ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Engineers investigating structural damage at the Rialto Apartments in Orange County say they found a large gap beneath part of the building that they believe contributed to the damage that forced residents out last month.<\/p>\n
In a preliminary findings letter dated April 1, engineers with Simpson Gumpertz & Heger said they found \u201ca gap between the soil and the ground-level slab\u201d beneath a load-bearing wall footing between stacks 45 and 47.<\/p>\n
A worker examines the building exterior on Thursday. (Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
According to the letter, the gap is about 3 feet deep and 15 feet in diameter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time, we believe the lack of soil support below the slab-on-grade between Stacks 45 and 47 resulted in downward displacement or other downward movement of the slab and wall,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n
The document says investigators also found other gaps between the concrete slab and underlying soil in numerous locations throughout the rest of the building, ranging from 0.5 – 4 inches.<\/p>\n
The Rialto Apartments building was evacuated on March 19 after residents reported hearing a loud \u201cpopping\u201d noise and found some doors jammed shut, according to the engineering report. The letter says the Orlando Fire Department determined other doors in the 45 and 47 apartment stacks were also jammed and ordered the evacuation of the entire building.<\/p>\n
The engineering firm said its initial observations found cracks in the drywall in stacks 45 and 47, along with jamming doors and floors that sloped toward the shared bearing wall between those units.<\/p>\n
The engineers said the current priority is installing temporary shoring supports below the ground-level slab in the 45\/47 stack.<\/p>\n
They also said the building is considered safe for worker access, but not for people to live in while the investigation and repair process continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe building is currently safe for worker access, and there is no concern regarding imminent failure of the structure,\u201d the letter states. \u201cHowever, the building is not suited for continuous resident occupancy while investigation and eventual remedial activities are underway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orange County\u2019s Division of Building Safety said in a statement that \u201cno occupancy\u201d notices remain posted on the affected structures until repairs are permitted, inspected and occupancy is reinstated, or until an engineer deems the building safe to occupy.<\/p>\n
County officials said the investigating engineer has ordered temporary shoring work and that the county has asked for a detailed list of required emergency repairs. Once that work is complete, documentation will have to show the temporary repairs or shoring were installed as directed before the county may inspect them.<\/p>\n
The county also said the subsurface investigation and structural analysis will continue after that. The preliminary engineer letter states the anticipated duration of that work is uncertain but may exceed 60 days.<\/p>\n
Once the investigation is complete, engineered repair plans will still need to be submitted as part of a permit application, according to the county. Officials said the process would then continue through permitting, inspections and support work until a final inspection and certificate of occupancy are issued.<\/p>\n
The engineering letter says the investigation is ongoing and the findings are subject to change.<\/p>\n
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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Engineers investigating structural damage at the Rialto Apartments in Orange County say they found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[98734,1335,139,141,140,92273,94655],"class_list":["post-216845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-doctor-phillips","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-rialto","tag-structural-damage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}