Any builders / engineers on the forum? Is this steel pergola safe?

[Smart320]

I don't think anyone puts anything through the books, anywhere in Greece,

I've heard stories of Brain Surgeons declaring earnings of €10k per anumn.

Probably the correct amount , if they are as efficient as the average Greek worker and only get paid by the client after the job is completed successfully

 

[GDAWG10]

I posted on an ex-pats in Cyprus forum the other day and this seems like quite a good reply.


"I would suspect that only the top left rawlbolt is correctly seated, the job looks like the donkey walloper drilled that first then bolted the steelwork to hang it on one fixing, whilst he drilled the last 3 holes into the reinforced concrete pillar; using the steel plate to set the hole centres. The impact drill was probably too big to get close to the beam so he just pushed the hole at the best near enough angle.

Best practise, the hole centres should have been set out using a steel matched template, first hole per specification, bolt on the plate align and complete the other 3 guided by the template.

He may also have hit the vertical reinforcing bars inside the concrete which would have pushed the drill offline and the holes may be oversize so the rawl bolts have failed to grip in the oversize cavity, hence the long excess threaded shank.

Of course he may just have come up against the rebar and called that good enough.

If the bottom left nut is slackened off 2 to 3 cms the raw bolt will become loose and can be driven into the hole. the plug will remain jammed against the mounting plate. If it does not budge under persuasion by a lump hammer I would guess the drilling is too shallow because the rebar was contacted, the one above went in fine because at 90 deg it missed the rebar.

Vertical rebars can be 2 to 3 cm in diameter and they will smash up a tipped drill bit in seconds. If the construction of the pillars was iffy, the vertical bars may be only be vaguely accurate to specification, I have seen critical structural bars placed less than 2 cm from the surface, where they are subjected to external corrosion and blow the concrete off the surface after a few years.

 

[Darrell]

I posted on an ex-pats in Cyprus forum the other day and this seems like quite a good reply.


"I would suspect that only the top left rawlbolt is correctly seated, the job looks like the donkey walloper drilled that first then bolted the steelwork to hang it on one fixing, whilst he drilled the last 3 holes into the reinforced concrete pillar; using the steel plate to set the hole centres. The impact drill was probably too big to get close to the beam so he just pushed the hole at the best near enough angle.

Best practise, the hole centres should have been set out using a steel matched template, first hole per specification, bolt on the plate align and complete the other 3 guided by the template.

He may also have hit the vertical reinforcing bars inside the concrete which would have pushed the drill offline and the holes may be oversize so the rawl bolts have failed to grip in the oversize cavity, hence the long excess threaded shank.

Of course he may just have come up against the rebar and called that good enough.

If the bottom left nut is slackened off 2 to 3 cms the raw bolt will become loose and can be driven into the hole. the plug will remain jammed against the mounting plate. If it does not budge under persuasion by a lump hammer I would guess the drilling is too shallow because the rebar was contacted, the one above went in fine because at 90 deg it missed the rebar.

Vertical rebars can be 2 to 3 cm in diameter and they will smash up a tipped drill bit in seconds. If the construction of the pillars was iffy, the vertical bars may be only be vaguely accurate to specification, I have seen critical structural bars placed less than 2 cm from the surface, where they are subjected to external corrosion and blow the concrete off the surface after a few years.

Pretty much what has been said here.

I’d be very wary about taking advice though from anybody who describes a tool as a lump hammer.

 

[GDAWG10]

Pretty much what has been said here.

I’d be very wary about taking advice though from anybody who describes a tool as a lump hammer.

Yeah the only thing though, is he suggests trying to get the bolts right....but from what's being said here that might be a difficult job.

You reckon it's worth getting a second opinion? Getting a structural/civil engineer out?

I had a thought last night. If the developers want to sent such casual texts like " it's fine, it's solid, nothing to worry about" , I should get them to put it in writing so if the whole thing comes down, they'll be responsible. I might actually push them to get the original designer/engineer round to assess it. The thing is, if anyone comes and says "yeah, it's fine, no problem", then they are obviously talking out their backside because that's not good workmanship. I'd rather they say "it's a shit job, but we can't go back in time and fix is, so your options are a) put two beams beneath them b) etc.... c) etc....

I can't believe, well I can, that she actually suggested waiting until we see the bolts coming away from the wall or the wall cracking around the beam to get in contact with them.

Let's see.