>> pat dodson: absolutely not. >> jerry dodson: no, not at all. phoria. >> wertheim: one feature the dodson's hadn't counted on... these devices are what? >> jerry dodson: they're stress gauges. >> wertheim: dozens of stress gauges dot the walls of the millennium tower's basement. they measure in millimeters the slow growth of cracks along the columns that rise up from the building's foundation. >> jerry dodson: there's enough of them, a spider web of cracks, that you have to be concerned about what's going on underneath. >> wertheim: these cracks are one of the only visual clues that there's anything profoundly wrong here. these are the rounds you do now? >> jerry dodson: yeah, i've been told by structural and geotechnical engineers that i should be watching. >> wertheim: both an engineer and a lawyer, dodson makes daily rounds of the basement looking for signs of deterioration. it's a routine he's kept since the homeowner's association called a meeting of residents in may of 2016. >> pat dodson: they just said we should be there and made us sign