Our Galveston, TX personal injury attorneys have found that several factors can play a part in any given balcony collapse. Your balcony collapse or deck collapse could be caused by just a single one of these factors, or by a combination of several of them. The factors that might cause your Galveston, TX balcony collapse or deck collapse include:

1. Design flaws,
2. Construction errors or poor construction,
3. A weakened condition from age of the structure,
4. Foundations failing or subsiding,
5. Heavy loads on the balcony or deck (like a large number of people or objects),
6. Tension and compression stress failures, or
7. A combination of these factors.

In coastal Galveston, TX, a couple of conditions compound our structural woes that Texans further inland don’t have to consider. Sea salt in the water and on the winds causes a constant corrosion of metals, wood and other materials. The effects of the corrosion build over time. So structures that initially were very sound might become dangerously weakened over time. Many of our balconies, decks and fences consist of wood. While these are treated woods, under Galveston, TX conditions, they all have a limited lifespan.

Additionally, Galveston isn’t a true island. It’s really just a big, old sandbar made of compacted layers of sand, sargassum weed, shells and (more recently) shipwreck and hurricane debris. Sands shift. So foundations built on sands shift. Storm winds and waters can either deposit or take away vast amounts of sand. So foundations will crack or sink, and stilts can be pushed aside. A Galveston, TX balcony collapse becomes much more likely as the structure ages even where design and construction flaws aren’t present.

Our big hurricane a few years ago took away the entire deck of a friend’s beach house, but left the house itself intact. The house supports were concrete and steel, well anchored into bedrock. The deck, which had wrapped the entire house, was wood and set on wooden supports that did not approach bedrock. But even though the house was intact and suffered almost no damage, the beach on which it was set had eroded to within just a few feet of the front door, placing the entire structure and its neighbors in danger of condemnation. Their Galveston, TX deck collapse turned out to be the least of their worries.

If you have been injured in a Galveston, TX balcony collapse, you may be able to obtain financial compensation to help pay the expenses of your injuries. If design, construction or maintenance flaws caused the balcony or deck collapse, you might have a good legal case against the negligent parties behind those flaws. If you have questions about your balcony collapse, please give us a call for your free consultation.

Our Board Certified Galveston, TX personal injury attorneys have extensive experience handling balcony collapse cases for injured victims of these debilitating accidents. Chad Points and Tony Denena could review your balcony collapse accident to help you determine the causes and who is responsible. Then Chad and Tony could take your claim every step of the way to successful recovery of just compensation for your injuries. Call now.