AUGUST NEWSLETTER
As of mid August 2005 the iron work project is within 30 days of completion. The last stairway has been erected and the cement for the steps and the landings are being poured as I write. The new pool fence is on site along with various bits and pieces needed to complete the railings, which should proceed quite rapidly after the stairway has been completed.
The column that had a broken beam has been replaced with two new columns to alleviate the stress on the broken beam end. The problem that is causing the columns tops to disintegrate is shown in the figure in the lower left on page 3. The welds that were made during initial construction to hold the beams in place were supposed to be wiped clean after they were loaded with the tees that form the base of the first floor. Removing these welds was paramount to allow the beams to move with the ordinary expansion and contraction due to normal temperature variations. Because these welds were not removed expansion and contraction actually was transferred to the 1.25 inch ibar in the corner of each column and/or the steel plate embedded in the beam end, consequently breaking one or the other. This problem was not apparent until the top of the column was removed. In order to do this the garage floor had to be removed so supports could be placed onto the piling caps, which support the columns, which in turn support the building. This particular column is located almost directly under a firewall and is probably one of the most heavly loaded columns in the building (approximately 700,000# or 35 tons), so this project was attempted with much circumspect.
Further complicating this project was the fact that the existing column was not close to being in the center of the pile cap. The north side of the garage floor had been removed to expose one half of the pile cap as the initial step to develop the repair plan and it was assumed that the column was in the center of the pile cap. WRONG! Because of this unexpected revelation not only did new load calculations have to be made, but because there was not enough space on the south side of the pile cap to place a support, a new plan had to be developed. I beams were procured, reinforced (more calculations) and placed upon the pile cap in a box configuration known as grillage, which had to located off center to properly distribute the load (more calculations) and only then could the building be safely supported during the needed repairs. As might be expected these repairs cost about 3 times the expected range of $15,000, two columns needed to replace one, two cement pours, hours of recalculations, and the one time cost of designing and constructing the supporting mechanism, which can be reused.
The ironwork repair project completed cost will be approximately $467,000, which is approximately $41,000 over the original bid price of $426,585.50. However the original bid did not include replacement of the two front stairways or the pool fence. All of these changes were initiated by fourteen change orders, which encompassed fifty separate repair items, which could not have been anticipated. Most of these necessary repairs could not be observed until another repair was initiated. When a steel piece was cut out, the steel that a new piece needed to be welded to was deteriorated to the point it needed to be replaced, hence any one of the fifty additional repairs.
All this repair work would not have been necessary except for the absolute dereliction of maintenance for the past ten to fifteen years.
GIZMODE WATER DETECTORS are available in office. If your air conditioner overflows on your neighbor, it is your problem, not the Association’s.
It is important that each unit owner have insurance for their interior. As discussed at the annual meeting, the Association insurance does not cover the interior and it has a hurricane deductible of 10%, which would amount to close to $600,000, or an assessment of $6,000 per unit if Harborview had extreme damage from a storm. Also I recently became aware that the normal HO-6 condo policy would only cover $1000 of an assessment, however it can be raised to $50,000 for a few dollars.
Jack Rose
Editor’s notes: 700,000# does not equal 35 tons,
35 tons = 70,000#
700,000# = 350 tons
do not know which was meant as correct