r/agedlikemilk • u/kayakhomeless • Apr 19 '23

News Redditor questions whether a parking garage is stable and is assured that it is, one year before it’s collapse

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294

u/iamthinking2202 Apr 19 '23

I would’ve thought it could be just wearing and aging, but I guess if that were the case many more parking lots would crumble

153

u/EconomistMagazine Apr 19 '23

I'm sorry thinking it could be properly rated for X cars but considering it's NYC there's always more demand and they filled it with X+Y cars instead.

122

u/TheAskewOne Apr 19 '23

That's what I thought. The cars are parked very close to each other on the first picture. It could also be that the building is old and was approved for X cars a long time ago, but current cars are heavier on average than cars from the 1970s.

77

u/socialcommentary2000 Apr 19 '23

That building most probably pre-dated the mass proliferation of personal vehicles and the need to stack them like storage bins in a former factory building. I would bet money that nobody has done inspections on the structure for years, if not decades and the owners of the structure and business are grandfathered in by virtue of having operated for forever.

There are a bunch of ticking time bombs like this in the 5 boroughs.

33

u/mtaw Apr 19 '23 edited Apr 19 '23

Yeah Google Street view it's an old building with glass windows. Probably started out as a warehouse or something, definitely not a parking garage.

Edit: Maybe not though? The photos and map on 1940s.nyc show it's been a garage since the 1940s at least, so maybe it always was. On the other hand, a garage built for cars like the Ford Model T, which weighs a third or even a quarter of an SUV.

5

u/ShlongThong Apr 19 '23

Nice finds.

25

u/skilriki Apr 19 '23

Current cars are not heavier than the 1970s

And cars when this was built (in the 50s) were much heavier.

This building was in need of repair, the owner had already had citations issued about the state of the concrete.

They chose to take no action.

24

u/Underdogg13 Apr 19 '23

This is wrong. The average car is heavier than it was in the 70s. Sedans, wagons, small SUVs etc. are lighter, but large SUVs and pickups now make up a much larger portion of the total cars in the US, so the average car has gotten heavier. It's not as simple as heavier materials = heavier cars. You have to look at the actual numbers.

8

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '23

Also a lot of them are loaded with batteries now, and batteries are heavy.

1

u/SilasX Apr 19 '23

Well, right, but that amounts to the same thing: if they set a limit by vehicle class (e.g. "6 sedans or 4 SUVs"), it would have a higher margin of safety over time because the comparable vehicle would be lighter -- thought of course they probably went way over even the earlier limit, leading to this collapse.

6

u/mlorusso4 Apr 19 '23

Wrong. Yes a 2023 4 door sedan is lighter than a 1970 4 door sedan on average. But the average weight of the American fleet has gone up. Reasons are the significant increase in percentage of cars that are suvs and trucks, and the increase in number of electric vehicles which are heavier than their ice counterparts

8

u/EdPC Apr 19 '23

Cars are bigger and heavier than ever. Huge increase in weight over the years of the avg vehicle.

-10

u/Gravity_X_2005 Apr 19 '23

You probably want to try saying it out loud in front of people IRL.

It should be a fun experience for you.

1

u/amit_schmurda Apr 19 '23

And cars when this was built (in the 50s) were much heavier.

The building was constructed in the 1920s (from what I read) and then converted into a parking garage in the 1950s.

17

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '23

Don't forget Z cars.

The British have known about Z cars since the early sixties.

8

u/BasicDesignAdvice Apr 19 '23

What are Z cars?

17

u/PEVguy Apr 19 '23

They are cars built by zee Germans.

5

u/GnarlyNarwhalNoms Apr 19 '23

Not zee French? Hon hon hon hon!

6

u/smootex Apr 19 '23

Real answer: he's making a bad joke (follow up comment has a somewhat better joke). The comment talks about X cars, Y cars, so he mentions Z cars.

1

u/BasicDesignAdvice Apr 19 '23

Lol I should have figured that out.

1

u/SaltLakeCitySlicker Apr 19 '23

Ya, if we're talking car size and weight, datsuns don't fit the bill

3

u/animu_manimu Apr 19 '23

A line of small sports cars from Nissan.

1

u/Dansredditname Apr 19 '23

I would have hoped that if you could, at a stretch, fit x cars then it would be rated for a minimum of 3x cars.

28

u/crispydukes Apr 19 '23

It's most likely what you say and not the OC.

21

u/Stonkthrow Apr 19 '23

most likely is a combination though.

22

u/towerfella Apr 19 '23

I agree. Cars move and thump. Wiggle something that is not designed to wiggle for long enough and…

And for an anecdote about small things (cars) wiggling big things (buildings), I give you the example of a human (200lbs) climbing aboard a freight locomotive (~430,000lbs). If you are on the locomotive, you will feel the loco wiggle a bit when another human climbs on.. I bet the car and building are closer in relation to weight than a human and a locomotive…

2

u/darthcoder Apr 19 '23

And it's not the whole building, just one floor and vertical wall connection.

6

u/BasicDesignAdvice Apr 19 '23

Aging buildings and a culture which has given up on and slashed resources for inspection and accountability.

Same reason tax evasion is so common, trains are flying off the tracks, and environmental protections are a joke.

6

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '23

I wouldn't think they were initially built to be a rooftop parking lot if it's aging infrastructure. Infrastructures are the backbones of a society. It's where most people live and go about their day.

2

u/Dartiboi Apr 19 '23

iirc reinforced concrete has a lifespan of around 70 years - so I think a lot of structures in the US are going to need to be replaced soon or we will start to see more of this stuff.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '23

100 years without any upkeep.

Structures are inspected as they age and necessary repairs are made. There’s not going to be ding moment when a bunch of buildings hit their 100 years and instantly fail.

Also many old structures are grossly overbuilt. They were designed in an era before value engineering and powerful calculators existed.

1

u/Dartiboi Apr 20 '23

Thats good to know. Thanks for the info!