The tilting on San Francisco’s Millennium Tower is inflicting a plumbing drawback
A new problem could emerge for residents of the tumbling Millennium Tower in downtown San Francisco.
The slope of the building – now about 22 inches to the west as the northwest corner drops about 18 inches – can cause side sewer pipes to not drain properly and, according to a letter from. Already led to “some blockages” on the third floor, the city’s chief engineer, received from NBC News.
A separate report from the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, filed Aug. 27 and received by SFGATE, saw “evidence of water entering through the basement walls of the underground levels and signs of previous settlement” from the tower’s earlier sinking .
“The team identified several areas where seals on building drains exiting the building are causing groundwater to seep in from the outside of the building,” the report said. The team also observed “water seeping from the basement wall into the wastewater ejector room”.
The letter stated that the inspectors found “no observable discrepancies” from their previous inspection in March.
Doug Elmets, spokesman for the Millennium Tower homeowners association, told SFGATE that the document “clearly states that DBI has not seen any changes to the plumbing since its last inspection in March 2021.
Chief Engineer Ronald Hamburger added: “There are currently no impacts that do not affect building security or habitability. Since subsidence and inclinations have now returned to the pre-construction level, we assume that none will occur. “
In the email from Hamburger, received by NBC, the engineer told the city that “sewers must be sloped (at least 1/8” per foot) to allow efficient flow of materials “and that drains are at risk” reduced slope “. and can become a problem.” He added that third-floor drains that are clogged must be “maintained with regular chemical flushing.”
The news comes after the tower abruptly sunk by a further centimeters over a period of weeks in the middle of the massive foundation fixation of the tower in July and work was stopped. One report noted that the fix itself likely resulted in another drop. The moratorium came after 39 of the 52 new piles were installed as part of the $ 100 million “all-round pile upgrade”.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin has requested a new independent review of the project. “I want there to be a break until we know what we’re doing and I think construction shouldn’t resume until we can interview the best experts in this country,” Peskin told KPIX.
The construction freeze in August was initially planned for two to four weeks. It is now unclear when it could resume.
