Why did the Surfside Condo Collapse? (Miami Building Collapse)

This video discusses the Surfside Condo Collapse or the Miami Building Collapse from 2021. The video summarizes a forensic analysis done by WJE, a firm that was hired to investigate the failure by the condo association. Thank you to Matt Fadden and Gary Klein for sharing their work.

WJE video over their investigation:

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[basimaltemimi]

Punching shear design was addressed in ACI 318 when it was built 1981! So mistakes were in construction rather than in design. Also, additional weight and lack of redundancy in design (resiliency) were reasons of collapse. Thank you for sharing 🙏

[medomaigrey]

One of my greatest frustrations was trying to convince the licensed design professionals that they needed to understand the existing building they were working on.

[hgbugalou]

This is going to be a major problem in other places. While the building was full of flaws with its original construction in this case, it did hold up for 4 decades. The primary problem was getting the residents to agree how to pay for badly needed repairs with very high costs. The sticker shock of the repairs, especially after they just had to fix something else a few years before, caused delays and the building just didn't have that time. The is going to happen somewhere else as things continue to age. Governments are going to have to step in with regulation as well as funding to prevent this. We cannot simple rely on HOAs to manage these processes.

[skipwalker]

Tyler, Thanks so much for this important video! Great summary of this horrible event. If you remember, we talked about non-ductile concrete issues a few years back. We have a WJE office locally. They are a world class organization. Much respect to them for the forensic work on this.

[vashsunglasses]

I remember people online trying to figure out what happened soon afterward using the video footage, photos, and diagrams, and what you're saying in this video is exactly what they thought. The way the pool deck was designed, the planter, and then the damage to that column and the shear wall. The only thing they didn't get right was the faulty construction but there was no way to know that at the time. What's interesting to me is that the survivors from the part of the building that collapsed were the ones who lived in the second and third floor apartments right above the damaged column because they could hear it breaking a few minutes ahead of time and they could see cracks developing on their walls. That gave them time to evacuate. I'm also still sad about that kitty that was in the remaining structure that died when it was demolished.

[geoffmorgan]

There is a nearly identical building just a short distance up the beach. I'm hoping that this building is being inspected very carefully. Another problem with the condo that collapsed was the intrusion of salt contaminated rain water that pooled on the deck and seeped into the tile/topping slab. This was the wrong way to address any ponding of water on the pool deck. Some of the photos I have seen of some of the rebar show stress corrosion cracking almost all of the way through the section. Also one of the columns at the entrance to the below grade parking deck was undersized possibly a design oversight because it was subjected to additional load. If I understand things correctly this column is thought to be where the initial punching failure began when the pool deck began to collapse downward from all the deficiencies that you point out. Miami in the time this condo was built was known for quick, shoddy, construction with suspect inspection.

[davidstewart]

Great straight forward analysis. I've read other in depth reviews of the design and learned that the way the pool deck tied into the main building was unnecessary. If i understood right, basically if the deck was separated load wise from main building columns, like freestanding intensity of one system, this probably wouldn't have happened.

[tomseim]

Great video! You presented more information on the cause of the collapse in 8 min than NIST did in an hour and a half at their last video. One thing they did say was that one specimen revealed that there was only HALF the number of rebars at the slab/column connection. This begs the question: HOW did the inspectors miss this? Was there corruption involved or were the inspectors incompetent or both? I find it hard to believe that an inspector can't count to 4 (the number of rebars required).

[terrycolberg]

Tyler, thanks for a great analysis of this tragic event.

[wacojones]

Massie weight added in redone bathrooms and kitchen areas using heavy marble slabs replacing lightweight installed units.

[ForensicCats]

Tyler, hope all is well.
Planters at face of building were over column decks, therefore the load was in a load path that was awesome.
I have done over 300 videos on this building and in my private room I go over the failure of the main building...
This structure had parking deck failure within 10 years of build (they used foam to seal parking deck cracks in the 80s)
Gary Klein, admits to using YouTube content to make most of their conclusions and most are from my content.
That was the closest they came to "investigating" and I am the only one who has revealed the roof detail collapse...
Even NIST has stated they don't know how building failed and still only working on pool deck collapse and they stated they have not ruled out one thing!
This answer got them an ass-chewing by the NIST board in a meeting.

[charlesviner]

👍🔨love the education!I'm from Davenport Iowa, an older building collapsed here last May

[igorb]

Interesting video, i was following situation since 2021 on other channels, cool to see more details popped up that explained what really happened 👍

You telling the construction was giving signs that it is failing, but 2 of my searches wasnt able to find a video listing as unobvious concrete building 'red flags' and their real life looks and consequences. Such video would be very useful and would raise awareness of people to bump up a chance such problem would be noticed before its too late

[PraxZimmerman]

That bridge that cracked in Memphis I believe had been inspected multiple times by the same inspector who was cutting corners.

[derekkuhl]

It also takes a lot of money to repair this problems. Money paid by the homeowners who are not going to be happy or able to pay these large expenses. There will be significant pressure to say everything is “all right”. Once the building is up, making massive repairs is very very difficult. Better to recognize these problems as a purchaser and stay away.

[WilliamPozo]

Best review of this tragedy I've ever seen. Congrats. You are spot on sir. I am concerned that the bureaucrats want too much from the condominiums to do inspections while not providing a straightforward path towards permitting, repair and construction. I think we are entering a sad period of deconstruction near the coastline l. Especially for the fixed income owners. That truly did not understand the cost of living near the sea. But this is the hard reality of the built environment. It takes time and energy to maintain. Whewww!

[Zenobeus]

Good stuff, thanks for taking the time. I wonder what other buildings the construction company built. I wouldn't want to be living in one of them.

[garywilloughby]

Good video well explained. Very interesting. I wonder who added the slabs and the planters?

[Murph]

It wasn't just the deck taking a big bite out of the KLM 9.1 columns when the deck failed. Those columns had fairly substantial beams (BMA) extending out beneath the deck to KLM 11.1 for the patio step-down outside unit 111. That added a huge amount of depth and weight ripping the guts out of the tower columns (KLM 9.1) when the deck collapsed. It's difficult to be certain, but I believe that if those beams had not been there, and it was just the deck pulling away from the columns, the tower might have survived (or lasted long enough to evacuate).

[elelectrotech]

the addition of marble floors and kitchen counters replacing formica and carpets did not help.