Another Deck Falls off Another Home, Hospitalizing 14 in Tinley Park | DENENA | POINTS

Another Deck Falls off Another Home, Hospitalizing 14 in Tinley Park

Saturday night just after 9, a deck broke away from a home during a birthday party on Beverly Avenue in the Tinley Park suburb of Chicago. Between 30 and 35 people were standing on the deck at the time. Our deck collapse injury attorneys note that when the deck pulled away from where it had been attached to the house, it tilted towards the home, dumping people to the ground below. A neighbor indicated that the Tinley Park deck collapse resulted in some chaos, with “a lot of screaming” and bleeding injuries.

14 people were hospitalized after the Tinley Park deck collapse, one with very serious injuries, but according to fire rescue spokesmen, no one became entrapped in the debris and none of the injuries were life threatening. (Sources: Andrea Darlas, Chicago Tribune; and WGN TV, 7/28/13) The good wishes of our deck collapse injury attorneys go out to the victims of this unfortunate accident, hoping that they all recovery swiftly and completely from their injuries.

This has been a Summer of One Major Deck Collapse after Another

It seems to our deck collapse injury attorneys as if this summer’s news has reported one major deck collapse after another. Early summer heralded the spate of deck collapses with the report of a deck collapse at Shuckers sports bar near Miami that dumped over 100 people into Biscayne Bay. That should have been a wake-up call to everyone to get their decks thoroughly inspected and repaired or replaced, if necessary.

A deck most often fails at the point where it connects to the house or main structure, as apparently occurred in the Tinley Park deck collapse. Weak connections that aren’t adequately anchored in are often to blame. A surprising number of builders use nails, rather than bolts, to connect a deck to the main building, which is a recipe for disaster. Sometimes inadequate flashing (a layer of material protecting the connection from water damage) allows moisture to seep into a structure and rot to set in. Sometimes wood rots and hardware corrodes. Or inadequate supports allow load stress to gradually pull connections loose until the deck finally falls.

Whatever the actual causes(s), our deck collapse injury attorneys emphasize that serious, incapacitating, and fatal injuries could result. Often, as with the Tinley Park deck collapse, the cause of the deck failure is difficult to pinpoint and can take a thorough investigation by qualified experts to determine. At other times, such as where nails connect a deck to a home, the cause is clear.

Learn to Keep Your Deck in Safe Condition; Download our Free Report

Sudden deck collapses are preventable with reasonable care. Download our FREE deck safety report to learn tips on building, inspecting, and maintaining a safe deck. And if you have specific questions or concerns, feel free to use our website’s search feature to look for answers in the extensive amount of informative material in the area of our site devoted to deck and balcony collapse issues.

If you or your loved ones have been harmed by a sudden deck collapse injury, don’t hesitate to contact our deck collapse injury attorneys for a free, no obligation, initial legal consultation to discuss your specific accident and evaluate your eligibility for a full financial recovery from your needless injuries. We have more than 12 years of experience successfully guiding clients to fair financial recoveries in complex cases including serious deck and balcony collapse accidents. Chad Points and Tony Denena could help you too. Call us direct at 281-369-4363 or fill out our online contact form to obtain your free initial legal consultation.