In early 2010, a severe snow storm occurred in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that exceeded the design snow load in some portions of the region. The snows resulted in a range of distress in buildings from ceiling distress in some long-span structures to collapse other structures. TSA was retained to investigate damage to numerous buildings from this storm. One example was a boat storage facility.
Since no drawings were available, TSA performed a field verification of existing dimensions, measured member sizes, and performed a 3-D computer analysis of the structure to determine the probable cause of failure. It was determined that the building structure was dangerously under designed.
