NORTHUMBERLAND – A structural engineer in the Valley is assessing what may have caused the deadly building collapse in Sunrise, Florida.
Dave Zartman of Zartman Construction says accidents like these usually build up, “When you have a structural failure, its rebar can no longer hold its load, and to me it just seems like the building was that weak and that bad from deterioration over time.”
Reports earlier this week indicated structural issues had been flagged at the building as early as three years ago.
Zartman says there definitely could’ve been missed warning signs, such as rust stains or cracking in concrete, “That building from what I understand is reinforced concrete, and when the environment can seep through the concrete and moisture starts getting through the rebar, the rebar rusts and when it rusts, it expands and then it spalls the concrete away. Now usually, there’s redundancy in design that you have some time after that to repair it. But if it goes unchecked, you’ll have what happened in Florida.”
But Zartman says an accident like this happening locally would be unlikely, “Since the establishment of the building code…I think that in the early 2000s when the code started coming into effect and we have additional inspection and things like that, the quality of the work in many aspects has improved. I guess it’s the fact that when you know you’re being watched you make sure you’re doing it right.”
As of Wednesday, 16 people have died and 147 remain unaccounted for from the collapse last week.
