Experts suggest one rotted balcony led to a handful of wrongful deaths this week when the dangerously compromised structure invariably collapsed.
A “deficiency of design” is reportedly what allowed rainwater to erode the integrity of the Berkeley California balcony that snapped during a party on Tuesday, sending young revelers plummeting several stories to their death.
That semi-official assessment of the deadly incident indicates it likely wasn’t caused by excessive weight, and that if properly installed the outdoor unit could have supported even more people than were on it at the time it broke loose.
The apartment building where the catastrophic collapse occurred is a fairly new residential high-rise, police say, but judging from photos of the still-dangling deathtrap, there doesn’t seem to be ample flashing at its vital connections to prevent severe water damage.
Moreover, the balconies themselves look “attached” as opposed to cantilevered, which implies that, even brand new, they’d be much weaker than permissible for maximum capacity and would have therefore required a variance from Code Enforcement at the blueprint phase.
Cantilevering such all-weather architectural elements is the norm and a best-practice that has been used for centuries in the construction of load-bearing exterior catwalks and perches.
The possible substitution of cheaper wooden joists instead of sturdier steel beams would be an additionally questionable application, especially when at least one such potentially-inferior balcony unit has apparently failed now.
It’s also the type of cost-cutting measure that, if proven to be the case, could lead not only to wrongful death suits against the owners, builders and managers of the $65-million structure, but criminal prosecution.
