Collapsed Florida Condo Showed Damage 25 Years Ago

(CN) — A history of repairs at Champlain Towers South has come into deeper focus, showing that deterioration of structural elements in the condominium appeared more than 20 years before the building collapsed.

Ninety-six victims of the collapse have been confirmed dead, and several more remain unaccounted for in the third week of the recovery effort.

The number of people recorded as missing has decreased in recent days as detectives audit their list of residents and visitors believed to have been at the site when the building came down. No survivors have been recovered from the debris field since the morning of the collapse.

With the death toll still climbing, the tragedy in Surfside, Florida, has proven to be one of the deadliest building failures in United States history.

Though the investigation is in the early stage, a deteriorated slab and other dilapidated concrete elements around the Champlain Towers South pool deck and garage have emerged as prime suspects in the collapse.

Completed by engineering firm Morabito Consultants, a 2018 inspection report found that failed waterproofing had led to "major structural damage to the concrete structural slab," and that the deterioration would "expand exponentially" if not repaired. The firm blamed the deterioration on an alleged error in drainage design during the construction of the building dating back to 1981.

The 2018 report was issued in preparation for the building's 40-year-recertification, which was required under Miami-Dade County regulations.

Slated for this year, the recertification project involved a top-to-bottom restoration of the building. Roofing work was already underway at the condominium, but structural repairs had not yet begun before the building suddenly crumbled to the ground in the early morning hours of June 24.

Construction permit documents obtained by the Miami Herald are now showing that there was concrete deterioration as far back as the mid-1990s in the areas later pinpointed by Morabito Consultants. The documents describe Western Waterproofing Company of America's "concrete structural repair" project in the garage, which was situated underneath the pool deck, the Herald reported.

Waterproofing issues, concrete spalling and cracks were addressed during the project, whose permit was issued in 1996.

“This type of repair entails removing loose concrete overhead, treating steel rebar with rust inhibitive coating and patching back with repair mortar. Also included in the garage will be urethane foam injection in ceiling cracks,” the construction documents read.

Morabito Consultants noted in 2018 that past restoration attempts in the garage were inadequate, and that concrete damage was worsening considerably. The firm did not specify whether it was referring to the 1996 repairs, however.

"[Morabito Consulants'] visual observations revealed that many of the previous garage concrete repairs are failing, resulting in additional concrete cracking, spalling and leaching of calcium carbonate deposits. At the underside of Entrance/Pool deck where the slab had been epoxy-injected, new cracks were radiating from the originally repaired cracks," the firm wrote.

Given the state of the structural slab and the drainage defects at play, Morabito Consultants called for millions of dollars worth of remediation to ensure the building's safety. A massive project, which involved removal of paving and a large concrete topping slab, would be required to complete the necessary waterproofing reinstallation under the pool deck, the firm suggested.

The 2018 estimated pricetag was $3.8 million to properly repair the areas where structural safety concerns were present.

The overall cost of the building's 40-year certification -- which included electrical upgrades and pricey balcony repairs, among other items -- ballooned considerably between 2018 and the initiation of construction this year.

The condo board for Champlain Towers South funded the construction with a $15 million special assessment to be paid by unit owners over time.

The board reached out to residents in April, updating them on the recertification while noting that concrete deterioration underneath the pool deck had worsened considerably since the 2018 inspection.

Investigators and engineers onsite have not yet released a statement identifying a cause of the collapse. Beyond the structural defects cited in the Morabito Consultants report, foundation problems and nearby high-rise construction have been suggested as possible contributors to instability of Champlain Towers South's structure.

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