In the Denton, TX balcony collapse at The Grove apartments, 3 men attending a birthday party received severe injuries when the apartment balcony rail they were leaning on collapsed underneath them. When the rail collapsed, they fell 3 stories to land on the concrete surface below. The metal balcony rail fell on top of at least one of the men and trapped him underneath. According to some reports, the men may actually still have been standing inside the apartment when the rail of the narrow balcony collapsed, taking them and the balcony with it when it fell to the ground.
Denton City Councilman Kevin Roden has come forward demanding more inspections of The Grove apartment complex to determine if the balcony collapse was an isolated incident or indicative of systemic problems at the site. The Grove apartments’ website bills the complex as “the place for fully loaded college living.” Apparently, that living does not extend to “fully loaded” balconies.
Some of the questions to answer in an examination of this balcony collapse accident include:
1. Were building permits properly obtained for apartment and balcony construction?
2. Did design and construction conform to standards of the Texas Building Code and any applicable municipal and county standards?
3. Did construction of the balconies follow the architect’s design instructions? (It’s not unknown for contractors to use nails instead of bolts or to otherwise change designs somewhat as they build a structure.)
4. Were the apartments and balconies properly inspected before students began moving in?
There are other unanswered questions as well. Apartment spokespersons maintain that the balconies were never intended to be weight bearing. Yet they had doors that freely opened out onto those balconies, and apparently invited one to use the structures. Did apartment personnel warn residents and guests not to actually use the balconies? The Texas Building Code requirement of live load 40 psf for balcony weight-bearing loads (even for minimal Juliet balconies) indicates that the balcony should have supported the weight load of 3 men leaning upon the rail. So what happened? Investigation results from the accident should give us some interesting answers about the Denton, TX balcony collapse at The Grove.