From the NY Post:Neighbors yesterday said they weren’t shocked when the third floor of a Queens home suddenly gave way and turned into a giant slide — sending as many as 100 teens attending a 13-year-old’s birthday party tumbling down.
Miraculously, no one died, and only one person was seriously hurt — the older sister of the birthday boy. She’s expected to be OK.
A spokeswoman for the city Department of Buildings — which ordered the entire house, in Arverne in the Rockaways, vacated yesterday — said there were 100 teens at the party. Other guests, however, insisted the number was much smaller.
The house was issued five violations in 2004, according to the department. The violations were issued for everything from not having the proper permits for construction to failure to fence off the work.
Neighbors said additions constructed at the site in 2004 and 2005 were poorly built.
3 comments:
100 people on a second story of a single family house? Where were the owners?
100 people, say an avg of 175# a person... thats 17,500#. Figure about 500 SqFt of occupied space on 3rd floor... thats 35 pounds per square foot. Now, thats just for the people. Also add in furniture and such non-fixed, and you are well over 40# a square foot.
Now, even if the addition was built to code perfectly, there still might have been a collapse, as wood frame residential construction is typically calculated for max 40# per sq. ft.
And I'm sure that there were no noise complaints received about this party either.
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