Ascot Realty of Buford loses house during Saturday’s storm

GDO Report

<% If Request.QueryString("printerFriendly")<>"true" Then %>

The house was just one of many being built by the Buford developers who have fallen under scrutiny in recent months. 

The house seemed to be in a similar state of construction as their surrounding houses. 

The second story was up and the roof was attached.  Some of the windows had even been installed at the time that the storm rolled through.



The house once stood within the area outlined by the above red circle before it fell apart during
Saturday's rainstorm.  The house to the right of the red circle was in a similar state of construction
at the time of the storm.

While all the surrounding houses remained unscathed, this particular house simply fell to pieces and was deposited in neighboring lots.

Gwinnett Daily Online staff arrived at the scene just minutes following the incident and Ascot representatives were already on-site stating that their homes were not designed to withstand storms until their construction has been completed.

Gwinnett Daily Online contacted builders and engineers who vehemently disagree with Ascot’s statements.  Residential construction experts that viewed the photos concur on the opinion that if a house’s frame has been erected and the walls and roof have been attached, the structure should, at that point, be able to withstand rainstorms of moderate levels. 

What’s even more contradictory of Ascot Realty’s statements is the fact that the surrounding structures that were in a similar state of construction were all seemingly unaffected by the rainstorm.

This fact seems to indicate that possible shortcuts in safety and/or building code are evident or some other mistake of major proportion has occurred.

“One can only imagine what could have happened to workers if they had been present during the incident, or worse – if a family had lived in the house when the incident occurred,” stated one witness who was viewing the wreckage Saturday afternoon.