Austin’s $200M Tower Started Cracking. Here's Why!

Comments · 54

• MA

  @MadeFor-1 · 1 month ago · pinned

  The Austonian was built as Austin’s $200M luxury skyline icon — but a 6-foot piece of concrete later fell into the 10th-floor dog park, revealing a much bigger balcony problem.<br>Should developers be forced to fund independent engineering inspections before residents move in?<br>Let me know in the comments 👇

  2

• FL

  @floydbraido2426 · 1 month ago

  I&apos;m a structural engineer with a law degree. I&apos;ll provide forensic analysis of building failures. Buildings like this are my bread and butter.

  15

• YO

  @Yonchelle22 · 1 month ago

  Planes , buildings, homes, no one cares anymore! Social media has rotted everyone’s brain and focus!!

  7

• SH

  @shenmisheshou7002 · 1 month ago

  This was an issue with rebar in some balconies, and all of the repair work was completed in 2019. There have been no issues since then.

  2

• YO

  @Yonchelle22 · 1 month ago

  Yet we built these amazing in the past. We can’t do anything anymore

  7

• SO

  @SonnyScoccia · 1 month ago

  How much more did the owners end up having to pay for insurance?

  3

• RO

  @robertjensen1000 · 1 month ago

  I started building Homes in 1969. I was 9 years old. I learned from the men four times my age. As I grew older and graduated from High School I had many other manufacturing jobs. I moved to Austin in the 1980&apos;s and went back into construction residential and commercial. I became a working line foreman on many job sites. I would review the architect&apos;s plans and would point out physical flaws in the designs. Sometimes small, but significant, like the ones in this video. There were jobs I refused to participate in, due to Builders trying to cut costs in structural integrity, only to spend the money on Lavish things in the build that were for aesthetics only. The homes I built are still occupied. The High rise and commercial buildings, I was a crewman on &nbsp;are still being used today. I built the home I live in as well as the home my parents raised me in. &nbsp;From the Texas Hill Country with Love. &nbsp; ❤😎

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• AR

  @arribaficationwineho32 · 1 month ago (edited)

  So many new buildings are having the same issue around the country

• WI

  @wilsjane · 1 month ago

  As steel corrodes, it occupies 13 times the volume of the original steel. 50mm concrete cover is a minimum, but should nominally be designed at 75mm. This drastically increases the weight, but the only alternative is stainless steel. Commercial grade 600 steel is a good compromise. The most important thing is not to drill fixings into the steel, particularly near the edges of the slab. I imagine that this was the cause of the failure shown in this video. Core drilling for pipes and cables is also a major cause of reduced cover.

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• LR

  @lrx54 · 1 month ago

  I read the Romans used a special cement enriched with volcanic ash. &nbsp;This is why their structures have lasted thousands of years. &nbsp;Perhaps it’s time Americans can learn from them.

  3

• MA

  @marshallodom1388 · 4 weeks ago

  How long are skyscrapers designed to last? A few decades, centuries? What happens when water tables below ground are depleted after drainage tunnels +30 feet wide send all rain water miles away? Do residents keep Wingsuits handy near their balcony, just in case?

• TO

  @tomcartwright7134 · 1 month ago

  It is a smart fix to install anodes to the steel. Are they accessible? If not the anodes will sacrifice themselves in just a few years. And the rebar could continue to oxidize.