Crane_vs_House: Crane Wins!

[JB4310]

In hindsight it's easy to say , but it just shouldn't of happened.

I don't see that huge of a tree, but it looks like from the pics the section they cut was to big, like they got a little greedy.


gpflepsen, by the looks of the 3rd pic in your post, it seems the outrigger simply sunk in soft ground.

That's quite the recovery effort there but at least it only damaged the house where the work was being done. I saw these guys hoisting cut trees over the neighbors houses 3 doors down.

JB.

 

[gpflepsen]

gpflepsen, by the looks of the 3rd pic in your post, it seems the outrigger simply sunk in soft ground.


JB.

If you look closely at the pump, the front outrigger foot and pad are on the street. The jacking cylinder is broke/bent with the end close to the pad.

On the tree of the subject post, the crane could have been lifting (letting down) the upper portion to the ground, hinged on the tree. If the hinge came free, the pendulum swing out could easily pull the crane over. The crane doesn't look to be counterbalanced very much, I don't know if it is provisioned as such. What does catch my eye is the hoist angle of the boom with the truck. The boom was positioned at a fairly good angle with the ground. I'd like to hear the whys and hows to the cause.

 

[charlz]

I don't think Joe Homeowner is entitled to a new house though. He is entitled to a repair that is as good as the original "section".

His quote and the info on his wife's fender bender are a little telling.... who goes to the emergency room after a fender bender? Think they overreact much?


"Kevin McCarthy, an occupational therapist, said he expected to get a new house once the wreckage is cleared away.

的 am not going to accept anything else. The house has got to be rebuilt from the ground up, he said.

Michelle McCarthy, who is a psychologist with the Sonoma County Office of Education, said she壇 gotten into a fender bender in Santa Rosa Monday morning, with her toddler in the car. She壇 then spent time at an emergency room being checked out before heading to Marin County to deal with car issues."

 

[Scooby074]

His quote and the info on his wife's fender bender are a little telling.... who goes to the emergency room after a fender bender? Think they overreact much?


"Kevin McCarthy, an occupational therapist, said he expected to get a new house once the wreckage is cleared away.

的 am not going to accept anything else. The house has got to be rebuilt from the ground up, he said.

Michelle McCarthy, who is a psychologist with the Sonoma County Office of Education, said she壇 gotten into a fender bender in Santa Rosa Monday morning, with her toddler in the car. She壇 then spent time at an emergency room being checked out before heading to Marin County to deal with car issues."

While the crane company is clearly at fault these people are entitled to have their house repaired, but no more unless there is major structural damage to the remainder.

Demanding a new house even before a survey can be done..nice. How much you want to bet they already hired a lawyer They sound like the types that would have him on their speed dial.

This thread is a good (albeit extreme) example of why you better make sure your insurance is paid up when working on others properties.

 

[tallyho8]

We've had two fatal crane accidents in 2 days in our area. Cranes can be very dangerous.
Houma crane collapse kills one worker, hurts another badly | New Orleans Metro Real Time News - - NOLA.com
Man dies in Des Allemands crane accident | New Orleans Metro Real Time News - - NOLA.com

 

[JB4310]

If you look closely at the pump, the front outrigger foot and pad are on the street. The jacking cylinder is broke/bent with the end close to the pad.
.

Yeah I see the pad on the street now but that's kinda odd that would of put the truck way out in the middle of the road had to move a long way, but I guess as it was leaning way up in the air when the leg broke it would put it right about there.


About the OP if they were hinging the tree and expecting mother nature to cooperate then that would not be very swift. I still think they got greedy and took to big a bite.
Easy to say now, but after going through all the work setting up a crane with a jib and then trying to take it all in one shot...

 

[California]

As for that chunk of oak that toppled the crane - they estimated 6,000 lbs and the crane's rated limit was only 1,900 lbs greater. Isn't there some Safe Working Load margin between the rated maximum and what topples the crane?

Oak is heavy. It seems to me the chunk may have weighed far more, so they were overloaded even before the shock load.

 

[Scooby074]

The crane was relatively new, so it should have had a load computer.

The computer would have kept him from overloading, but the bad rigging job, and sudden shift in the load was what caused the accident.

If they were within 1900 lbs of max capacity, then they were cutting it pretty close, as seen in the result. Usually when your that close, extra precautions are taken , and the lift is well thought out. Not the case here.

 

[Midsouth]

It probably did have aload computer but they are easy to bypass. Seen it done on job sites before. I was delivering ac units to a new hospital and the crane was having problems with its computer so the operator just bypassed it. But in his defense he had been operating cranes for about 30 years and the ac units only weighed about 1 ton each and the crane was a 100 ton unit.

 

[California]

Yes, but there was a man up in that tree who can't run away when things suddenly go all to ****. That's no place to override the computer.

The homeowners seem a little tightly wound, typical of professional couples on overload around here, but I expect they will get a nice house out of this if they really do go ahead and insist. The crane company has no defense.