On June 24, 2021, the Champlain Towers South building, a 12-story beachfront condominium in Miami, Florida, partially collapsed. The death count is not finished yet, but it will easily surpass 100 people.
The suspected cause of the collapse is the long-term degradation of reinforced concrete support structures.
My mother is at risk
My mother lives only about 5 minutes’ driving distance away from the collapsed building, also in a high-rise building overlooking the ocean. In fact, the whole area is populated with high-rise buildings facing the ocean.
Concrete buildings deteriorate after 50 years
Concrete is a wonderful product that allows builders to build tall buildings. All those buildings use reinforced steel to make them stronger and capable of withstanding more weight.
The problem is that the reinforced steel corrodes with time. It also expands and contracts with the changes in temperature and thus creating many small structural cracks on the concrete, invisible to the untrained eye.
The foundation of a property should be checked regularly to have peace of mind. Sings that a building is having foundation problems include:
- Cracks in Concrete Basement Floors
- Doors & Windows Are Not Closing Properly
- Cracks on the interior or exterior of walls
It doesn’t matter where you are in the U.S., a foundation repair in Iowa City is as essential as one in Miami Beach. Every major city has an array of foundation inspectors or repair companies that can help before the problem gets out of control; not fixing the problem can put your life in jeopardy.
Many buildings need repairs in order to stay safe. Since most of the time, the cracks can not be seen by the untrained eye, and there is no sense of urgency, and because repairs are expensive, condominium associations delay those repairs for as long as they can, but as we can see, not doing regular inspections and repairs can be deadly.
The Japanese reconstruct their buildings every 30 years
The Japanese have a building and demolishing culture. They depreciate their buildings after 30 years. They demolish and build again. They acquired that habit because the region is prone to earthquakes on regular bases. After a building is shaken a few times, it becomes unsafe.
It’s time to reconsider living in high rise buildings
The collapse of the Champlain Towers is a wake-up call to those who live in high-rise buildings.
- How old is your building?
- How long are you planing to stay in the same building?
- Are you considering the devaluation value of your building?
- Would you consider moving to a lower property?
If I was looking for a place to live, I would only consider a newer building, no older than 10 years old, and I would consider moving out once the building is about 40 years old. I certainly would move out as soon as possible if the building is 50 years or older.
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