Toronto Casa | 147.52m | 46s | Cresford | a—A

Yeah, we got a memo this week that they are going back in to inspect all the balconies again. They did this earlier in the year as well. Not sure why the glass is giving them such a problem. I suspect it's the high winds we've had though you've gotta believe the galss was tested for this.

They've told us to stay off our balconies until any enhancements are done, but i still pop out there to sip on by coconut water after a good run so i can check out the candy cane CN tower off in the distance!
 
PB1 said:
Hot off the presses- here's a pic of he scaffolding they put up last night. Does anyone know who pays for this?
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This is crazy all these falling panels from glass balconies. I would presume the developer would pay for it then there would likely be legal avenues for them to pursue with the contractor. What a shame.
 
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dt_toronto_geek said:
This is crazy all these falling panels from glass balconies. I would presume the developer would pay for it then there would likely be legal avenues for them to pursue with the contractor. What a shame.
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The vendor is resposible and in all likelyhood they'll be going after the designers and installers. All of the construction design drawings would have been stamped and approved by an engineer and then approved by the City of Toronto. So this is either a design failure or an installation issue - whomever the fault lies with will almost certainly be covering all damages and all repairs.
 
Had a Christmas party in the 5th floor party room on the weekend. Room rental was $50 plus $5 for the music. Very nice space and no complaints, except I found it odd they would have ceiling mounted cameras in there. I mentioned the breaking glass thing to the guard and he said about 3 panels had failed, including one from near the top of the building. No one got hurt but small pieces of glass managed to land on a surprising number of balconies. He said they were checking all balconies and also applying some caulking in strategic spots.
 
Yeah...they are going around to all the units and adding a Silicon sealant to the base on both sides of the bottom of each glass panel where in joints the metal frame. Actually there is a gap there now, which was allowing the wind in causing the glass to vibrate and eventually shatter. The guy told me this Silicon is like cement when it drys. He said you wouldn't be able to pull the glass away once it dries. Anyway, they did my unit this weekend and it took about 10 minutes, so this won't take them long to get thru all the units. I don't know why the sealant wasn't on there to begin with.
 
cdr108 said:
have they determined if it's a glass quality issue, or labour issue caused by improper installation?
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Without knowing for sure, it seems to me to be a case of harmonic vibration - that in panels of a specific size a naturally self sustaining vibration could be started by the wind, and continue to the point where the glass shatters. Other examples of structural failures induced by harmonic vibrations include the Tacoma Narrows bridge, in 1940 (videos of which are available on Youtube), the two Lockheed Electra crashes in which a wing separated from the air frame (which resulting in the temporary grounding of the plane, referenced in the scene with the grounded aircraft in the film The Aviator).

Engineers on the site - any comment?

AHK
 
I think you're getting a little too abstract about it. The problem is that they went cheap with the glass and just used tempered. In that sort of application you'd really be wiser to use laminated, with the outboard pane being tempered (so that you have the strength of the tempered on the outside, but having it laminated as well to prevent blowouts). I haven't been up on the balconies, but I'm assuming they also went cheap on the thickness, probably using 1/4" instead of something heavier (actually, are there any forumers in Casa that can go out on the balcony and check?).

As for the particular cause of the blowouts, it could be anything, really. It looks like they've installed the glass so that the edges are exposed, and tempered is incredibly unforgiving around the edges. It could be as simple as debris falling from balconies above and hitting the exposed side. It might be wind, but then if the wind is breaking the tempered clearly they've used too light a thickness. Could be bad installation, or bad setting blocks, or insufficient clearance for expansion/contraction, but really if they'd gone with the lammy none of it would really matter.
 
cdr108 said:
have they determined if it's a glass quality issue, or labour issue caused by improper installation?
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During the balcony inspection after that incident, they found 2 missing screws at my friend's balcony (not sure how many other missing screws found on others balconies). Which means, the person who installed the glasses on the balcony did a very sloppy job.
 
On my friends balcony I noticed that some of the screws were lose. I actually counted 4. Who's fault is this, and how were these not inpected prior to occupancy.

Doesn't look good for Cresford's already questionable reputation.
 
drewp said:
On my friends balcony I noticed that some of the screws were lose. I actually counted 4. Who's fault is this, and how were these not inpected prior to occupancy.

Doesn't look good for Cresford's already questionable reputation.
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It's the fault of whatever contractor did the installation, not Cresford's, to be fair.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
It's the fault of whatever contractor did the installation, not Cresford's, to be fair.
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perhaps, but who's name is on the building ... Cresford.
i wouldn't be surprised if they have used the same contractors for their other projects, which also had a number of issues.

in any organization, it comes from the top
 
Yikes- remind me not to walk by this building anytime soon! Architecturally its a terrific looking building, but the developers should definitely reconsider the contractors they use.
 
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