Luxor4u

I've not seen the hollow block construction used here, but the consequences of doing so would be quite clear later on. Strapping new steel onto existing steel is OK. as long as the original is long enough to make a secure tie. The main problem I've noted here is that they tend to use less steel in these vertical pillars than is required for structural integrity. This is for two reasons, saving money from day one to get an affordable job done, and to downsize due to the sudden month to month extremely high price increases of steel bar. Also they compromise by using a narrower steel gauge instead of what the job requires. I was here when they started to install the steel for my pillars, so upped the number of bars from ten per pillar to twelve, making certain that the correct gauge was used. I was just lucky that I happened to be here when they did this as I could of ended up with a lot less.

When my neighbour put the second story on a couple of years ago, they did tie in the new steel, but only used six thin gauge rods per pillar. The ''workforce'' doing the concreting was two old men, hand mixing the concrete on the floor. This is bad practice as each mix will have a different amount of sand, cement and stone. Also each mix that was tipped down the shuttering was to dry, so each layer would of dried and cured at different times, creating a sandwich affect. Once the shuttering was removed, the steel was exposed as they had placed it far to close to the sides and not at least 25 millimeters from any face. This will eventually begin to rust and burst away. Should be fun to watch over the coming years, and it will not affect my building.

I have a spirit level that I brought with me from the UK< Egyptians that have seen it are always amazed.

carrie wrote:I have a spirit level that I brought with me from the UK< Egyptians that have seen it are always amazed.

Not surprised Carrie, confuse them further by calling it the 'Horizontal Ghost' instead of Sprit Level

The humble spirit level, of various lengths, have been readily available here for as long as I've lived here. The only problem with them is they only work up or down hill. I have three in my man shed, just waiting to be used if I ever have the inclination of building a battering buttress plumb.

Mine was brought from the UK Dusak perhaps that's why the Egyptians were so amazed, it worked.
Why one may ask bring a Ghost level here because I can't stand pictures that are not correctly spaced and hung straight.

When using the 'Horizontal Ghost' you should always place it on a flat surface and note the position of the bubble scale, now pick it up and turn it through 180 degrees and place it down in the same spot and the bubble should be in the same place on the scale lines, if it is not, then your level is not level

Meanwhile in Alexandria...

On a serious note... quite a few posts on facebook of buildings leaning in Egypt, mainly in Alexandria, I wonder if the problem is in other parts of Egypt? Though I don't think I have seen high rise buildings anywhere else than Alexandria.

It's obvious that the glue has come unstuck near the bottom where it was stuck onto that other building.

I read earlier that they had already taken off the top 3 floors of the toppled building. I bet they are pausing scratching their heads and trying to work out how they are going to get the rest of it down without stopping the traffic underneath.

DJKeefy wrote:On a serious note... quite a few posts on facebook of buildings leaning in Egypt, mainly in Alexandria, I wonder if the problem is in other parts of Egypt? Though I don't think I have seen high rise buildings anywhere else than Alexandria.

There's a lot in Cairo of course...some of which have had disastrous collapses.

A few in Qena...still standing

Call me stupid, when I first saw the first picture, I said to myself, wow, that's ornate, just like the leaning tower of Pisa.

Leaning building in Alexandria partially demolished

Reports indicate that the building subsided after additional floors were illegally added to it, weakening its foundations
Ahram Online , Saturday 10 Jun 2017

Authorities have successfully removed two façades of Alexandria’s 13-storey apartment building that has tilted into another, paving the way for the complete demolition of the building, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
The demolition of the building, which is being done manually and gradually from top to bottom, is being conducted in coordination between Alexandria governorate, the engineering division of the North Military Region, the Arab Contractors Company and the Faculty of Engineering at Alexandria University.

Ali Morsi, head of the central district of Alexandria, said that the work has been ongoing for 24 hours and will end in the demolition of the building.

In the past two days, all belongings of the building’s residents were retrieved and delivered to owners.

After the building tilted more than one week ago it was evacuated, along with nearby buildings, with residents resettled in emergency housing.

Earlier, Alexandria Governor Mohamed Sultan said that reports showed the sharp forward tilt was caused by excessive height, that had weakened the building's foundations.

The building, in Azarita district in the coastal city of Alexandria, was initially granted a four-storey license, but an additional nine floors were illegally added without permission, the governor said.

Building collapses are commonplace in Egypt and are usually attributed to violations of building specifications, illegal extensions and lax oversight.

For photograph see: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent ... lishe.aspx