@Nrdsb4 I was merely speculating there could be a difference. Thanks for confirming and posting the information.
This disaster, while tragic, might serve to open many eyes regarding similar situations.
Mario Salvadori taught the first structures class I took. He was a wonderful teacher.
I remember one of the big lessons he had was about how you had to expect the unexpected. One story he had was about a building with a concave roof (which seems incredibly dumb!) I believe at MIT. The students thought it would make a great swimming pool and plugged the drain. Luckily he had taken into account the possibility of that drain getting clogged.
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Interesting. My dad was the only professor I had who showed us how to design a roof for ponding (water collecting on the roof when it sags). Iâm sure a lot of engineers never consider that.
The show Engineering Disasters exists for a reason. Sometimes things go wrong in very unexpected (at least at the time) ways.
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From the Washington Post: âMajority of Florida condo board quit in 2019 as squabbling residents dragged out plans for repairsâ
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@Peruna1998 Who is qualified to do a reserve study for a condo association? Ty.
There are companies that bill themselves as reserve study specialists. In reality, they use proprietary software to amortize the costs of the maintenance, repair, and replacement of common elements. Functionally, it depends on what your association has. If you are a PUD (planned unit development) with private roads and a pool, talk to a pool professional and a paving contractor. They can likely provide you the necessary information. Otherwise, a qualified civil engineer. Things get complicated in a high-rise condo. Obviously, you will need look at what the common elements include: roof, elevator, structure, parking, etc. Break the project down and find experts (lean on your management company and membership for assistance, they may have contacts in the relevant fields). Get written reports. Have the author of the report come in to your membership and give a presentation and answer questions. Communication and information are the keys.
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Thank you, very helpfu! Considering a purchase in a small, wooden building in mid Atlantic coastal region. Finding small wooden buildings with long time owners. The owners may not have updated their assessments to build a reserve for major maintenance.
For those considering a condo purchase, I also recommend reading through HOA meetings minutes for the past 2-3 years. If you see a lot of bickering or resignations (like what happened in the doomed Champlain Towers) it could be a red flag.
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Isnât it something every builder knows?
I think this is very common. I would be very hesitant to live in a high rise condo. In the end, amateurs are deciding what and how structural issues they will address. I wouldnât like that.
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Yes. Itâs architecture 101. That said, I specified a slope when my porch floor got redone and the contractors still built it perfectly flat. By the time I realized it, no one wanted to fix the issue.
We built our own house and my husband, also a structural engineer, was the GC. Even so, he almost missed a serious construction problem - a major truss was not supported on a solid bearing point. Itâs so hard to catch everything.
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I had an opposite experience. I recently built a house. I donât think anyone mentioned anything about the pitch. The concrete contractor did it on his own. Nicely sloped leading rain water away from the house.
I have owned few apartments in NYC, and most of them are high risers. As a shareholder, I donât have a say about repairs or assessments. The board and the management agent decide when something needs to get done. This year during Covid when we lost some commercial tenants, we were informed we had to pay additional assessment instead of drawing down on our reserve. Whenever I buy a new apartment I usually have my accountant and lawyer review the coopâs bylaws and financials.
Few years ago when NYC decided buildings needed to repair the facades to prevent bricks from falling down and hurting people, my building had a special assessment for few years.
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The remnants of the building will be demolished tonight. Heartbreaking for the people who escaped and canât go back to retrieve their mementos and pets left behind.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/04/us/miami-dade-building-collapse-sunday/index.html
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My physical therapist is a tenant in a building. She says the special assessments on top of the rent are causing her to move. Just this year, they tacked on special assessments to repair one of the 2 elevators and for increased A/C use. She bought a place and plans to run her P/T business out of the bottom floor and live on the top floor. This way, she and her H can know what maintenance is needed and plan for it instead of expensive surprises.
She said they saved enough for the down payment because no travel and no dining out during covid.
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BB, it seems they used thermal imaging to check for pets. Thank goodness.
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Unfortunately, going so many days without food or water might have been a slower, worse death for pets.
Yup, latest reports say there were significant efforts to recover these pets:
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