After a storm passed through the Sacramento area, the owner of this commercial property reported the building’s central roof had collapsed. Aqua Workz was a retail business selling aquariums and fish. Degenkolb was hired as an independent third party expert by the insurance carrier to determine the cause of the roof collapse. We conducted an extensive investigation involving the detailed inspection of the building’s open web roof trusses with tubular steel diagonals and wood chords. Degenkolb concluded the primary cause for the open web roof truss failure was due to long-term condensation moisture exposure damage to the trusses’ top wood chords. Degenkolb was also hired to prepare temporary shoring details for the demolition phase and to develop repair construction documents.

Investigator Steve Moore wrote a detailed article about this building and his investigation on our blog. It can be read here.