In June 2012, a section of the Algo Mall in Elliot Lake, Ontario, collapsed. Two lives were lost in the collapse, which resulted in an inquest that ultimately blamed the tragedy on human failure. At the core of the problems, it seems, was an unwillingness to spend money to properly repair the structure and building envelope of the mall as well as a general feeling of apathy from the engineers, architects, and owners of the property – who could have recognized that a catastrophe was in the making unless the problems were fixed. The inquest report, released just over a year ago, is certain to change the industry, especially with respect to the performance of property condition assessments and structural engineers performing them.

The Elliot Lake collapse spent years in the news, and will have far-reaching consequences.  For me, however, there is a similar problem brewing in the Toronto area, with the potential to claim even more lives, and at the cost of people’s homes. The collapse of Toronto houses.

Earlier this week, I read the story of 77 Corley Avenue. As reported by CBC (link) and the Beach Mirror (link), the semi-detached house was under renovation when a very large crack appeared running up the side of the home. The workers were able to escape without injury and neighbouring houses were evacuated, including the attached semi. From photos taken of the site, it appears that the house, a typical example of an older home in the Beach, was almost certainly having its foundations underpinned to lower the basement floor and gain headroom in the basement.

Underpinning is a tricky procedure. Without getting into the details, underpinning involves digging under the existing foundations of a home to install new foundations underneath them. This is a difficult procedure, of course, because the entire weight of the house rests on the foundations and on the earth beneath them, and there is no way to relieve the pressure while the work is being done. So underpinners must remove the very earth that is supporting the home before new foundations can be installed. The only way that this can be safely done is to ensure that only very small sections of the supporting earth are removed at any one time, and to be sure that the earth that remains in place is capable of supporting the home. There are lots of things that can go wrong. It appears that in the case of 77 Corley Avenue, the foundations settled suddenly during this process.

Fortunately, as I mentioned, the workers were all able to get out. This is not always the case, however.

On September 9, 2014, four workers were renovating 245 Brookdale Avenue (link) in Toronto. This was another project involving underpinning. Suddenly, the foundations gave way and the house collapsed in what was described as a “pancake collapse.”  Two of the workers were injured. One was killed. He was only 19 years old.

On June 27, 2012, the home at 63 Maria Street (link) in Toronto was also being underpinned when the foundation failed and the house started to tip over. The movement continued until one side of the house was one foot lower than the other side. The movement stopped only when the house was within about one inch of the neighbour’s wall. The house was so unstable that the homeowner was not permitted to enter to collect any personal belongings before the home was demolished two days later, as shown in this video (link).

On April 16, 2014, a Toronto building inspector visited 290 Roxton Road (link) for an inspection of the semi-detached home. which was being underpinned. The building inspector issued a “stop work” order because the house was deemed to be unstable. Hours later, the back of the home collapsed. The attached home was evacuated, but fortunately, nobody was injured.

This is not just a Toronto issue. On February 22, 2012, a Mississauga home located at 3447 Cawthra Road (link) collapsed suddenly. The 1940s-era home was being underpinned.

Mark Twain advised, “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” In the modern Toronto real estate market, one might rephrase that quote to read, “The reason that land is expensive is that they’re not making it anymore.” With a growing population and an aging stock of housing, it is natural to expect people to feel the need to create more living space inside older homes, especially when the cost of buying a new, larger home has become prohibitive for many. A finished basement is a common way of getting that extra space, either to use it, or to resell it in Toronto’s pricey real estate market. But to get the height that you need to use the basement in an older home, you very often have to lower the basement, which means underpinning. The problem is that it needs to be done right to be safe. And doing it right takes experience and costs money. And when that money is being spent on something that won’t be seen, it can be tough for many people to justify the cost.

Structural modifications to a home need to be taken seriously, and often aren’t. Just like the owners of the Algo Centre in Elliot Lake, many homeowners are tempted to take the less expensive route. I offer the following as a typical example. I received a phone call a few months ago from a woman who had just taken possession of a home that she and her husband had purchased. They were doing some renovations in the home and had already removed one column from the first floor of this two-storey home, and they planned to remove more. Without a permit. And without any professional advice. A friend had suggested to them that this might be unwise and that they should get an opinion from a structural engineer, which is why she called me. I quoted her my fee to advise here on the removal of the columns, which she found too expensive. I quoted her my fee to come and just look at the area where the one column had been removed, and she found that expensive. When I asked her the closest intersection to the house, I learned that the home was walking distance from my office, and told her that I could do a very quick inspection to determine if there were any safety concerns related to the removal of the column. This fee was $250, which is significantly lower than my normal minimum fee for any inspection or structural evaluation, but I was willing to do it because of the proximity of the home to my office, the simplicity of the scope of the issue, I had some time to spare that afternoon, and the fact that I really wanted them to have the situation evaluated. She told me that she would have to check with her husband and call me back. She never did. I hope that they did find professional advice, but I suspect that they simply found $250 too expensive for professional advice relating to removing possibly load-bearing columns from their home.

When considering structural modifications to their homes, the onus should be on the homeowner to do their due diligence with respect to the work that is going to be done, and that includes paying experienced, professional consultants and contractors to ensure that the work is being done safely and properly. The five examples of underpinning failures above represent millions of dollars in losses in addition to the loss of life. When compared with the Elliot Lake disaster, the individual collapses may soon add up to the same order of magnitude in terms of both cost and life.  Given current real estate trends, if something is not done to change attitudes, we might expect the problem to get worse before it gets better. Let’s hope lessons are learned before another life is lost.