Berkeley balcony beams 'rotted'

A balcony that snapped off an apartment building in California and led to the deaths of six students was supported by wooden beams that had been badly rotted by water damage, according to inspectors.

Berkeley’s Building and Safety Division issued a summary today of initial findings from the investigation of the fatal balcony failure a week ago.

The inspectors noted that joists underlying the concrete balcony were extensively rotted at the place where the structure broke off, flinging 13 young adults five floors down to the street.

The inspectors did not specifically say the rotten beams caused the collapse.

But they are calling for more frequent inspections and several changes in the local building code to prevent balconies from being exposed to moisture.

The authors of the report have recommended the city adopt new building regulations requiring improved waterproofing and venting of balcony structures.

Director of the city’s planning and development department is Eric Angstadt: "What our observations were is that there was severe deterioration of the wooden structural members.

"The most likely cause of that deterioration was dry rot and the most likely contributor to dry rot is moisture infiltration. So we don’t know, and we are not going to know or determine how the moisture got into the assembly.

"What we are going to do is make a set of recommendations that will hopefully deal with any form of moisture infiltration in the future."