Courtyard Highjinks
OK, I have an enclosed courtyard shared by 4 buildings with boundaries running down the middle probably 6 ft across running about 100 ft. One building has braced a bulging brick wall against the building I manage with a bunch of 2x8s, clearly illegal. This brick wall is the back of a single story extension…
OK, I have an enclosed courtyard shared by 4 buildings with boundaries running down the middle probably 6 ft across running about 100 ft. One building has braced a bulging brick wall against the building I manage with a bunch of 2x8s, clearly illegal. This brick wall is the back of a single story extension with skylights that you often see in the back of stores in Soho. (Yes, it is in Soho)
Owners want to call in DOB and get a violation and force the removal. Yes they sent cert. letters etc. informing the owner with no response. My concern is the next building over. That brick wall looks like a shore line on the Amazon River. The lower part (about 4 ft up)of the outside brick course is gone! It’s probably been like that for years and yes it could collapse any minute or not. My concern is that once DOB sees that wall they will declare some kind of hazardous condition requiring immediate demolition with all the bells and whistles. I’ve dealt with forensic engineers from the City and they have vivid imaginations and the clout to do whatever they deem necessary to safeguard the public. Said wall is about 12 ft tall. My feeling is to remove the 2x8s, (I don’t think the bulge will bulge any further for the time being and ignore the rest until the proverbial tree falls in the woods, if you get my drift. What do you think?
FWIW, there’s a bulging brick building in Bushwick that’s is being supported by 2 x 4s out onto the sidewalk. At least it’s in no danger of collapse. The brace is very effective.
Like I said this morning, you want to take those boards out yourself, and that seems to be the only “advice” you’re willing to hear. So go ahead. Do it. But you’re crazy to not call your insurance company and talk it over with them before you do.
Yuk. The pix are fugly. I agree that you need to remove it, but I wouldn’t do so until you have an attorney tell them so in writing, and I would have the work reviewed by an engineer and perhaps even performed by someone with underpinning expertise. What a mess.
Addendum: All the steel legs are supporting AC platforms. All are unfiled.
agreed about responsibility. WE have no choice but to resolve the issue.
For your amusement. This is a distant shot. All AC units are ours and all straddle the property line (down the middle)
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/4271150205_a563085735_o.jpg
close up: our building is on the left of course.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/4271154169_16d473fda9_o.jpg
Echo bxgirl – It seems to me that by sending the letters, which acknowledge the presence of the braces, you have made yourself at least partially liable for the situation, whether you take them down or leave them up. Any unilateral course of action you take probably makes you more liable. I think it would be extremely short-sighted to do anything other than contact the DOB.
If the threat of calling in the City on what we perceive is a dangerous condition and the potential lawsuit of building illegally on our property is not enough to even generate at least an attempt at stonewalling the situation, I’m not sure what an insurance company can do to push it forward. Do we have a right to know who insures that building? Do they even have insurance?
I am not an engineer or architect but I believe the support is unnecessary at this time. It is snug against the 2 walls but not tight. It was probably put there for future prevention. Would anybody with expertise and a license guarantee the current situation as safe? I think not. The longer the support is there the more dangerous the removal of the wood becomes and the more complicit we are in the possible failure of that wall. That is why I fear the heavy hand of the DOB. The only tool they have is a legal sledgehammer and they have no reason to err on the side of economic caution.
You’ll m ost likely bear some responsibility in the eyes of the City for letting the situation continue or become more hazardous. The supports are on your property, and you are well aware of the situation. The fact that the building is owned by someone else won’t be much of an excuse to the city. And building/wall collapses are never nest and tidy. When and if that wall collapses, it will affect everything around it. You’ll bear responsibility because you did nothing about the situation other than sending a letter, or, by removing the supports, made the situation more dangerous. All the city has to know is that you sent the owner a letter- that proves you were aware of a dangerous situation. And the same applies for the othe wall you’re talking about too. In for a penny, in for a dollar.
Removing the support makes you less liable? I think it will make you more so- and if anyone is hurt in the collapse? I don’t think you want to be in that position.
I misread the post – thought owners already called DOB. Of course they should be called- that`s what they`re there for. Why should the owners put up with their own property being used to hold up a future disaster?