Porch collapse or balcony collapse is a phenomenon typically associated with older or poorly constructed multi-storey

apartment building An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement ( Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) ...

s that have wooden

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

extensions on the front or rear of the building. The collapses have a number of causes, including overloading due to excessive weight from overoccupancy (too many people). Overoccupancy can result from guests filling a porch at a party, from people seeking cooler breezes during a heat wave, or from people filling a porch while seeking shelter from the rain. It may be from the weight of furniture/appliances, wading pools, or air conditioner compressors. After years of rain and snow, it may be from rotted wood, soil

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

under the porch foundation, rust of nails and fasteners, and not being built to specifications required by modern-day

building code A building code (also building control or building regulations) is a set of rules that specify the standards for construction objects such as buildings and non-building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to obtain planning permis ...

s. Many older porches were built before codes required them to be able to support a legally mandated load of so many pounds per square foot or metre, and porches are often not as sturdily built as interior structures. The phenomenon is associated with older or poorly constructed multistorey

s with wooden porches. Architect

Stanley Tigerman Stanley Tigerman (September 20, 1930 – June 3, 2019) was an American architect, theorist and designer. Biography Early years Tigerman was born into a Jewish family, the only child of Emma (Stern), a typist for the federal government, and Sa ...

said that in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

one finds steel fire escapes, but in Chicago, the distance to

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...

s behind multistorey brick buildings encouraged the construction of wooden multistorey porches. While not an everyday occurrence, collapses happen often enough in Chicago that city building inspectors make a point of checking porches when making inspections. People have been killed and injured by collapses of wooden porches in other cities as well. A Chicago porch collapse during a get-together in the

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

neighborhood in 2003 killed 13 people. The weight of approximately 70 people caused the recently renovated porch of the 1890s vintage building to fail. The disaster inspired a 2005 episode of the ER television show. In June 2008, a third-story balcony collapsed in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, injuring six persons.Ottawa balcony collapse victims in induced comas
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Deck collapse

A related hazard is the collapse of decks built as outdoor extensions of single-family homes. When decks became a popular feature, construction practice did not keep up with the new fashion, resulting in many decks that were simply nailed to the side of their houses. The inherently weak connections were prone to failure, resulting in collapse with injuries and occasional death. In recent years building codes have been re-written to require direct structural connection to the adjoining structure, as well as cross-bracing to withstand sway.

High-rise apartments

High-rise apartment buildings are typically constructed from

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

. Many buildings have been designed with the concrete slab extending through the exterior walls to form balconies. Since they are relatively thin and unprotected from the weather, they are vulnerable to corrosion of reinforcing and potential collapse. Many buildings constructed in the 1950s and 1960s are undergoing repair or removal of such balcony structures at considerable cost.

References

Building defects

Deck collapse

High-rise apartments

See also

References