Inspectors
point to wood rot in fatal California balcony collapse
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[June 24, 2015]
By Rory Carroll
Berkeley, Calif. (Reuters) - Wooden
support beams sheared off in last week's collapse of a fourth-floor
apartment balcony that killed six people in Berkeley, California, were
found to be badly decayed, apparently from moisture, city building
inspectors said in a report issued on Tuesday.
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But Berkeley's director of planning and development, Eric
Angstadt, told reporters at City Hall that the balcony as designed
should have been sturdy enough to bear the weight placed on it when
it failed a week ago.
"I believe from our review of the plans the balcony was constructed
to handle the load that was supposedly on it," he said. "The design
seemed to be certainly to code to support ... the load."
Authorities have said 13 people attending a birthday party had
crowded onto the balcony when it ripped away from the exterior wall
of the apartment house and pitched over 90 degrees, spilling
everyone 40 feet (12 meters) to the street below.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jun/24/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png) Three men and three women - all visiting college students from
Ireland except for one American friend who was with them - were
killed in the accident. Seven others were hospitalized.
The inspectors' nine-page report, based on their direct observations
in the immediate aftermath of the collapse, did not reach a
conclusion about the underlying cause, a finding that will require
forensic examination and laboratory tests.
However, it cited significant decay visible in the splintered ends
of the horizontal support beams that snapped off just beyond the
face of the building.
"The inspectors observed that the deck joist ends protruding from
the exterior wall appeared to be severely dry rotted," the
memorandum said. Dry rot also was found in the joists of the
third-floor balcony, which has since been removed.
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The report did not directly address how the joists became so
compromised just eight years after the five-story Library Gardens
apartment complex was completed, but suggested exposure to moisture
was to blame.
Angstadt said a lack of ventilation inside the balcony structure was
"possibly" the cause of excess dampness that led to the dry rot.
The analysis recommended emergency adoption of new building codes
requiring greater ventilation of enclosed structures exposed to
weather - such as balconies, landings, decks and stairways - as well
as more durable materials and inspections of all such spaces within
six months.
City spokesman Matthai Chakko said the police department was not
conducting a criminal investigation.
(Additional reporting by Emmett Berg in San Francisco; Writing and
additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by
Cynthia Johnston and Mohammad Zargham)
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