WTF Picture of the Day

No, it sounds exactly like something that a certain someone on this message board would write. It’s not a narrative but a bunch of bullet points that you, as the reader, are supposed to play connect the dots with in your head. A lot of times, it still doesn’t make a lick of sense when you try to connect everything together. At least there is no direct copy&paste from some other website here.

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That could be I suppose. Report filler. Not that the inspector would likely know, but the buyer and the owner of the attached home (it is a townhome) are the entire HOA, so the meetings have very few attendees, lol.



Can’t fix stupid

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whats with the shoes?

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My guess is that they are outside of a teenager’s bedroom so they can sneak out at night.

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lol I forgot to take those out of the picture. Those are my roof walking shoes. My normal shoes have no laces and I can slip out of them easily

Instagram

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Ha, Kid looks like he’s having a blast, but those electrical wires sure look a little too close for comfort.

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LOL! Ya, what’s about 3+ tons of water weight added to the balcony matter?

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All I see is a biggggg ol tub.

Shudder

(Remember people are essentially the density of water. It’s supposed to be OK to pack a balcony with people, so why not with water?)

That was my thought and cringe as well :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth: I estimated (hard to tell I know) around 600-700 gallons at 8 lbs/gallon, yikes! 700 gallons of water is around 38 people with an average weight of 150 lbs. I tried to imagine 38 people standing on that balcony :face_with_peeking_eye:

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I calculated based on 20’ x 20’ x 1" = 1 ton water or 400 sq ft @ 1" deep. Then took approx size of balcony water @ 15’ x 5’ = 75 sq ft x 18" deep = 1,350 sq ft /400 sq ft (20’ x 20’ x 1") =3.375 tons of water

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Ya! Thanks for your formula, I didn’t know that one. I was estimating 4.5’ x 15’ x 18" deep so we were close. I was having trouble (a little rusty) finding a good volume formula. I cheated and used a calculator and it gave me 673 gallons and I multiplied by 8.34 lbs/gallon = 5,613 lbs or 2.8 tons.

Edit: The online calculator pretty much matches what you came up with if I plug in your numbers :smiley:

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Furthering the conversation, this is a formula I’m going to commit to memory. I feel its a good visual image to keep in mind when looking at standing water on a flat roof. I personally would not have thought that I’d be looking at a ton of water or 250 gallons with those dims but it is correct. Puts things in a good visual perspective for me…thanks again Larry! :+1:

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You’re welcome. I committed that visual to memory back in the late 70s when I saw it in an inspection study book regarding flat roof weights to consider.

It has served me well and can be good for others too.

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Thats not a nice thing to say about a poor kid! :crazy_face:

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R301. 5 specifies a live load 40psf for Balconies (exterior) and decks. Or 16,000 lbs rated load for 20x20.
If the water is just 5,613 lbs then that’s a safety factor of nearly 3.

But oh, the balcony railings. Even assuming they’re to US code (does not look like the USA) they’d be the first worry.

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Balcony is not 20’ x 20’…

Balcony example estimated size that I used was: 15’ x 5’ = 75 sq ft x your 40 lbs per sq ft = 3,000 lbs

The water I calculated was 3.375 tons or 6750 lbs

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Ok, then recalculate:
If that was in the USA and residential the balcony would be rated at 40lbs per square foot.
One cubic inch of water weighs 0.036127 of a pound. One square foot of water one inch deep weighs 144 times this, or 5.202288 pounds.

So if I’ve got the numbers right 40 lbs/sf divided by 5.202288 lbs/sf says the first 7.688 inches of weight is within the rated vertical load. We could quibble if the pool is live load or dead load.