Take Away: Miami-Dade has a conflict of interest investigating Champlain Collapse due allowing the apparent irresponsible building of 87 Park adjacent to Champlain, with for example, damaging pile/construction vibrations as close as 10 feet from Champlain garage wall. Miami-Dade should have required vibration monitoring equipment be installed on adjacent buildings, by independent testing agent, to monitor and thus ensure pile driving/construction vibrations had no adverse effects to adjacent buildings. Surfside should have stepped in once notified of problem, and assisted Condo Association in legal action to require responsible construction techniques.
Excerpt from Structural Damage from Adjacent Construction Projects – Expert Article from Robson Forensic website, link below:
There are several ways that harmful vibration levels due to construction activities can cause damage to neighboring properties and structures. The most common include; damage to a structure directly from the energy of the vibration source, resonant structure response (i.e. the natural frequency of the building and soil matches the frequency of the ground movement causing uncontrollable shaking) and/or the densification of soils supporting a building structure resulting in settlement. All these vibrational effects can result in cosmetic damage and/or irreparable structural damage.
Vibration can occur from numerous construction activities, including:
Blasting
Pile driving
Compaction / dynamic compaction
Jackhammering / chiseling
Vibrofloatation
Pavement breakers
Demolition
Trenching activities
Heavy vehicle traffic
If construction activities which include potentially damaging vibration are scheduled to occur on a specific job site, it is imperative that one or all of the suggested measures below be implemented:
A well-planned due-diligence investigation and project coordination of neighboring properties. An example would be to determine if a neighboring facility has sensitive electronic, instrumentation or imaging equipment such as an MRI that may be disrupted by construction related vibration activities.
A pre-construction survey of all adjoining structures
A geotechnical report that clearly identifies the underlying soil strata and geologic conditions
Specifications for the control of construction vibrations
Pre-planning to avoid potential vibration damage by selection of alternate construction equipment. For example, auguring/pre-drilling piles as opposed to pile driving.
Construction logs of equipment and approximate time frames of construction
Vibration monitoring by a licensed testing agency
Building movement monitoring of neighboring structures by a licensed testing agency
Prior to construction activity, it can be desirable to establish a benchmark, especially if there is pre-existing damage such as settlement or structural deficiencies to neighboring structures. This particularly holds true if the building is older and would have a tendency for a lower tolerance of vibration induced damage.
Furthermore, forensic studies following a claimed damage event, to determine if a building was damaged by neighboring construction vibrations, should include knowledge of the geological conditions, where the vibration producing activity took place on the construction site, if there were any monitoring devices, and whether there were pre-construction surveys that could be evaluated as a bench mark for pre-existing damage. Therefore, it is imperative to document the location and type of construction activities which occur relative to the potential damage.
