Community Chat

[evelomaddict]

how devastating. 6 dead so far. my gosh, i can't even imagine. 

13 people on 1 balcony of that size is a lot. so sad.

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/06/17/six-irish-killed-in-us-balcony-collapse.html

[Vamp]

So sad. My heart goes out to the families. I understand 5 of the dead were Irish students in town for the summer. 

[fleetwood]

Yes, this news story is horrific. So sad. 

[Burnsite]

Hi, evelomaddict, I love Berkeley and when I saw this story, I thought of the shabby student housing in grittier areas of town. 

But on HuffPo it looks like a brand new building.  It was a celebration for a 21st birthday.  If the balcony was too new to have deteriorated and adequately designed, it should have held the weight if the # of people able to stand on it--and these were young people.  The Irish people were on temporary worker visas--so sad.

[evelomaddict]

i can't see how 14 people could fit on this balcony.  it looks like enough space for a grill and a few chairs and maybe a plant or 2.

[evelomaddict]

The Latest: Engineer says balcony appears small for load

A structural engineer says a balcony that collapsed in California appeared too small to hold the 13 partygoers that officials said had gathered on it.

Engineer Grace Kang says California building codes during the past decade have required balconies to support 100-pounds per square foot. The previous codes called for 60 pounds of support per square foot.

Kang, who is also a spokeswoman for Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, says moving and dancing would have put additional strain on the balcony.

http://www.netzero-news.net/news/read/category/Top%20News/article/the_associated_press-the_latest_se...

[evelomaddict]

Dry rot could be factor in Berkeley balcony collapse, engineer says

Water seeping into the horizontal beams supporting a balcony could have caused dry rot, contributing to a balcony collapse that killed six students in Berkeley, an engineer who examined photos of the damage said Tuesday.

“It appears to be a classic case of dry rot, meaning water intruded into the building rotted the wood” that supported the balcony, said Gene St. Onge, a civil and structural engineer in Oakland. With more than a dozen people on the balcony, “it gave way. It didn’t have enough residual strength, and it failed.”

St. Onge said photos that he reviewed Tuesday morning, showing the broken wooden beams protruding from the building that once held up the balcony, show what looks like signs of dry rot.

“It appeared to be shredded and darkened and had all the appearance of wood that had been totally compromised by dry rot,” he said.

A structural failure without any dry rot would have looked different, St. Onge said.

The balcony itself should have been able to support the weight of 13 or 14 people, he said.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dry-rot-berkeley-balcony-collapse-20150616-story.html