Condo Collapse: Former Maintenance Staff Manager Was Concerned About Saltwater Intrusion

I owned a condo in FT. Lauderdale in a building right on the sand so close to the water you could count the fish. We had spalling and concrete pieces falling off under our pool deck and garage for much of the time I owned my unit. Finally at the 40 year certification the consultants report indicated that major refurbishment was needed, the city also stated if the work wasn’t done they would condemn the parking garage. This finally got the majority of owners to capitulate and agree to a Special Assessment to cover the 5 million dollars it would take to refurbish the complete pool deck and single parking structure. I write this to say unit owners always fight like hell to not pay special assessments until sometimes it’s too late, like it was unfortunately for Champlain Towers. I was a seasonal owner and was not allowed to rent it out to cover some expenses. I sold it in 2017 and I am glad I did. I’ll never buy a condo on the ocean again, it’s too expensive and now also too risky. Better to buy a house and take care of your own property…just my two cents and may God have mercy on those poor souls that lost their lives.

If one building have problems they need to inspect all those buildings in that area.

Everyone wanting to blame "the man" for this, but if you have ever owned a condo you know better. Why did the condo association board not pay for proper repairs? Almost certainly because the individual condo OWNERS did not want to pay a large assessment to carry out the work. The board works at the behest of the owners, and their hands are often tied because the majority of owners always want to take the cheap way out. The same thing happens in nearly every condo complex in the US. It's like a micro version of US infrastructure -- most taxpayers do not want to pay more taxes to fix bridges and such until one collapses near them. Then all of a sudden everyone is crying about the bridge not being repaired properly and acting like they have nothing to do with the fact that there was no money to do so. Maintenance costs money, but if you don't maintain things, they tend to fall apart over time. There are buildings, bridges, water mains, gas mains, and more all over this country waiting to fall apart because everyone wants to kick the repair bill can down the road to future generations. The bill WILL come due.

So everyone who stays in a high rise should question and look around for exposed rebar, cracking walls, constant flooding and maybe ask for last inspection report before paying for the condominium either for a short term stay or long term. Be your own advocate

This guy does a great job of explaining the process in layman’s terms.

Finally, a reporter who has done his homework! 😊

I’m in this business. I explain to associations all the time why they need to fix cracks, rebar etc etc. They don’t want to spend the $$$. They’ll spend 90% of their budget on landscaping, yet let everything else go to hell. Then they’ll hire a $12 hr maintenance guy or handyman to try and fix. They don’t know what they’re doing. This is the result

My parents had condo in Sarasota that was on and sometimes in the Gulf of Mexico. One board president forced a special assessment to drive pilings 50 feet into the sand and filled concrete behind it to protect the property. That was 30 years ago when the work was completed. That property to this day is solid and safe as can be. You get what you pay for and pay for what you get.

It's like having the doctor putting a bandaid on a gun shot wound.

I wanted to buy a high rise condo when I retire. But with this tragic failure, I’ll stick to a small single story home.

Once salt water gets through cracks in concrete, it spreads out to many pieces of rebar that are hidden from view.

This building should have been completely evacuated and demolished long before it collapsed.

Their excuse is "we were trying to get ready to pass inspection ", they should be locked away...

This is 100% on the condo board of directors.

If this is what caused or contributed to the collapse then; This is beyond negligence, It's criminal gross negligence...

I don’t understand how these residents just continued living in the condo! If I saw concrete cracking and exposed rebar that would be enough for me to move out. It’s common sense

That HOA was aware of all these problems and they need to be investigated. My HOA is the same, they want the title and power but not the responsibility.

that is why its hard to find a good maintenance man nobody listens to them.

I've done high-rise restoration and waterproofing for over 40 years on the Gulf Coast, when the salt water penetration of the support columns and balcony slabs is not addressed, concrete starts spalding very quickly and there's a lot more damage then you can see on the surface

This is exactly how I like things explained! Long thorough with lots of detail in one sitting!