjoying the detail and delivery of your information. You help me, a person who knows absolutely nothing about structural engineering, to understand the issues and you present it in a way the information is clear, precise and articulate. You have good vocal tones for speaking. The public wants to know what happened and you help is invaluable. Keep up the great work.
My goodness! What an awful, (preventable) tragedy this is.
I'm so sorry for everyone's loss of loved ones and friends. My heart goes out to you. May you find healing and strength.
It's apparent that these videos and your knowledge will be helpful along with the other professionals, in solving this tragic building collapse @Building Integrity . Thank you.
I don’t think it can be assumed that the orientation of the corrugated plastic necessarily follows the line of a crack. The shape of the plastic could be more about which direction and how far the water needed to be directed away from a parking spot. Just my two cents’ worth
thats true to a point, but for a long crack, if the plastic was guiding water perpendicularly, you would need to see multiple sets perpendicular plastic and it would be rather obvious that it was covering a larger area
Probably not enough water to pour off the plastic. It's drips that just need to fall and then evaporated. Unlikely to be a pinhole leak. More likely a crack.
Yes, your right. Maintenance guys everywhere would do this. 48 years experience tells me this. Your two cents have been well spent.
Love your channel, how you explain to us lay persons in terms we understand. Also love the wall and lamps behind you ❤️
Lamp shades are from IKEA :)
www.ikea.com/us/en/p/nymoe-lamp-shade-white-brass-color-10377200/
I will never walk through a parking garage casually again. I will always be checking the ceiling.
I was in Washington, DC a couple weeks ago. On our way out of the underground parking spot I couldn't help but notice all the rebar and spalling along the way. Ugh!
What a phenomenal channel you have - these videos are fascinating and I'm now deep into this rabbit hole. Thanks for taking the time to do them. As a non-engineer, I really appreciate your thorough and well explained observations!
I’ve watched vids of diff ‘engineers’ explaining the cracks, stalactites & paint falling off the roof, etc. No one else has mentioned how the columns & the Xs show show faults, not much detail of the vertical & horizontal cracks in the ceiling & how they all tie in & no one has explained what the ‘corrugated looking parts of the ceiling’ are & why they were placed there. All of them are using the same vid as a reference. Thanks for your excellent work explaining concerns in the garage to ppl who have no experience in building engineering.
I really appreciate his videos, he knows what he is talking about and is a natural as a teacher. Top notch quality videos. 👌
I was watching this video and in some places they had buckets hanging on the ceiling and floor the structure was very compermised. I really am enjoying this series. For a future video it would be interesting to see what it would have taken construction wise to save the building before it fell if it could have been saved
He briefly went into some of those plans which were submitted, and when a structural engineer remarks "I've never seen this in my career" or something to that effect, you know its pretty bad.
Instead of worrying about water damage to their cars and installing corrugated plastic, they should have been worried about the condition of the support beams and concrete.
Sadly, I don't think anyone at the towers thought of it as a structural problem, but only a cosmetic one. Given that the location of some of the apparent water leaks (directly under the building itself and not the deck), one does have to wonder how water could get there. I mean, water seeping through from the deck makes sense, but water seeping through well under the building itself shows an extensive problem in my non-engineer brain
@@jasonhaynes2952 there is above-ground (pool deck level) parking on that south end (where the woman's walk-through began). Plenty of opportunity for water intrusion.
Agree. I'm a condo owner, and have served on two boards. It's a little disgusting how wack most people's spending priorities are. They'll commit $60,000 or more to a rapidly depreciating 3500 lb four-wheeled appliance that has only one function easily replaced by taxis and trains, but they are AGHAST when told their building does not repair itself and they need to spend as much money repairing it as they do on a car. These people didn't even want to pay the regular $800 and up HOA, which I promise you is minimal for an aging full-amenity high rise building with a large staff. It should have been more like $1,000 at least.
Keep it coming. Incredibly thorough and unbiased - you should give lessons to the rest of RUclips on how to present information and create content! Thanks for putting these together.
Thank you for the time you have spent on this catastrophe and helping others to understand what happened.
QUESTION: If the building was built in the mid to late seventies, before granite and marble was popular for flooring and countertops. Could the added weight of upgrades over the years in each condo, exceeded the weight bearing capacity of the connections on the columns?
A video absolutely worth viewing multiple times; thanks goodness that woman (potential buyer) went looking for what would be her parking space if she purchased a unit at Champlain South and how smart she was to avoid buying into this soggy mess!
When I found out what "Punch-throughs" were, it gave me the shivers.
Interesting. Wish Josh would have spoken about the implications of these; Not enough steel in the slab at the column?
@@cayrick The punch throughs were on the pool deck. There's another channel that theorizes the parking deck collapsed first due to overloading. Then due to damage and inadequate reinforcement the pool deck pulled right off the columns with punch shear. The failed deck and failed beam stressed the damaged columns of the building which collapsed seven minutes later.
From an engineer in a different field, thanks for this. These are very interesting. I'm learning lots.
Where are the beams connecting each column to support the floor slabs, and there is no pads on top of the columns to spread the load of the floor slabs , the concentrated load on top of each column would have been immense. What I see is column then slab, column then slab , column then slab, no cross beams to distribute the floor loads . I think they will find the columns didn't fail, but the slabs did, because the slabs didn't have enough support. As a builder from Australia I'm shocked at what I see missing in this building .
Good observation. Also note that there are pictures that show cars parked on the floor above the garage. There was one underground level, the ceiling above the underground level we see looks really weak and there were cars parked on that. Other parking garages i've been in look far more heavy duty than that with thick support beam networks.
@@jameskeefe1761 yeah normal parking decks are way more beefy looking.
Now looking it does look strange all those columns just going straight to the slab.
It looks like old stuff I've seen in 3rd world countries.
@@N4CR as I mentioned in my first post im a retired builder from Australia, but I also live part-time in the Philippines, they use columns and beams especially in car parks where there is constant vibration from moving vehicles. I'm very impressed with the amount of reo bars used in their construction. Not all third world countries are the same .
I’m so glad you examined that vid. Victims needs justice and I hope experts will find your vids helpful in the case. Breaks my heart to know so many ppl lost their lives . I grew up in Miami Beach in my teen years snd one thing is for sure from now on, I will never buy a condo in a building . I’m terrify now. makes me wonder how many buildings in Florida are sick .
After watching your on the job videos and hearing you explain two-way deflection cracks here- I am thoroughly impressed... If I can pick up a thing or two you are doing a GREAT service to the average person.