Here is a picture of the warnign letter posted in the common area of the UBC condo building:

While on the subject of condo warnings double check your shower arms. Often in a Condo the shower arm is made from Chrome Plated Plastic. If this fails you could be on the hook for the damage. I have lived this personally and lucky for me we had Condo Insurance that covered improvements and third party damage. The down side was the original shower fix was not covered...

Anchors? what.

Here, I think the homeowner would try to argue that the floating vanity, if they were installed that way throughout the complex and not chosen by the homeowner would be a pre-existing condition.

When you buy something the pre-existing conditions become your problem. They assume that you did all the due diligence required before the purchase and you knew about all the problems.

I guess that's true but what due diligence would a typical owner have to do to know how the vanity was supported?

There are numerous ways that home inspectors can figure these things out. Also since the condos appear to be relatively new, I am also sure there are construction plans available somewhere that indicate how the vanities were installed. I am certain the buyer could make a case (I would definitely try :-), but it's often a case that cannot be won.

Im no canadian condo owner nor lawyer.

Still I cant see this falling on the homeowner in court.

maybe falling on there feet at home but not in court.

that would be some real roe vs wade stuff....

So what if it happened 20 years from now? Do you think the HO would still have recourse against the seller?

The problem is that the Strata Property Management has sent out a warning notice to all residents informing them of the problem. With out old condo the same thing went out about the shower arms. We did nothing because my wife got the email and did not think it was an issue. Lucky for us our insurance covered the repairs to our neighbours suite and the parkade.

Lets say you don't have insurance for this. The letter is out. A failure could cost ten and tens of thousands of dollars if the leak travels multiple floors like most leaks and water does in condo buildings.

I think in multi family rents people need to be extra careful over this kind of accident.

Not sure what recourse people could or could not have but when planning say a solid stone top on a four foot vanity that is a lot of weight shared between maybe 2-4 wall studs that typically are light gauge metal studs.

The cabinet dude comes in and does his thing. Before the plumbing goes on I think it's best to sit or stand on the vanity and make sure it can take some serious weight. That or perhaps a hidden cleat below transferring the weight all the way done to the floor.

That's why I changed my mind about floating my very own vanity. I kept having dreams about the whole thing crashing down on my toes!

Our your husbands! You should be able to sit your partner up on a vanity without any fear of the vanity falling and ruining the mood! Thats how I think. Maybe that's just me. lol

I don't "float" legless and baseless cabinets, I "surf" them:

John, haha - in my bathroom my head would get banged on the medicine cabinet if that happened.

It's always really nice when the bathroom wall that you are contemplating hanging the floating vanity has studs. My wall doesn't have it's full complement of studs. I suppose I could have removed all the sheetrock but really don't mind having legs on the vanity. All I wanted was a place to hide my scale anyway and it works!

"...in my bathroom my head would get banged on the medicine cabinet if that happened...." - jerzeegirl

And your point is. :) I can see the new discussion now. "How do I keep my medicine cabinet mirror from breaking?" hahaha

"....I don't "float" legless and baseless cabinets, I "surf" them:...." - Joseph Corlett, LLC

Way to raise the bar Joseph. I will tell any cabinet installers in the future I expect them to do this exactly. I just installed a floating vanity on my Yaletown job but never up graded the wall studs do to stacks and other elements. I'm going to cut a cleat down for some more strength. Just in case the new counter top gets worked in hard.

Darn, now I'm so conflicted! I wanted to do floating vanities in a my bathrooms. Then I started reading this thread and thought, "no way!" as I curled up my toes at the thought of one landing on them. Then jerzee brought up the utility of having a place to hide the scale...

No way am I going to stop installing floating vanities. But I certainly will make sure that the wall studs and bracing is ramped up. This is the first I have ever heard of of falling vanity.

High rise condo work is about speed more than quality most times. Not sure you should panic.

Heres a before after of a recent Vanity float, I didnt surf it like Joe, but i took a few breaks and had A seat now and again.....

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/floating-a-recycled-vanity-pictorial-dsvw-vd~3138615

Tundra Nice work. But that is supported on three sides. That's unlike the one that feel out in UBC.

Ours is in an alcove, so supported on 3 sides. Even so, we brought the wall out partway below the back. I guess that makes it a "fake float." You can't tell, because there is no long view that lets you look underneath, unless you lie on the floor.

If you're worried about this, it would not be difficult to install a furring strip, underneath the back wall of the vanity,. Make sure it's screwed to the studs. Paint same color as wall. Nobody will ever see it.

I did this cause I installed both our floating vanities myself. I initially put up the furring stripdead level just so I could rest the vanity on it. After I secured the vanity to the wall, I though why not just leave it? So I did.

The vanity isn't going to just fall off the wall - it has to pull away - cause they are lag bolted to the studs by atleast two bolts.

Depends upon what kind of 'sports' you like to do in the bathroom!

All I can say is thank God my client headed the advice posted by the Strata. I swong by early yeasterday to install the four legs for the 2 vanitys and the master vanity had pulled away from the wall about 1/4". It was in the process of failing.

I wonder if it os because they are driving piers into the ground for a new hig rise? Maybe the vibration...

I don't know how guys that do this sleep at night. I know every single thing I've ever done isn't coming down, breaking, failing, or whatever on its own.

What another resident did to fix the propblem was instal some cheap steel legs from Ikea under the floating vanity. My client bought them and asked me to install them. I measured the leg and cut them with my angle grinder. Went to install them and the angle was way off.

Then I realized "It's all ready failing"...

So I checked the level of the vanity. Just a tad out! OMG

I took a picture from the side to show the separation of the cabinet from the wall. Hard to tell if it is the cabinet separating from itself or the cabinet coming loose. Without some support below I did not want to reef on it. I will make a brace below next week and fix this up.

What I fear most now is that it is a cabinet failure.

If you have a floating vanity supported by just one wall I would be making sure the cabinet is well made and that the fastners dig into solid wood studs.

If you look close you can almost make out the backing of the cabinet. This lends me to think that the cabinet is failing under the weight and not the fasteners.

Stay tuned. Repair process to follow....

While doing the band air repair above my client told me that the cost to the owner who had the leak was over $30,000.00 and the battle with the insurace company took six months. What makes me sick is that when my client bought this place a year back - I did the site visit and condo inspection. The vanity did not look like that then, I think. But I'm not sure.

If you buy any homes with floating vanities it should be something on your radar to look at.

Here are a few pictures to show how I fixed the problem. I used some 1/2"x4" Fir as a cleat across the back. Allowing any downward force from the back wall lot transfer from the cabinet to the baseboard to the floor.

I then used some Fir 1"x2" to lift the vanity a 1/4". This required a lot of force. The stone top was heavy. The 1/2"x4" board was used to protect the floor from the wood block. I had two of these going one for each side.

Once jacked up I secured the legs and lowered the adjustable foot to meet the floor. Then I banged out the jacks. Not perfect but safer. Not pretty but safer.

Just wondering how one would retrofit wall-hanging toilets....

A wall hung toilet would need a new carrier or the old toilet carrier removed. I can not see a wall hung toilet letting go by itself. All the ones I have installed get to large bolts and nuts.

If you have a wall hung vanity it might be safe just to measure the top. Make sure the back is not letting go like my poor clients.

Goldcon Construction it looks like the cabinet construction is a typical box. Rabbit'd 3/4" Partical Board with what appears to be only a 1/2" backing. I think the backing is pulling away.

Wall-hung vanities do not have to dangerous or risky. The vanity itself must be built properly. You cannot just take a cheap box structure put together with goofy twist and lock connectors or basic screwed butt joints, especially one made of particle board, and expect it to have the directional rigidity necessary to withstand its own weight at its mounting points, plus the weight of a sink and probably at some point the weight of an unsupervised child, which will likely be concentrated in the front of the vanity, farthest from the mounting bolts. Either you buy a vanity made of actual wood or quality plywood put together with actual carpenter-grade methods using novel concepts like wood glue, dowels, and at least tongue and groove joints; you use a metal bar and cable support system supporting the front lower portion to the top rear portion; or you put some legs on it up front... there is no reason to risk it and no reason to half-ass anything. It baffles me that people are willing to install IKEA Godmorgon cabinets, for example, when those things barely hold up to just being on display at the store. Granted, it's usually the drawers that give out, but if you can take apart a floating vanity without actually destroying it, like IKEA Godmorgon, in my opinion it does not belong hanging on your wall (unless, like I would do, you used wood glue at every single seam and dowel joint, which is not prescribed in the instructions... then maybe).

I'm glad you were able to do it and I do hope it lasts. I don't see, anywhere, how the absolute front of the cabinet structure is supported from weight focused at the front (most likely location), especially if that weight were to be left and right or twist-like challenging the joints (kid dancing or otherwise moving left and right) or up and down (kid jumping up and down). I see no triangles. But if that setup truly works long-term in real life, then you're a better man that me for conjuring it up. You may be able to stand on it when freshly installed, but can you after a couple years? I become concerned then and that's why, with this type of box construction anyway, I wouldn't put my name on that, ever... I mean no offense. Cheap particle board degrades over time with humidity, movement, weight. If we're talking furniture-grade MDF or plywood... okay, I'm more comfortable.

"I don't see, anywhere, how the absolute front of the cabinet structure is supported from weight focused at the front..."

The cabinet dividers are secured at the top rear and middle. Any front cabinet load is transferred to the cabinet divider bottom rear and to the wall.

The countertop siliconed in place over the dividers creates triangulation, eliminating the worry of left-right twisting.

"Cheap particle board degrades over time with humidity, movement, weight."

Would you be so kind as to post substantiation of that claim, please?

Cheap anything degrades over time, and so does expensive stuff. People replace ashphalt shingled roofs all the time and they are cheap (relatively speaking). Slate roofs are more expensive , but they wear out too.

Who's to say Joe's partial board isn't NASA grade nano particle enhanced with a 40 yr lifespan? It appears to have no exposed edges so it could be argued that it'll last longer than a vanity made of cheap solid wood that will warp in give years and who's end grain will soak up water and cause more issues.

Sirboom- do your children dance on your vanity tops with regularity and twisting motions ?

Perhaps cheaply made cabinets are simply another form of natural selection at work.

ikea junk , nasa schmassa , ill tell u what

what are you trying tell us ?

IKEA is cheap, but they deliver a lot of value for that low price. Kinda like that three tab shingle I mentioned earlier. Sure , slate is better and will last longer ; but not everyone can afford the xtra cost even if they recognize higher quality.

Three tab is strong and fire resistant enough, especially at the price - just like an IKEA cabinet is strong enough to support stone counters . There are almost always better options. We have a vendor that'll make you a welded aluminum or stainless skeleton for your cabinet that can be clad in whatever your checkbook and taste dictate. Few have that ability to dictate. Even fewer that do , care about such technical minutiae.

"We have a vendor that'll make you a welded aluminum or stainless
skeleton for your cabinet that can be clad in whatever your checkbook
and taste dictate. Few have that ability to dictate. Even fewer that
do , care about such technical minutiae."

I was just setting you up to blab about your boss you work for and how they have enlightened you. You are a great repeater...

Sorry teller , I don't need a pimp, but thanks for thinking of me in your job search.

Nor do I report to a boss or board of directors or shareholders. I do like to include the talent around me in the process though.

Next time tellit to someone who gives a..........

Paula, here is classic MCM styling for a bathroom vanity that has the furniture look (with legs). All Modern has a bunch.

https://www.allmodern.com/renovation/pdp/fine-fixtures-imperial-ii-36-single-bathroom-vanity-finf1057.html?piid=15251642

"Can a standard vanity with kick plate look modern?"

Reimagine this a different top, faucet, etc. and I think the answer is yes.