Building collapse

[Don P]

I've been watching this since a building under construction collapsed about a month ago. A man died. The engineer's report came back the other day. The upstairs was being finished in a two story. The downstairs was to be shops and was a shell. The weight of drywall being stocked upstairs over unbraced walls caused them to buckle. The building then tumbled in.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-10-03-0172.html

I've seen poor bracing cause roof collapse on 2 truss jobs. Construction loads are often the highest loads that parts of a building will ever see and sometimes the support is at its weakest. A lesson to stop and think about support and sway bracing before loading that truckload of materials into the house.

[Raider Bill]

Don,

I saw this with my house and drywall. It didn't collapse but sure could have.
I had 100 sheets of drywall delivered. I stacked most of them in the middle of the great room floor. The span is 24 ft between support beams. I noticed one day that a empty soda can was rolling towards the center of the room at a rapid rate.

After some checking I determined that I had way too much weight in one area. Quickly redistributed the drywall to other rooms along the outside wall allowed the floor to spring back. My quick calculations appeared that my floor had dropped around 2" with all that weight on it.
It did come back up to level once the weight was off it but I now have squeaks to deal with.
Could have been a disaster

I guess these are things that experienced builders know. Now I do too.

[Jim_Rogers]

There is more info about this at this news stations' web site:

http://www.wtvr.com/Global/story.asp?S=8985208&nav=menu79_1

including photos....

[shinnlinger]

A very reputable company was building a new hardware store in my town a few years ago but had hired out a subcontrator to erect trusses.  They didnt brace off the trusses sufficiently as they went, a stiff breeze blew in and big mess.

One guy broke his arm and the reputable companies signs came right down.  I think before the guy went to the hospital...

Lets be careful out there....

[slowzuki]

Common mistake is point loading before finishing framing and drywalls and when the weight is removed permanent bows end up built into the building or all the drywall cracks.