A fourth-floor balcony fell off a Grand Forks, ND apartment complex in early June 2019, injuring five persons who were standing on the balcony when it collapsed. According to a news report in the Grand Forks Herald, investigators are unsure what caused the collapse, but other balconies at the complex will be off-limits while the investigation continues.
As Virginia Tech professor Frank Woeste notes in the article, the balconies at the complex have angled supports, a problematic design that places an outward thrust on fasteners that connect the deck to the building. The apartment complex is subject to annual inspections, according to city inspector Tom Franklin, who says that property management and owners have hired a private structural engineer to examine the building and determine what caused the collapse, and pointed out that rotten wood, structural failure and weight overload may have contributed to the accident. The balcony was only 18 inches deep.
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