This afternoon my wife says, "Did you hear about that house that fell over on the other side of the neighborhood?" - "No way - lets go see..." Anyway I took some pic's. And I see no evidence of cribbing or steel in the wreckage, only the guy who did it will know for sure what happened. What is obvious is what did not happen.

Now before I go any further I should mention that there is a moritorium on demolition permits in SF, and this building is worth more (much more) with the house in this state, than it was before or during construction. It is no secret (because they are very rare) that empty lots in SF can START at $700K - next to a park this lot will ask about $1M to start after the back-hoe gets done! If it were not for endangering himself, family and dog - as well as a few fire fighters - he may have just made a half million by letting his house fall. (less the damage to the house next door which does not seem to be very severe.)

Anyway, I saw some things that I thought were odd that you all might get a kick out of.
[Linked Image from markhellerelectric.com]
House pulled away from the service - now theres a first!

[Linked Image from markhellerelectric.com]
I would have never thought to use the the red tag to advertise! Yes, GC's are sticking there biz cards all over down there, as people - like myself - are down there gawking, and taking picks and have construction jobs on their minds. Only this guy (who lives up the street) stuck his to the red tag, the rest are all over the police barrier.

[Linked Image from markhellerelectric.com]
This is what you get for over .5M$$$ In the paper last year as the "Cheapest House In SF" - You get to call a back-hoe.

The most worrisome part about this is that this guy would have never won the bid for this "home" had there not been a morritorium on demo permits due to anti-developement and rental policies that dont allow you to tear down any habitable space. This building would have never come down had it not fallen - but should have been bull-dozed years ago. IMO.

More...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/07/COLLAPSE.TMP



Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason