Nordstrom Southcenter Store

The building is clad primarily with brick veneer, with smaller elements of pre-cast concrete and Glass-Fiber-Reinforced-Concrete, (GFRC), panels.

PL:BECS identified seismic vulnerabilities at poorly-supported masonry cladding elements, which actually manifested during a subsequent earthquake.

The building was suffering from leakage due to various ill-configured flashings.

Tukwila, Washington
Client: Nordstrom Corporation
Dates of Service: 1997

Project Summary: The exterior walls of this 12-year old, 4-story retail store are clad with brick veneer, pre-cast concrete, and glass-fiber reinforced concrete elements.  These cladding elements displayed various signs of stress and degradation, including cracking, dislocation, and moisture damage.

PL:BECS Services: PL:BECS provided services in two phases.

The initial phase consisted of a detailed examination of the building exterior to identify problems affecting the building exterior as well as their sources, and recommend corrective actions.

Our initial inspection report identified numerous flaws, including inadequate support of the brick cladding, outward-tilting of the of portions of the cladding above ledgers, cracking of the brick cladding, moisture infiltration to the interior, flaws in through-wall flashing systems, and similar flaws.  This report also identified vulnerability of specific portions of the cladding to possible seismic dislocation, damage, or even failure.

By coincidence, a relatively minor earthquake occurred shortly after the initial evaluation, and PL:BECS was again retained to perform a more detailed evaluation, including core cuts in the brick cladding to examine concealed construction, instrument detection of brick veneer anchors, as well as a visual inspection.   

This second examination confirmed that the cladding experienced additional seismic dislocation of the elements previously identified as vulnerable in the original examination.  Veneer anchor densities were found to be highly variable, and often seriously deficient.  Corrosion of ledger anchors, flashings, and veneer ties was also found.   Detailed corrective recommendations for the observed flaws were included in the report.