Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
(OP)
In chatting on another thread, AELLC suggested this might be a fun topic. I agree.
I will get the ball rolling with the attached photo. This is meant to be a full moment, 25% shear, connection to an equal size embedded column as the base for a portal frame which supports 100% glass glazing. Warning: One cannot un-see such terrible work. Hide the kids.
I will get the ball rolling with the attached photo. This is meant to be a full moment, 25% shear, connection to an equal size embedded column as the base for a portal frame which supports 100% glass glazing. Warning: One cannot un-see such terrible work. Hide the kids.






RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Homeowner was having custom home built - no engineer, unlicensed contractor. She came to the company where I was working to get an Expert Opinion for her lawsuit.
House was about 90% constructed of salvaged-from-the-scrapyard materials; all junk.
The septic tank was an old VW bus body.
Not to be confused with this "legitimate trainwreck" in Albuquerque
http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink...
The definition of a structural engineer: overdesign by a factor of 1.999, instead of the usual 2.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Approx 50% of the column section was destroyed (full width x 50% of length) so as to install the sheave beams for the lift. The column ties were cut, and the vertical column rebar had actually buckled over the pocket height - see the induced eccentricity. They placed scrunched up paper in the void, but there was no attempt to concrete or grout back the displaced concrete.
We discovered the 'anomaly' during a full hotel refurb - estimated to be about 15 years AFTER the dumb water was installed.
We ended up placing concrete to the void, then placiing a RC jacket around the column section for its full height.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Let's just say that you would be amazed how much of a column base you can rust away in the basement of an industrial facility before it buckles almost taking out 6 floors of a facility. It did buckle but total collapse was prevented by a little S8 section monorail that braced it and kept the column from kicking out as it buckled.
Also, monorails defy physics I believe. Either that or loading from the bottom flange lets you get away with little to no torsional resistance.
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds - Albert Einstein
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Needless to say I had it removed and replaced but not before I got a picture to hang above my desk!
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds - Albert Einstein
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Suprisingly it never collapsed - though who would take chances like this? The property across the narrow yard was occupied.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Whats' the big deal? When my wife watches HGTV they are always taking out bearing walls with no ill effect.
Those shows must not be subject to the laws of physics!
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Luck, and the ability to edit out any collapse or other issues. TV magic my friend...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
I was talking to a contractor today, they were drilling holes for anchors in some tilt up panels and hit rebar.
"After the panel is lifted, that rebar is pointless anyway, right?"
...at least he asked...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
First off, I was out riding my bicycle a while back and went past this silo in the attached picture. That ridge about halfway up is an elephant's foot buckle, typically due to compressive loading. Either the silo was underdesigned, or not designed, or service was changed, who knows. Still in operation as far as I know.
Secondly, a story with no pictures. Quite a few years ago, a customer contacted us. They had two old molasses tanks that had been cut down, roughly 60' diameter x 40' shell height, and they wanted to rebuild those into one big flat-bottom silo roughly 60' diameter x 80' high. In theory, that part was simple enough. But, they also wanted to do all the withdrawal through a garage-door type opening at the bottom, using a front-end loader or equivalent. So I dutifully cranked out a design as best I could in the limited time available, which required a number of large stiffeners due to the eccentric loading, which also added a lot of cost to the project. To no one's surprise, we were high bidder on the job and the economy contractor down the road got the job. So several months went by and I happened to be driving down that way, and there was the silo, erected and in operation. And, up there at the top was a big ol' buckle in the shell plate. I guess as long as it didn't split down the side, they didn't care.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Notice that in your photo 9APR14, 13:26, there is already a black and white prestressing wire in place which must be part of their beam support system and design. They are obviously going to suspend this beam from the next level up, so the bearing area can breath.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
The "builder" as Hokie puts it is *not* at fault unless we catch them or they can be shown to disobey a specific order from an Engineer.
I've always found that completely mind-blowing and unbelievable.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
The state highway dept had in mind to fix a problem at an overpass, where the height was not to current Federal code. Since the overpassing road was a minor access problem, they decided to fix both at the same time. Two things had to happen - one was lowering the grade of the highway to provide more clearance, the other was replacing the overpass bridge with a wider one. If you haven't spotted the problem yet, I'll drop another hint. The highway has a slope.
Since you don't tear out a bridge after you do the nice highway, they did the overpass first. Since it was all under construction, why bother putting up new signage with the current actual measurement between the now wider-span bridge girders and the old not-yet-lowered highway surface?
The distance problem was clearly identified by a trucker who had a flatbed with a 10 foot diameter, 1/2 inch wall steel tube about 40 feet long. Given the limited amount of sideways bend in the bottom of the I-Beam it appeared that the truck went from 60mph to 0 mph over a distance of a few feet. Bad for the trucker, the load was apparently quite secure. It folded the bottom 12 inches of the I-beam about 45 degrees. I assume the load shifted a bit on the truck, but did not come loose.
Being the really smart guys they were, the bridge design had continuous I-beams cast into the concrete side walls, rather than being flanged and bolted, so there was no way to simply replace the beam. I think they just got on it with torches and beat it back into place.
Had the truck been only a few inches lower it would have cleared the final girder in the decreasing tapered distance. As I recall it was a mark only a foot wide.
I'm more negative about this particular project because it caused daily miles-long traffic back-ups every workday for almost 3 years with the goal of preventing traffic tie-ups that happened almost 5 times a year. Which still happened after the work was done.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Nope, the drilled pier was cast 1st, then the gradebeam. The sonotube was the repair contractor's as we were grouting the space solid after cleaning up the bars a bit more. Happened 4-5 locations that we know of on that project.
But fear not, I have the special inspector's reports that said all was well.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
I wonder if this means you can now no longer rely upon any of the inspector's reports? Anyone care to try on their "law" hat?
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
whenever I see an engineer trying on his "law" hat, I run as fast as I can.
On the other side, I run as well when I see a lawyer trying on his "engineering" hat.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
A couple of weeks later, again at around 3pm on a Friday afternoon, the same field engineer called me. He asked me how many bars I said the contractor could cut. I flipped the question around and asked him how many he told the contractor. He indicated he told the guy zero, figuring that if he told him 2 the guy would say how about 3, if he said 3 how about 5, etc. My next question was, how many did the contractor cut, and he told me 4 or 5 all in row. (Keep in mind this story is some 35 years old so the exact quantities are a little loose in my mind now.)
Ultimately we worked out an acceptable alternate solution so that everyone was happy, but it certainly pointed out to me, the young engineer, how much attention one needs to pay to certain details to insure that they can actually be produced in the form that we drew them.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
I can't resist adding to this thread.
The attached photo shows the underside of an existing 2nd floor addition. This addition had been constructed in the 1960s directly over an existing one story wing that had wood rafters. The wood rafters were left in place and brick in-fill between them was used to support the yellow spreader beam. The spreader beam carried the orange girder which also carried a column above that supported the roof.
Note the crack in the masonry wall starting at the left end of the yellow spreader beam and migrating down to the upper left corner of the opening.
Apparently (as best we can determine) the owner did some remodeling after the 2nd story was completed and decided to cut in the opening you see in the masonry wall (topped by the gray channel). We do not know if the channels (one on each side of the wall) were installed before or after the opening was cut, but we suspect after. What you can't see in the photo is that the channels installed as a header did not contact the masonry - there was about a 3/4"-1" gap between the back side of the channels and the wall. The 7 bolts used to attach the channel are 1/2" expansion bolts into hollow masonry.
The only thing preventing a major collapse was that the yellow header beam rotated, its right end made contact with the girder above, and the resulting load path was through the narrow masonry column at the right side of the opening.
Thankfully the Engineer of Record for this current renovation agreed that this probably was unsafe and convinced the owner to pay for repairs. I devised a temporary support for the girder so that the spreader beam and the masonry wall below could be removed and replaced with a much larger transfer beam supported on 2 new columns.
There is nothing more adventurous for a structural engineer than solving the challenges of building renovation - especially when the client is the contractor.
Ralph
Structures Consulting
Northeast USA
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Just WOW.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Most of these things are shoddy site work, but presumably that castellated beam went thru a shop drawing review, then an fab shop, erector, etc...
I'm surprised it held up just under self weight!
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Second one is the condition of some of the existing structure... that used to be a W shape (WF actually, it's pretty old)
Link
Link
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
The biggest problem I came across was when a contractor demo'd an elevated concrete slab at grade and left the basement walls cantilevered. There were busy downtown streets around the entire structure, and only when my boss and the City inspector told the superintendent to get shoring on those walls immediately did he reluctantly agree to do it.
Seen lots of fun stuff on wood construction, but nothing life threatening.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Seriously bad corrosion. I'm surprised that the rivets at 6" spacing seemed to prevent rust jacking; I would have expected it to have to be closer...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Pretty interesting job altogether; we dug up a bunch of square cross section rebar which I'd never seen.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
A guy I worked with said he was an inspector for a very high ceiling building (like VAB) where it took so long to climb the stairs to get to the top workers would just relieve themselves off the side of the building and it wouldn't make it to the ground. Or maybe nobody noticed.
He said he was looking at bolted joints on the upper beams when something caught him as odd. Apparently there was limited access to one side of the beam and so instead of installing all the bolts, the installers cut the heads off some of them and welded the heads in place. I guess from floor level they looked OK.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Similarly, the following photos are bolts that were designed to be epoxy embedded into a concrete beam to attach a steel angle to support a infill concrete slab as part of a seismic upgrade of a to a historical US military facility. The contractor evidently hit rebar in the beam so could not get the required embedment depth, so they cut off the bolt shank to mach the drilled depth and epoxied the remaining head and washer with epoxy to the face of the angle. We found the condition about 10 years after the work was done. It was removed and replaced to match the design intent.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
@slickdeals.....but look at how nicely those cuts were made! The guy with the guided torch was probably very proud of that!
As for answering the phone at 4:00 on Friday afternoon.....I've made that mistake more than once. On one occasion, I had been a consultant to a "big box" retailer and got a call late on Friday (even after 4:00) that there had been a fire in one of the stores about 150 miles away. Being very familiar with the structures, I started to ask questions about damage and got around to asking the cause of the fire. It seems that a young salesperson in the paint department was demonstrating to a customer that mineral spirits was NOT flammable. He opened a can, squirted a copious amount onto the bare concrete floor and proceeded to light a match and toss it onto the puddle. Guess what? It's flammable. Well....evacuation, emergency shoring for the remainder of the affected structure and several hundred thousand dollars later...no problem.
Since I do failure investigations for a living, I have thousands of photos, most of them related to serviceability failures. I'll try to pull a few that are not covered by confidentiality and post. Have seen a lot of stupidity in 35 years.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
The best was after pulling the form they discovered a 10' long x 4'tall hole in the concrete wall about 12" from the top of the wall. Several years ago I had a contractor install a SCBF 180 degrees off.
RE: Worst Workmanship - Deficiencies - Terrible Detail (&/or interpretation) - Crazy Fixes - ETC...
You told him to just use structural paint correct?