Wednesday, October 11, 2017

The Mother of All Foundation Failure

As a home inspector, Mark took a special interest in the leaning tower. The "lean" is most obvious when you view it next to a more level building. I've heard of it since I was a child but this was my first time to see it. As a child, I wondered why they built it that way. When I figured out that they actually intended it to be straight, I wondered why they didn't fix it when it first started leaning. What I didn't realize is that it is the bell tower for the church next door, which seems somewhat common in Italy. (The church and the tower for the bell are often two separate structures.) So it's not like it housed people, and it's not like it would crush the building next door. (Might have been different if it had been leaning the other way.) It was perfectly functional as a bell tower. 


But what is funny is all the people who are climbing up on pedestals near the fence so they can pose as though they are holding it up or preventing it from toppling over.


While it seems a miracle that it is still standing after all these years, it's my understanding that it underwent massive foundation repair a few years ago to keep it from toppling over. But they kept it leaning. Who can blame them. It's a landmark. If it didn't lean, no one would be interested in seeing it all.

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