6 More Campus Buildings Eyed With Concern : Construction: The Cal State Long Beach structures have been identified as having structural problems. Fourteen have now been closed or may be closed after the cave-in of a recital hall roof.

Engineers investigating the collapse of a recital hall at Cal State Long Beach’s music complex have identified six more buildings with structural problems, bringing to 14 the number of buildings that officials have closed or are contemplating shutting down.

In a report to California State University officials released Wednesday, structural engineers recommended that the six “over-stressed” buildings remain open only if remedial action is taken to ensure their stability.

The investigators said they detected building code violations in the complex and said they had concerns about the six structures similar to those that led university officials last week to close five other structures within the problem-ridden music complex.

A spokeswoman for Cal State Long Beach said Wednesday that officials are reviewing the report and will decide shortly whether to shut down the buildings before the start of classes Sept. 4. The buildings include several classrooms, music listening rooms and faculty and music department offices.

The report by Englekirk & Hart Consulting Engineers Inc. said that normal operating loads on the walls of the six buildings “appear to be within tolerable limits at this time,” but went on to warn: “For any long-term continued use of this second group of buildings, remedial action is necessary.”

Three other buildings--the recital hall, a musical storage building and a rehearsal hall--were shut immediately after the July 2 collapse of the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall, which sent 120 tons of concrete and steel crashing down onto 210 seats. No one was hurt in the incident, but only the night before, a group of high school students had cut short a rehearsal when instructors noticed cracks in the walls and falling plaster.

Those three buildings were constructed in the so-called tilt-up style, meaning their concrete walls were poured and then hoisted into place. The remaining buildings in the 20-structure complex were built of more standard framed walls and had been considered safe until the Englekirk & Hart investigation.

Investigators Lynn W. Bockemohle and Michael A. Waggoner said in the report that they detected “a number of items that are not in compliance with the building code” during a preliminary review of the 8-year-old music complex. The report was delivered to university officials last week.

Among other things, the report attributed problems with the so-called over-stressed buildings to the use of studs--the upright structural pieces in walls--that were too narrow. In the six buildings in question, for example, four-inch-wide studs instead of six-inch studs were used in the walls, the report said. In the five buildings closed last week, the report said, four-inch studs were used instead of required eight-inch studs.

Efforts to reach the architects and builders of the music complex were unsuccessful on Wednesday, and a spokeswoman for the Cal State system declined to comment on the alleged building code violations, citing possible litigation.

“We will undertake all efforts to recover the losses we have suffered,” said spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler. “So at this point we don’t want to discuss any blame, fault or error.”

Bentley-Adler said design engineers hired by the university will begin working on the six buildings identified in the report as soon as they can, but said attention is now focused on the eight closed buildings. She said Englekirk & Hart did not specify what needs to be done to the six buildings identified in the report.

“They appear to be safe at this point,” Bentley-Adler said. “As (engineers) are working around the whole complex, they will keep an eye on the six.”

Donald Para, chairman of the music department, said he reviewed the report and was “not overly concerned” about its findings.

“I am sure there is some concern, but it doesn’t seem as if its a real cause for alarm,” he said. “I don’t feel unsafe going into the buildings.”