The tilting on San Francisco's Millennium Tower is causing a plumbing problem

[Demovictory9]

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/millennium-tower-sinking-plumbing-san-francisco-16485349.php

The tilting on San Francisco's Millennium Tower is causing a plumbing problem

A new problem may be bubbling up for residents of the lurching Millennium Tower in downtown San Francisco.


The building's tilt — now about 22 inches to the west due to the northwest corner sinking about 18 inches — may be causing lateral sewage pipes to not drain correctly and has already resulted in “some plugging” on the third floor, according to a letter from the chief engineer to the city, obtained by NBC News.



A separate San Francisco Department of Building Inspection report filed Aug. 27, obtained by SFGATE, saw "evidence of water intrusion through the basement walls of the subterranean levels and signs of past settlement," from the tower's earlier sinking.


"The team identified several areas in which seals on building drains exiting the building appeared to be leaking ground water from outside the building to the inside," the report reads. The team also observed "water seepage from the basement wall into the sewage ejector room."

The letter states that the inspectors "did not find any observable variation" from their previous inspection in March.


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Chief engineer Ronald Hamburger added, “there are not current effects that compromise either building safety or habitability. As settlement and tilting has now returned to pre-construction levels, we do not anticipate any will occur.”

[Wounded Bear]

1. Well that can't be good...

[jimfields33]

11. Yieks and everyone thought Florida was bad.

[SunSeeker]

2. What a nightmare. They should just condemn that building and tear it down. nt

[JohnSJ]

4. Exactly

[Tetrachloride]

6. Residents will move out. No rent. Lawsuits. Condemnation. Wailing.

San Francisco should give them a deadline of say: Jan 31.

[Mr.Bill]

14. They are condos that are owned.

I suppose some owners have rented them out, though. You couldn't pay me to live there.

[Blue Owl]

3. Pretty soon the US will have its own Leaning Tower of Pisa!

[abqtommy]

5. What I'm hearing is that we'll just let it go until it all falls down. Haven't we seen

this before? Yes, yes we have.

[marble falls]

7. Crazy. what happens when developers are allowed to write zoning and code for unsuitible sites.

[BlueJac]

8. Evacuate before it is to late!

[fescuerescue]

9. That's something you would expect to see in Florida

Not San Francisco.

[randr]

10. They need to demo this building asap

[Demovictory9]

15. They have already committed to fixing it. Attaching it to bedrock is well under way

[randr]

17. Is the plan to jack it back to plumb?

I can see how they might be able to attach it to bedrock. It is the elevating that could create more stress.

[Demovictory9]

18. I dont think so

[Archae]

12. I actually saw this building on Thursday...

On my trip to CA.

It does look a little cockeyed.

Otherwise it looks like most of the rest of the buildings around it.

[electric_blue68]

13. Uh, Oh! Now, when the The Twin Towers were buffeted by high winds...

.... but they never tilted... I worked on the 73rd flr of Tower 2 (South).

I was told in high winds you could see your coffee or tea very slowly slosh back, and forth. I, however, never had coffee, or tea so I never saw that!

On those days, though, I could hear the plumbing
creaking in the women's bathroom. Gah! 😯


I guess they better demolish this building sooner than later! 😮

[haele]

16. Cheaped out when it came to driving in their piles.

Other skyscrapers along Mission have their pilings down 200 ft. to get to bedrock. The waterfront area is notorious for being fill and mud to as much as 80 ft. down in some places.

Complaints are that the Millennial Tower only went down to the hardened sandstone layer above the bedrock -60 to maybe 120 ft. Within earthquake standards for 2005 for that height of building, but still a bit weak.
There were some slight signs of foundation slipping as far back as 2011. This is just "meeting the minimum standards" to get the building approved and up as quickly as possible.

Haele

[hunter]

19. That can be fixed...