Documents released in balcony collapse
Failure to install membrane to keep out moisture led to dry rot
BERKELEY — More than a month after state regulators revoked the license of the general contractor who built a Berkeley apartment complex where six people died and seven were hurt when a balcony collapsed, the agency released 145 pages of supporting materials about the construction failures.
The documents include two expert reports on the construction and engineering of the doomed balcony, which gave way June 16, 2015, as 13 people, mostly Irish students working abroad over the summer, were celebrating a birthday party. The state revoked Pleasanton-based Segue Construction’s license in April, finding it used cheaper, weaker material on the balcony than plans specified. That material then became waterlogged after a sub-subcontractor failed to install a membrane to keep out moisture.
“All that water sitting around on top of the joists was a recipe for disaster,” said Robert Perry in a phone interview Thursday. Perry is a licensed architect and general contractor whose 18-page report on construction flaws at the Library Gardens apartments on Kittredge Street served as the state’s expert analysis. “It’s rare that it’s so catastrophic in nature,” he added.
Perry and another expert said the balcony was designed properly and should have been able to hold the 13 students. He pinpointed the collapse as “dry rot damage which had occurred along the top of the cantilever balcony deck joists,” according to his report.
From October 2005 when the balcony framing was completed, until August 2006 when the structure was waterproofed and sealed, the Berkeley area received more than 38 inches of rain, according to Perry’s report. Instead of using more water-resistant plywood atop the joists, workers used oriented strand board (OSB), which can soak up water like a sponge, even if the surface appears dry.
“There is no mention of framing protection from inclement weather,” Perry notes in his report. The rain likely led to other water infiltration issues on the second floor of the building when 10 units had mold removal and dehumidifying treatments in 2006.
Had it been dry during construction and no rain had infiltrated the wood and been sealed inside, a catastrophic collapse would’ve been “highly unlikely,” Perry said.
Bill Leys, a San Luis Obispo-based deck expert who has followed the Berkeley tragedy, said the reports show a construction operation where no one followed instructions.
“Basically, it says that anything that could’ve been (expletive) up, was (expletive) up,” Leys said. “In a nutshell, the report reads like one of Stephen King’s horror stories if he wrote construction horror stories.”
Five Irish nationals visiting Berkeley for the summer died in the collapse along with a woman from Sonoma County. Olivia Burke, 21; Eoghan Culligan, 21; Niccolai Schuster, 21; Lorcan Miller, 21; and Eimear Walsh, 21, were from Ireland. The other victim was Ashley Donohoe, 22, of Rohnert Park.
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley opted to not file criminal charges. In the wake of the deaths, state lawmakers passed a law requiring the Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the state licensing board to share information about citations or other actions taken against a contractor.
In early May, a confidential settlement was reached between the injured victims and families of the dead and those responsible for construction work at the building.