An excerpt from a letter home

[Don_P]

 I'm tired but more grist for the mill.

today I wandered around the music stage that adjoins the parking lot we use for the market and noticed the skirt around the piers supporting the back of the stage (a raised, squared off "clamshell" structure) was bulging. So I crawled under. Two piers were tilting badly and the rim had disengaged from 7 joists. They are having a large benefit concert tomorrow. A headliner country artist and multiple area bands. Being Saturday no one was around any of the town offices and I finally just called the police dispatcher and she had someone from the town call me back. An older gentleman came by and I was a little less than complimentary when I explained the problem. Turned out he had designed it and his crews were responsible for much of the volunteer construction. I had actually stopped by on my way through during construction and described it to my engineer friend and asked him to drop by if he had a chance. I was not impolite with the gentleman but I was very direct. I told him I'd help shore it up and the piers needed to come out and be replaced with something better than that for the final repair. By then the town maintenance supervisor had come by and we talked about options to shore it for tomorrow. The gentleman said he would be back with supplies and find some help,I said I'd be there. He came back with his work truck followed by another and I helped his hired man put in some temporary supports. I'm paying the price tonight but not too bad.

Folks, this thing would have collapsed in front of a crowd tomorrow 

[firefox]

That was an outstanding thing to do Don!
Bruce

[NM_Shooter]

Thanks Don.  You are a good man.

[John Raabe]

A knowing eye that pays attention, then sounds the alert, and finally works to divert a disaster - that is a pretty good working definition of a Hero.

[MountainDon]

There is no doubt that Don_P deserves credit for his eagle eye for detail and innate curiosity about anything to do with structures. I also know Don_P's intent was to be educational more than to garner praise. The piers were installed on 20" footers and seemed solid. However his corner of VA has seen extraordinary rainfall lately. Much like many other parts of the country has seen extraordinary weather; recent snow for Memorial Day, extreme winds, the extreme drought in NM, and so on. The rain saturated the ground. At least that is the theory at this point. Saturated ground is not stable. Combine that with piers that act independently. The upper ends may be connected but the lower ends are not. Some can move while others may not, or others may move in a different manner or direction. I am sure Don_P's intent was that this event should be taken as a caveat. Applaud his sense of civic duty and community involvement, but also pay attention to the substance of the message.

[soapbox; off] 

[Don_P]

As y'all probably know Don and I email back and forth frequently, and I felt a little self conscious although I do appreciate the kind remarks. My intention in writing my folks probably was for kudos and to let them know they had done a fair job themselves. My point in posting it here was more along the lines of posting an alert. I wasn't in the mood to post yesterday until I had seen the building standing this morning. It went fine. As a bonus to our faith in our fellow man, after all that traffic yesterday, there sat my power cord neatly coiled on the side of the stage, I had forgotten it.

The gentleman from my previous post, told me twice to call him when we need materials for our market building. Life is good 

There is one correction, the piers themselves are 20" dia and are on larger footings.  I didn't expect to see them tip.