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To: John Carragher who wrote (359207)	4/13/2010 6:14:24 AM
From: average joe	Respond to of 793964

Don't blame the construction crews, they're unionized and know nothing, or can't speak English.

To: John Carragher who wrote (359207)	4/13/2010 7:48:24 AM
From: alanrs	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793964

Not necessarily. The type of construction they are apparently describing is called post tensioning. Steel cables (in greasy plastic sheaths) with 'shoes' on each end are rolled out with the rebar. After the concrete is poured, but before it fully cures, those cables are stretched and locked in place, compressing the concrete. Concrete is strong in compression but weak in tension. By compressing it in this manner it can be used in applications that involve tension, such as floors, which I'm reasonably sure is the case here. If the ends were not properly sealed and water was rusting out the locks (actually a couple of steel wedges at the cable/shoe interface) the cables could slip, releasing the compression on the slab. I'm a little surprised that water would get to this area once the skin is on, but it is Seattle. The crew that tensions the cables is often different from the crew that cuts the excess cable which is often different from the crew who would 'paint' the ends which is always different from the crew who would fill in the pocket with grout. Obviously, something fell through the cracks, but it need not have been nefarious. ARS

To: John Carragher who wrote (359207)	4/13/2010 3:21:40 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 793964

Some questions regarding the Seattle Millions of Dollars Building Boondoggle: Keeping this in mind, some questions arise here, but also for all the other projects that have been done by this company all over the US….was this a "one-of-a-kind accident" or have there been others ???? From the article: Carpenter's Tower sued the contractor, Bellevue's McCarthy Building Companies, and the Seattle-based Hewitt Architects, in 2007, alleging negligence and failure to adhere to industry standards. McCarthy, a subsidiary of a Missouri company, in turn sued dozens of subcontractors. The court file contains thousands of pages of documents, and is scheduled for trial in September in King County Superior Court. Another note: Duryee, Tricia, "St. Louis-Based Builder to Close Offices in Portland, Ore., Bellevue, Wash.," Seattle Times, December 1, 2001. mccarthy.com The Corp website didn't have any offices mentioned in Seattle. Was curious, so found this….SDL at one time was a local, and well known and thought of, construction company. Eventually Swanson and Dean split the partnership. Here's some of the rest of the story as far as McCarthy and SDL is concerned… Snip >>>>>>>>>By this time the company's out-of-state offices included several full-service divisions which themselves were growing into leading building companies in their states. These included McCarthy's Phoenix, Seattle, Dallas, and Irvine, California, locations. In 1991 the company bought SDL, a Bellevue, Washington, contracting firm which was later named SDL McCarthy. The late 1980s and early 1990s also saw McCarthy's areas of expertise growing again to include semiconductor, bio-pharmaceutical, educational, research and development, and general manufacturing construction projects. During this period the company merged its healthcare, parking, and bridge divisions with the full-service regional offices. Noteworthy projects of the era included the $24 million Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, and the David Axelrod Laboratory, a $45 million research facility in Albany, New York. Another change of leadership took place in 1995 when Roger Burnet retired and Michael D. Hurst was named president and chief operating officer. Hurst had worked for McCarthy for 24 years. In the late 1990s the company also began looking at other areas of building to develop specializations in. A study of current trends revealed that the demand for construction of kindergarten through 12th grade schools was almost triple the size of the healthcare market. In 1999 McCarthy executives decided to form a new division, the Educational Services Group, to seek work in this area. Initially accounting for only about 2 percent of McCarthy's revenues, the company projected that K-12 projects could reach one-fifth to one-quarter of its business in less than a decade. <<<<<< Snip fundinguniverse.com encyclopedia.com Then there was a large fire in Bellevue McCarthy's building… KLP Question: Why were there no fire sprinklers in the building? And did anyone ever determine the cause of the fire? Were the papers relating to the building in Seattle now to be torn down in that Bellevue McCarthy building???? Article dated May 21, 2009… q13fox.com